“Whenever the ceremony of baptism, or burial, shall be performed in any other place than the parish church, or churchyard of any parish, (or the chapel, or chapel-yard of any chapelry, providing its own distinct registers,) and such ceremony shall be performed by any minister not being the rector, vicar, minister, or curate of any such parish or chapelry, the minister who shall perform such ceremony of baptism or burial shall, on the same, or on the next day, transmit to the rector, vicar, or other minister of such parish or chapelry, or his curate, a certificate of such baptism or burial in the form contained in the schedule (D.) to this act annexed, and the rector, vicar, minister, or curate of such parish or chapelry, shall thereupon enter such baptism or burial according to such certificate in the book kept pursuant to this act for such purpose; and shall add to such entry the following words, ‘According to the certificate of the Reverend ——, transmitted to me on the —— day of ——.’”
“I do hereby certify, that I did on the —— day of —— baptize, according to the rites of the United Church of England and Ireland, ——, son [or “daughter”] of —— and ——, his wife, by the name of ——.”
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.
“‘I do hereby certify, that on the —— day of —— A. B. of ——, aged ——, was buried in[stating the place of burial],and that the ceremony of burial was performed according to the rites of the United Church of England and Ireland, by me, ——.
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.’” (Sect. 4.)
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.’” (Sect. 4.)
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.’” (Sect. 4.)
To the Rector[or, as the case may be,]of ——.’” (Sect. 4.)
Sect. 5 directs, that the new registers, and also those previously existing, shall be kept by the minister of the parish, “in a dry, well-painted, iron chest, to be provided, and repaired as occasion may require, at the cost of the parish; which chest shall be constantly kept locked in some dry, safe, and secure place within the usual place of residence of such minister, or in the parish church or chapel.”
Sect. 6 directs, that within two months after the expiration of every year, four copies of the registers for the preceding year shall be made on parchment by the clergyman, “or by the churchwardens, chapelwardens, clerk, or other person duly appointed for the purpose, under, and by the direction of, such rector, vicar, curate, or other resident or officiating minister.” The copies are to be verified and signed by the clergyman in a prescribed form, and his signature is to be attested by the churchwardens or chapelwardens, or one of them. These copies are to be sent by post to the diocesan registrars. (Sect. 7.) In case of the minister’s neglecting to verify the copies, the churchwardens shall certify his default to the registrar, by whom it shall be reported to the bishop. (Sect. 9.) Any person convicted of falsifying a register, or allowing it to be falsified, shall be subject to transportation for fourteen years. (Sect. 14.)
Sect. 16 provides, that the act shall not affect the fees payable to any minister for giving extracts of registers, &c.
The act of 52 Geo. III. is still in force as regards the registration of baptisms and burials by clergymen. But as to marriages, an alteration has been made by the acts 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 80, and 7 Will. IV., and 1 Vic. c. 22. By the former of these acts the general civil registry was instituted. Sect. 30 orders, that the Registrar-general shall, at the expense of the parish or chapelry, furnish the rector, vicar, or curate, of every church and chapel in which marriages may lawfully be solemnized, duplicate register books and forms for certified copies thereof. Sect. 31, that every clergyman, immediately after every office of matrimony solemnized by him, shall register in duplicate the several particulars relating to that marriage, according to a new form, annexed in a schedule to the act. Sect. 33, (explained by 7 Will. IV., and 1 Vic. c. 22,) that the clergyman of every church or chapel shall, in the months of April, July, October, and January respectively, make and deliver to the registrar of his district a true copy, certified by him under his hand, of all the entries of marriages in the register book kept by him for the three months preceding, to the last days of March, June, September, and December respectively; and if there shall have been no marriage since the last certificate, shall certify the fact under his hand; and that one copy of each duplicate register book shall, when filled, be delivered to the superintendent-registrar of the district. Sect. 27 of the act of 1 Vic. provides, that for every entry in the quarterly certified copies the clergyman shall receive sixpence from the registrar, which sum is to be repaid to the registrar by the guardians or overseers of his district.
By the act of 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86, sect. 42, 43, any person who shall refuse, or without reasonable cause omit, to register anymarriage solemnized by him, or which he ought to register, and every person having the custody of any register book, who shall carelessly lose or injure the same, or carelessly allow the same to be injured while in his keeping, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding £50 for every such offence; and any person who shall wilfully destroy, injure, or in any way falsify any register book, or shall wilfully give any false certificate or extract, shall be guilty of felony.
REGIUM DONUM MONEY. Money allowed by government to the Dissenters. The origin of it was in the year 1723. As the Dissenters approved themselves strong friends to the House of Brunswick, they enjoyed favour; and, being excluded all lucrative preferment in the Church, the prime minister wished to reward them for their loyalty, and, by a retaining fee, to preserve them steadfast. A considerable sum, therefore, was annually lodged with the heads of the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, to be distributed among the necessitous ministers of their congregations.
REGULAR. In the continental churches those persons are calledregularswho profess to follow a certainrule(regula) of life, and observe the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; in contradistinction to theseculars, who live comparatively in the world. The canons of the non-monastic cathedrals were called seculars.
RELICS. In the Roman Church, the remains of the bodies or clothes of saints or martyrs, and the instruments by which they were put to death, are devoutly preserved, in honour of their memory; kissed, revered, and carried in procession. The respect which was justly due to the martyrs and teachers of the Christian faith, in a few ages, increased almost to adoration; and at length adoration was really paid both to departed saints, and to relics of holy men or holy things. The abuses of the Church of Rome with respect to relics are very great and flagrant, and are justly censured in our 22nd Article.
In the early ages of the gospel, when its professors were exposed to every species of danger and persecution, it was natural for Christians to show every mark of respect, both to the bodies and to the memory of those who had suffered death in its cause. They collected their remains and buried them, not only with decency, but with all the solemnity and honour which circumstances would allow. It was also the custom for Christians to hold their religious meetings at the places where their martyrs were buried, by which they seemed as it were, united with them; and to display their attachment to their departed brethren by such rites, as were dictated by the fervour of their devout affection, and were consistent with the principles of their religion. It does not appear that this boundary was ever transgressed in the three first centuries; but in the fourth century, when the pure and simple worship of the gospel begun to be debased by superstitious practices, we find strong proofs of an excessive love for everything which had belonged to those who had distinguished themselves by their exertions or their sufferings for the truth of Christianity, and especially for any part of their garments, hair, or bones. Augustine in Africa, and Vigilantius in Spain, complained loudly of this culpable fondness for relics, which they speak of as a new corruption, then first appearing in the Christian world; but the warm disposition of Jerome led him to stand forward in their defence with more zeal than discretion. However, this learned Father, even while he leans to the opinion that miracles were sometimes wrought by relics, explicitly disclaims all idea of offering them worship. But, when superstition has once made its way into the minds of men, it gradually gains ground; and it is difficult to set limits to it, particularly when there is a set of persons, respected for their piety, who are studious to encourage it. Monks carried about relics; and with great ease, and no small advantage to themselves, persuaded that ignorant age of their value and importance. Under their recommendation and patronage, they were soon considered as the best preservatives against every possible evil of soul and body; and when the worshipping of images came to be established, the enshrining of relics was a natural consequence of that doctrine. This led the way to absolute worship of relics, which was now preached by the Romish clergy as a Christian duty. Every one thought it necessary to possess a relic of some saint or martyr, as the effectual means of securing his care and protection; and fraud and imposition did not fail to furnish a supply proportionable to the demand. The discovery of the catacombs at Rome was an inexhaustible source of relics; and thus the popes themselves became directly interested in maintaining this superstitious worship. The Council of Trent authorized the adoration of relics; and they continue in high esteem among the Papists of the present day.What has been already said is amply sufficient to point out the absurdity of worshipping relics. It is a doctrine manifestly “grounded upon no warranty of Scripture:” it is “a fond thing,” that is, foolish and trifling, in the extreme; directly contrary to the practice of the primitive Christians, and utterly irreconcileable with common sense.—Bp. Tomline.
