396 Catholic countries at various hours each day, by clergymen called canons, devoted to this duty. Besides the Lord's day, or Sunday, which from the apostolic times has been set apart for divine worship, in place of the Jew- ish sabbath, festivals are celebrated to honor the divine mysteries, and present them to the devout contemplation of the faithful. Many are solemnized in honor of the Virgin Mary, the apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and saints of every class, whose virtues are thus set before the faithful for their imitation. Fasting is also a part of church discipline. Forty days before Easter are devoted to this exercise, in commemoration of the fast of our Lord during that period. Ember days, namely, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, in each of the four sea- sons, are observed asjfasts to obtain the divine blessing for the seasons, and worthy ministers for the church, ordinations being held at those times. The eve of great solemnities is observ- ed by fasting, in order to prepare by penance for their celebration. Abstinence is observed on each Friday of the year, and in many coun- tries on Saturday. All these penitential ob- servances are matters of church law, which admits of dispensation. The rites of the mass, and the ceremonie's used in the administra- tion of the sacraments, appertain to discipline, which admits of variety and change, although great deference is shown for ancient usage. This serves to connect ancient and modern times, and to manifest harmony in faith and worship. For this reason the Latin liturgy, used from early times in the Roman church, is still employed by the celebrant, although in- structions are given in the vernacular language, and facilities are afforded to the faithful for praying in a manner suited to their capacity. The chief points of practice on which changes have taken place in the course of ages arg the manner of administering baptism and the eucharist, as also penitential discipline. The solemn mode of baptism was originally by im- mersion. The candidates used to descend into fonts or streams, or rivers, and sink beneath the waters under the pressure of the hands of the minister. In cases of necessity and danger, less solemn modes were used, which, from being frequent, at length after the lapse of ages became universal. In like manner the eucharist, having been instituted by our Lord under the forms of bread and wine, was gen- erally administered under both kinds for many ages. Exceptional cases were always admitted, which at length proved so numerous as to supersede altogether the ancient usage. The church claims the right to regulate, at her just discretion, whatever regards the manner of administering the sacraments, while she holds their substance to be inviolable. Penance for sin was always enjoined, and was proportioned to the degree of the guilt. It became a regular system about the 3d century. In the East it received a great check in the time of Nectarius, the predecessor of St. Chrysostom, the office of public penitentiary having been abolished at Constantinople in consequence of a scandal. In the West it was observed with more or less rigor for several ages, but was effectually set aside by the indulgences granted in the 12th and 13th centuries to volunteers in the wars called the crusades. The penitential canons ceased to be applied even in the tribunal of penance, and milder remedies were offered to those who were found unwilling to submit to the severe injunctions of the ancients. Peni- tential discipline is now almost exclusively confined to the sacrament. Indulgence, or the relaxation of penitential rigor in favor of fer- vent penitents, was granted by the bishops on certain conditions regulated by the penitential canons. After the change of discipline, in- dulgences assumed a new form. They were no longer necessary to release from the obliga- tion of the ecclesiastical law, which had gone into desuetude, and were not directed to the forgiveness of sin, which needed the sacra- mental remedy ; but they were offered to the penitents to aid them in satisfying divine jus- tice, by applying to them the superabundant satisfaction of Christ and his saints. They served as incentives to works of piety, such as almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. The organi- zation of the church consists in its'governrnent by bishops, each in charge of a special flock, or portion of the faithful, with subordination one to another, and the dependence of all on the bishop of Rome, as shepherd of the whole fold of Christ. The episcopal character is the same in all bishops, but governing authority, which is called jurisdiction, is possessed in various degrees in its fulness by the pope, who is the fountain, the streams of which flow to all others. He alone has apostolic authority, which may be everywhere exercised, with due regard to the local prelate, and which is suited to every emergency. During the vacancy of the Roman see, this plenitude,.^ jurisdiction is believed to reside in the cardinals governing ad interim. Each bishop governs his own diocese, not as papal vicar, but as ordinary, that is, proper ruler, although in some things his authority is enlarged as delegate apostolic. Several dioceses form a province, which is governed by an archbishop, who however is not allowed to interfere with his suffragans unless when appealed to, or when a council over which he presides deems a visitation ne- cessary. Many ecclesiastical provinces some- times are united as a nation by means of a primate, who ranks above other prelates. The title of patriarch was given in the early church to the bishop of Alexandria, the see of St. Mark the disciple of Peter, and to the bishop of Antioch, which Peter had governed for some years. Jerusalem also received this title, and even Constantinople. At present there is scarcely a vestige of patriarchal power in these ancient churches, although the title is given to some bishops in partibus infidelium, but rather with a view to keeping up the remem-
