Article — Marc, Institutiones Morales
Article III: On Adoration and also on Offerings, First-Fruits, and Tithes
- I. ADORATION, taken generically, sounds almost the same as WORSHIP itself, and is divided as above, n. 531. In the stricter sense (as often in catechisms), it is used for the worship of latria alone. In the proper sense, it is a special act of religion, whether internal or external, by which the worship of latria is exhibited to God (2.2, q. 84, a. 2).
We offer to God a twofold adoration, namely spiritual, which consists in the interior devotion of the mind, and corporal, which consists in the exterior humiliation of the body.
External signs of adoration are not of such a kind that they necessarily signify the worship of latria; wherefore, from the intention of the one adoring, they must be determined to the worship of latria, or hyperdulia, or dulia. Moreover, such an intention together with the external act, for example genuflection, can be prescribed. Yet one thing, namely sacrifice, is a sign which is proper to the adoration of latria.
- II. OFFERINGS, in the broad sense, are everything which is offered to the Church; in which sense first-fruits and tithes are also comprehended. - Taken strictly, they are things which the faithful, in view of religion, immediately offer to God, so that they may yield to the use of the Church or of the ministers of the Church.
a) These offerings are voluntary by their nature, according to that saying of Exodus 25:2: Of every man that offereth of his own accord, you shall receive them. b) They can become obligatory: either from promise or vow; or from the indigence of the ministers of the Church; or from legitimate custom; or from prescription, as if a parish priest for a long time (suppose ten years) in good faith demanded offerings of this kind as owed to himself, the parishioners not protesting. c) A Bishop can under grave obligation drive parish priests to collecting, whether by themselves or by others, the offerings of the faithful, indeed punish the disobedient and remove them from the parish. S. C. Cons., Apr. 22, 1911 (A. A. S., III, p. 277). Cf. Ami du Clerge, 1911, p. 690; 1913, p. 166; Nouv. Rev. Theol., 1912, p. 36. See other things below, n. 1642, 20.
Note. In order to know to whom offerings belong, one must attend to the usage of places, and especially to the intention of those offering.
- III. FIRST-FRUITS are the first fruits, coming from lands newly cultivated, to be offered only once to God as giver of all goods and to the ministers of his Church.
Formerly they were to be paid from the precept of ecclesiastical law, as is established from canon Praeter, dist. 32; but today they have grown obsolete almost everywhere.
- IV. TITHES are the tenth or another quota part of fruits and revenues justly acquired, owed to God in testimony of his supreme dominion, and to be paid to the ministers of the Church.
In the new law, tithes, regarded as to substance, that is, insofar as they are the necessary stipend of the ministers of the Church, are owed by natural and divine right, according to that saying (Luke 10:7): For the laborer is worthy of his hire; but regarded as to the determination of quantity, they are only of ecclesiastical right (St. Alph., de Privil., n. 87-84).
Payment of tithes, insofar as it is made on account of the worship of God and as a sign of his supreme dominion, is an act of religion. But insofar as it is regarded as owed to the ministers of the Church, who furnish spiritual things to us, it is an act of justice (Council of Trent, Sess. 25, c. 12, de Ref.). - Hence those who defraud tithes (or pensions assigned by governments in place of tithes) sin both against religion and against justice, even if they are not sacrilegious (III, 31, q. 4).
The obligation of tithes can cease: a) By privilege of the Pontiff exempting some persons. b) By legitimate custom; provided that otherwise a congruent portion is given, which is owed by the right of nature. c) By remission made by him to whom they are owed, provided he is able to renounce. d) By transaction, or pontifical composition, for future tithes.
In most regions, the obligation of paying predial tithes has in fact CEASED, either by custom or by composition, whether with private persons or with governments, for example through concordats, with the burden of suitably sustaining the clergy imposed. In Italy, the support which the government furnishes is tolerated as retribution for personal labor, but not as compensation for usurpation already carried out.
In place of personal tithes, which long ago became obsolete, there now prevail STOLE FEES, for example the funeral fourth (cf. n. 2279).
Note. Comparable to tithes is the tax of worship which today in France is imposed upon the faithful. Cf. A. S. S., vol. 41, p. 39; Ami du Clerge, 1909, p. 254, 631, 1150.
In the United States of North America it is prohibited to receive money at the doors of the church from those entering, in the manner of a tax (Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, n. 397; Nouv. Rev. Theol., 1912, p. 36).