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CANON

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 192 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANON . The See also:

Greek word KavWv means originally a straight See also:rod or See also:pole, and metaphorically what serves to keep a thing upright or straight, a See also:rule. In the New Testament it occurs in Gal. vi. 16, and 2 See also:Cor. X. 13, 15, 16, signifying in the former passage a measure, in the latter what is measured, a See also:district. The See also:general applications of the word fall mainly into two See also:groups, in one of which the underlying meaning is that of rule, in the other that of a See also:list or See also:catalogue, i.e. of books containing the rule. Of the first, such uses as that of a See also:standard or rule of conduct or See also:taste, or of a particular See also:form of musical See also:composition (see below) may be mentioned, but the See also:principal example is of the sum of the See also:laws regulating the ecclesiastical See also:body (see CANON See also:LAW). In the second See also:group of uses that of the ecclesiastical dignitary(see below), that of the list of the names of those persons recognized as See also:saints by the See also:Church (see See also:CANONIZATION), and that of the authoritative body of Scriptures (see below) are examples. See also:Music.—A canon in See also:part-music is the form taken by the earliest compositions in See also:harmony, successive or consequent parts having the same See also:melody, but each beginning at a stated See also:period after its precursor or antecedent. In many See also:early polyphonic compositions, one or more voices were imitated See also:note for note by the others, so that the other parts did not need to be written out at all, but were deduced from the leaders by a rule or canon. See also:Sir See also:Frederick See also:Bridge has pointed out that in this way the See also:term " canon " came to supersede the old name of the See also:art-form, Fuga ligata.

(See also under See also:

FUGUE, CONTRAPUNTAL FORMS and Music.) When the first part completes its rhythmical See also:sentence before the second enters, and then continues the melody as an See also:accompaniment to the second, and so on for the third or See also:fourth, this form of canon in See also:England was styled a " See also:round " or " catch "; the stricter canon being one in which the See also:succession of parts did not depend on the ending of the phrase. But outside England catches and canons were undifferentiated. The " round " derived its name from the fact that the first part returned to the beginning while the others continued the melody; the " catch " meant that each later part caught up the tune. The problem of the canon, as an See also:artistic composition, is to find one or more points' in a melody at which one or more successive parts may start the same tune harmoniously. Catches were See also:familiar in See also:English folk music until after the Restoration; different trades having characteristic melodies of their own. In the See also:time of See also:Charles II. they took a bacchanalian See also:cast, and later became sentimental. Gradually the form went out as a type of folk music, and now survives mainly in its See also:historical See also:interest. (H. Cu.) The Church Dignitary.—A canon is a See also:person who possesses a prebend, or See also:revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a See also:cathedral or collegiate church. Though the See also:institute of canons as it at See also:present exists does not go back beyond the I1th See also:century it has a See also:long See also:history behind it. The name is derived from the list (matricula) of the See also:clergy belonging to a church, Kavcw being thus used in the See also:council of See also:Nicaea (c. 16).

In the See also:

synod of See also:Laodicea the See also:adjective Kavovuo5S is found in this sense (c. 15) ; and during the 6th century the word canonicus occurs commonly in western See also:Europe in relation to the clergy belonging to a cathedral or other church. See also:Eusebius of See also:Vercelli (d. 370) was the first to introduce the See also:system whereby the cathedral clergy dwelt together, leading a semi-monastic See also:life in See also:common and according to rule; and St See also:Augustine established a similar manner of life for the clergy of his cathedral at See also:Hippo. The system spread widely over See also:Africa, See also:Spain and See also:Gaul; a familiar instance is St See also:Gregory's See also:injunction to St Augustine that at See also:Canterbury the See also:bishop and his clergy should live a common life together, similar to the monastic life in which he had been trained; that these " clerics " at Canterbury were not monks is shown by the fact that those of them in the See also:lower clerical grades were See also:free to marry and live at See also:home, without forfeiting their position or emoluments as members of the body of cathedral clergy (See also:Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 27). This mode of life for the See also:secular clergy, which became common in the See also:west, seems never to have taken See also:root in the See also:east. It came to be called vita canonica, canonical life, and it was the See also:object of various enactments of See also:councils during the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries. The first serious See also:attempt to legislate for it and reduce it to rule was made by Chrodegang, bishop of See also:Metz (c. 75o), who composed a rule for the clergy of his cathedral, which was in large measure an See also:adaptation of the See also:Benedictine Rule to the See also:case of secular clergy living in common. Chrodegang's Rule was adopted in many churches, both cathedral and collegiate (i.e. those served by a body of clergy).

