CONSTITUTIONS
321
CONSTITUTIONS
ti.itiiin of the sacraments. Natural law rests on the
(ill i:\tesof human reason, c. g. the law of self-preserva-
I II ill. obedience to authority, Divine worship. Both
til ■ Divine and the natural laws are often insufR-
cii iitly determined; the Church expounds them and
ail: 1 1 Its them to particular times, places, and persons.
( liiif among ecclesiastical constitutions are the ordi-
1 1 : 111 ( IS emanating from general councils (see Councils,
111 NER.\L, X, XI) and from the Apostolic See (see
( I '\sTiTUTioxs, Papal); these are the constilutiones
xiasticce in the strictest sense of the term. Episco-
I I institutions are issued by bishops either singly or
iibled in sjTiods, e. g. the constitutions of the ten
mcial and three plenarj' councils of Baltimore,
1 1 have adapted the ancient constitutions of the
• rsal Church to the peculiar national and politi-
i u situation of the United States of America.
J. WlLHELM.
Constitutions, Pap.^l (Lat. constiluere, to estab- lish, to decree), ordinations issued by the Roman I I lilt ills and binding those for whom they are issued, wliither they be for all the faithful or for special chi-s-is or individuals. From the earliest times, the Cliristians of the whole world have consulted the liiii'is on all matters pertaining to faith, morals, and di-ripline. The earliest instance is the well-known aiiiial from Corinth to Pope Clement I, during the ' line of St. John the Apostle,in the first century of I hristian Era. From that time on, requests for ions on various ecclesiastical matters were ad- "d to the Holy See from all parts of the known I. and the answers that were received were rever- 1 as proceeding from the mouth of Christ's chief .\i— tie and His vicar on earth. The fact that the di I ices of Church councils, whether general, provin- <i:il, or even diocesan, were anciently as a rule for- \v iidc'd to the pope for his revision or confirmation, L':i\ ■' occasion for many papal constitutions during the I :iil\- ages. After the time of Constantine the Great, " iil; to the greater hberty allowed to the Church, intercourse with the Apostolic See became more ii'ut and more open. St. Jerome, in the fourth iry (Ep. cxxiii), testifies to the number of re- -•s requested of the sovereign pontiff from both I lustem and the Western Church during the time led as secretarj' to Pope Damasus. That these il responses soon began to constitute an important I III of canon law, is evident from statements in the r< of various Roman pontiffs. The decretalia and t'tuta of the Apostolic See were recognized as • or as interpretations of existing canons binding I articular Churches to their observ'ance. The that oecumenical councils required the papal con- iiion before their decrees were valid (a principle
■ >sly admitted by the early councils themselves)
■ d not a little to direct the attention of all Chris- to the fullness of jurisdiction residing in the suc- r of St. Peter. Hence the professions of faith ! o the popes by newly elected bishops and by em- rs on their succession to the throne.
irning to the strictlj' canonical aspect of the case,
vord constitution Ls tlerived from mn (cum) and
" ndo, and therefore means a common statute. It
■nsetiuently synonomous in most respects with
In fact, a papal constitution is a legal enact-
I of the ruler of the Church, just as a civil law is a
.. I :ie emanating from a secular jirince. Reiffenstuel
jdeclares that the difference of name between ecclesi-
'a«tical and civil statutes is verj- proper, since a secular
nil.r derives his authority immediately from the peo-
ind hence it is really the people who make the
while the pope receives his power immediately
■ !ii (jod and is himself the source whence all Church
rt->;ulations proceed. As a matter of fact, however,
while it is true that ecclesiastical laws are generally
denominated "constitutions", yet they are occa-
IV.— 21
sionally design.ated as "laws" in canonical jurLspn>
dence (e. g. Can. Leges Ecclesia^ 'A, Q. fi)- It mu.st
not be supposed, however, that even in ecclesiastical
usage the word constitution is restrictetl to papal ordi-
nances; it is also employed for conciliar, synodal, and
episcopal mandates, though more rarely in later times
The name canon is generally, though not exclusively,,
given to conciliar decrees (see Canons, Ecclesiasti-
cal). Letters emanating from the pope, though all
designated constitutions, receive more specific names
according to their form and their subject matter. As
to their form, pontifical constitutions may be eithei
Bulls or Briefs. The former are used for the more
important and permanent decrees and begin: Pius
(or name of pope) Episcopus, Semis nervorum Dei; the
latter are headed by the name of the ruling pontifl:
Pius PP. X. Pope'Leo XIII (29 Dec, 1878) made
some changes in the exterior form of papal Bulls (see
Bulls and Briefs). As to subject-matter, the term
constitution, if used in a restricted sense, denotes
some statute which the Vicar of Christ issues in sol-
emn form either to the whole Christian world or to
part of it, with the intention of permanently Ijinding
those to whom it is addressed. When the papal let-
ters are addressed to the bishops of the entire ( 'liurch,
they are denominated Encyclicals. This is the most
usual form employed by the popes for treating ques-
tions of doctrine and discipline. When pontifical en-
actments take the form of responses they are callec^i
decretal epistles. If they be issued vwtu propria
(that is without a request having been made to the
Holy See), they are called decreta, though this namn
has also a more general significance (see Decrees) .
Ordinances issued to individuals concerning matter i
of minor or transient importance are called Rescript::
(see Rescripts, Pap.\l).
Before issuing constitutions the pope usually taken counsel with his advisers. These counsellors havn varied in the different stages of church history. Dur- ing the first eleven centuries, the Roman presbyterate and the suburbicarian bishops were formed into councils by the pope whenever he wished to investi- gate matters of doctrine or discipline. The synodal letters, or constitutions, issuing from these assemblies owed their importance and binding force to the pri- inatial jurisdiction of the throne of Peter, for thess gatherings were not oecumenical councils in any sense of the word. History records a long list of these Roman councils from the second to the eleventh cen- tury. The papal constitutions issued at the close of their celebration were as various as the subject-matter of the councils. The paschal question, the baptism of heretics, the heresies of Sabellius, Nestorius, Eu- tyches, and others, the restoration of patriarchs and bishops to their sees, ordinances concerning the mo- nastic state, the election of the pope, the right of in- vestiture — all found treatment and decision in these Roman councils and gave occasion to important pon- tifical constitutions. These rulings were reverenced as law throughout the Universal Church, East and West, and constitute an important witness to the pri- macy of the Bishop of Rome. After the eleventh cen- tury, these Roman councils grew more infrequent and finally ceased altogether. This was owing to the im- portance gradually accruing to the cardinals, who suc- ceeded the Roman presbyterate as the senate of the pope. Consistories of the cardinal-bishops, -priests, and -deacons were held twice and then thrice a week in the Apostolic Palace; and to these consistories the pontiff proposed the questions submitted to the Holy See before he drew up his constitution deciding them. The consistory was the ordinary tribunal and audience of the pope for the transaction of all the business of the Universal Church. (See Cardinal.) From the six- teenth century to our own time, a third period in the methods of government and counsel is to be distin- guished. The rise of the Sacred Ron-.ai- Congrega-
