Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/610

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PATRIABCH


652


PATRIARCH


pope, the Orthodox recognize the civil headship of Constantinople, the Armenians a certain primacy of honour in thoir catholicus. But in every case the es- sence of a patriarcli's iliKnity is that he has no other patriarch over him a.i palriarch. On the other hand, these Western minor patriarchs have never been su])- posod to be exempt from the Roman patriardiate. They have never had fragments cut away from Rome to make patriarchates for them, as for instance Jeru- salem was formed of a fragment detached from Antioch.

Indeed, none of them has ever had any patriarchate at all. It may be said that the origin of the title in the West was an imitation of the East. But legally the situation was totally different. The Western patriarchates have never been more than mere titles conveying no jurisdiction at all. The earliest of them was Aquileia in Illyricum. It was an important city in the first centuries; the see claimed to have been founded by St. Mark. During the rule of the Goths in Italy (fifth to sixth centuries) the Bishop of Aquileia was' called patriarch, though the name was certainly not used in any technical sense. It is one more exam- ple of the looser meaning by which any venerable bishop might be so called in earlier times. However, the Bishop of Aquileia began to use his complimen- tary title in a more definite sense. Though Illyricum undoubtedly belonged legally to the Roman Patri- archate, it was long a fruitful source of dispute with the East (Orth. Eastern Church, 44-45) ; Aquileia on the frontier thought itself entitled to some kind of independence of either Rome or Constantinople. At first the popes resolutely refused to acknowledge this new claim in any form. Then came the quarrel of the Three Chapters.

When, however, Pope Vigilius had yielded to the second Council of Constantinople (553), a number of North Italian bishops went into formal schism, led by Macedonius of Aquileia (539-56). From this time the Bishops of Aquileia call themselves patri- archs, as heads of a schismatical party, till 700. Pau- linas of Aquileia (557-71) moved his see to Grado, a sm^all island opposite Aquileia, keeping, however, the old title. This line of bishops in Grado became Catho- lics about 606; their schismatical suffragans then restored the old see at Aquileia as a schismatical patri- archate. The popes seem to have allowed or toler- ated the same title for the Bishops of Aquileia-Grado. The Synod at Aquileia in 700 put an end to the schism finally.

From that time, however, there were two lines of so-called patriarchs, those of Aquileia and of Grado (where the bishop now kept the title of Grado only). Neither had more than metropolitical jurisdiction. Both these titles are now merged in that of the Patri- arch of Venice. The See of Venice absorbed Grado in the fifteenth century. The city of Aquileia was over- thrown by an earthquake in 1348, but the line of patri- archs continued at Udine. It came thus entirely in the power of the Venetian Republic; the patriarch was always a Venetian. Eventually Benedict XIV, in 1751, changed the title to that of Pairiarch of Venice.

The discovery of America added a vast territory to the Church, over which it seemed natural that a patri- arch should reign. In 1520 Leo X created a "Patri- archate of the West Indies" among the Spanish clergy. In 1572 Pius V joined this rank to the office of chief chaplain of the Spanish army. But in this case, too, the dignity is purely titular. In 1644 Innocent X gave the patriarch some jurisdiction, but expressly in his quality of chaplain only. He has no income as patri- arch and is often also bishop of a Spanish diocese. In 1716 Clement XI, in answer to a petition of King John, who, in return for help in fighting Turks, wanted a patriarch like the King of Spain, erected a titular Patriarchate of Lisbon at the king's chapel. The city was divided between the jurisdiction of the Arch-


bishop of Lisbon and the new patriarch. In 1740 Benedict XIV joined the archbishopric to the patri- archate. The Patriarch of Lisbon has certain i)rivi- leges of honour that make his court an imitation of that of the pope. His chapter has three orders like those of the College of Cardinals; he himself is always made a cardinal at the first consistory after his preconization and he uses a tiara (without the keys) over his arms, but he has no more than metropolitical juris- diction over seven suffragans. Lastly, Leo XI 11, in 1880, as a counterpoise to the Patriarchate of the West Indies, erected a titular Patriarchate of the East Indies attached to the See of Goa.

At various times other Western bishops have been called patriarchs. In the Middle Ages those of Lyons, Bourges, Canterbury, Toledo, Pisa were occasionally BO called. But there was never any legal claim to these merely complimentary titles.

V. Existing Patriarchs. — We give first a com- plete list of all persons who now bear the title. A. Catholics. — The pope as Patriarch of the West (this is the commonest form; "Patriarch of Rome", or "Latin Patriarch" also occur) rules all Western Europe from Poland to Illyricum (the Balkan Peninsula), Africa west of Egypt, all other lands (America, Australia) colonized from these lands and all Western (Latin) missionaries and dwellers in the East. In other words, his patriarchal jurisdiction extends over all who use the Western (Roman, Ambrosian, Mozarabic) rites, and over the Byzantine Uniats in Italy, Corsica, and Sicily. As patriarch he may hold patriarchal synods and he frequently makes laws (such as ritual laws and our form of clerical celibacy) for the Western patri- archate alone.

The Uniat Catholic patriarchs are as follows: (1) Melchite Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and all the East, ruling over all Melchites (q. v.); (2) the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch and all the East; (3) the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East; (4) the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria; (5) the Patri- arch of Cilicia of the Armenians; (6) the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldees. These rule over all mem- bers of their rite, except that the Armenian has no jurisdiction in Austria or the Crimea, where the Ar- menian Bishops of Lemberg and Artwin are exempt, being immediately subject to the Holy See.

Of the Latin patriarchs only one has jurisdiction: the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (over all Latins in Palestine and Cyprus). All the others are titular, namely: the Latin Patriarchs of Constantinople, An- tioch and Jerusalem, ornaments of the papal court at Rome; the "minor" Patriarchs of Venice, Lisbon, the West Indies, the East Indies. It should be noted that the modern Roman hsts (e. g. the "Gerarchia Catto- lica") ignore the difference between those who have jurisdiction and the titular patriarchs and count all who bear the title of one of the old patriarchates (Con- stantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) a,s ma- jor, all others (including Babylon and Cilicia) as minor.

B. Non-Catholics. — Non-Catholics who bear the title now are the Orthodox Patriarchs of Constanti- nople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem; the Nestorian patriarch at Kuchanis (his title is now "Catholicus and Patriarch of the East"); the Copric Patriarch of Alexandria; the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch; four Armenian patriarchs, the "Catholicus and Patriarch of all Armenians" at Etchmiadzin and those of Con- stantinople, Sis, and Jerusalem. The rights, dignity, and duties of patriarchs form part of the canon law of each Church. They are not the same in all cases. As a general principle it may be said that the fundamen- tal notion is that a patriarch has the same authority over his metropolitans as they have over their suffra^ gan bishops. Moreover, a patriarch is not himself subject to another patriarch, or rather he is not sub- ject to any one's patriarchal jurisdiction. But there