Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/367

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SUBIACO


321


STTBIACO


Subdeaconship is conferred when the bishop gives he empty chalice and paten to the candidate to be ouched, sayinR: "See what kind of ministry is given o you, etc. " Two ceremonies following, the presenta- ion of the cruets by the archdeacon and the imposi- ion of the vestments, are not essential and need not )e supplied if omitted (S. R. C, 11, March, 1820). rhen the bishop gives the candidate the Book of '"pistles to be touched, saying: "Take the Book of epistles and receive power to read them in the holy 'hurcli of l^od for the living and the dead in the name if I lie Lord." In civ.se of omission, this rite must be iilililieil and is probablj' an essential part of the or- lination (S. C. C, 11 Jan., 1711). In the Greek 'hurch, there is a laying on of hands and a suitable )raycr, but there is no imposition of hands in the Latin 'hurch. It is true that a letter of Innocent III to he Hishop of Ely in England (a. d. 120-1) is cited as (■quiring that if the laying on of hands in the subdea- ousliip be omitte<l, it must be afterwards supplied i-.\p. 1, X, de sacr. non interand, 1. 6), but there seems lo doubt that the word "deaconship" was in the original text (Correct. Rom. ad cit. cap. 1).

The duties of a subdeacon are to serve the deacon ,t iSIass; to prepare the bread and wine and sacred ■es.sels for the Holy Sacrifice; to present the chalice .nd paten at the Offertory and pour water into the fine for the Eucharist: to chant the Epistles solemnly; o wash the sacred linen. In the Greek Ch\nch, sub- leacons prepare the chalice at the Prothesis and gviard he gates of the sanctuary during the Holy Sacrifice, n the ancient Roman Church, the subdeacons ad- iiiiiislcred in great part the temporal goods of the lolv See and were often emploj-ed on important mi.s- ions l)y the popes. A candidate for the subdiaconate mist have been confirmed and have received minor irders. He must have the knowledge befitting his iraih" in the Church and have entered on his twenty- econd j'ear. He must also have acquired a title to irders. After ordination, he is bound to celibacy and

the recitation of the Divine Office.

G.tBP.tRRi, De sacra oTdinatione (Paris. 1894); Wernz. Jus eeret., II (Home. 1899); Ferraris, Bibl. canon., V (Rome, 891), 8. V. Ordo; Taunton, The Law of the Church (London, 90r,). .s. V.

William H. W. FAN^^NG.

Subiaco (SmLACCTM, Sublaceum, Sublaquem),

1 city in the Province of Rome, twenty-five miles rom Tivoli, received its name from the artificial akes of the villa of Nero and is renowned for its iacred grotto {Snqro Speco), the Abbey of St. Scho- a-stica, and the archiepiscopal residence and Church )f St. .\nilrew, which crowns the hill. When St. Benedict , at the age of fourteen, retired from the world le li\ed for three years in a cave above the River ^nio. supplied with the necessaries of life by a monk, <t. Uom.an. The grotto became the cradle of the 5ene<lictine Order. St. Benedict was able to build -wehe monasteries and to place twelve monks in !ach. The one at the grotto seems to have had but I short existence; in 8.54 we find a record of its reno- vation. In this J'ear Leo IV is said to have conse- crated an altar to Sts. Benedict and Schohislica and motlicr to St. Sylvester. Another renovation took ilacc in 10.53 under .Vbbot Humbert of St. Schohus- ica. Abbot John V, created cardinal by Gregory k'll, made the grotto the terminus of a yearly pro- jcssion, built a new road, and had the altars recon.se- sratcfl. Shortly before 1200 there existed a com- nunity of twelve, which Innocent III made a priory; Fohn XXII in 1312 appointed a special abbot. A sew ro;id was built by the city in 1688. The sacred jrotto is still a favourite pilgrimage, and on 27 Oc- tober, 1900, Pius X granted a daily plenary indul- gence to those who receive Holy Communion there ind pray accorrling to the intention of the Holy Father (.\cta Ap. Sedis, II, 405). A short description

XIV.— 21


of the grotto, the church, and chapels, is given by Chandlery, "Pilgrim Walks in Rome" (New York, 1908i, p. 469. The Abbey of St. Scholastica, about a mile and a half below the grotto, was built by St. Benedict himself (about 520), and endowed by the Roman patricians, TertuUus and .^Dquitius. The second abbot, St. Honoratus, changed the old monas- tery into a chapter room and built a new one, dedi- cating it to Sts. Ccsmas and D.amian. It was de- stroyed by the Lombards in 601 and abandoned for a century. By order of John VII it was rebuilt by Abbot Stephen and consecrated to Sts. Benedict and Scholastica. Demolished in 840 by the Saracens and again in 981 by the Hungarians, it rose from its ruins. Benedict VII consecrated the new church, and henceforth the abbey was known by the name St. Scholastica. In 1052 Leo IX came to Subiaco to settle various disputes and to correct abuses; a similar visit was made by Gregory VII. Special favour was shown by Pascal II, who took the abbey from the jurisdiction of the Bishoj) of Tivoli and made it an abbacy nullius. Its temporal welfare Wiis also a care of the popes. Thus, among others. Innocent III, at his vLsit in 1203, increased the revenues of the abbey. With the decline of religious fervour, strifes and dissensions arose to such an extent that Abbot Bartholomew in 1364, by command of the pope, had to dismi-ss some of the incorrigible monks and fill their places with religious from other monas- teries. Numbers were brought in from Germany, and for many decades Subiaco was a centre of German thrift, science, and art. Still, it seems the discipline was not satisfactory, for Urban VI (1378-89) abolished the abbots for life, took aVay from the monks the right of election, and gave the administration and revenues to a member of the Curia. Callistus III, in 1455, gave the abbey in commendam to a cardinal. The first of these was the Spanish Cardinal Torque- mada and the second Roderigo Borgia (later Alexan- der VI), who remodelled the Castrum Sublacence, once the summer resort of the popes, and made it the residence of the commendatory abbot.

Many of these abbots cared but little for the religious life of the monks and looked only for the revenues. As an example, Pompeo Colonna, Bishop of Rieti, commendatory abbot since 1506, squan- dered the goods of the abbey and gave the income to unworthy subjects. On complaint of the community, in 1510, Julius II readjusted matters and restored the monastic possessions. For spiritual benefit a union had been made between Subiaco and the Abbey of Farfa, but it lasted only a short time. In 1514 Subiaco joined the Congregation of St. Justina, whose .abbot -general was titular of St. Scholastica, while a cardinal remained commendatory abbot. Even after this \inion there were continual quarrels between Subiaco and Farfa, Subiaco and Monte Cassino, the Germans and the Italians. After this but little is known about the abbey until the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1851 some of the mon- asteries of Italy, with consent of the Holy See, formed a separate province, though still belonging to the Congregation of St. Justina. Soon other monasteries in various parts of the world wished to join this union, and Pius IX, by Decree of 9 March, 1872, established the Cassine.se Congregation of primitive observance. This congregation, known also as the Congregatio Sublacensis, has had a marvellous growth for, ac- cording to the "Familia? Conftederata'" of 1910, it embraces 35 monasteries in 5 pro\inces, with a total of 10.50 religious. The troubles of Subiaco did not cease for by order of 19 June, 1873, the property was eequestrated by the Italian Government, the abbey declared a national monument, and the religious tolerated as custodians of the same. At first but few monks remained, but in 1897 there was again a com- munity of 25 and the "Fami'.ia; Confcederata; " of