RELIGIOUS. This was the term given in our Church before the Reformation to persons engaged by solemn vows to the monastic life. It is still used in this sense on the Continent, and among the Popish Recusants.
REMONSTRANTS. (SeeArminians.) This name was given to the Arminians, because in 1610 they presented a remonstrance to the states-general of Holland and West Friesland, specifying their grievances.
RENOVATION. Regeneration is the joint work of water and theSpirit, or, to speak more properly, of theSpiritonly; renovation is the joint work of theSpiritand the man. Regeneration comes only once, in or through baptism. Renovation exists before, in, and after baptism, and may be often repeated. Regeneration, being a single act, can have no parts, and is incapable of increase. Renovation is, in its very nature, progressive. Regeneration, though suspended as to its effects and benefits, cannot be totally lost in the present life. Renovation may be often repeated and totally lost. Dr. Waterland distinguishes between regeneration and renovation thus:—
1. Grown persons coming to baptism properly qualified, receive at once the grace of regeneration; but, however well prepared, they are not regenerate without baptism. Afterwards renovation grows more and more within them by the indwelling of theSpirit.
2. As to infants, their innocence and incapacity are to them instead of repentance, which they do not want, and of actual faith, which they cannot have: and they are capable of being born again, and adopted byGod, because they bring no obstacle. They stipulate, and theHoly Spirittranslates them out of a state of nature into a state of grace, favour, and acceptance. In their case, regeneration precedes, and renovation follows after, and they are the temple of theSpirittill they defile themselves with sin.
3. As to those who fall off after regeneration, their covenant state abides, but without any saving effect, because without present renovation: but this saving effect may be repaired and recovered by repentance.
4. With respect to those who receive baptism in a state of hypocrisy or impenitency, though this sacrament can only increase their condemnation, still pardon and grace are conditionally made over to them, and the saving virtue of regeneration, which had been hitherto suspended, takes effect, when they truly repent and unfeignedly believe the gospel.
RENUNCIATION. In holy baptism, the persons baptized, or in the case of infants their sponsors in their name, are asked, “Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them?” And their answer is, “I renounce them all.” This renunciation is of very great antiquity, so great indeed that its beginning cannot be traced, nor any time mentioned when it was not used; so that it is probably of apostolic origin.
REPAIRS OF CHURCHES. Anciently the bishops had the whole tithes of the diocese; a fourth part of which, in every parish, was to be applied to the repairs of the church; but, upon a release of this interest to the rectors, they were consequently acquitted of the repairs of the churches.
And by the canon law, the repair of the church belongeth to him who receiveth this fourth part; that is, to the rector, and not to the parishioners.
But custom (that is, the common law) transferreth the burden of reparation, at least of the nave of the church, upon the parishioners; and likewise sometimes of the chancel, as particularly in the city of London in many churches there.
But, generally, the parson is bound to repair the chancel. Not because the freehold is in him, for so is the freehold of the church; but by the custom of England, which hath allotted the repairs of the chancel to the parson, and the repairs of the church to the parishioners: yet so, that if the custom hath been for the parish, or the estate of a particular person, to repair the chancel, that custom shall be good.
As to the vicars, it is ordained by a constitution of Archbishop Winchelsea, that the chancel shall be repaired by the rectors and vicars, or others to whom such repair belongeth. Whereupon Lyndwood observes, that where there is both rector and vicar in the same church, they shall contribute in proportion to their benefice;which is to be understood where there is not a certain direction, order, or custom, unto which of them such reparation shall appertain.
And as rectors or spiritual persons, so also impropriators, are bound of common right to repair the chancels. This doctrine (under the limitations expressed in the foregoing paragraphs) is clear and uncontested: the only difficulty hath been in what manner they shall be compelled to do it; whether by spiritual censures only, in like manner as the parishioners are compelled to contribute to the repairs of the church, since impropriations are now become lay fees; or whether by sequestrations (as incumbents, and, as it should seem, spiritual impropriators of all kinds, may be compelled).
As to this, it is said to have been the opinion of the court of Common Pleas, that the Spiritual Court may grant sequestration upon an impropriate parsonage, for not repairing the chancel (M. 29. C. 2. 3Keb.829); yet by another book it is said, that the court of Common Pleas did incline that there could be no sequestration; for, being made a lay fee, the impropriation was out of the jurisdiction of the court Christian, and they were only to proceed against the person, as against another layman, for not repairing the church. (T. 22. C. 2. 2Vent.35.) And by the same case as reported, (2Mod.157,) it is said that the whole court, except Judge Atkins, were of that opinion.
On the contrary, Dr. Gibson observes, that impropriations, before they became lay fees, were undoubtedly liable to sequestration; that the king was to enjoy them in the same manner as the religious had done, and nothing was conveyed to the king at the dissolution of monasteries, but what the religious had conveyed; that is, the profits over and above the finding of Divine service, and the repairing of the chancel, and other ecclesiastical burdens: and the general saving (he says) in the 31 Henry VIII. c. 13, may be well extended to a saving of the right of the ordinary in this particular, which right he undoubtedly had by the law and the practice of the Church, which said right is not abrogated by any statute whatsoever. And he observes further these things: 1. That although (as was expressly alleged in the two cases above referred to) this power had been frequently exercised by the spiritual courts, yet no instances do appear, before these, of any opposition made. 2. That, in both the said instances, judgment was given, not upon the matter or point in hand, but upon errors found in the pleadings. 3. That one argument against the allowing the ordinary such jurisdiction wasab inconvenienti, that such allowance would be a step towards giving ordinaries a power to augment vicarages, as they might have done, and frequently did, before the dissolution.
Where there are more impropriators than one, (as is frequently the case,) and the prosecution is to be carried on by the churchwardens to compel them to repair, it seemeth advisable for the churchwardens first to call a vestry, and there (after having made a rate for the repair of the church, and other expenses necessary in the execution of their office) that the vestry make an order for the churchwardens to prosecute the impropriators, at the parish expense; in which prosecution the court will not settle the proportion amongst the impropriators, but admonish all who are made parties to the suit, to repair the chancel, under pain of excommunication. Nor will it be necessary to make every impropriator a party, but only to prove that the parties prosecuted have received tithes or other profits belonging to the rectory, sufficient to repair it; and they must settle the proportion among themselves: for it is not a suit against them for a sum of money, but for a neglect of the duty which is incumbent on all of them; though it may be advisable to make as many of them parties as can be come at with certainty.
