was produced by immediate creation; nevertheless, this is the more obvious sense of Genesis, and the Biblical Commission has only reinforced the general opinion of Fathers and theologians. And the same is true of the story of the formation of Eve's body, as narrated in the Book of Genesis; we can hardly say that it is of faith, yet it has Scripture and tradition and authority behind it. True, it may sound like folklore, but may not such folklore proceedings, if we may reverently call them such, have been more intelligible to primitive man; and may not God have deliberately acted folklore for this reason? Such, at all events, is the story that God has told us; and His Church bids us take it as fact.

Larger questions of supernatural import we leave alone; that Fall which preceded all human evolution, such as it was to be, and also that developing of the full stature of Christ' which runs parallel to simply natural progress, whether again merely external or to some extent-if Education Bills be not wholly futile-intellectual. The end of man is union with Christ in His Mystical Body, and to that end all men and all things, past, present, and future, are ordained by God. And thus Christ is fulfilled in His members: they are built up to their full measure, ever increasing in number in this world, and still more in the next; they are built up in fuller unity, the absorbing and incorporating power of the organism increasing to meet the need; they are built up in more perfect knowledge, as the Church penetrates ever more deeply into the mind of her Divine Spouse. For evolution truly divine we must turn before all to the Epistle to the Ephesians.

THOMAS J. AGIUS.

'SACRED PLACES' AND 'SACRED TIMES'

IN THE CODE

BY REV. M. J. O'DONNELL, D.D.

THE first section of the third book deals with the Sacraments (731-1153), the remaining five with Sacred Times and Places,' Divine Worship,' the Teaching Authority of the Church,' 'Benefices,' and the 'Church's Temporal Possessions,' respectively (1154-1551). From all points of view the first is more important, and more difficult, too, than the other five combined. Judged even by the number of canons, it is more extensive; but that is the least of its distinctions. It annuls or modifies old regulations to a greater extent than any similar section of the Code; more than any of the others, it affects the validity, as distinct from the liceity, of acts; and it covers the whole sacramental system-by far the most important element in all missionary life. For these and other reasons we were compelled, in our previous contributions, to keep the preCode legislation constantly in view. Many acts in the sacramental department-the marriage contract is an obvious example-have permanent effects on which a priest may, any day, be asked for a decision: when the case arises, he must remember that the Code is not retrospective, that an act valid now might easily have been invalid two years ago and vice-versa, and that his ultimate decision must depend on the law in force at the time the occurrence took place. Even when the validity is not affected, he must guard against another tendency. He has, perhaps for a score of years or more, been applying the old principles so frequently and so consistently that they have grown into his life. He reads the Code and recognizes, in a theoretical fashion, that new principles have come to take their place. But unless he has summoned up his old friends, one by one, and condemned them individually, the danger is that, when a practical case occurs, he will

forget the Code and revert to the habits of a life-timelike the man who 'beheld his own countenance in a glass,' and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was.'

With the other sections of the third book it is different. For the most part, though not exclusively, the canons affect liceity merely; a priest, therefore, who knows them well is not likely to make serious mistakes, even though his knowledge of previous laws is neither extensive nor accurate. They deal, moreover, with matters that, on the whole, occur less frequently and are not so liable to generate an inconvenient habit. Finally, though practical and important in their own degree, they cannot claim to affect the life of the priest or layman in anything approaching the measure of the sacraments. We may be pardoned, therefore, for reviewing them in whole sections at a time, and for paying little attention to previous laws, except when the considerations mentioned in the last paragraph apply, as they sometimes do, by way of exception.

Sacramentals.-The few canons on the subject (1144-53) belong to the sacramental section, but may be allowed here for the sake of convenience. The definition given (1144), though it differs somewhat from its predecessors, involves no real change; but the rather indefinite teaching of the past is strengthened by the added statement (1145) that it is the exclusive prerogative of the Holy See to establish new Sacramentals, or to abolish, change, or give an authentic interpretation of those already in existence. The legitimate minister, as before, is a cleric who has got the power and to whom its exercise has not been prohibited by competent authority (1146). Though 'consecration' does not depend essentially on Orders, it cannot, apart from law or Apostolic Indult, be given by anyone except a Bishop-on much the same principle as we had occasion to notice before, when dealing with Confirmation and the blessing of the oils for Extreme Unction1 (1147, § 1). Deacons and minor clerics must confine themselves to the limits of their express commission (§ 4). But-a welcome explanation of pre-Code statements-even when blessings are reserved to Bishops or to the Holy See, any priest

1Cf. I. E. RECORD, March, 1918, Fifth Series, vol. xi. p. 209.

