LAICIZATION
745
LAICIZATION
institutions or establishments, and from all its acts.
An attempt has been made to set up a " lay " morality,
i. e. a moral code independent of all revealed religion,
as if Christian morality were aught else than the dic-
tates of natural law; wliile some think they can es-
tablish a rationalistic morality without religion and
without a Deity, without a future life, and with no real
responsibility — a determinist morality which is the
very negative of all morality. (See Ethics.)
To laicize, then, is to give this lay character to whatever had not previously had it — or, at least, not entirely. It is to exclude religion from entering in any manner into the life of society as such. In this way education, the courts of justice, the array, the navy, the hospitals — in a word all activities under the control of the public authorities have been laicized in France. Laicization is the externalization and product of the rationalistic, anti-Catholic, and anti-re- ligious movement. It is evident, therefore, that lai- cization, thus understood, goes far beyond "equal- ity", by which the State recognizes equal rights as possessed by various confessions or religions; it is much more than "neutrality", the attitude adopted by the State in its dealings with the divers confes- sions to which its citizens belong; it is something quite different from "separation", by which the concordats existing between the two powers are dissolved, and the official character of the Church, as hitherto recognized by the State, abolished. In addition to all this, the "laicization" of which we are speaking implies the negation of all religion in matters concerning tem- poral society; it is the ultimate outcome of absolute Rationalism applied to social life as such.
Looked at historically, laicization is the final out- come of what was formerly called "secularization", i. e.,the hostile action of the secular power, which has successively despoiled the Church of the prerogatives she enjoyetl in FUiropean society as moulded by the in- fluence of Christianity for centuries. It is true that all the European nations have not moved with equal rapidity in this matter, and that they are far from having all arrived at the same point in their evolution towards complete secularization. Moreover, it must be recognized that this movement, hastened, in so far as concerns the Catholic religion, by the Reformation, has been retarded and partially eliminated in non- Catholic countries — where the civil power already pos- sesses more or less complete influence, if not authority, over religion — whilst in Catholic countries it is in presence of an independent religious authority which it even accuses at times of being foreign. But if we abstract from local differences, the main lines of this secularizing movement, as yet incomplete, are clearly traceable in all thenationsof the Cliristian world. Itis advancing towards two not disconnected results: first, it is marking off more and more distinctly the spheres of action of the two powers, "the spiritual and the temporal", as the Gallicans formerly said; secondly, the secular power, while it frees itself from the influ- ence of the spiritual power, confines the latter to a purely religious domain, depriving it gradually of the privileges it enjoyed in the Christian societies of the MidiUe Ages.
It is not the object of this article to give the history of secularization, which rather belongs to the history of each coimtry where it has been attempted or ef- fected. This is only a cursory review, pointing out in their chronological order the various stages and the divers aspects of the movement. If at first we con- sider the privileged situation of the Church in the Roman Empire, and the intimate union of the two powers occasionally confused, we must admit that the Church, though greatly favoured, was in real danger of secularization, owing to the excessive power which the imperial autliority arrogated to itself in religious affairs. The Church received from the emperors, not only considerable endowments, but numerous privi-
leges: she acquired an official position such as had
been held by the ancient pagan religion. The Theo-
dosian Code and, still more, that of Justinian are im-
pregnated with Christianity: the bishops are official
personages and the emperor executes ecclesiastical de-
cisions. Yet it is clear that he controls the Church.
He is no longer the pontifex maximus, but he assumes
the title " Bishop of the Exterior", convokes councils,
makes and unmakes bishops, and legislates in eccle-
siastical and even spiritual matters. Under these cir-
cumstances, the only peril for the Church lay in too
close a dependence on the civil authorities — a misfor-
tune that happened to the Byzantine Church after the
schism. On a few occasions she did sull'cr some vio-
lence — e. g. certain attacks on the popes, and the lai-
cization of the monasteries by Constantino (Joprony-
mus (767).
The situation of the Church in the Western king- doms that rose on the ruins of the empire was differ- ent. The two authorities are still closely united, but the power of the king is less, while the Church is the civilizing element, and represents the tradition of gov- ernment. As a natural result, her influence prepon- derates; she receives considerable gifts from kings and from the faithful; her privileges and exemptions are constantly extended. Thus, when the feudal order came into being, many ecclesiastical dignitaries were in possession of extensive rights, and some were veri- table temporal lords. However, the kings always had influence, and even real power, over the Churches in their realms: they took part in the selection of bishops when they did not elect them; they called the bishops together in councils or mixed assemblies; they author- ized and confirmed disciplinary canons, which they afterwards published as state or capitular laws; but they did not interfere with the purely spiritual power. In such a state of affairs the Church had not to fear any hostile civil legislation; yet she had to submit to a certain amount of usurpation on the part of the royal power, particularly in connexion with episcopal elections and church property. The institution of the precaria, by which princes bestowed on their lay ser- vants, especially their fellow-warriors, the revenues of churches and monasteries, was really a secularization of the goods of the Church. The abuse had existed in the sixth century, but it developed to an alarming ex- tent under Charles Martel (716-41), who adopted the system to reward his soldiers (see Charles M.^rtel; Frank.s). The precaria officially left the Church her property, but the do7}iirtium utile, or benefit, of it was transferred at the request, or prayer, of the king (preces, hence precaria), which was equivalent to a command, to the layman whom he wished to recom- pense. The dominium utile thus acquired was apt to pass to the heirs of the person who acquired it.
Under Pepin and Carloman, sons of Charles Martel, the Prankish councils, especially that of Lestines (also called Liftines and Leptines), in 74:i. corrected the abuse to a certain extent (Hefele, " Hist, dcs con- ciles". III, 342 sq.). Canon ii, owing to the circum- stances of the times, does not aljolish the precaria, but it reserves to the Church a tax of a silver penny per hearth (casata); on the death of the beneficiary the property returns to the Church, though the prince may bestow it again. In this way the Church's right of property was safeguarded against indefinite transmis- sion, and at the same time she enjoyed some portion of the revenues accruing from her property. Al- though less common, the practice continued for a long time, gradually changing into the system of "commen- dations". The latter, though differing juridically from the precaria, had the same effect so far as the property of the Church is concerned: the revenues, diverted from tlu'ir proper purpose, were received by laymen named by tlie king. This abuse spread extensively in the ninth century, especially under Emperor Lothair, and we find reforming councils of the I'rankish Em-