Repairing of the chancel is a discharge from contributing to the repairs of the church. This is supposed to be the known law of the Church, in the gloss of John de Athon upon a constitution of Othobon, (hereafter mentioned,) for the reparation of chancels; and is also evident from the ground of the respective obligations upon parson and parishioners to repair, the first the chancel, the second the church, which was evidently a division of the burden, and by consequence a mutual disengaging of each from that part which the other took. And therefore as it was declared in Serjeant Davie’s case, (2Roll’s Rep.211,) that there could be no doubt but the impropriator was rateable to the church, for lands which were not parcel of the parsonage, notwithstanding his obligation as parson to repair the chancel; so, when this plea of the farmer of an impropriation, (2Keb.730, 742,) to be exempt from the parish rate because he repaired the chancel, was refused in the spiritual court, it must probably have been a plea offered to exempt other possessions also from church rates.—Gibs.199, 200.
If there be a chapel of ease within a parish, and some part of the parish have used time out of mind, alone, without others of the parishioners, to repair the chapel of ease, and there to hear service, and to marry, and all the other things, but only they bury at the mother-church, yet they shall not be discharged of the reparation of the mother-church, but ought to contribute thereto; for the chapel was ordained only for their ease.
So in the said case, if the inhabitants who have used to repair the chapel prescribe that they have time out of mind used to repair the chapel, and by reason thereof have been discharged of the reparation of the mother-church, yet this shall not discharge them of the reparation of the mother-church, for that is not any direct prescription to be discharged thereof, but it is, by reason thereof, a prescription for the reparation of the chapel.
If the chapel be three miles distant from the mother-church, and the inhabitants who have used to come to the chapel, have used always to repair the chapel, and there marry and bury, and have never within sixty years been charged to the repair of the mother-church, yet this is not any cause to have a prohibition; but they ought to show in the spiritual court their exemption, if they have any, upon the endowment.
But if the inhabitants of a chapelry prescribe to be dischargedtime out of mindof the reparation of the mother-church, and they are sued for the reparation of the mother-church, a prohibition lieth upon this surmise.
If two churches be united, the repairs of the several churches shall be made as they were before the union.
Othobon.The archdeacon shall cause chancels to be repaired by those who are bound thereunto.—Ath.112.
Reynolds.We enjoin the archdeacons and their officials, that, in the visitation of churches, they have a diligent regard to the fabric of the church, and especially of the chancel, to see if they want repair; and if they find any defects of that kind, they shall limit a certain time under a penalty, within which they shall be repaired. Also, they shall inquire by themselves or their officials in the parish where they visit, if there be aught in things or persons which wanteth to be corrected: and if they shall find any such, they shall correct the same, either then, or in the next chapter.—Lyndw.
The fabric of the church consisteth of the walls, windows, and covering.—Lyndw.
Where the penalty is not limited, the same is arbitrary (saith Lyndwood): but this cannot intend here (he says) the penalty of excommunication; inasmuch as it concerneth the parishionersut universos, as a body or whole society, who are bound to the fabric of the body of the church: for the pain of excommunication is not inflicted upon a whole body together, although it may be inflicted upon every person severally who shall be culpable in this behalf. And the same may be observed as to the penalty of suspension which cannot fall upon the parishioners as a community or collective body. Yet the archdeacon in this case, if the defect be enormous, may enjoin a penalty, that, after the limited time shall be expired, Divine service shall not be performed in the church, until competent reparation shall be made; so that the parishioners may be punished by suspension or interdict of the place. But if there are any particular persons who are bound to contribute towards the repair, and although they be able, are not willing, or do neglect the same, such persons may be compelled by a monition to such contribution, under pain of excommunication, that so the church may not continue for a long time unrepaired, through their default.—Lyndw.
But this was before the time that churchwardens had the special charge of the repairs of the church; and it seemeth now that the process shall issue against the churchwardens, and that they may be excommunicated for disobedience.
Stratford.Forasmuch as archdeacons and other ordinaries in their visitations, finding defects as well in the churches as in the ornaments thereof, and the fences of the churchyard, and in the houses of the incumbents, do command them to be repaired under pecuniary penalties; and from those that do not obey do exact the same penalties by censures, wherewith the said defects ought to be repaired, and thereby enrich their own purses to the damage of the poor people; therefore that there be no occasion of complaint against the archdeacons and other ordinaries and their ministers by reason of such penal exactions, and that it becometh not ecclesiastical persons to gape after or enrich themselves with dishonest and penal acquisitions; we ordain, that such penalties, so often as they shall be exacted, shall be converted to the use of such repairs, under pain of suspensionab officiowhich they shallipso factoincur, until they shall effectually assign what was so received to the reparation of the said defects.—Lyndw.
By Canon 86. “Every dean, dean and chapter, archdeacon, and others which have authority to hold ecclesiastical visitations by composition, law, or prescription, shall survey the churches of his or their jurisdiction once in every three years, in his own person, or cause the same to be done.”
And by the said canon they were required, from time to time, to certify the high commissioners for causes ecclesiastical, every year, of such defects in anyof the said churches as he or they should find to remain unrepaired, and the names and surnames of the parties faulty therein. Upon which certificate the high commissioners were desired by the said canon,ex officio mero, to send for such parties, and compel them to obey the just and lawful decrees of the ecclesiastical ordinaries making such certificates. But by the 16 Car. I. c. 11, the High Commission Court was abolished; so that the cognizance thereof now resteth solely upon the ecclesiastical judge.
By the statute ofCircumspecte agatis, (13 Edward I. st. iv.,) “If prelates do punish for that the church is uncovered, or not conveniently decked, the spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the king’s prohibition.”
“The Church.” This is intended not only of the body of the church, which is parochial, but also of any public chapel annexed to it; but it extendeth not to the private chapel of any, though it be fixed to the church, for that must be repaired by him that hath the proper use of it, for he that hath the profit ought to bear the burden.
Canon 85. “The churchwardens or questmen shall take care and provide, that the churches be well and sufficiently repaired, and so from time to time kept and maintained, that the windows be well glazed, and that the floors be kept paved, plain, and even.”
If the churchwardens erect or add anything new in the church, as a new gallery where there was none before, they must have the consent of the major part of the parishioners, and also a licence of the ordinary.
But as to the common reparations of the fabric or ornaments of the church, where nothing new is added or done, it doth not appear that any consent of the major part of the parishioners is necessary; for to this the churchwardens are bound by their office, and they are punishable if they do it not. (See howeverRate.)
If the major part of the parishioners of a parish, where there are four bells, agree that there shall be made a fifth bell, and this is made accordingly, and they make a rate for paying the same, this shall bind the lesser part of the parishioners, although they agree not to it: for otherwise any obstinate persons may hinder anything intended to be done for the ornament of the church.