2 They may be found in the Pontifical. The non-reserved blessings are given in the Ritual and Missal.

may validly confer them, unless Rome has made distinct provision to the contrary (§ 3). This does not mean, however, that his action would be lawful (§ 3), or that the blessing, validly conferred, would involve the Indulgences for which special provision is made in other sections of the Code (239, § 1, 5°, 349, § 1, 1°). To have them valid, moreover, the formula prescribed by the Church must be rigidly adhered to (1148, § 2). In that connexion the timehonoured distinction between the two classes of blessings is mentioned the 'constitutive' that make the object (a church or cemetery, for instance) a sacred 'thing,' and the 'invocatory' (the blessing of a house, for example) that petition the Almighty for His favours but leave the object precisely as it was. For both, the prescribed formula is essential: but the natural conclusion is drawn that, whereas the object in the first case is to be treated with reverence and employed only for sacred purposes, there is no such special obligation arising in the second (1150).

Exorcisms are discussed in a special section. Some of them occur in other functions, e.g., in Baptism, and fall to the lot of the officiating minister (1153); as for the others, we have a confirmation (1151) of the peculiar development that has restricted to specially qualified priests a branch of Church activity once entrusted unreservedly to minor clerics. But there is a compensating liberality as regards the classes for whom the ceremony may be performed they include, in fact, the whole human race not only the faithful and catechumens, but also nonCatholics or excommunicates' (1152). At first sight, by the way, one may think that this particular canon throws some light on the debated question as to whether excommunicates are Catholics' or not. But wrongly. To a strict classicist the vel of the canon may seem to identify the non-Catholics and excommunicates. But, of course, that cannot be the meaning; for, though some claim that all excommunicates are non-Catholics, no one thinks of saying that all non-Catholics are excommunicates. Nor can anything be inferred from the apparently sharp contrast between the 'faithful,' on the one hand, and the 'excommunicates,' on the other; for the 'catechumens,' who are allowed to stand side by side with the first class are, strictly speaking, a section of the non-Catholics' 1 mentioned as allies of the second.

1 Ch. c. 1149.

、

Be that as it may, the principle of liberality is allowed to extend even further. All blessings, though intended primarily for Catholics, may be given to catechumens also, and, in fact, provided there be no Church prohibition, to non-Catholics as well-to procure them the light of faith or, with it, bodily health' (1149). The concession would have astonished the old-time rigorists. It will relieve the conscience of scrupulous priests if they are asked, as they sometimes are, for blessings, Ritual or other, by heretics or pagans. We have got far from the days when Pope Martin V's distinction between the vitandi and the tolerati marked a revolution in Catholic policy. For the concession just mentioned does not stand alone. The Code that grants it has sanctioned the presence of Catholics at heretical marriages, funerals, and similar functions in specified circumstances (1258, § 2), has allowed the application of Mass for every human being alive (2262, § 2, 2°), and has diminished the number of the vitandi till the class has almost disappeared (2258, § 2).

Sacred Places.-When a place is marked off for divine worship, or for burial purposes, and is blessed or consecrated in the manner prescribed by the liturgy, it becomes 'sacred' in the canonical sense (1154). The 'consecration' is generally reserved to the local Ordinary; but, as we might expect from Canon 1147, even he is unable to act when he has not received episcopal Orders-his power in the case being confined to commissioning a Bishop of his own rite to act in his place (1155). The power to 'bless' is dispensed more liberally. In normal cases it is held by the local Ordinary, in special cases by the 'higher' Superior of an exempt clerical Order (488, 8°), and may be entrusted by either to an ordinary priest (1156). A few minor rules recall regulations we have met already--on Baptism and Confirmation, for example. A record, twofold in this case, must be kept of the function: when there is no record, the evidence of one trustworthy witness will establish the fact, provided nobody's interests are thereby prejudiced the ceremony, once performed, is not to be repeated, but should be allowed when the case is doubtful (1158-9).

When the rites have been duly performed, immunity

1 In some parts of the country these are termed 'offices.' There is a special declaration (8th March, 1919) that the Canon covers public Sacramentale, e.g., the giving of palms, candles, ashes (on Ash Wednesday), etc. A.A.S., xi. 144. 2 Cf. cc 777-9, 798-800.

VOL. XIII-82