DEGREES
678
DEICOLUS
position, and degraded ecclesiastics were still privi-
leged and remained exclusively subject to ecclesias-
tical jurisdiction. The laity, however, complained
that churchmen, even when degraded, secured in this
way impunity for their crimes. Hence Innocent III
(c. viii, Decrim. falsi, X, v, 20) made it a permanent
rule that clerical offenders, after degradation, should
be handed over to the secular power, to be punished
according to the law of the land. Degradation cannot
be inflicted except for crimes clearly designated in the
law, or for any other enormous crime when deposition
and excommunication have been applied in vain, and
the culprit has proved incorrigible. According to the
Council of Trent (Sess. XIII, c. iv, De ref.) a bishop,
when inflicting degradation on a priest, must have with
him six mitred abbots as associate judges, and three
such prelates for the degradation of a deacon or sub-
deacon. If abbots cannot be had, a like number of
church dignitaries of mature age, and skilled in canon
law, may take their place. All these must give their
vote, which is decisive, and must be imanimous for the
imposition of so grave a penalty.
The ceremony of actual degradation consists chiefly in bringing before the ecclesiastical superior the cul- prit vested in the robes corresponding to his order; in gradually divesting him of his sacred vestments, begin- ning with the last he received at his ordination; finally, in surrendering him to the lay judge (who must always be present) with a plea for lenient treatment and avoidance of bloodshed. The words pronounced by the ecclesiastical superior during the ceremony, also other rubrical details, are laid down by Boniface VIII (c. Degradatio, ii, de pcenis, in VI) and by the Roman Pontifical (pt. Ill, c. vii). Degradation is now rarely, if ever, inflicted ; dismissal, with perpetual de- privation, takes its place.
For bibliography see Deposition.
S. Luzio. Degrees, Ac.vdemic. See Arts; University.
Deharbe, Joseph, theologian, catechist, b. at Strasburg, Alsace, 11 April, ISOO; d. at Maria-Laach, 8 November, 1871. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1817 and after teaching for eleven years at the Jesuit College at Brieg, Switzerland, he became in 1840 a mis- sionary and catechist in Cothen. With Father Roh, S. J., he established at Lucerne in 1845 the Academy of St. Charles Borromeo. When in 1847 a persecution broke out against the Jesuits in Switzerland, Deharbe barely escaped with his life. After that he was chiefly engaged in giving missions in Germany. As a cate- chist in Cothen he felt very keenly the lack of a good catechism and was encouraged by his superior, Father Devis, to compose a serviceable textbook, but always hesitated, feeling himself incompetent. His superior, knowing Deharbe's spirit of obedience, simply com- manded him to undertake the task. As a model he took the Mainz catechism of 184.3 and made use also of other good textbooks, notably of Bossuet's cate- chism. He completed his first catechism, called " Katholischer KatechLsmus oder Lehrbegriff ", in 1847. In 1848 it appeared anonymouslj' at Ratisbon and immediately won universal approval. Bishop Blum of Limburg introduced it officially into his dio- cese in the same year; the following year the Bishops of Trier and Hildcsheim did likewise for their sees. In 1850 the Bavarian bishops resolved to introduce a common catechism for the whole kingdom, and ac- cepted Deharbe's catechism, which wast lien introduced in 185.3. Other Cerman dioceses adopted it as follows: Cologne, 18,54; Mainz and I'adcrborn, 1855; Fulda, 1858; Ermland, 1861; Culm, 18G.3; Gne.sen-Po.scn, 1868. At the same time it spread outside of Ger- many, in Switzerland, Austrin-IIungary, and the United States. It was translated in 1851 into Mag- yar, then into Bohemian, Italian, anil French; into 8wQdish ^nd Marathi, 1801; into Polish and Lithu-
anian, 1862; into English, 1863; into Slovenian, 1868;
into Danish, 1869; and later repeatedly into Spanish
and Portuguese. It was reintroduced into Bavaria
in 1908; and it is still in use in most German dioceses,
in Denmark and Sweden, in Brazil, Chile, East India,
and in many schools of the United States. In a re-
vised form, Austria adopted it in 1897. Deharbe him-
self prepared and published at Ratisbon four extracts
of his first work, entitled: (1) "Katholischer Kate-
ehismus" (1847); (2) "Heiner katholischer Kate-
chismus" (1847); (.3) "Anfangsgriinde der katho-
lischen Lehre filr die kleinen Schiller" (1847); (4)
"Kleiner katholischer Katechismus" (1849-50). Ac-
cording to Father Linden, S. J., Deharbe's catechism
possesses theological correctness, brevity of sentences,
preciseness of expression, clearness, and good order;
according to the same authority its defects consist in
redundance of memory-matter, abstractness of ex-
pression, incomjjlete sentences. It is to Deharbe's
credit that in his catechism he preser\'ed catechetical
tradition, but abandoned the Canisian division, ar-
ranging the text-matter under chapters on Faith,
Commandments, and Means of Grace. Deharbe's
catechisms have been frequently edited and revised.
