THE ROMAN CHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1858, 1 July 1887, Page 31

THE ROMAN CHURCH.

Some Features Little Known to the General Public revealed by a recently published Book.

Many things of remarkable interest concerning the customs and ceremonies of different features of the Catholic Church, little known to the world at large, particularly the Protestants, are to be found in the valuable work by the Rev. Father John O'Brien, the Professor of Sacred Liturgy s in Mount St. Mary's College, Emmetsburgh, Md., called " A History of the Mass and its Ceremonies in the Eastern and Western Church." The book commends itself to all readers, of whatever creed, by its dispassionate tone and plain, fair statement. of facts. Although the Catholic Church recognises no church to-day to which she gives the name of Eastern in its original acceptation, the adaptability and comprehensiveness of her organisation are to the seen in the fact that she has within her communion several divisions wholly in the East, and which yet retain all their ancient ceremonies and customs, quite differing from those of the church in the West It will probably be news to very many that Latin is not the exclusive language of the Roman Church, and also that the rulo requiring a celibate clergy is not universal. One of these Eastern divisions of the Roman Church is the Maronite, which celebrates mass and the divine office in Syriac, administers holy communion in both kinds to the laity, has a married clergy, and the privilege of electing it own patriarch. The Chaldean is another which says mass in the ancient Syro-Chaldaic, uses leavened bread in the holy eucharist, also has a married clergy, and, like all other Eastern churches, is under the immediate jurisdiction of a patriarch. The Church of the Uniat, or Melchite Greeks, still celebrates in the ancient Greek, has a married clergy, administers holy communion under both species, and enjoys the singular privilege of reciting the creed, even in the presence of the Pope himself, without obligation to add the celebrated " filloque."

That part of the Christian church in the East not of the Roman communion is called by the latter the Oriental Schismatic Church, divided into the Church of the Russian Empire, that within the- Turkish Empire, with Constantinople as capital, and the Church of the Kingdom of Greece. The whole is popularly but erroneously called, the " Greek Church," but all these are wholly independent of one another, in temporals as wsll as spirituals. The Church of the Russian Empire, at one time under the immediate control of the Archbishop of Moscow, and. subsequently ruled by a patriarch, is now, according to Father O'Brien, at the mercy of the " holy synod of St. Petersburg, 1 ' and to all intents and purposes a tool in the hands of the Czar, without whose consent no change in the existing order of things can be made, not even to the convocation of a council without his permission. This church agrees with the Greek in every respect, save that it says mass. in Jth,e Salvonic language. The church within the Turkish Empire is made up of the four patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, with Constantinople as the chief seat, and rejoicing in the proud title of New Rome. The Sultan is virtually the head, being the supreme and final arbiter in every important dispute. This division includes people who celebrate mass in nine different languages — Latin, Greek, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Chaldean, Slavonic, and Wallachian.

The Church of the Kingdom of Greece, though nominally governed by the synod of Athens, depends also upon the will of the reigning monarch, like those of Russia and Constantinople.

The Holy See has expressed her doubt of none of these churches, save that of the Abyssinian, and therefore Father O'Brien says , that the so-called Eastern Church, having a true priesthood, a true sacrifice of the mass, and valid sacraments, has a claim .to attention. He also recognises another claim wirier ought not to pass unnoticed: "Its singular devotion to the ever-blessed mother of God." " This," says he, " may be considered the great redeeming feature of the Eastern Church, and it is to be hoped that, in consideration cf it. she whose glorious prerogative it is to destroy all heresies in the church may, by her powerful intercession at the throne of her Divine Son, establish a lasting union between the -East and West." , When it is said that the Holy See allows the Eastern clergy in her communion to

marry, it is not' to be understood that she allows those who are in , secret orders, to do' so. • Marriage is allowed all' the inferior clergy below the subdeacon. Should any. member of this inferior,, body be. promoted to secret orders, whether to, the sub.diaconate, diaconate, or priesthood, he is allowedto retain his wife, and" do ■ for r her as best he can from his living, "but he ' can never marry again. Should he do so, he would be degraded and forbidden ever to officiate. There is no such thing allowed or heard ' of as a clergyman getting 'married in sacred orders. As for bishops, patriarchs; metropolitans and other • great ' dignitaries of the Oriental hierachy, it is the rule that they must all be single man. Hence all, or nearly all, the Oriental bishops are taken from the monasteries, and this is also' the • rule with the schismatics. ' ' ' ,The question of the manner in which mass is celebrated is ' 'an ' important one, and one of the objections to the Roman Catholic Church, on the part ■of Protestant critics, is that it uses a tongue unknown to the people. The church of today celebrates the mass in nine different languages. Latin is the rule in the West* but the Roman Catholic Greeks celebrate' in Greek, the Armenians in Armenian, the Ethiopians in Ethiopic, &c. It is not, how- ■ ever, to be understood' that in any one of these cases the language is the vernacular. The liturgical language of the Greeks, for instance, is the ancient classic Greek, 'so different from the vernacular of to-day that hardly a worshipper can be found who understands a word of it. The same is true of the Armenian, of the Ethiopic, and 'of all the rest of the nine tongues specified. The Copts, for example, are so unfamiliar with the Coptic used in the mass that it has been found necessary to print the rubrics of- their missals in Arabic (the language of those regions) for the benefit of the clergy, for neither the clergy nor the people are much versed in the language used in the sacred offices.

This custom of using an archaic tongue unfamiliar to people is very ancient, and prevails in various religions outside of Christianity throughout the world. There seems to be a deep-rooted sentiment in human nature that sacred ceremonials should have a language apart, so that the multitude may not approach and profane that which is beyond and above their comprehension.. Within a few years a remarkable instance of this custom existing among a primitive people has been brought to light in the investigations of Frank Hamilton Gushing among the Zuni Indians of New Mexico.. Mr Gushing having discovered that the prayers and ceremonials used by the priests are in an ancient tongue which bears a relation to the Zuni o£ to-day similar to that of Anglo-Saxon to English. The remarkable thing about this is that is that the ancient language has been preserved orally, the Zuni having no method iof writing, but ; so great is the veneration for the sacred' tongue that it has been handed down from generation to generation without the change of a word. This ■ illustrates the conservative value of a priesthood. Nearly, if nob quite all, which the lingual science of to-day knows of the tongues of antiquity is due to this practice of preserving them for use in sacred offices.

The Jews always celebrated their religious function in " the language that the prophets spake," the ancient Hebrew, which was !so far above the reach of the people that it was found necessary to supply them with translations in the shape of the so called Targurhs, that they might know something of what was done, and this custom is yet kept up by, the modern Jews in their synagogues. Another instance of praying in an unknown tongue is that of the Mohammedans. Their Koran is written in the purest Arabic, which is a dead language to the masses, and so afraid are they of its becoming common that no one is allowed to attempt a translation of it in the Arabic spoken by the people. This pure Arabic has continued to be the liturgic and learned language of all the.' numerous nations professing Islam, from the shores of. the Indian Ocean to the westernmost corner of Morocco, and from the Volga to Cape Delgado in Africa '

Again, the Hindoos allow only the Brahmins to read the Vedas, and they carry this so far that they will not permit some of their minor priests so much as even to listen to the reading of those sacred books or to speak of them. The languages known as the Bali, and half-sister of the Sanskrit, has long since ceased to be spoken, but it is the liturgical language of the - Buddhists of Ceylon,' Bali, Madura, Japan, and a great part of Java and ■ Indo-China. — Boston Herald.