COLLECTIONS
105
COLLECTIONS
have been connected with the Sacrifice of the Mass,
but they were either put into an alms-box perma-
nently set up in the church or they were given in col-
lections made on certain specified occasions. With
regard to the former TertuUian already speaks (Apol.,
xxxix, Migne, P. L., I, 470) of "some sort of chest"
which stood in the chiu'ch and to which the faithful
contributed without compulsion. It seems to have
been commonly called gazophylacium or corhona (Cyp-
rian, De op. et eleemos."; .Jerome, Ep. xxvii, 14).
The collections on the other hand probably took place
on days of which notice was given beforehand. Apart
from a mention in the "Apology" of Justin Martyr (I,
Ixvii), from which we should suppose that a collection
was made every Sunday, our principal source of in-
formation is the series of six sermons "DeCoUectis",
delivered by St. Leo the Great in different years of his
pontificate iMigne, P. L., LIV, 158-168). All these,
according to the brothers Ballerini, probably have
reference to a collection annually made on 6 July, on
which day in pagan times certain games were held in
honour of Apollo, at which a collection took place.
The Church seems to have continued the custom and
converted it into an occasion of almsgiving for pious
purposes upon the octave day of the feast of Sis. Peter
and Paul. It may be noted that both Tertuilian
(De Jejun., xiii, Migne, P. L., II, 972) and St. Leo seem
to regard such contribvitions of money as a form of
mortification, and consequently sanctification, clasely
connected with fa.sting. Thafsimilar collections were
everywhere common in the Early Church and that con-
siderable pressure was sometimes brought to bear to
extort contributions we learn from a letter of St. Greg-
orj- the Great (Migne, P. L., LXXVII, 1060).
As already noted, these methods of gathering alms seem to have had nothing directly to do with the lit- urgy. The offerings which were invariably made by the faithful both in the Eastern and the Western Church during the Holy Sacrifice were long confined to simple bread and wine, or at least to such things as wax, can- dles, oil, or incense which had a direct relation to the Divine service, .\ccording to the so-called .Apostolic Canons (see Canons, Apostolic) other forms of prod- uce which might be offered for the support of the clergy were to be taken to the residence of the bishop, where he lived a sort of community life with his priests (see Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apos- tolorum, I, 564). However, the bread and wine which were brought to the altar at the Offertory- of the Mass were commonly presented in quantities far in ex- cess of what was needed for the Holy Sacrifice, and they thus formed, and were intended to form, a sub- stantial contribution towards the maintenance of those who served in the sanctuary. Various enact- ments were passed during the Carlovingian jieriod with the object of urging the people to remain faithful to this practice, but it seems gradually to have died out, save in certain functions of solemnity, e. g. the Mass celebrated at the consecration of a bishop, when two loaves and two small casks of wine are presented to the celebrant at the Offertorj'. On the other hand, this oblation of breatl and wine seems to have been re- placed in many localities by a contribution in money. At what period the substitution began is not quite clear. Some have thought that a trace of this prac- tice is to be recognized as early as St. Isidore of Sev- ille (595) who speaks of the archdeacon "receiving the money collected from the communion" (Ep. ad Leudof., xii). A less ambiguous example may be found in a letter of St. Peter Damian (c. 10.50) where there is mention of gold coins being offered by the wives of certain princes at his Mass (Migne. P. L. , CXLIV, .360). In any ca.so it is certain that from the twelfth to the fifteenth century a money offering, known in England as the " mas-s-penny", was com- monly made at the Offertory all over the Western Church. Kings and personages of high rank often
had a special coin which they presented at Mass each
day and then redeemed it afterwards for a specified
sum. Chaucer says of his Pardoner: —
Well could he read a lesson or a storie But althebest he sang an offertorj'e; For well he wyste, when that song was songe, He moste preach and well affyle his tongue To Wynne silver, as he right wel cowde, Therefore he sang full merrily and lowde.
The offering was voluntary, and each one brought what he had to give to the altar-rail. Burckard at the beginning of the sixteenth centurj- gives this direction: " If there be any who wish to offer, the celebrant comes to the epistle corner and there standing bareheaded with his left side turned towards the altar, he removes the maniple from his left arm and taking it in his right hand, he presents the end of it to kiss to those who offer, saying to each : ' May thy sacrifice be accepta- ble to God .\lmighty', or 'Mayst thou receive a hun- dredfold and i.(i>si'ss -tiTnal life'." This rubric was not retainrd m th, first dUicial and authoritative edi- tion of the Itonuiii Missal, printed in 1570. Possibly the struggle for precedence in going up to make the offering, of which we read in Chaucer, tended to bring this method of contributing into di.sfavour and led to the carrying round of an alms-dish or bag from bench to bench as is commonly done at present. Collections for specified objects, e. g. the building of a church, the construction of a bridge, the relief of certain cases of distress, etc. have at all times been common in the Church, and during the Middle .-Ages the people were constantly slimulatcd to give more generously to par- ticular f\uiils f.ir |. lolls purposes, e. g. the Crusades, by the grant of s|n'ci;il Indulgences. These grants of In- dulgence were often entrusted to preachers of note ("Pardoners") who carried them from town to town, collecting money and using their eloquence to recom- mend the good work in question and to enhance the spiritual privileges attached to it. This led to many abuses. The Council of Trent frankly recognized them and abolished all grants of Indulgence which were conditional upon a pecuniary contribution to- wards a specified object. Other collections during the Middle -Ages were associated with special objects of piety — for example, noteworthy shrines, statues, or relics. Some few specimens still remain of stone alms- boxes joined to a bracket upon which some statue formerly stood, or united to Easter sepulchres, shrines, etc. One collection, that for the Holy Places, was commonly associated with the creeping to the Cross on Good Fridays, as it still is to-day.
The strain put upon the charity of the lay-folk in the Middle .\ges by the large number of mendicant orders was often severely felt. Some remedy was provided by confining the appeals of tho.se who soli- cited alms to certain assigned districts. The mendi- cants so licensed were in England often known as " limitours ". .\ like difficulty is not unfamiliar in our own day. and the principle has con.sequently been rec- ognized that a bishop has a right to prohibit strangers from collecting alms in his diocese without authoriza- tion. Although it is not always easy to exercise ade- quate control over these appeals, a certain check may be put upon importunate ecclesiastics by withholding permission to say Mass in the diocese. ThLs method of exercising pressure, to be followe<l by complaint to the Congregation of Propaganda in c:ise such prohibi- tions are neglected, is indic;iti'd in a strongly worded decree drawn up by the Third Plenary Coimcil of Bal- timore (n. 295). Similar regulations requiring that the bishop's authorization .should be obtained before strangers can be allowed to collect money for chari- table purpo.ses in the diocese also prevail in England. Hi'strictions are further commonly imposed, either by synodal decrees or by the command of the bishop, upon certain methods of collecting money which
