Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/792

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EXPECTATION


712


EXPEDITORS


the most part require that the bishop should be con- sulted, and his authorization obtained before exor- cism is attempted. The chief points of importance in the instructions of the Roman Ritual, prefixed to the rite itself, are as follows: —

(1) Possession is not lightly to be taken for granted. Each case is to be carefully examined and great cau- tion to be used in distinguishing genuine possession from certain forms of disease. (2) The priest who imdertakes the office should be himself a holy man, of blameless life, intelligent, courageous, hmnble; and he shoiikl prepare for the work by special acts of devo- tion and mortification, particularly by prayer and fasting (Matt., xvii, 20). (3) He should avoid in the course of the rite everything that savours of supersti- tion, and should leave the medical aspects of the case to qualified physicians. (4) He should admonish the possessed, in so far as the latter is capable, to dispose himself for the exorcism liy prayer, fasting, confession, and communion, and while the rite is in progress to ex- cite withm himself a lively faith in God's goodness, and a patient resignation to His holy will. (5) The ex- orcism should take place in the Church or some other sacred place, if convenient ; but if on account of sick- ness, or for other legitimate reasons, it takes place in a private house, witnesses (preferably members of the family) .should be present: this is specially enjomed, as a measure of precaution, in case the subject is a woman. (6) All idle and curious questioning of the demon should be avoided, and the prayers and adjura- tions should be read with great faith, humility, and fervour, and with a consciousness of power and au- thority. (7) The Blessed Sacrament is not to be brought near the body of the obsessed during exorcism for fear of possible irreverence ; but the crucifix, holy water, and, when available, relics of the saints are to be so employed. (8) If expulsion of the evil spirit is not obtained at once, the rite should be repeated, if need be, several times. (9) The exorcist should be vested in surplice, and violet .stole.

Br-^iin-: work- rrfrrrrl to in article on ExoRCisM. see Probst. Sui ■ ' . > \!alien in den ersten Jahrhunderten, \^

62; hi .i,ni A -Aoii, s. v.. IV, 1141 sqq.: Martene, De luih.r' ^ / '- ' '"^. r. i, 6 and viii, 8; Martignt, Z)tc(. dts iL'uujuUiA ihn ill luity (Paris, 1S77), 312; Whitehouse in H.\STiNG8, Z>it?/. o/ the Bililf., s. v., I, 811 sqq.; Bischofberger, Entwicklung dcr sog. ordines minores indendrei er&ten Jahrk., in Romische Quartalschrift (Rome, 1907), suppl. 7.

P. J. Toner.

Expectation of the Blessed Virgin Mary {Ex- speclatio Partus B. V. M.), Fe.\st of the, celebrated on IS December by nearly the entire Latin Church. Owing to the ancient law of the Church prohibiting the celebration of feasts during Lent (a law still in vigour at Milan), the Spanish Church transferred the feast of the Annunciation from 25 March to the season of Advent, the Tenth Council of Toledo (656) assigning it definitely to 18 December. It was kept with a solemn octave. AVhen the Latin Church ceased to observe the ancient custom regarding feasts in Lent, the Annunciation came to be celebrated twice in Spain, viz. 25 March and IS December, in the calendars of both the Mozarabic and the Roman Rite (Mis,sale Gothicum, ed. Migne, pp. 170, 734). The feast of 18 December was commonly called, even in the liturgical books, "S. Maria de laO", because on that day the clerics in the choir after Vespers ased to utter a loud and protracted "O", to express the longing of the universe for the coming of the Redeemer (Tamayo, Mart. Ilisp., VI, 485). The Roman "O" antiphons have nothing to do with this term, because they are unknown in the Mozarabic Rite. This feast and its octave were very popular in Spam, where the people still call it "NuestraSefioradelaO". It is not known at what time the term Expeclalio Partus first appeared ; it is not found in the Mozarabic liturgical books. St. Ildcphonsus caiuiot, therefore, have invented it, as some have maintained. The feast was always kept in