And although churchwardens are not charged with the repairs of the chancel, yet they are charged with the supervisal thereof, to see that it be not permitted to dilapidate and fall into decay; and when any such dilapidations shall happen, if no care be taken to repair the same, they are to make presentment thereof at the next visitation.
If a church be so much out of repair, that it is necessary to pull it down; or so small, that it needs to be enlarged; the major part of the parishioners, having first obtained the consent of the ordinary to do what is needful, and meeting upon due notice, may make a rate for new building, or enlarging, as there shall be occasion. This was declared in the 29 Car. II. by all the three courts successively, notwithstanding the cause was much laboured by a great number of Quakers, who opposed the rate.
And the proper method of proceeding in such case seems to be thus: namely, that the churchwardens first of all take care that public notice be given in the church for a general vestry of the whole parish for that purpose; which notice ought to be attested and carefully preserved, as being the foundation of all the subsequent proceedings. At the time and place of meeting, the minister and churchwardens ought to attend; and when the parishioners are assembled, the minister is proper to preside; and he, or one of the churchwardens, or such person as shall be appointed by them, ought to enter the orders of the vestry, and then have them read and signed. And agreeable thereunto, a petition to the ordinary for a faculty (setting forth the particulars) should be drawn up and signed by the minister, churchwardens, and parishioners present, and approving thereof. Whereupon the ordinary will issue a monition to cite all persons concerned to show cause why a faculty should not be granted. Upon the return of which citation, if no cause, or not sufficient cause, is showed, the ordinary will proceed to grant a faculty as is desired, and as to him shall seem good.
REPENTANCE (seePenitence,Penance) signifies a sincere sorrow for all pasttransgressions ofGod’slaws, an unfeigned disposition of mind to perform the will ofGodbetter for the future, and an actual avoiding and resisting of those temptations to sin by which we have been overpowered.
REREDOS. A screen behind an altar. In large conventual churches, where there is a space behind the high altar, this was the universal termination of the ritual presbytery; and sometimes, as at Winchester, St. Alban’s, and Durham, this screen was of extreme magnificence. In smaller churches, where the reredos was not required, the altar being at the extreme east, it is seldom found, though an arcade, or other enrichment of the space beneath and at the sides of the east window, sometimes occurs.
RESIDENCE. 1.Otho.The bishop shall provide, that in every church there shall be one resident, who shall take care of the cure of souls, and exercise himself profitably and honestly in performing Divine service and administration of the sacraments.—Athon36.
The rule of the ancient canon law was, that if a clergyman deserted his church or prebend, without just and necessary cause, and especially without the consent of the diocesan, he should be deprived. And agreeable hereunto was the practice in this realm; for though sometimes the bishop proceeded only to sequestration, or other censures of an inferior nature, yet the more frequent punishment was deprivation.—Gibson, 827.
2. Regularly, personal residence is required of ecclesiastical persons upon their cures; and to that end, by the common law, if he that hath a benefice with cure be chosen to an office of bailiff, or beadle, or the like secular office, he may have the king’s writ for his discharge.—2Inst.625.
For the intendment of the common law is, that a clerk is resident upon his cure; insomuch that in an action of debt brought against J. S., rector of D., the defendant pleading that he was demurrant and conversant at B. in another county, the plea was overruled; for, since the defendant denied not that he was rector of the church of D., he shall be deemed by law to be demurrant and conversant there for the cure of souls.—2Inst.
3. By the statute of theArticuli cleri, (9Edw.II. st. i. c. 8,) in the articles exhibited by the clergy, one is as follows: Also barons of the king’s Exchequer, claiming by their privilege, that they ought to make answer to no complainant out of the same place, do extend the same privilege unto clerks abiding there, called to orders or unto residence, and inhibit ordinaries that by no means, or for any cause, so long as they be in the Exchequer, or in the king’s services, they shall not call them to judgment. “Unto which it is answered,” It pleaseth our lord the king, that such clerks as attend in his service, if they offend, shall be correct by their ordinaries, like as other; but so long as they are occupied about the Exchequer, they shall not be bound to keep residence in their churches. And this is added of new by the king’s council: “The king and his ancestors, since time out of mind, have used that clerks which are employed in his service, during such time as they are in service, shall not be compelled to keep residence at their benefices; and such things as be thought necessary for the king and commonwealth, ought not to be said to be prejudicial to the liberty of the Church.”
By the 21Hen.VIII. c. 13, commonly called thestatute of Non-residence: As well every spiritual person, now being promoted to any archdeaconry, deanery, or dignity in any monastery, or cathedral church, or other church conventual or collegiate, or being beneficed with any parsonage or vicarage; as all and every spiritual person and persons, which hereafter shall be promoted to any of the said dignities or benefices, with any parsonage or vicarage, shall be personally resident and abiding in, at, and upon his said dignity, prebend, or benefice, or at any one of them at the least; and in case he shall not keep residence at one of them as aforesaid, but absent himself wilfully by the space of one month together, or by the space of two months to be at several times in any one year, and make his residence and abiding in any other places by such time, he shall forfeit for every such default £10, half to the king, and half to him that will sue for the same in any of the king’s courts by original writ of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in which action and suit the defendant shall not wage his law, nor have any essoin or protection allowed. (S. 26.)
And if any person or persons shall procure at the court of Rome, or elsewhere, any licence or dispensation to be non-resident at their said dignities, prebends, or benefices, contrary to this act; every such person, putting in execution any such dispensation or licence for himself, shall incur the penalty of £20 for every time so doing, to be forfeited and recovered as aforesaid, and such licence or dispensation shall be void. (S. 27.)
Provided that this act of non-residence shall not extend nor be prejudicial to anysuch spiritual person as shall chance to be in the king’s service beyond the sea, nor to any person going to any pilgrimage or holy place beyond the sea, during the time that they shall so be in the king’s service, or in the pilgrimage going and returning home; nor to any scholar or scholars being conversant and abiding for study, without fraud or covin, at any university within this realm or without; nor to any of the chaplains of the king or queen, daily or quarterly attending and abiding in the king’s or queen’s most honourable household; nor to any of the chaplains of the prince or princess, or any of the king’s or queen’s children, brethren, or sisters, attending daily in their honourable households, during so long as they shall attend in any of their households; nor to any chaplain of any archbishop or bishop, or of any spiritual or temporal lords of the parliament, daily attending, abiding, and remaining in any of their honourable households; nor to any chaplain of any duchess, marquess, countess, viscountess, or baroness, attending daily and abiding in any of their honourable households; nor to any chaplain of the lord chancellor, or treasurer of England, the king’s chamberlain, or steward of his household for the time being, the treasurer and comptroller of the king’s most honourable household for the time being, attending daily in any of their honourable households; nor to any chaplain of any of the knights of the honourable order of the Garter, or of the chief justice of the King’s Bench, warden of the ports, or of the master of the rolls, nor to any chaplain of the king’s secretary, dean of the chapel, amner for the time being, daily attending and dwelling in anyof their households, during the time that they shall so abide and dwell without fraud or covin, in any of the said honourable households; nor to the master of the rolls, or dean of the arches, nor to any chancellor or commissary of any archbishop or bishop, nor to as many of the twelve masters of the chancery and twelve advocates of the arches as shall be spiritual men, during so long time as they shall occupy their said rooms and offices; nor to any such spiritual persons as shall happen by injunction of the lord chancellor, or the king’s council, to be bound to any daily appearance and attendance to answer to the law, during the time of such injunction. (S. 28.)