In 816 the synod of See also:

Aix-la-Chapelle (see Mon. Germ. Concil. ii. 307) made further regulations for the canonical life, which became the law in the Frankish See also:empire for cathedral and collegiate churches. The Rule of Chrodegang was taken as the basis, but was supplemented and in some points mitigated and made less monastic in See also:character. There was a common See also:dormitory and common See also:refectory for all, but each canon was allowed a dwelling See also:room within the See also:cloister; the use of flesh See also:meat was permitted, and the clothing was of better quality than that of monks. Each canon retained the use of his private See also:property and See also:money, but the revenues of the cathedral or church were treated as a common fund for the See also:maintenance of the whole See also:establishment. The See also:chief See also:duty of the canons was the performance of the church services. Thus the canons were not monks, but secular clergy living in community, without taking the monastic vows or resigning their private means—a form of life somewhat resembling that of the fathers of the See also:London or Blimingham See also:Oratory in our See also:day. The bishop was expected to See also:lead the common life along with his clergy. The canonical life as regulated by the synod of Aix, subsisted in the 9th and loth centuries; but the maintenance of this intermediate form of life was of extreme difficulty. . There was a See also:constant tendency to relax the bonds of the common life, and attempts in various directions to restore it.

In England, by the See also:

middle of the loth century, the prescriptions of the canonical life seem to have fallen into desuetude, and in nine cathedrals the canons were replaced by communities of See also:Benedictines. In the rrth century the Rule of Chrodegang was introduced into certain of the English cathedrals, and an Anglo-Saxon See also:translation of it was made under See also:Leofric for his church of See also:Exeter. The turning point came in 1059, when a reforming synod, held at the Lateran, exhorted the clergy of all cathedral and collegiate churches to live in community, to hold all property and money in common, and to " lead the life of the Apostles " (cf. Acts ii.44, 45)• The clergy of numerous churches throughout Western Europe (that of the Lateran See also:Basilica among them) set themselves to carry out these exhortations, and out of this See also:movement See also:grew the religious See also:order of Canons See also:Regular or Augustinian Canons (q.v.). The opposite tendency also ran its course and produced the institute of secular canons. The revenues of the cathedral were divided into two parts, that of the bishop and that of the clergy; this latter was again divided among the clergy them-selves, so that each member received his own See also:separate income, and the persons sa sharing, whatever their clerical grade, were the canons of the cathedral church. Naturally all attempt at leading any See also:kind of common life was frankly abandoned. In England the final establishment of this order of things was due to St Osmund (logo). The nature and functions of the institute of secular canons are described in the See also:article CATHEDRAL. See Du Cange, Glossarium, under " Canonicus "; See also:Amort, Fetus Discipline Canonicorum (1747), to be used with caution for the earlier period; C. du See also:Molinet, Reflexions historiques et curieuses sur See also:les aniiquites See also:des chanoines'See also:ant seculiers que regulaers (1674) ; See also:Herzog, Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.), art. " Kapitel "; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed.), art. " Canonica vita " and " Canonikat." The history of the canonical institute is succinctly told, and the best literature named, by Max Heimbucher, Orden and Kongregationen, 1896, i.

§ 55; also by See also:

Otto Zoekler, Askese and Monchtum, 1897, pp. 422-425. On See also:medieval secular canons a standard See also:work is Chr. See also:Wordsworth's Statutes of See also:Lincoln Cathedral (1892–1897); see also an article thereon by Edm. Bishop in See also:Dublin See also:Review, See also:July 1898. (E. C. B.) In the Church of England, the canons of cathedral or collegiate churches retain their traditional character and functions, though they are now, of course, permitted to marry. Their duties were defined by the Canons of 1603, and included that of See also:residence at the cathedrals according to "their See also:local customs and statutes," and See also:preaching in the cathedral and in the churches of the See also:diocese, " especially those whence they or their church receive any yearly See also:rent or profit." A canonry not being legally a " cure of souls," a canon may hold a See also:benefice in addition to his prebend, in spite of the acts against pluralities. By the Canons of 1603 he was subject to discipline if he made his canonry an excuse for neglecting his cure. By the See also:act of 184o reforming cathedral chapters the number of canonries was greatly reduced, whie some were made applicable to the endowment of See also:arch-deaconries and professorships. At the same time it was enacted that a canon must have been six years in See also:priest's orders, except in the case of canonries annexed to any professorship, headship or other See also:office in any university.

The obligatory period of residence, hitherto varying in different churches, was also fixed at a See also:

uniform period of three months. The right of presentation to canonries is now vested in some cases in the See also:crown, in others in the See also:lord See also:chancellor, the See also:archbishop or in the bishop of the diocese. Honorary canons are properly canons who have no prebend or other emoluments from the common fund of the See also:chapter. In the case of old cathedrals the See also:title is bestowed upon deserving clergymen by the bishop as a See also:mark of distinction. In new cathedrals, e.g. See also:Manchester or See also:Birmingham, where no endowment exists for a chapter, the bishop is empowered to appoint honorary canons, who carry out the See also:ordinary functions of a cathedral body (see CATHEDRAL). See also:Minor canons, more properly styled priest-vicars, are appointed by the See also:dean and chapter. Their See also:function is mainly to sing the service, and they are selected therefore mainly for theirvoices and musical qualifications. They may hold a benefice, if it lies within 6 m. of the cathedral. In the See also:Protestant churches.of the See also:continent canons as ecclesiastical See also:officers have ceased to exist. In See also:Prussia and See also:Saxony, however, certain chapters, secularized at the See also:Reformation, still exist. The canons (Domherren) are, however, laymen with no ecclesiastical character whatever, and their See also:rich prebends are merely See also:sources of endowment for the cadets of See also:noble families.

