424 Readings in European History The jurisdic- tion of no foreign bishops to be any longer recognized. New parish divisions. General abolition of ancient ecclesiastical offices. Election of bishops and priests by the regular voters. IV. No church or parish of France nor any French citi- zen may acknowledge upon any occasion, or upon any pre- text whatsoever, the authority of an ordinary bishop or of an archbishop whose see shall be under the supremacy of a foreign power, nor that of his representatives residing in France or elsewhere ; without prejudice, however, to the unity of the faith and the intercourse which shall be main- tained with the visible head of the universal Church, as hereafter provided. VI. A new arrangement and division of all the parishes of the kingdom shall be undertaken immediately in concert with the bishop and the district administration. XX. All titles and offices other than those mentioned in the present constitution, dignities, canonries, prebends, half prebends, chapels, chaplainships, both in cathedral and col- legiate churches, all regular and secular chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in conwiendam, for either sex, as well as all other benefices and prestimonies in general, of whatever kind or denomination, are from the day of this decree extinguished and abolished and shall never be reestablished in any form. Title II Article I. Beginning with the day of publication of the present decree, there shall be but one mode of choosing bishops and parish priests, namely that of election. II. All elections shall be by ballot and shall be decided by the absolute majority of the votes. III. The election of bishops shall take place according to the forms and by the electoral body designated in the decree of December 22, 1789, for the election of members of the departmental assembly. VI. The election of a bishop can only take place or be undertaken upon Sunday, in the principal church of the chief town of the department, at the close of the parish mass, at which all the electors are required to be present. VII. In order to be eligible to a bishopric, one must have fulfilled for fifteen years at least the duties of the church