Provided also, that it shall be lawful to the king to give licence to every of his own chaplains, for non-residence upon their benefices; anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding. (S. 29.)
Provided also, that every duchess, marquess, countess, baroness, widows, which shall take any husbands under the degree of a baron, may take such number of chaplains as they might have done being widows; and that every such chaplain may have like liberty of non-residence, as they might have had if their said ladies and mistresses had kept themselves widows. (S. 33.) [This statute is abstracted from Burn in order to show the history of the law regarding residence, but it was repealed by the 57 Geo. III. c. 99, and that act also was repealed, and the whole question resettled, in 1838, by 1 & 2 Vic. c. 106, which is abstracted towards the end of this article.]
By the 25Hen.VIII. c. 16. Whereas by the statute of the 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13, it was ordained, that certain honourable persons, as well spiritual as temporal, shall have chaplains beneficed with cure to serve them in their honourable houses, which chaplains shall not incur the danger of any penalty or forfeiture made or declared in the same parliament, for non-residence upon their said benefices; in which act no provision was made for any of the king’s judges of his high courts, commonly called the King’s Bench and the Common Pleas, except only for the chief judge of the King’s Bench, nor for the chancellor nor the chief baron of the king’s Exchequer, nor for any other inferior persons being of the king’s most honourable council: It is therefore enacted, that as well every judge of the said high courts, and the chancellor and chief baron of the Exchequer, the king’s general attorney and general solicitor, for the time that shall be, shall and may retain and have in his house, or attendant to his person, one chaplain having one benefice with cure of souls, which may be absent from his said benefice, and not resident upon the same; the said statute made in the said one and twentieth year, or any other statute, act, or ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding.
By the 28Hen.VIII. c. 13. Whereas divers persons, under colour of the proviso in the act of the 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13., which exempteth persons conversant in the universities for study, from the penalty of non-residence, contained in the said act, do resort to the universities, where, under pretence of study, they live dissolutely, nothing profiting themselves by study at all, but consume the time in idleness and other pastimes: It is enacted, that all persons who shall be to any benefice or benefices promoted, as is aforesaid, being above the age of forty years, the chancellor,vice-chancellor, commissary of the said universities, wardens, deans, provosts, presidents, rectors, masters, principals, and other head rulers of colleges, halls, and other houses or places corporate within the said universities, doctors of the chair, (readers of divinity in the common schools of divinity in the said universities only excepted,) shall be resident and abiding at and upon one of their said benefices, according to the intent and true meaning of the said former act, upon such pain and penalties as be contained in the said former act, made and appointed for such beneficed persons for their non-residence; and that none of the said beneficed persons, being above the age aforesaid, except before except, shall be excused of their non-residence upon the said benefices, for that they be students or resiants within the said universities; any proviso, or any other clause or sentence, contained in the said former act of non-residence, or any other thing to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.
And further, that all and singular such beneficed persons, being under the age of forty years, resident and abiding within the said universities, shall not enjoy the privilege and liberty of non-residence, contained in the proviso of the said former act, unless he or they be present at the ordinary lecture and lectures, as well at home in their houses, as in the common school or schools, and in their proper person keep sophisms, problems, disputations, and other exercises of learning, and be opponent and respondent in the same, according to the ordinance and statutes of the said universities; anything contained in the said proviso, or former act, to the contrary notwithstanding.
Provided always, that nothing in this act shall extend to any person who shall be reader of any public or common lecture in divinity, law civil, physic, philosophy, humanity, or any of the liberal sciences, or public or common interpreter or teacher of the Hebrew tongue, Chaldee, or Greek; nor to any persons above the age of forty years, who shall resort to any of the said universities to proceed doctors in divinity, law civil, or physic, for the time of their said proceedings, and executing of such sermons, disputations, or lectures, which they be bound by the statutes of the universities there to do for the said degrees so obtained.
By the 33Hen.VIII. c. 28. Whereas by the act of the 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13, it was ordained, that certain honourable persons, and other of the king’s counsellors and officers, as well spiritual as temporal, should and might have chaplains beneficed with cure, to serve and attend upon them in their houses, which chaplains shall not incur the danger of any penalty or forfeiture made or declared in the said act for non-residence upon their said benefices; in which act no provision is made for any of the head officers of the king’s courts of the duchy of Lancaster, the courts of augmentations of the revenues of the Crown, the first-fruits and tenths, the master of his Majesty’s wards and liveries, the general surveyors of his lands, and other his Majesty’s court: It is therefore enacted, that the chancellor of the said court of the duchy of Lancaster, the chancellor of the court of augmentations, the chancellor of the court of first-fruits and tenths, the master of his Majesty’s wards and liveries, and every of the king’s general surveyors of his lands, the treasurer of his chamber, and the groom of the stole, and every of them, shall and may retain in his house, or attendant unto his person, one chaplain having one benefice with cure of souls, which may be absent from the said benefice, and non-resident upon the same; the said statute made in the said twenty-first year of his Majesty’s reign, or any other statute, act, or ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding.
Provided always, that every of the said chaplains so being beneficed as aforesaid, and dwelling with any the officers aforenamed, shall repair twice a year at the least to his said benefice and cure, and there abide for eight days at every such time at the least, to visit and instruct his said cure; on pain of forty shillings for every time so failing, half to the king, and half to him that will sue for the same in any of the king’s courts of record, in which suit no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed.
