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PROCESS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 417 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PROCESS , in See also:

law, in the widest sense of the word, any means by which a See also:court of See also:justice gives effect to its authority. In the old practice of the See also:English See also:common law courts process was either See also:original or judicial. Original process was a means of compelling a See also:defendant to compliance with an original See also:writ (see WRIT). Judicial process was any compulsory proceeding rendered necessary after the See also:appearance of the defendant. Process was also divided in See also:civil matters into original, See also:mesne and final. Original process in this sense was any means taken to compel the appearance of the defendant. A writ of See also:summons is now the universal means in the High Court of Justice. Mesne process was either any proceeding against the defendant taken between the beginning and the end of the See also:action, such as to compel him to give See also:bail, or was directed to persons not parties to the action, such as jurors or witnesses. See also:Arrest on mesne process was abolished in See also:England by the Debtors See also:Act 1869. Final process is practically coexistent with See also:execution. In criminal matters process only applies where the defendant does not appear upon summons or otherwise. A See also:warrant is now the usual See also:form of such process.

Stet processus was a technical See also:

term used in old common law practice. It consisted of an•entry on the See also:record by consent of the parties for a stay of proceedings. Since the Judicature Acts there has been no record, and the stet processus has disappeared with it. In Scots law process is used in a much wider sense, almost equivalerit to practice or See also:procedure in English law. Where papers forming steps of a process are borrowed and not returned, the return of the borrowed process may be enforced by See also:caption (See also:attachment). The Scottish process is very much akin to the See also:French dossier. In the See also:United States process is governed by numerous statutes, both of See also:Congress and of the See also:state legislatures. The law is founded upon the English common law. PROCESSION' (M. Eng., processioun, Fr., procession, See also:Lat., processio, from procedere, to go forth, advance, proceed), in See also:general, an organized See also:body of See also:people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner. This See also:definition covers a wide variety of such progresses: the See also:medieval pageants, of which the See also:Lord ' In classical Latin the word generally used for a procession was pompa, a formal See also:march or progress of persons to some particular spot, to celebrate some event, or for some public or religious purpose. Processio is used by See also:Cicero in the sense of " a marching forward, an advance," any public progress, such as the formal entrance of the See also:consul upon his See also:office (Du Cange, s.v.

Processio), or the public appearance of the See also:

emperor. In See also:Late Latin processio is generally used of a religious procession, the word having come to be used of the body of persons advancing or proceeding. See also:Mayor's show in See also:London is the most conspicuous survival; the processions connected with royal coronations and with court ceremonies generally; the processions of friendly See also:societies, so popular in See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:America; processions organized as a demonstration of See also:political or other opinions; processions forming See also:part of the ceremonies of public See also:worship. In a narrower sense of " going forth, proceeding," the term is used in the technical See also:language of See also:theology in the phrase " Procession of the See also:Holy See also:Ghost," expressing the relation of the Third See also:Person in the Triune Godhead to the See also:Father and the Son. Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive See also:Greek and way in which a number of persons can take part in See also:Roman See also:Pro- some ceremony. They are included in the celebracessions. tions of many religions, and in many countries, both in the See also:East and See also:West, they accompany such events as weddings and funerals. Religious and triumphal processions are abundantly illustrated by See also:ancient monuments, e.g. the religious processions of See also:Egypt, those illustrated by the See also:rock-carvings of Boghaz-Keui (see See also:PTERIA), the many representations of pro-cessions in Greek See also:art, culminating in the great Panathenaic procession of the See also:Parthenon See also:frieze, and Roman triumphal reliefs, such as those of the See also:arch of See also:Titus. Processions played a prominent part in the great festivals of See also:Greece, where they were always religious in See also:character. The See also:games were either opened or accompanied by more or less elaborate processions and sacrifices, while processions from the earliest times formed part of the worship of the old nature gods (e.g. those connected with the cult of See also:Dionysus, &c.), and later formed an essential part of the celebration of the great religious festivals (e.g. the processions of the Thesmophoria, and that of the Great See also:Dionysia), and of the mysteries (e.g. the great pro-cession from See also:Athens to See also:Eleusis, in connexion with the Eleusinia). Of the Roman processions, the most prominent was that of the See also:Triumph, which had its origin in the return of the victorious See also:army headed by the general, who proceeded in great pomp from the Campus to the Capitol to offer See also:sacrifice, accompanied by the army, captives, spoils, the See also:chief See also:magistrate, priests bearing the images of the gods, amidst strewing of See also:flowers, burning of See also:incense and the like (See also:Ovid, Trist. iv. 2, 3 and 6). Connected with the triumph was the pompa circensis, or See also:solemn procession which preceded the games in the See also:circus; it first came into use at the ludi romani, when the games were preceded by a great pro-cession from the Capitol to the Circus.