See See also:

Phillimore, See also:Eccles. Law, 2 vols. (London, 1895). (W. A. P.) The Scriptures.—There are three opinions as to the origin of the application of the term " canon " to the writings used by the See also:Christian Church. According to See also:Semler, See also:Baur and others, the word had originally the sense of list or catalogue—the books publicly read in Christian assemblies. Others, as See also:Steiner, suppose that since the Alexandrian grammarians applied it to collections of old Greek authors as See also:models of excellence or See also:classics, it meant classical (canonical) writings. According to a third See also:opinion, the term included from the first the See also:idea of a regulating principle. This is the more probable, because the same idea lies in the New Testament use of the noun, and pervades its applications in the See also:language of the early Fathers down to the time of See also:Constantine, as See also:Credner has shown.' The " Kavwwv of the church " in the Clementine homilies,2 the " ecclesiastical Kavww"' and the "See also:main, of the truth " in See also:Clement and See also:Irenaeus,' the Kavwv of the faith in See also:Polycrates,' the See also:regula fidei of See also:Tertullian,° and the libri regulares of See also:Origen 7 imply a normative principle. Credner's view of Kavwv as an See also:abbreviation of ypa¢•ai Kavovos, See also:equivalent to Scripturae legis in See also:Diocletian's Act,B is too artificial, and is unsanctioned by usage. The earliest example of its application to a catalogue of the Old or New Testament books occurs in the Latin translation of Origen's See also:homily on See also:Joshua, where the See also:original seems to have been Kavwv.

The word itself is certainly in Amphilochius,9 as well as in See also:

Jerome 10 and See also:Rufinus." As the Latin translation of Origen has canonicus and canonizatus, we infer that he used Kavovtshc, opposed as it is to apocryphus or See also:secret us. The first occurrence of KavovtKbs is in the 59th canon of the council of Laodicea, where it is contrasted with i&ewrtaOs and aKavovto-See also:ros. KavostO,ueva,"canonized books," is first used in See also:Athanasius's festal See also:epistle.12 The kind of rule which the earliest Fathers thought the Scriptures to be can only be conjectured; it is certain that they believed the Old Testament books to be a divine and infallible See also:guide. But the New Testament was not so considered till towards the See also:close of the 2nd century, when the conception of a See also:Catholic Church was realized. The collection of writings was not called Scripture, or put on a See also:par with the Old Testament as sacred and inspired, till the time of See also:Theophilus of See also:Antioch (about 18o A.D.). Hence Irenaeus applies the epithets divine and perfect to the Scriptures; and Clement of See also:Alexandria calls them inspired. When distinctions were made among the Biblical writings other words were employed, synonymous with KavovL b/.ieva or KEKavovco•Ova, such as v&l&BrlKa, thptcrOva. The canon was thus a catalogue of writings, forming a rule of truth, sacred, divine, revealed by See also:God for the instruction of men. The rule was perfect for its purpose. (See See also:BIBLE: See also:section Canon.) The term " canonical," i.e. that which is approved or ordered by the canon " or rule, is applied to ecclesiastical See also:vestments, " canonicals," and to those See also:hours set apart by the Church for See also:prayer and devotion, the " Canonical Hours " (see See also:BREVIARY). (S. D.) ' Zur Geschichte des Kanons, pp.

3-68. 2 Clement See also:

Horn., ap. Coteler. vol. i. p. 608. Stromata, vi. 15, p. 803, ed. See also:Potter. ' Adv. Haeres. i. 95. ' Euseb.

H.E. v. 24. 6 De praescript. Haereticorum, chs. 12, 13. Comment. in See also:

Mat. p. 916, ed. See also:Delarue. 8 Monumenta vetera ad Donalistarum historiam pertinentia, ed. See also:Dupin, p. 168. 9 At the end of the Iambi ad Seleucum, on the books of the New Testament, he adds, ouror 0.11svd&rraro, Kavwv &v EI7, Twv ew,rsebarwv See also:Pack-6P.

10 Prologus galeatus in is, Reg. " Expos. in Symb. A See also:

post. 37, p. 374, ed. See also:Migne. 12 After the word is added Kai 7rapaSo8EYTa, 71-LOTEUBEPTa TE See also:BELa Eu'ae. Opp. vol. i. p. 962, ed. See also:Benedict.

End of Article: CANON

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