CAN ( 149 )
lant, in 34 Articles, drawn chiefly from that of St. Bencdiff, but accommodated to the Cleric Life. In this were pre- fcrib'd their Penances, Habits, &c. There was a fecond Rule made in 81 6, at the Requeft of Charlemaigne, by the Bifliops then conven'd at Aix la Chapelle, on account of the Roman Indiction; compos'd of Extracts from the Fa- thers and Councils.
Canons Regular, are Canons that {till live in Commu- nity; and who, like Religious, have, in procefs of Time, to the Practice of their Rules, added the folemn Profefli- bn of Vows : They are cailed Regulars, to diftinguifh them from thofe Canons who abandon living in Communi- ty; and at the lame time, the Obfervance of the Canons made as the Rule of the Clergy, for the Maintenance of me antient Difcipline. See Regular.
Canons fubfifted in their Simplicity till the Xlth Cen- tury, when tome of them feparating from the Community, took with them the Name of Canons, or acephalous Priefts, bccaule they declin'd to live in Community with the Bifhop 5 and thofe who were left, thenceforth acquir'd the Denomina- tion of Canons Regular. The Regulars have adopted molt of the Profeflions of the Rule ot St. Allgttftin. 'Tis dif- puted to which Clafs the Canons Regular belong, whether to the Clergy or the Religious; both the Cleric and Mo- Baltic State being united in 'cm. The Point of Priority and Precedence is hotly contefted, both between the Regular Canons and the Priefls; and the Regular Canons, and Am- ple Monks : The double Capacity of the Canons, is the Foundation of this Controveriy.
Canons Secular, or Lay Canons, are fuch among the Laity, as have been admitted, out of Honour and Rel'pect, into fome Chapters of Canons; fuch are the Counts of An- ion, in the Church of St. Martin de fours; the Kings of France, of St. Hilary in Poiliicrs, &c. the Emperor, of St. 'Peters, ike.
Canoness, in the Romifh ChurcH, a Maid who enjoys a Prebend, affefled, by the Foundation, to Maids; without being oblig'd to renounce the World, or make a-y Vows : There are few of thefe, except in Flanders and Germany : They are rather look'd upon as a Seminary and Retreat of Girls for Marriage, than an Engagement for the Service of God.
Canonesses of St. Auguftin, are a kind of Religious, who follow the Rules of St. Auguftin $ of which there are various Congregations. See Augustins.
Canonry, or Canonate, the Benefice fill'd by a Ca- non. The Canonate is diftinguifh'd from Prebend, in that the Prebend may fubfift without the Canonate, whereas the Canonate is infeparable from the Prebend : Tis to the Canonate, not the Prebend, that the Right of Suffrages and other Privileges are annex'd. See Prebend. . CANON, in its more proper Senfe, is a Law, or Rule of Ecclefiailicai Difcipline; and particularly, a Decree of a Council. Canons are Decifions of Matters of Religion; or Regulations of the Polity and Difcipline of a Church, made by Councils, either General, National, or Provincial; as, the Canons of the Council of Nice, of Trent, &c. See Council, and Canon Law.
There have been various Collections of the Canons of the Ealrern Councils; but four principal ones, each ampler than the preceding ones. The firft, according to Ujloer, A.'D. 380, containing only thofe of the firft Oecumenical Council, and the five Provincial ones : They were but 164 in num- ber. To thefe, 2)icnyJ?us Exiguus, in the Year 520, ad- ded the 50 Canons of the Apoftlcs, and thofe of the other General Councils. The Greek Canons, in this fecond Col- lection, end with thofe of the Council of Calcedon; to which are fubjoin'd, thofe of the Council of Sardica, and the African Councils. The fourth and laft Collection, comes down as low as the fecond Council of Nice; and 'tis on this that Salfamon and Zonaras have commented.
There is a great Difpute about the Apoftolical Canons, ufiially afcrib'd to St. Clement. Sellarmin, Saronius, &c. will have them to be genuine Canons of the Apolllcs : Hincmar, de Marca, Severidge, Sic. take them to be fratn'd by the Bifliops, who were the Atoftlcs Difciples in the lid or Hid Century. 'Bailie, &c.' maintain them to have been forg'd by fome Herctick in the Vlth Century. The Greek Church allow 85 of them, and the Latins only 50.
Canon is alfo ufed for the authoriz'd Catalogue of the Sacred Wrhings; See Scripture, Bible, Testament. The antient Cation, or Catalogue of the Hooks of the Old Tcftament, was made by the Jews, and is ordinarily attri- butedjo F.fdras. This is the Canon allow'd to have been tollow'd by t he Primitive Church, till the Council of Trent; wa, according to St. Jerom, confided of no, more than 22 but that Council enlarg'd the Canon very confide-
CAN
that 'tis the fame with that of the Council of iiyppo, held iri 393. and with that of the third Council, at which were prefent 47 Bifliops, and among the reft, St. Auguftin; who dedar'd they receiv'd it from their Fathers. Some of the Fathers diftinguifh the infpir'd Writings into three Claffes, Proto-Canonical, Deutero-Canonical, and Apocryphal. See Deutero-Canonical, and Apocryphal.