The See also:

praetor or consul who appeared in the pompa circensis wore the See also:robes of a triumphing general (see See also:Mommsen, Staatsrecht I. 397 for the connexion of the triumph with the ludi). Thus, when it became customary for the consul to celebrate games at the opening of the consular See also:year, he came, under the See also:empire, to appear in triumphal robes in the processus consularis, or procession of the consul to the Capitol to sacrifice to See also:Jupiter. After the See also:establishment of See also:Christianity, the consular processions in See also:Constantinople retained their religious character, now proceeding to St See also:Sophia, where prayers and offerings were made; but in See also:Rome, where Christianity was not so widely spread among the upper classes, the tendency was to convert the procession into a purely civil See also:function, omitting the See also:pagan See also:rites and prayers, without substituting See also:Christian .ones (Dahremberg and Saglio, s.v. " Consul "). Besides these public processions, there were others connected with the See also:primitive worship of the See also:country people, which remained unchanged, and were later to See also:influence the worship of the Christian See also:Church. Such were those of the See also:Ambarvalia, Robigalia, &c., which were essentially rustic festivals, lustrations of the See also:fields, consisting in a procession See also:round the spot to be purified, leading the sacrificial victims with prayers, See also:hymns and ceremonies, in See also:order to protect the See also:young crops from evil influences. (See See also:Preller, Rom. Mythologie, pp. 370–372.) As to the antiquity of processions as part of the See also:ritual of the Christian Church, there is no See also:absolute See also:proof of their existence before the 4th See also:century, but as we know that in the catacombs stations were held at the tombs of the martyrs on the anniversary of their See also:death, for the celebration of the See also:eucharist, itis quite probable that the faithful proceeded to the appointed spot in some See also:kind of procession, though there is no satisfactory See also:evidence that this was the See also:case. There are, indeed, processions See also:early instances of the use of the word processio by in the Christian writers, but it does not in any case Christian appear to have the See also:modern meaning "procession." Church. See also:Tertullian (2nd century) uses processio and procedere in the sense of " to go out, appear in public," 1 and, as applied to a church function, processio was first used in the same way as collecta, as the See also:equivalent of the Greek o bvaEcs, i.e. for the See also:assembly of the people in the church (Du Cange, s.v.).

In this sense it appears to be used by See also:

Pope See also:Leo I. (Ep. IX. ad Diosc. episc. C. 445: " qui nostris processionibus et ordinationibus frequenter interfuit "), while in the version by See also:Dionysius Exiguus of the 17th See also:canon of the See also:Council of Laodicaea vvv&Feat, is translated by processionibus (See also:Smith, See also:Die. of Chr. Antiq. s.v. " Procession "). For the processions that formed part of the ritual of the eucharist, those of the introit, the See also:gospel and the See also:oblation, the earliest records date from the 6th century and even later (see See also:Duchesne, Origins, 2nd ed., pp. 77, 154, 181; 78, 194), but they evidently were established at a much earlier date. As to public processions, these seem to have come into rapid See also:vogue after the recognition of Christianity as the See also:religion of the empire. Those at See also:Jerusalem would seem to have been See also:long established when described by the authoress of the Peregrinatio Silviae towards the end of the 4th century (see See also:PALM See also:SUNDAY, for the procession of palms). Very early were the processions accompanied by hymns and prayers, known as litaniae (Gr.

Xcraveia, from Acrd, See also:

prayer), rogationes or supplications (see See also:LITANY). It is to such a procession that reference appears to be Litanies or made in a letter2 of St See also:Basil (c. 375), which would Rogations thus be the first recorded mention of a public Christian procession. The first mention for the Western Church occurs in St See also:Ambrose (c. 388, Ep. 40 § 16, Ad Theodos. L` monachos . . . qui ... psalmos canentes ex consuetudine usuque veteri pergebant ad celebritatem Machabaeorum martyrum "). In both these cases the litanies are stated to have been long in use. There is also mention of a procession accompanied by hymns, organized at Constantinople by St See also:John See also:Chrysostom (c. 390–400) in opposition to a procession of Arians, in See also:Sozomen, Hist. eccl. viii. 8' In times of calamity litanies were held, in which the people walked in robes of penitence, See also:fasting, barefooted, and, in later times, frequently dressed in See also:black (litaniae nigrae).

The See also:

cross was carried at the See also:head of the procession and often the gospel and the See also:relics of the See also:saint were carried. See also:Gregory of See also:Tours gives numerous instances of such litanies in See also:time of calamity; thus he describes (Vita S. Remig. I.) a procession of the See also:clergy and people round the See also:city, in which relics of St See also:Remigius were carried and litanies chanted in order to avert the See also:plague. So, too, Gregory the Great (Ep. xi. 57) writes to the Sicilian bishops to hold processions in order to prevent a threatened invasion of See also:Sicily. A famous instance of these See also:penitential litanies is the litania septiformis ordered by Gregory the Great in the year 59o, when Rome had been inundated and pestilence had followed. 1 See De praescr. adv. hoer. C. xliii., " Ubi metus in Deum, ibi gravitas honesta . . . et subjectio religiosa, et apparitio devota, et processio modesta, et See also:Ecclesia unita et Dei omnia," where it would seem to mean " a modest bearing in public; " also De cultu foem. ii., xi., " Vobis autem nulla procedendi caussa tetrica; See also:aut imbecillus aliquis ex fratribus visitandus, aut sacrificium offertur, aut Dei verbum administratur," which shows that procedere was not used only of going to church. The passage ad uxorem, ii. 4, which is sometimes quoted to prove the existence of processions at this date, appears to use procedere in the same way as the above passages; .. si procedendum erit, nunquam magis familiae occupatio obveniat.