And here the question comes to be reconsidered, How far these statutes, taken together, do supersede the canon law, so as to take away the power which the ordinary had before, of enjoining residence to the clergy of his diocese? It seems to be clear, that, before these statutes, the bishops of this realm had and exercised a power of calling their clergy to residence: but more frequently they did not exert this power, which so far forth was to the clergy a virtual dispensation for non-residence. But this not exerting of their power was in them not always voluntary; for they were under the controlling influence of the pope, who granted dispensations of non-residence to as many as would purchase them, and disposed of abundance of ecclesiasticalpreferments to foreigners who never resided here at all. The king also, as appears, had a power to require the service of clergymen; and consequently in such case to dispense with them for non-residence upon their benefices. This power of the king is reserved to him by the aforesaid act of the 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13. But it is the power of dispensation in the two former cases which is intended to be taken away, namely, by the bishop and by the pope; and by the said act residence is enjoined to the clergy under the penalty therein mentioned, notwithstanding any dispensation to the contrary, from the court of Rome or elsewhere; with a proviso nevertheless, that the said act shall not extend nor be prejudicial to the chaplains and others therein specially excepted. It is argued, that this act being made to rectify what had been insufficient or ineffectual in the canon law, and inflicting a temporal penalty to enforce the obligation of residence, the parliament intended that the said act should be from thenceforth, if not the sole, yet the principal, rule of proceeding in this particular; and consequently, that the persons excepted in the act need no other exemption than what is given to them by the act for their non-residence. Unto this it is answered, that the intention of the act was not to take away any power which the bishop had of enjoining residence, but the contrary; namely, it was to take away that power which the bishop or pope exercised, of granting dispensations for non-residence; that is to say, the act left to them that power which was beneficial, and only took from them that which tended to the detriment of the Church; and consequently, that the bishop may enjoin residence to the clergy as he might before, only he may not dispense with them as he did before for non-residence. And indeed, from anything that appears upon the face of the act, the contrary supposition seemeth to bear somewhat hard against the rule, which hath generally been adhered to in the construction of acts of parliament, that an act of parliament in the affirmative doth not take away the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and that the same shall not be taken away in any act of parliament but by express words. It is, therefore, further urged, that the three subsequent acts do explain this act, and by the express words thereof do establish the aforegoing interpretation. In the first of the three it is said, that the persons therein mentioned may retain one chaplain, which may be absent from his benefice, and not resident upon the same; in the second it is said, that persons above forty years of age residing in the universities shall not be excused of their non-residence; and again, that persons under forty years of age shall not enjoy the privilege of non-residence, contained in the proviso of the said former act, unless they perform the common exercises there, and the like, which implies, that, if they do this, they shall enjoy such privilege; and in the third it is said, that the persons therein mentioned may retain one chaplain, which may be absent from his benefice, and non-resident upon the same; and it is not to be supposed, that the parliament intended a greater privilege to the chaplains of the inferior officers mentioned in the said last act, than to the chaplains of the royal family and principal nobility mentioned in the first act. Unto this the most apposite answer seemeth to be, that it is not expressed absolutely in any of the said three acts, that the chaplains or others therein mentioned shall enjoy the privilege of non-residence, or may be absent from their benefices, and not resident upon the same; but only this, that they may be absent or non-resident as aforesaid, the said statute made in the said twenty-first year, or any other statute or ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding. So that they are only exempted thereby from the restraints introduced by the statute law, but in other respects are left as they were before. But concerning this, although it is a case likely enough to happen every day, there hath been no adjudication.
Peccham.We do decree, that rectors who do not make personal residence in their churches, and who have no vicars, shall exhibit the grace of hospitality by their stewards according to the ability of the church; so that at least the extreme necessity of the poor parishioners be relieved; and they who come there, and in their passage preach the word ofGod, may receive necessary sustenance, that the churches be not justly forsaken of the preachers through the violence of want; for the workman is worthy of his meat, and no man is obliged to warfare at his own cost.
By the 13Eliz.c. 20. That the livings appointed for ecclesiastical ministers may not by corrupt and indirect dealings be transferred to other uses, it is enacted, that no lease to be made of any benefice or ecclesiastical promotion with cure, or any part thereof, and not being impropriated, shall endure any longer than while the lessor shall be ordinarily resident,and serving the cure of such benefice, without absence, above fourscore days in any one year; but every such lease, immediately upon such absence, shall cease and be void; and the incumbent so offending shall for the same lose one year’s profit of his said benefice, to be distributed by the ordinary among the poor of the parish: and all chargings of such benefices with cure with any pension, or with any profit out of the same to be yielded or taken, other than rents reserved upon leases, shall be void. (S. 1.)
Provided, that every parson, by the laws of this realm allowed to have two benefices, may demise the one of them, upon which he shall not then be most ordinarily resident, to his curate only that shall serve the cure for him; but such lease shall endure no longer than during such curate’s residence without absence above forty days in any one year. (S. 2.)
H. 1724.MillsandEtheridge. Bill by the lessee of Matthew Hawes, clerk, setting forth his lease dated Feb. 4, 1723, of the tithes for 1724 and 1725, in the parish of Simpson, in the county of Buckingham. The defendant pleaded, that it appears by the plaintiff’s bill, that his lease was dated Feb. 4, 1723; then pleads the statute of the 13 Eliz. c. 20, and avers, that Matthew Hawes the lessor was absent from his benefice eighty days and more in one year since the lease, and before the filing of the bill; that the church of Simpson is not impropriate; and that it is a benefice or ecclesiastical promotion with cure; and therefore, by such non-residence, and by virtue of the said act, that the lease was void. And the plea was allowed: and it was determined that, there is no necessity to aver that the absence was voluntary, (for if it was otherwise, it lay upon the plaintiff to show it,) or to aver that the absence was eighty days together.—Bunb.210.
The same plea came on E., 1726, in the case ofQuilterandLowndes, and allowed by the whole court.—Bunb.211.
But, query, says the reporter, if this is a good plea if the rector and lessee join; for by non-residence before sentence he only forfeits his lease and rent, not his tithes.—Atkinson and Prodgersv.Peasley, Bunb.211.
Bishops are not punishable by the statute of the 21 Hen. VIII. for non-residence upon their bishoprics; but although an archbishop or bishop be not tied to be resident upon his bishopric by the statute, yet they are thereto obliged by the ecclesiastical law, and may be compelled to keep residence by ecclesiastical censures.—Watson, c. 37.
Thus, by a constitution of Archbishop Langton, bishops shall be careful to reside in their cathedrals, on some of the greater feasts, and at least in some part of Lent, as they shall see to be expedient for the welfare of their souls.—Lynd.130.
And by a constitution of Otho: What is incumbent upon the venerable fathers, the archbishops and bishops, by their office to be done, their name of dignity, which is that of bishop (episcopus) or superintendent, evidently expresseth. For it properly concerns them (according to the gospel expression) to watch over their flock by night. And since they ought to be a pattern by which they who are subject to them ought to reform themselves, which cannot be done unless they show them an example, we exhort them in theLord, and admonish them, that, residing at their cathedral churches, they celebrate proper masses on the principal feast days, and in Lent, and in Advent. And they shall go about their dioceses at proper seasons, correcting and reforming the churches, consecrating and sowing the word of life in theLord’sfield. For the better performance of all which they shall twice in the year, to wit, in Advent and in Lent, cause to be read unto them the profession which they made at their consecration.—Athon, 55.
And by a constitution of Othobon: Although bishops know themselves bound, as well by Divine as ecclesiastical precepts, to personal residence with the flock ofGodcommitted to them, yet because there are some who do not seem to attend hereunto, therefore we, pursuing the monition of Otho the legate, do earnestly exhort them in theLord, and admonish them in virtue of their holy obedience, and under attestation of the Divine judgments, that, out of care to their flock, and for the solace of the churches espoused to them, they be duly present, especially on solemn days, in Lent and in Advent, unless their absence on such days shall be required for just cause by their superiors.—Athon, 118.
Canon 42. “Every dean, master, or warden, or chief governor of any cathedral or collegiate church, shall be resident in the same fourscore and ten daysconjunctimordivisimin every year at the least, and then shall continue there in preaching the word ofGod, and keeping good hospitality, except he shall be otherwise let with weighty and urgent causes, to be approved by the bishop of the diocese, or in any other lawful sort dispensed with.”
“To be approved by the bishop.”—By the ancient canon law, personal attendance on the bishop, or study in the university, was a just cause of non-residence; and as such, notwithstanding the non-residence, entitled them to all profits, except quotidians.—Gibson, 172.
