CHAPTER
584
CHARACTER
business. For the matters cited, the consent or coun-
sel of the chapter is required by the bishop when he
is exercising his ordinary jurisdiction. In cases, how-
ever, where he acts as delegate of the Holy See, no
such counsel or consent need be asked. The chapter
on its side is obliged to show due obedience to the
bishop in the observance and execution of his lawful
commands, in submitting to his canonical visitation,
and in obeying his just judgment in judicial causes.
Chapters Sede Impedita. — When on account of some physical or canonical impediment, the bishop cannot govern his diocese, the episcopal administration does not pass to the chapter, but it becomes its duty to notify the pope, who alone appoints the administra- tor of a diocese, except in certain cases determined by law, when the chapter can conduct diocesan affairs; as when the bishop has been imprisoned by heretics or pagans ; when he is excommunicated or suspended ; when the vicar-general dies and the bishop is far away. In the above exceptional cases the chapter may ad- minister the diocese until the Holy See provides other- wise.
Chapters Sede Vacante. — On the death of the bishop, the chapter succeeds to Iris ordinary and customary jurisdiction in spirituals and temporals, except to those which he had by virtue of Sacred orders, or by special privilege, or by special delegation of the Holy See. The faculties delegated to bishops as delegates of the Apostolic See by the Council of Trent also pass to the chapter. Within eight days of the bishop's death, the chapter must elect a vicar capitular to whom the whole administration of the diocese must be committed (see Vicar Capitular), and the chap- ter can reserve no jurisdiction to itself. Lastly, it nominates the new bishop.
Cathedral Chapters in Missionary Countries. — In England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, and some other countries, cathedral chapters have been erected. As the circumstances of these countries are different from those in lands where the Church is canonically established, the Holy See has made some changes in the common law governing cathedral chapters. The canons are dispensed from residence near the cathe- dral church, and may be parish priests or missionaries dispersed through the diocese. They are likewise dis- pensed from the daily chanting of the Divine Office in choir. It is generally prescribed, however, that when the capitulars come to the cathedral for their monthly meetings, they must recite Terce together and assist at a conventual Mass. As a general rule thi' rights and offices of canons in missionary count ries arc thi' same as those already enumerated for places when- canonical law is in full force. The Bishop is therefore to ask their counsel or consent, as the case may be, in matters referring to diocesan administra- tion ami when the episcopal see is vacant, the chapter succeeds to the deceased bishop and elects a vicar capitular. In the United States, cathedral chapters have not as yel been constituted. In 1883 Propa- ganda consulted the American bishops on the advis- ability of erecting theni.but the prelates judged that the time was nut yet opportune.
Wehnz, Jus DeereUUium (Rome, IS99), II; Smith, Com- pendium Jur. Can. {New Y.irk, I VI I , I!,, T\, De Capilvlis
(Paris, 1SS2); Ferraris, Prompta Bibl. (Roman ed., 1886), II.
William 11. W. Fanning.
Chapter House, a building attached to a monas- tery or cathedral in which the meetings of the chapter are held. In monasteries the chapter house was used
daily after Prime (and sometimes alter Terce foi the reading of the "Martyrology " and the "Necrol- ogy", lor the correction of faults, the assigning of the tasks for the day, and for the exhortation of the supe- rior, and again for the evening Collation or reading befon Complin. Secular canons used the chapter house for similar purposes, and fur the formal trans- action of public business of common interest to the
body corporate. The chapter house is not mentioned
by St. Benedict (d. 543), nor is it indicated in the
ancient plan of the Abbey of St. Gall, drawn up in 820;
the monks then probably assembled for chapter in a
part of the cloister near the church. The need of a
separate building made itself felt, and the chapter
house is mentioned in the statutes approved by the
Council of Aachen in 816. The shape of the chapter
houses varied: some were rectangular, others rectang-
ular with an apsidal termination, others again were
circular or polygonal. The rectangular room, with
a wooden roof, and little architectural distinction, is
characteristic of the continent of Europe. In Eng-
land the chapter house was the object of very careful
designing and elaborate ornamentation; the polyg-
onal-shaped chapter house is a triumph of English
thirteenth-century architecture, and no single instance
of it is found either in France or Germany. The
earliest example is probably that of Lincoln, deca-
gonal in shape, which was built from 1240-12(ii).
Other instances are those of York, Lichfield, South-
well, Salisbury, and Wells. English examples of the
elongated form will be found at Bristol, Canterbury,
Chester, Durham, Gloucester, and Oxford. The
ingenious theory which seeks to identify the poly-
gonal shape with secular foundations, and the rect-
angular shape with monastic foundations, breaks
down in presence of the circular chapter house of
Worcester, and the octagonal chapter house of West-
minster Abbey, both Benedictine in origin.
Martene, De Antiquis Monachorum R/tibus (Rouen, 1700); Rock, Church of our Fathers (London, 1849), III, 79; Du Cange, Glossarium (Paris, 1S83), s. v. Capitulum; Gasquet, Kmihsh Monastic Life (London, 1904); Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'areheol. chret. (Paris, 1903\ s. v. Abbaye; Bumpus. The Cathedrals of England and IVales (London, 1905-6); Bond. Gothic Architecture (London, 1905).
Edward Myers. Chapter Schools. See Schools.
Chapters, Strife of Three. See Three Chap- ters.
Character. — Quite distinct from the technical meaning which the term character possesses in theo- logical controversy is that attached to it in the language of common life, as well as in the literature devoted to psychology, ethics, and education. The interest surrounding the conception of character in these latter branches of speculation has been con- stantly increasing during the past hundred years.
Psychology and Character. — Different shades of meaning pertain to the term in different contexts. In general we may say that character is the expression of the personality of a human being, and that it reveals itself in his conduct. In this sense every man has a character. At the same time only human beings, not animals, have character: it implies rationality. But in addition to this usage, the term is also employed in a narrower sense, as when we speak of a man "of character". In this connotation character implies a certain unity of qualities with a recognizable degree of constancy or fixity in mode of action. It is the business of psychology to analyze the constituent elements of character, to trace the laws of its growth, to distinguish the chief agencies which contribute to the formation of different types of character, and to classify such types. If anything approaching a science of character is ever to be built up. it must be a special psychology. French psychologists during the last thirty years have given us a large quantity of acute observations on the topic of character. Chief amongst them have been: MM. Azam. Perez, Ribot, Paulhan, Fouillee, and Malapert. Still these con- tributions do not constitute a science.
The behaviour of each human being at any stage of his existence is the outcome of a complex collection of elements. The manner in which he apperceives or takes in certain present impressions, the sort of