Spain and was approved for Toledo in 1573 by Greg- ory XIII as a double major, without an octave. The church of Toledo has the privilege (approved 29 April, 1634) of celebrating this feast even when it occurs on the fourth Sunday of Advent. The " Expectatio Par- tus" spread from Spain to other countries; in 1695 it was granted to Venice and Toulouse, in 1702 to the Cistercians, in 1713 to Tuscany, in 1725 to the Papal States. The Office in the Mozarabic Breviary is ex- ceedingly beautiful ; it assigns special antiphons for every day of the octave. At Milan the feast of the Anmmeiation is, even to the present, kept on the last Sunday before Christmas. The Mozarabic Liturgy also celebrates a feast called the E.xpectation (or Ad- vent) of St. John the Baptist on the Sunday preceding 24 June.

HoLWECK. Fasti Mariani (Freiburg, 1S92); de la Fitente, Vida de la Virgen Maria (Mexico, 1883), 206; Liturgica Gothica in P. L.

F. G. HoLWECK.

Expectative (from Lat. expectare, to expect or wait for). — .\n expectative, or an expectative grace, is the anticipatory grant of an ecclesiastical benefice, not vacant at the moment but which will become so, regularly, on the death of its present incumbent. In 1179 the Third Lateran Council, renewing a prohibi- tion already in existence for a long time, forbade such promises or gifts. This prohibition was further ex- tended by Boniface VIII. Nevertheless, during the Middle Ages expectative graces were customarily con- ferretl upon applicants to canonical prebends in the cathedral and collegiate chapters. This fact was due to toleration by the Holy See, which even accorded to the chapters the right of nominating four canons in the way of e.xpectative graces (cc. ii, viii, De concessions prebends, X, III, viii; e. ii, De concessione pre- bendse, in Vl°, III, vii; Constitution of Alexander IV, "Execrabilis", 1254). Several chapters preferred to renounce this right; others continued to employ expectatives even contrary to the canonical enact- ments. The popes, especially, made use of this grace from the twelfth century. After having first asked, then ordered, the collators to dispose of certain bene- fices in favour of ecclesiastics whom they had preW- ously named to them, the popes themselves directly granted, in the way of expectatives, benefices which were not at the moment vacant; they even charged another ecclesiastic with the future investiture of the appointee with the benefice. The privilege of grant- ing expectatives was conceded also to the delegates of the Holy See, the universities, certain princes, etc., with more or less restriction. This practice aroused grave opposition and gave rise to many abuses, espe- cially during the Western Schism. The Council of Trent suppressed all expectatives excepting the desig- nation of a coadjutor with the right of succession in the case of bishops and abbots; to these we may add the prefects Apostolic. (Sess. XXIV, cap. xix, De ref. ; Sess. XXIX, cap. vii, De ref.). Although the council intended to forbid also the collation of expec- tatives by privileges granted by the pope, still the latter is not bound by such a prohibition. However, the only expectatives now in use are those authorized by the Council of Trent.

ScHMITT, Dc Ci' ';::iirl nrrn rrj'rr'uHTnr nrf rn Ti nnicalufi ex statu- tis et observa7itir i, •, • , ' , "• . ' I'l M wkr, Thesaurtis novus juris eccti -I I: .i-' !7'il I _ 'i; Di:Rn, De capi-

tulis clausis in til I "in< m .-"iiiMini. ii us juris eccUsias-

tici (HeidelberK, I774i, 111. l-'J; 11in:.( im s, Si/slem des katho- lischm KirchmrechU (Berlin, 1S79-189.-.), U, 64, 474; III, 113 sqq.; Wer.nz, Jus Decretalium (Rome, 1899), II, 450.

A. Van Hove.

Expediters, Apostolic. — (Lat. Expedilionarius Kt- tcrarum apnulolicarum, Ddtarice ApostoHciB soHicitator ati/uc r.rjnilitnr; It. Spcdi^iomeri). Officials who attend to the .■icnding of Bulls, Briefs, and Rescripts, that emanate from the .•\postolic Chancery, the Dataria, the Sacred Poenitentiaria, and the Secretariate of