Canon 44. “No prebendaries nor canons in cathedral or collegiate churches, having one or more benefices with cure, (and not being residentiaries in the same cathedral or collegiate churches,) shall, under colour of their said prebends, absent themselves from their benefices with cure above the space of one month in the year, unless it be for some urgent cause, and certain time to be allowed by the bishop of the diocese. And such of the said canons and prebendaries, as by the ordinances of the cathedral or collegiate churches do stand bound to be resident in the same, shall so among themselves sort and proportion the times of the year, concerning residence to be kept in the said churches, as that some of them always shall be personally resident there; and all those who be, or shall be, residentiaries in any cathedral or collegiate church, shall, after the days of their residency appointed by their local statutes or custom expired, presently repair to their benefices, or some one of them, or to some other charge where the law requireth their presence, there to discharge their duties according to the laws in that case provided. And the bishop of the diocese shall see the same to be duly performed and put in execution.”
So that, besides the general laws directing the residence of other clergymen, these dignitaries have another law peculiar to themselves, namely, the local statutes of their respective foundations, the validity of which local statutes this canon supposeth and affirmeth. And with respect to the new foundations in particular, the act of parliament of the 6 Anne, c. 21, enacteth, that their local statutes shall be in force, so far as they are not contrary to the constitution of the Church of England, or the laws of the land. This canon is undoubtedly a part of the constitution of the Church; so that if the canon interfereth in any respect with the said local statutes, the canon is to be preferred, and the local statutes to be in force only so far forth as they are modified and regulated by the canon.
There doth not appear to be any difference, either by the ecclesiastical or temporal laws of this kingdom, between the case of a rector and of a vicar concerning residence; except only that the vicar is sworn to reside, (with a proviso, unless he shall be otherwise dispensed withal by his diocesan,) and the rector is not sworn. And the reason of this difference was this: in the Council of Lateran, held under Alexander III., and in another Lateran council held under Innocent III., there were very strict canons made against pluralities: by the first of these councils, pluralities are restrained, and every person admittedad ecclesiam, vel ecclesiasticum ministerium, is bound to reside there, and personally serve the cure; by the second of these councils, if any person, having one benefice with cure of souls, accepts of a second, his first is declared voidipso jure. These canons were received in England, and are still part of our ecclesiastical law. At the first appearance of these canons, there was no doubt made but they obliged all rectors; for they, according to the language of the law, had churches in title, and hadbeneficium ecclesiasticum: and of such the canons spoke. But vicars did not then look upon themselves to be bound by these canons, for they, as the gloss upon the decretals speaks, had notecclesiam quoad titulum; and the text of the law describes them not as having benefices, but as boundpersonis et ecclesiis deservire; that is, as assistant to the rector in his church.
Upon this notion practice was founded and prevailed in England, which eluded the canons made against pluralities. A man beneficed in one church could not accept another, without avoiding the first; but a man possessed of a benefice could accept a vicarage under the rector in another church, for that was no benefice in law, and therefore not within the letter of the canon, which forbids any man holding two benefices.
The way then of taking a second living in fraud of the canon was this: a friend was presented, who took the institution, and had the churchquoad titulum: as soon as he was possessed, he constituted the person vicar for whose benefit he took the living, and by consent of the diocesan allotted the whole profit of the living for the vicar’s portion, except a small matter reserved to himself.
This vicar went and resided upon his first living, for the canon reached him where he had the benefice; but having no benefice where he had only a vicarage, he thought himself secure against the said canons requiring residence.
This piece of management gave occasion to several papal decrees, and to thefollowing constitution of Archbishop Langton, viz. “No ordinary shall admit any one to a vicarage, who will not personally officiate there.”—Lyndwood, 64.
And to another constitution of the same archbishop, by which it is enjoined, that vicars who will be non-resident shall be deprived.—Lyndwood, 131.
But the abuse still continued, and therefore Otho, in his legatine constitutions, applied a stronger remedy, ordaining, that none shall be admitted to a vicarage, but who, renouncing all other benefices (if he hath any) with cure of souls, shall swear that he will make residence there, and shall constantly so reside: otherwise his institution shall be null, and the vicarage shall be given to another.—Athon, 24.
And it is upon the authority of this constitution that the oath of residence is administered to vicars to this day. And this obligation of vicars to residence was further enforced by a constitution of Othobon, as followeth: If any shall detain a vicarage contrary to the aforesaid constitution of Otho, he shall not appropriate to himself the profits thereof, but shall restore the same; one moiety whereof shall be applied to the use of that church, and the other moiety shall be distributed half to the poor of the parish and half to the archdeacon. And the archdeacon shall make diligent inquiry every year, and cause this constitution to be strictly observed. And if he shall find that any one detaineth a vicarage contrary to the premises, he shall forthwith notify to the ordinary that such vicarage is vacant, who shall do what to him belongeth in the premises; and if the ordinary shall delay to institute another into such vicarage, he shall be suspended from collation, institution, or presentation to any benefices until he shall comply. And if any one shall strive to detain a vicarage contrary to the premises, and persist in his obstinacy for a month; he shall, besides the penalties aforesaid, beipso factodeprived of his other benefices (if he have any); and shall be disabled for ever to hold such vicarage which he hath so vexatiously detained, and from obtaining any other benefice for three years. And if the archdeacon shall be remiss in the premises, he shall be deprived of the share of the aforesaid penalty assigned to him, and be suspended from the entrance of the church until he shall perform his duty.—Athon, 95.
So that, upon the whole, the doubt was not, whether rectors were obliged to residence; the only question was, whether vicars were also obliged; and to enforce the residence of vicars, in like manner as of rectors, the aforesaid constitutions were ordained.—Sherl.ibid. 20–22.
Canon 47. “Every beneficed man licensed by the laws of this realm, upon urgent occasions of other service, not to reside upon his benefice, shall cause his cure to be supplied by a curate that is a sufficient and licensed preacher, if the worth of the benefice will bear it. But whosoever hath two benefices, shall maintain a preacher licensed in the benefice where he doth not reside, except he preach himself at both of them usually.”
And by the last article of Archbishop Wake’s directions it is required, that the bishop shall take care, as much as possible, that whosoever is admitted to serve any cure, do reside in the parish where he is to serve, especially in livings that are able to support a resident curate; and where that cannot be done, that they do at least reside so near to the place, that they may conveniently perform all their duties, both in the church and parish.
By the faculty of dispensation, a pluralist is required, in that benefice from which he shall happen to be most absent, to preach thirteen sermons every year; and to exercise hospitality for two months yearly; and, as much as in him lieth, to support and relieve the inhabitants of that parish, especially the poor and needy.
By the 1 Will. & Mar. c. 26. If any person presented or nominated by either of the universities to a popish benefice with cure, shall be absent from the same above the space of sixty days in any one year; in such case, the said benefice shall become void.—Abridged from Burn.