Pafibal Canon, a Table of the Moveable Feafts, fhew- ing the Day of Eafter, and the other Feafts depending on it, for a Cycle of 19 Years. The Pafibal Canon is fuppos'd to be the Calculation of Enfebius of Cefarea, and to have been done by Order of the Council of Nice. See Easter, Feast, Cycle, ££c.
Canon is alfo us'd in fome Orders of Religious, for the Book that contains their Rules, Conftitutions, tic. Canon, again, is us'd for the Catalogue of Saints acknowlcdg'd and canoniz'd in the Romifh Church. See Saint, and Cano- nization.
Canon is alfo ufed, by way of Excellence, in the Romijb Church, for the fecret Words of the Mafs, from the Pre- face to the Pater; in the Middle of which the Prieft makes the Confecration : The common Opinion is, that the Ca- non commences with Te igitur. Sic. The People are to be on their Knees, hearing the Canon; and are to rehearfe it to themfelves, fo as not to be heard. The Canon is pre- tended to have been put into its prefent Form by St. Jerom, by Order of Pope Siricius. The Council of Trent declare the Canon of the Mafs to have been fram'd by the Church 5 and to be compos'd of the Words of Jefus Chrift, his Apo- ftles, and the firft Popes : Some call it Atlion.
Canon, in Mufick, is a Rule, or Method of determin- ing the Intervals of Notes. See Interval.
Ptolemy, rejecting the Ariftoxenian Way of meafuring the Intervals in Mufick, by the Magnitude of a Tone, (which was fuppos'd to be form'd by the Difference be- tween a Ttiapente and a Diatejferon) thought that mufical Intervals fhould be diftinguifti'd, according to the Ratio's or Proportions which the Sounds terminating thofe Intervals bear to one another, when confider'd according to their de- gree of Acutenefs or Gravity; which, before Ariftoxenus, was the old Pythagorean Way. He therefore made the 2)iapafon confift in a double Ratio; the iDiapente in a Sefquialteral; the Tliateffaron, in a Sefquitertian, and the Tone it felf in a Sefquioctave; and all the other Intervals, according to the Proportion of the Sounds that terminate them : Wherefore, taking the Canon, (as 'tis call'd) for a determinate Line of any length, he fhews how this Canon is to be cut accordingly, fo that it may reprefent therefpec- tive Intervals : and this Method anfwers exactly to Experi- ment in the different Lengths of mufical Chords. From this Canon, P'tolemy and his Followers, have been call'd Canonici; as thofe of Ariftoxenus, were call'd Mufici. See
MuSICK.
Canon in Trigonometry, and Algebra, a general Rule for the Solution of all Cafes, of a like Nature with the pre- fent Inquiry : Thus, every laft Step of an Equarion is a Canon; and, if turn'd into Words, becomes a Rule to folve all Queftions of the fame Nature with that propos'd. For the ConftruBion of the Canon of Sines; fee Sines. For s, fee Tangent. For Logarithms, fee Loga- . tic.
Natural Canon of Triangles, is the Canon of Sines, Tangents, and Secants taken together : So called, becaufe ferving principally for the Solution of Triangles. See Tri- angle.
Artificial Canon, is the Ctintm of Artificial Sines, Tan- gents, tic. i. e. of Cofines, Cotangents, tic. See Cosine, Cotangent, £&:.
Canon Law, a Colleflion of Ecclefiafticai Statutes, Con- ftitutions, Decifions, and Maxims, taken from the antient Councils, the Decrees of Popes, and the Reports and Re- folutions of the Primitive Fathers. See Law.
The Canon Law that obrain'd throughout the Weft, till the Xlth Century, was the Collection of Canons made by Dionyjius Exiguus, in 520; the Capitularies of Charle- maigne, and the Decrees of the Popes, from Siricius to Anaftajius. No regard was had to any thing not compris'd in thefe; and the French ftill maintain the Rights of the Galhcan Church, to confift in their not being oblig'd to ad- mit any thing elfe, but to be at Liberty to reject all Inno- vations made in the Canonical Jurifprudence fincc that Compilation; as well as all Papal Decrees before Siricius. Indeed, between the VHIth and Xlth Centuries, the Ca- non Lain was mix'd and confounded with the Papal De- crees, from St. Clement to Siricius; which tiil then had been unknown : This gave occafion to a new Reform, or
Tangent:
RITIIM,
- Body ol the Canon Law; which is the Colkcfion ftill
books ■ but that Council enlarg d the Canon very confide- extant, under the Title of The Concordance of the difcord-
n„d ,'„;; "'" m u "Ae Books which we call 4^o'/-*«/; ing Canons, made in rt 5 i, by Gratia,,, a Benediflin
Srrinr,.rP 8 u • - W , S rec01v d , as Books of Holy Monk, from Texts of Scripture, Councils, and Sentiments
H Jh^ t£° n '" 0t ,, n ,em *' al l' ein g "tinted of of the Fathers, in the fevcral Points of Ecclefiafticai Polity,
ntreiy. ine Roman, fts, in defence of this Canon, fay, This Work he divided according to the Order of Matters,
R I not
