CHOIR
693
CHOIR
Their connected history dates from the establishment
of the French at Biloxi in 1690. They were generally
more friendly to the French than to the English, but
were always unsatisfactory and uncertain allies. They
made their first treaty with the United States in 1786,
since which time they have never been at war with the
Government. In 1820 they sold their last remaining
lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to
( Oklahoma, but the removal was not completed until
about twenty years later. Even then a considerable
band, known later as Mississippi Choctaw, remained
behind, most of whom, however, have recently joined
the main body, though there are still hundreds in
Louisiana. Those in the Territory constituted an au-
tonomous Government under the title of the Choctaw
Nation until 1906, when they were admitted to Amer-
ic an citizenship. They number now altogether about
18,000 souls, probably their original number. The
Choctaw were agricultural, dwelling in regularly ar-
ranged towns, with houses of logs plastered with clay,
or of poles covered with mats or thatch. They were
noted for their beautiful pottery and artistic basketry.
In temperament they were considered rather indolent
and without the sense of honour which characterized
some tribes. Among their peculiar customs was that
of flattening the head, and of digging up and cleaning
the bones of the dead, after a short interment, for
preservation in the family. They were much given
to an athletic ball-play, which is still a favourite
among them in the \\ est. Not much is known of their
myths or religion, which probably resembled those of
the Muskogean tribes generally. Their tribal organ-
ization was lax and without central authority. They
hail the clan system, with descent in the female line,
but the number of their clans is not definitely known.
Catholic mission work in the tribe was begun early
in the French period, and though renewed effort was
made under Jesuit auspices some years later, there
were few results. In later years the work has
been more successful, and the majority of those still
remaining in their old homes are now Catholics, while
two mission schools are also in operation among those
in Oklahoma. The earlier missions among the Choc-
taw were intrusted to the Jesuits. Father Mathurin
le Petit began work in the tribe in 1726, and continued
until his transfer to New Orleans as superior of the
Louisiana missions about two years later. He was
■ led by Father Michel Baudouin, who continued
with them eighteen years, often in extreme danger
from their treacherous and insolent disposition and
the hostility of the English traders, until both gov-
ernor and superior deemed it necessary to recall him
and discontinue the work for a time. It was after-
wards taken up by Father Nicholas le Febvre, who
appears to have continued it until the expulsion of
the Jesuits in 1764. Protestant work was begun in
ippibythe American Hoard of Foreign Missions
in 1818, and continued with success in the West. The
Baptists began work in the Territory about 1832. Of
tie Protestant missionaries the most noted names are
those of the Revs. Cyrus Byington and Allen Wright,
both of whom have made important contributions to
our knowledge of the language. In accordance with
a former policy the earlier Protestant establishments
were supported largely by Government funds.
James Mooney.
Choir. — There is much ambiguity about the terms rlunr and presbytery. Strictly speaking, the choir is that part of the church where the stalls of the clergy are. The term is often loosely used for the
whole of the eastern arm, including the choir pro) er, sanctuary, retro-choir, etc. At Westminster Abbey t he stalls are in the east nave and therefore no part of the choir is in the eastern arm. At Canterbury the stalls are in the eastern arm and the choir occupies its western bays, i. e. the space between the crossing
and the sanctuary. In non-collegiate churches the
eastern arm is called the chancel, the eastern portion
of which is the presbytery or sanctuary. In the
earliest Christian churches, e. g. Santa Maria Mag-
giore at Rome, there were but two parts, a nave and
sanctuary; there was no architectural choir. The
sanctuary occupied the apse, and the apse was joined
immediately to the nave, or, in the double-aisled
basilicas of the fourth century, such as those of St.
Peter and St. Paul at Rome, to the transept: there
was no interposition of a choir between nave and
apse. The choir was simply the east part of the nave,
and was fenced off by low walls, usually of marble,
carved or perforated with interlacing patterns —
peacocks (the symbol of immortality), lions, doves,
etc. These walls were called canrelli, hence tin'
English word "chancel". The word choir is first
used by writers of the Western Church. Isidore of
Seville and Honorius of Autun derive it from the
corona or circle of clergy or singers who surrounded
the altar. The choir proper did not exist until tin
time of Constantine, when the clergy were able to
develop the services of the Church. The intro-
duction of the choir, or enclosed space in the centre
of the nave, attached to the bona or presbytery, as
the raised space came to be called, was the last great
change of plan. Round three sides of this choir the
faithful were allowed to congregate to hear the
Gospels or Epistles read from the two pulpits or
ambones, which were built into its enclosure, one on
either side; or to hear the services which were read
or sung by the inferior order of clergy who occupied
its precincts. The enclosure of the choir was kept
low, so as not to hide the view of the raised presby-
tery. In the south-western districts of France and
throughout Spain, also in St. John Lateran, St.
Clement, St. Laurence Without-the-walls, and St.
Mary Major at Rome, the choir occupies the centre
of the nave with an enclosed passage to the sanctuary.
In parts of Italy the choir still retains its ancient
position behind or eastward of the altar. In the
Duomo of Fiesole, and at Lucca, there are two
choirs, one behind and the other in front of the high
altar. In the north of Germany choirs are usually
elevated upon crypts (that of Milan stands over the
confessio) and shut in with solid stone screens; the
same arrangement exists at Canterbury, Auch.
Augsburg, Chartres, Bourges, St-Denis, Amiens, and
Notre-Dame in Paris. The finest existing enclosures
are those of Paris and Amiens.
Bond, Gothic Architecture in England, 183-85; Fergubson, History of Architecture, I, 407; Parker, Glossary of Archl lecture, 1. 102, 103; Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, 146, 117. 14S; Rebeh, History of Medieval Art, 712; Lethaby, Medieval Art, 182, 183.
Thomas H. Poole.
Choir, a body of singers entrusted with the musical parts of the Church service, and organized and in- structed for that purpose. The Talmud witnesses to the careful organization of the Temple choir, and as the first Christians worshipped with the Jews, we find them from the first using the psalmodic solo with congregational refrain, and from the fourth century. psalmody in alternating chorus, both possibly ba ed on Jewish practice. Thus early, and all through the plain-chant period, the choir seems to have been in- fluenced by the liturgical division of the music into solo and chorus chants. Soon after Cotistantine's conversion we hear of lector-schools in which, as boys. many of the clergy had received their training, lint perhaps the most famous song-school of history was the Etonian schola cantorum of St. Gregory, describi d by John the Deacon, called also orphanotmphinm , as its singing boys came chiefly from orphanages. Many of the popes of the seventh century were connected with or came from it. Following this we have the establishment of many other schools, of which the