The 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106 repeals the 21 Hen. VIII. c. 13, and the 57 Geo. III. c. 99, relating to residence, and provides (s. 32) that every spiritual person holding any benefice shall keep residence on his benefice, and in the house of residence (if any) belonging thereto; and if any such person shall without any such licence or exemption, as is in this act allowed for that purpose, or unless he shall be resident at some other benefice of which he may be possessed, absent himself from such benefice, or from such house of residence, if any, for any period exceeding the space of three months together, or to be accounted at several times in any one year, he shall, when such absence shall exceed three months, and not exceed six months, forfeit one third part of the annual value of the benefice from which he shall so absent himself; and when such absence shall exceed six months, and not exceedeight months, one half part of such annual value; and when such absence shall exceed eight months, two third parts of such annual value; and when such absence shall have been for the whole year, three fourth parts of such annual value.
By sect. 33, the bishop may give licence to reside out of the usual house if it be unfit, or, if there be no house, in some convenient house, although not within such benefice.
By sect. 34, houses purchased by governors of Queen Anne’s bounty, to be deemed the lawful houses of residence.
By sect. 41, the incumbent is bound to keep in repair the house of residence, whether he reside in it or not. And for neglect of this he is to be subject to all the penalties of non-residence. For various exceptional cases, in which non-residence may be permitted, see sections 37, 38, 43, 44, &c.
By sect. 53, it is enacted, that in every year the bishop of every diocese is to make a return to her Majesty in council of the name of every benefice within his diocese, and the names of the several spiritual persons holding the same respectively, distinguishing those who are resident and those who are not resident, and stating whether they have exemption or not.
Sect. 59 contains strong provisions for the punishment of any one who holds a residence belonging to a benefice which has been let to him, and refuses to vacate after the incumbent is ordered to reside, and for enabling the incumbent to obtain possession of his residence by summary means.
Sect. 76 provides, that the curate under certain circumstances shall be required to reside.
This statute contains many provisions for enabling the ordinary to provide a residence where none exists.
RESIDENTIARY. The capitular members of cathedrals, who are bound to reside at the cathedral church, to perform the ordinary duties there, and to attend more immediately to its concerns. In England, all cathedrals of the old foundations have residentiaries, (canons residentiary, as they are usually called,) the great majority of prebendaries being nonresidentiary. Till the late parliamentary alterations, the greatest number of residentiaries was nine, the smallest four, the dean being always one. The following account of residentiaries is abridged fromChurton’sadmirable and instructive Life ofDean Nowell, (pp. 313,et seq.)
We learn from the ancient statutes of St. Paul’s, that it was customary in early days for all the canons or prebendaries to reside, being thirty in number; and when, in process of time, many, by mutual connivance, withdrew themselves to their cures or avocations elsewhere, the remaining few bound themselves by a new oath, to reside, and attend the duties of the Church.... At length the residentiaries were reduced to two only.... Bishop Braybrooke, to remedy this abuse, having interposed his authority, the matter was referred to arbitration of the Crown, by whom, in 1399, an order was made that residence should thereafter be kept according to the form of the Sarum Missal.... In Dean Colet’s time the statutes were revised, and it was ordered, that as the burdens of St. Paul’s were heavy, and the patrimony slender, there should in future be, under the dean as head, four, and only four, canons resident; eligible, as before, out of the senior prebendaries, offering themselves and protesting their residence, as formerly, at one of the quarterly feasts; when, if none came forward, some one should be invited to accept the office, and in case of refusal, be amerced by some pecuniary fine. The residentiaries of St. Paul’s, (p. 312,) though, in point of form, they are elective by the dean and chapter, are virtually, however, as is well known, in the patronage of the Crown; and upon every vacancy that occurs, a letter missive from his Majesty recommending some clerk, who is previously a prebendary by the collation of the bishop of London, is as certain in its operation, as thecongè d’élirefor the election of a bishop: by resistance, in one case, as well as the other, apræmunirewould be incurred. Archdeacon Churton adds, (p. 316,) that “in the cathedral of Lincoln, the custom, in ancient times, was similar to what appears to have been the rule in St. Paul’s. Of the numerous body of prebendaries, members of that church, any one who chose it, used to protest in chapter his intention to become a residentiary, and they were obliged to admit him accordingly, upon taking the usual oath. A practice so variable and uncertain as this, being found inconvenient in many respects, it was settled and agreed in a general chapter, about three hundred years ago, with the concurrence of the bishops, that the number of residentiaries should be limited to four, who were to be the fourprincipal persons(seePersona) of the church, as the dean, precentor, chancellor, and subdean. An alteration not very dissimilar took place at a later period, 1697, in the church of York; when, in consequence of a representationfrom the dean and chapter, the number of residentiaries was reduced, under a writ of privy seal, from six to four, now, as formerly, in the nomination of the dean.”
To these observations of Archdeacon Churton may be added, that at Chichester, the chapter called on whom they pleased to reside, generally observing seniority. The same rule prevailed at Hereford, where the residentiaries are still elected by the chapter. In most cathedrals residence wasprotested(as stated above) at one of the great chapters. Forty days’ notice was given at Lichfield. (SeeDugdale’s Monasticon, ed. 1830, andDugdale’s St. Paul’s.) The present number of residentiaries at Exeter was fixed by Bishop Ward, in 1663.
From the ancient documents appended to Dugdale’s History of St. Paul’s, it appears by more than one explicit declaration, that all the residentiaries were required to reside together, not merely dividing the year between them, according to the present most reprehensible arrangement. They were allowed to serve no other church whatever. They were requiredto be all present together at all services on Sundays and greater holidays, and so to manage between themselves on ordinary week days, that one at least should be present at each one of them [and it must be remembered that the daily services were then more numerous than now]. And if they neglected this perpetual residence, from which only occasional absence, as to parish clergymen from their cures, was permitted, they were not considered as entitled to their emoluments; and their neglect is censured in the old records, in terms of the strongest reprobation.
RESIGNATION. 1. A resignation is, where a parson, vicar, or other beneficed clergyman, voluntarily gives up and surrenders his charge and preferment to those from whom he received the same.—Deg.p. i. c. 14.
2. That ordinary who hath the power of institution, hath power also to accept of a resignation made of the same church to which he may institute; and therefore the respective bishop, or other person who, either by patent under him, or by privilege or prescription, hath the power of institution, are the proper persons to whom a resignation ought to be made. And yet a resignation of a deanery in the king’s gift may be made to the king; as of the deanery of Wells. And some hold, that the resignation may well be made to the king of a prebend that is no donative: but others, on the contrary, have held, that a resignation of a prebend ought to be made only to the ordinary of the diocese, and not to the king as supreme ordinary; because the king is not bound to give notice to the patron (as the ordinary is) of the resignation; nor can the king make a collation by himself without presenting to the bishop, notwithstanding his supremacy.—2Roll’s Abr.358.Watson, c. 4.
And resignation can only be made to a superior: this is a maxim in the temporal law, and is applied by Lord Coke to the ecclesiastical law, when he says, that therefore a bishop cannot resign to the dean and chapter, but it must be to the metropolitan from whom he received confirmation and consecration.—Gibson, 822.
And it must be made to the next immediate superior, and not to the mediate; as of a church presentative to the bishop, and not to the metropolitan.—2Roll’s Abr.358.