FOSSANO
154
FOSSOMBRONE
between the internal and external forum. Thus, for
example, a marriage may be null and void in the forum
jf conscience, but binding in the external forum for
want of judicial proofs to the contrary, and vice versa.
The Church's jurisdiction in the external forum has reference to matters touching the public and social good of the corporate body. It corresponds, conse- quently, very closely to the powers exercised by civil magistrates in affairs belonging to their competence. Wliile the external forinn may busy itself with the concerns of individuals, it does so only in as far as these affect the public good. Thus the absolution of sins belongs to the internal forum, but the concession of the faculty for performing such absolution is an act of the external forum. The jurisdiction of the exter- nal forum is subdivided into voluntary and necessary. Voluntary, or extra-judicial, is that which a superior can exercise towards those who invoke his power, or even against those who are unwilling, but without his using the formalities prescribed in law. Necessary or contentious jurisdiction is that which the judge em- ploys in punishing crimes or deciding disputes accord- ing to prescribed forms. In general, the acts of ju- risdiction of the external forum are the decision of disputes concerning faith, morals or discipline, the making and enforcing of laws, the punishment of transgressors of ecclesiastical statutes, and the like.
The competence of the ecclesiastical forum arises either from the persons or the cause to be judged. As to persons, all clerics are subject to its judgments both in civil and criminal causes (see Immunities, Cleri- cal). As to causes: they may be purely civil, or ecclesiastical, or they may be mixed. Purely civil causes would not of themselves properly belong to the Church's forum, as she recognizes the full competence of the state in such matters. Accidentally, however, such causes might be brought before the ecclesiastical tribunal, as when a civil judge is wanting in his duty and the defect can be supplied by an ecclesiastical judge. This supposes, however, the practical recog- nition of the Church's forum by the civil power. Ecclesiastical causes themselves are called civil when they concern eitlier spiritual things, as the sacraments, or matters connected with them, as church property, the right of patronage, etc. They are called criminal when they involve the dealing with delinquents guilty of simony, apostasy, schism and the like. They are called mixed causes when they are subjects proper for decision by either the ecclesiastical or civil forum, as usurious contracts, concubinage, violations of the Church's peace, etc. Causes are likewise called mixed when they have both a spiritual and temporal end. Thus matrimony, in its sacramental nature as to val- idity or nullity, belongs to the Church; in its temporal aspect, as to the property of married persons and sim- ilar things, it may be dealt with by the civil tribunals. To this class of mixed causes can also be reduced the suppression of heresy, where Church and State co- operate with each other for the maintenance of the integrity of the faith and the preservation of the civil peace. Finally, many causes, of their own nature civil, are accounteil mixed by canonists, either because the State relin()\iishpd tliein to the Church's tribunals or custom gradually caused them to be relegated to the ecclesiastical forum, such as the recognition of last wills and testaments, the care of the poor, etc.
The punishments which may be inflicted by the external ecclesiastical forum are not only spiritual, as excommunication, but also temporal or corporal. As regards the infliction of the death penalty, canonists generally hold that ecclesiastical law forbids inferior church tribunals to decree this punishment directly, but that the pope or a general council has the power, at least indirectly, inasmucli as f liey can demand that aCatholic state inflict (his iMuiishnipnt when the f;<i<id of the Church reciuircs it. fiiiiilly, they hold that there is no valid argument to prove that the direct exercise
of this power does not fall within the competence of
the ecclesiastical forum, although it was the custom of
the latter to hand over Mir criminal to the secular arm
for the infliction of the (Icatii penalty. The encroach-
inents of the civil power on the domain of the Church's
jurisdiction have in our days, practically though un-
warrantably, restricted the ecclesiastical forum to
spiritual causes only.
PlERANTONELLi, Praxis Fori Eccl. (Rome, 1883); Lauren- Tlus, Insl. Jut. Bed. (Freiburs, 1903); Endemann, Das Zivil- prozessi'erf. nach kanonischer Lehre (IJerlin, 1S90); Ferraris, Bibl. Can., s. v. (Rome, 1886), III; Smith, Elements of Ecct. r./m, fVonr VrtfL- iaa(;\
Law (New York, 1895).
William H. W. Fanning.
Fossano, Diocese of (Fossanensis). — Fossano is
a town in the province of Cuneo, in Piedmont, North-
ern Italy, a suffragan of Turin, situated in a fertile
plain on the banks of the Stura; it is an important
centre for agriculture and farm-stock; other industries
are silk-weaving, paper-making, and basket-making;
there are also some mineral springs in the neighbour-
hood. In the early middle ages it was an independent
commune, but it soon passed under the sway of the
Marquesses of Saluzzo, who in turn with the House of
Asti held it from 1251 to 130.5. From 1.305 to 1314 it
belonged to King Robert of Naples, when it passed
into the hands of the House of Savoy, whose head
dwelt there for some time in the "castello" or strong-
hold still shown. In 1396 the town was destroyed by
Facino Cane, the visconti condotliere, then planning
a "stato" of his own, inclusive of Alessandria, Novara
and Tortona. In 1535 it was taken by the French
during their invasion of Lombardy; in the following
year they were driven out by Charles V, after a long
siege.
■The French again captured it in 1796, and in 1799 the Austrians, under (jeneral Melas, drove out the French under Championnet. The painter and archi- tect, Ambrogio da Fossano, better known as " II Bor- gognone", designer of the Certosa at Pavia, was a native of Fossano.
The episcopal see dates from 1592; from 1801 to 1817 it was suppressed, after which it was again re- established. It contains 25 parishes and 36,000 souls, has 3 religious houses for men and 13 for women, 2 educational establishments for boys and 2 for girls, 5 charitable institutions, and one weekly Catholic paper.
Anon., Antichild e origini di Fosaano (1894); Cappelletti, Lechiesed Italia (Venice, 185S), XIV, 281-286.
U. Benigni.
Fossombrone (FontTM SEMrRONii), Diocese op (FoROSEMPRONiENsis), in the province of Pesaro, Italy, a suffragan of Urbino. The ancient Forum Sempronii took its name from Caius Sempronius Gracchus. The city and its environs abound in antiq- uities, especially inscriptions. Noteworthy remains are the statue of the god Vertumnus; the Furlo Pass, con- structed by the Emperor Vespasian (70-76) to shorten the passage of that mountain; and the bridge of Trajan (115) near Calmazzo, and that of Diocletian (292), both over the Metaurus. Near the Furlo Pass, during the Gothic War, was fought (552) the battle of Petra Pertusa (the pierced rock), in which Totila was overcome by the Byzantine general, Narses. Fossom- brone was included in the Donation of Pepin, but re- mained subject to the Duchy of Spoleto until 1198, when it passed under papal rule. It was then held in fief of the Holy See by different families: by the house of Este (1210-28), the Malatesta (1340-1445), the Montefeltro (of Urbino, 1445-1031); from 1500 to 1503 it acknowledged the rule of Caesar Borgia.
Christianity was introduced there, according to ITghelli, by St. Felicianus of Foligno. The martyrolo- gies mention sevend iii;irtyis: Aquilinus, Geminus, Gelasius, Magnus and 1 )c>iKit:i, also a bishop, Timothy, and his daughter (4 I'Vbruary). The first bishop of
