CHAPTER II. OF CHURCHES. SECTION 1. Cathedral and Collegiate Churches. CATHEDRAL churches were probably unknown in England Origin of prior at least to the time of the Emperor Constantine; but, cathedrals. after his conversion, the other converts in those days and in the following times, who were many of them governors and nobles, settled lands of considerable extent upon those who converted them; and the first oratories, or places of public worship, are said to have been built upon those lands. These first oratories were called cathedra or sedes; cathedrals, sees or seats, from the clergy's constant residence thereon; and it is said that every town which hath a see of a bishop placed in it is thereby entitled to the honours of a city; but, query, whether it is not also necessary that it should be a borough incorporate, and whether the new sees erected, or to be erected, under the authority of the ecclesiastical commission, and some of the Welsh sees, would rightly confer the name of city on the places wherein they are situated? a The distinction between cathedral and collegiate churches consists principally in the see of the bishop at the former, for a dean and chapter are common to both; and while cathedrals are subject only to the visitation of the archbishop, and to the king, when the archbishopric is vacant, collegiate churches are visitable by the bishop of the diocese, unless where it has been expressly provided otherwise by the founder; consequently, every cathedral or see, so soon as it is erected, is exempt from and independent of the visitation of the archdeacon. Thus, a bishop's see having Exempt from been newly erected within the limits of a certain arch- the archdeacon's deaconry, it was represented that the archdeacon had jurisdiction. sumed to exercise his jurisdiction over the bishop there consecrated, and the church; and Gregory IX. decreed thereupon, that this should no more be done, but that the bishop should be exempt from the archidiaconal jurisdicGodolph. Abr. 347; 1 Inst. 109. C C pre tion. And as this decretal epistle became a part of the canon law, it may be presumed that the same would now be held in the case of any new sees erected under the recommendation of the ecclesiastical commission. Besides the proper revenues of cathedral churches to be applied towards the repairs thereof, there are divers forfeitures by the several canons of Archbishop Stratford to be applied to the same purpose; namely, for the unfaithful execution of wills, for extorting undue fees for the probate of wills, and half the forfeitures for excessive fees at the Cathedraticum. admission of curates; and also the cathedraticum, which is or formerly was paid in honour of the cathedral church, and in token of subjection to it, by every parochial minister within the diocese. The cathedral the parish church of the diocese. Ornaments successor. This annual pension, as it has been called, is restrained by the canon law to two shillings at most from each parish, and it has been sometimes called synodaticum or synodals, because generally paid at the bishop's synod at Easter; but all these payments are now fallen into disuse, and such claims could not now probably be successfully revived. Yet, notwithstanding the discontinuance of this acknowledgment, the cathedral church is the parish church of the whole diocese; which diocese was, in fact, anciently called parochia, until the application of this name to the lesser branches, into which it was divided, made it, for distinction's sake, to be called only by the name of diocese; and it has been affirmed therefore, that if one resort to the cathedral church for the purpose of hearing divine service, it is a resorting to the parish church within the sense and meaning of the statute; and this further appears, for that it is ordained by a canon of Archbishop Mepham, that, in certain cases, they who cannot be cited personally nor in their dwelling-house, may be cited in their parish church, and if they have no parish church, or that does not appear, then they shall be cited in the cathedral; and that also by canon 65, that excommunicates shall be denounced every six months, as well in the parish church as in the cathedral church of the diocese." The see of a bishop is entitled to the ornaments of the which go to the chapel at his decease; and although other chattels belong to the executor of the deceased, and shall not go in succession, yet the ornaments of a chapel of a preceding bishop are merely in succession; and this is agreeable to analogy, for ordinary things erected in the church for the honour of the dead person shall go to his heir as heirlooms, as in manner of an inheritance. d a Ibid.; Corvin v. Pym, 12 Rep. 186. Of the bishoprics of the new foundation we have before New cathedrals. spoken; as to the cathedral churches of the same it was enacted, that the king should have power to declare by letters-patent, or other writing under the great seal, such number of cities, sees for bishops, cathedral churches and dioceses, by metes and bounds, as shall appertain, and out of the revenues of the dissolved monasteries to endow them in such manner as he should deem expedient; and, as to such cathedral churches, it will be sufficient to observe that the law regarding them differs not from that regarding the churches of the old foundation. The collegiate church of Ripon is now made a cathedral church, and the chapter is invested with the rights and powers of other cathedral churches; consequently, the visitation of the bishop is exchanged for that of the metropolitan of the province, and it has become exempt from the archidiaconal visitation; and provision has also been made for an episcopal residence and demesne for the see. The collegiate church of Manchester will probably be shortly changed in like manner. SECTION 2. Parish Churches. Of churches, other than cathedral and collegiate, by far Definition of a the largest proportion, as well as the most important, are parish church. those of the different parishes. If a church or chapel