His other worlvs, all pubhshed at Ratisbon, are: "Die
vollkommene Liebe Gottes " ( 1 855) ; " Erklarung des
katholischen Katechismus ' ' (4 vols. , 1857-64, fifth ed.,
1880 — ); " Kiirzeres Handbuch zum Religionsunter-
richte" (1865-68, sixth ed.. Linden ed., 1898).
Spirago-Messmer, Method of christian Doctrine (Cincinnati, 1901): Linden, Der mittlere Deharbesche Katechismus (Ratis- bon, 1900); Thalhofer, Entwickiuno des katholischen Kate- chismus in Deulschland (Freiburg. 1S991; Rolfus and Pfis- TER, Realencukloptidie des Er^iehi/no'! und I'nterrichtswesens (Mainz. 1874), passim; Krieg, Knlirh.lik (Freiburg, 1907); Hf.rder. Konversationslexikon, s. v.; Baier, Methodik (Wiirz- burg, 1897).
Francis L. Kerze. De Hondt. See Peter Canisius, Blessed.
Deicolus (Dichuil), Saint, elder brother of St. Gall, b. in Leinster, Ireland, c. 5.30; d. at Lure, France, 18 January, 625. Having studied at Bangor he was se- lected as one of the twelve disciples to accompany St. Columbanus in his missionary enterprise. After a short stay in England he journeyed to Gaul, in 576, and laboured with St. Columbanus in Austrasia and Burgundy. At Luxeuil he was imwearied in his min- istrations, and yet was always serene and even joyous. When St. Columbanus was expelled by Thierry, in 610, St. Deicolus, then eighty years of age, deter- mined to follow his master, but was forced, after a short time, to give up the journey, and settled in a deserted place called Lutre, or Lure (French Jura), in the Diocese of Besancon, to which he had been directed by a fwineherd. Till his death, he was thenceforth the apostle of this district, where he was given a little church and a tract of land by BertheUle, widow of Weifar, the lord of Lure. Soon a noble abbey was erected for his many disciples, and the Rule of St. Columbanus was adopted. Numerous miracles are recorded of St. Deicolus, including the suspension of his cloak on a sunbeam and viie taming of wild beasts. Clothaire II, King of Burgundy, recognized the vir- tues of the saint and considerably enriched the Abbey of Lure, also granting St. Deicolus the manor, woods, fisheries, etc. of the town which had grown around the monastery. Feeling his end approaching, St. Deicolus gave over the govenunent of his abbey to Columbanus, one of his young monks, and spent his remaining daysinprayerandmcditation. Hisfeast is celebrated on 18 January. So ri'vcred was his memory that his name (Dichuil), uniler the .slightly disguised form of Deel and Deela, is still borne by most of the children of the Lure district. His Acts were writ ten by a monk of his own monastery in the tenth cen- tury.
CoLGAN, Acta Sanctorum Jlibcmiw (Louvain, 1645); Mabi^ ivON, Annat. Benedict; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, I