has a public cemetery belonging to it, a communion table, pews in right of houses, christenings there, and Easter dues paid its minister, these things are strong to show that it is a parochial church or chapel; to which definition there should probably be added, that the church should have existed from time immemorial, and that the inhabitants of the district belonging to it should never have contributed to the repairs of a mother church; for these things would show it to be a chapel only, dependant upon some mother church. According to Degge and Kennet, baptism and sepulture are proofs of a parochial chapel, and this is true, but they are certainly not sufficient proofs; and this will be seen by what is said of this subject under the title of church rates.h The test or definition by which a parish church or chapel Different kinds may be tried is of course not applicable to parish churches of. e 31 Hen. 8, c. 91. f Order in Council, dated 5th October, 1836. Ex parte Greenhouse, 1 Madd. 108. Original parish churches. churches. declared so by special or general acts of parliament, and, as well for many practical purposes, as here for more easy consideration, parochial churches may be thus classed; namely, original parish churches, substituted parish churches, separate parish churches, and new district parish churches. It will be obvious, however, that the greater part of what we shall have here to remark will be equally applicable to all, since all are parochial churches equally. The ancient manner of founding churches of this kind was, that the intended founder made application to the bishop of the diocese and obtained his license, then the bishop or his commissioners set up a cross, and set forth the ground where the church was to be built; and then the founders might proceed in the building of the church, and when the church was finished the bishop was to consecrate it.k No person therefore could erect a church without leave of the bishop; and after it is erected the law takes no notice of it as a church until it is consecrated by the bishop; for this reason, therefore, the question of a church or not a church, a chapel or not a chapel, is to be tried and certified by the bishop.' But if the question be whether, admitting it to have been consecrated, it be a church or only a chapel, such a question would not be triable in the ecclesiastical courts, and prohibition would lie, for such a question shall be tried by the country." Consecration of The consecration of churches was first enjoined by Eugenius, the first priest of Rome who styled himself the pope, in the year 154, and this was aftewards enforced in this country by a constitution of Othobon." In cases of urgent necessity it appears that, by consent of the bishop, divine service might be preformed and the sacraments administered in churches and chapels not consecrated; as where the church was destroyed by fire, and service performed in tents, or in the open air, before the consecrated altar; and more especially where a church was shut up and under repair, and banns had been published in the church of an adjoining parish, a marriage solemnised on the site of the old church was held good." And no church may be consecrated until a competent be first provided. endowment is provided; and the canon law goes further, requiring the endowment to be made not only before con Endowment to iSee the several church building acts; and ante, Book III. Ch. I.; see also the Church Endowment Act. * Still. E. C.; 1 Burn's E. L. 323. 13 Inst. 203. secration, but to be ascertained and exhibited before they begin to build. This endowment in the old churches was commonly made by the lord of the manor, by an allotment of the manse and glebe; and other persons also at the time of the dedication often contributed small portions of land, which is the reason why, in many parishes, the glebe is not only distant from the manor, but is in remote divided parcels. cration. It does not appear necessary here to say much as to the Form of conse form of the consecration, for it is to be found in some of the Books of Common Prayer; and this is now usually, or perhaps universally used, and is the form sent down by the bishops in 1712 to the lower house of convocation, and altered and afterwards agreed to; yet it never received the royal assent, and consequently is not enjoined to be observed; and in fact, although it might be unwise to depart from what has been prescribed by far weightier authority than could now be obtained, and from what has in addition been sanctioned by custom, yet in our Church at the present day every bishop is left to his own discretion as to the form he might choose to observe in the consecration of churches. tion. If a church has been polluted by the shedding of blood, Reconsecration it seems there should be a reconciliation; and if it has been and reconciliaentirely or almost entirely destroyed by fire, a reconsecration; but if the walls were entire and the communion table not injured, then there ought to be no reconsecration: and where a chapel at Hereford had for some time been applied to secular purposes, and had been made a stall for cattle, and a place for laying up provender, yet, as the walls were entire, a reconciliation and not a reconsecration was deemed proper. But where the church at South Malling had been polluted in a similar manner, and had been also rebuilt, and then used for divine services, the minister, churchwardens and parishioners were interdicted by the archbishop from entering the church until there had been a reconsecration. In a case where a reconciliation was judged sufficient, the tenor of the reconciliation was, "The same chapel from all canonical impediment, and from every profanation (if any there were) contracted and incurred, as much as in us lieth, and so far as lawfully we may by the authority aforesaid, we do exempt, relax and reconcile the same." " Probably there is no very certain rule which could be P Gibs. 189. The form is set out very fully in Dr. Burn's work on Ecclesiastical Law, |