Quis enim sinat conjugem suam visitandorum fratrum gratis vicatim aliena ac quidem pauperiora quaeque tuguria circuire? . quis denique solemnibus Paschae abnoctantem securus sustinebit? Ep. 207 ad Neocaes: 'AXX' oUK iv, ft,r]! 1, 'scram is-1 rov ,ueydXou I peyoptov. 'See also:

AAA' oUS- at ALrap iac, &c basis vim rrv5si, rs K. T. A. ' Brawls having arisen with the Catholics, who began singing their hymns in opposition, the emperor prohibited the Arian meetings. In this litany seven processions, of clergy, laymen, monks, nuns, matrons, the poor, and See also:children respectively, starting from seven different churches, proceeding to hear See also:mass at Sta Maria See also:Maggiore (see See also:Greg. of Tours, Hist. Fr. x. r, and Johann. Diac.

Vita Greg. Magn. i. 42). This litany has often been confused with the litania See also:

major, introduced at Rome in 598 (vide supra), but is quite distinct from it.' Funeral processions, accompanied with singing and the carrying of lighted tapers, were very early customary (see See also:LIGHTS, CEREMONIAL USE OF), and akin to these, also very early, were the processions connected with the See also:translation of the relics of martyrs from their original burying See also:place to the church where they were to be enshrined (see e.g. St Ambrose, Ep. 29 and St See also:Augustine, De civitate Dei, xxii. 8 and Conj. viii. 7, for the finding and translation of the relics of See also:Saints Gervasius and Protasius). From the time of the emperor See also:Constantine I. these processions were of great magnificence.' Some liturgists maintain that the early Church in its processions followed Old Testament precedents, quoting such cases origin of as the procession of the See also:ark round the walls of Christian See also:Jericho (Josh. vi.), the procession of See also:David with the Processions, ark (2 Sam. vi.), the processions of thanksgiving on the return from captivity, &c. The See also:liturgy of the early Church as Duchesne shows (Origines, ch. i.) was influenced by that of the Jewish See also:synagogue, but the theory that the Church adopted the Old Testament ritual is of quite late growth. What is certain is that certain festivals involving processions were adopted by the Christian Church from the pagan See also:calendar of Rome. Here we need only mention the litaniae majores et minores, which are stated by Usener (" Alte Bittgange," in See also:Zeller, Philosophische Aufsatze, p.

278 seq.) to have been first instituted by Pope Liberius (352-366). It is generally acknowledged that they are the equivalent of the Christian Church of the Roman lustrations of the crops in See also:

spring, the Ambarvalia, &c. The litania major, or great procession on St See also:Mark's See also:day (See also:April 25) is shown to coincide both in date and ritual with the Roman Robigalia, which took place a.d. vii. Kai. See also:Mai., and consisted in a procession leaving Rome by the Flaminian See also:gate, and proceeding by way of the Milvian See also:bridge to a See also:sanctuary at the 5th milestone of the Via Claudia, where the f/See also:amen quirinalis sacrificed a See also:dog and a See also:sheep to avert blight (robigo) from the crops (See also:Fasti praenestini, C.T.L.T., p. 317). The litania major followed the same route as far as the Milvian bridge, when it turned off and returned to St See also:Peter's, where mass was celebrated. This was already established as an See also:annual festival by 598, as is shown by a document of Gregory the Great (Regist. ii.) which inculcates the See also:duty of celebrating litaniam, quae major ab See also:omnibus appellatur. The litaniae minores or rogations, held on the three days preceding See also:Ascension Day, were first introduced into See also:Gaul by See also:Bishop Mamertus of See also:Vienne (c. 470), and made binding for all Gaul by the 1st Council of See also:Orleans (511). The litaniae minores were also adopted for these three days in Rome by Leo III. (c.

800). A description of the institution and character of the Ascensiontide rogations is given by Sidonius See also:

Apollinaris (Ep. v. 14). " The solemnity of these," he says, " was first established by Mamertus. Hitherto they had been erratic, lukewarm and poorly attended (vagae, tepentes, infrequentesque); those which he instituted were characterized by fasting, prayers, See also:psalms and tears." In the Ambrosian rite the rogations take place after Ascensiontide, and in the See also:Spanish on the See also:Thursday to Saturday after Whitsuntide, and in See also:November (See also:Synod of Girona, 517). 1 Litanies, owing to the fact that they were sung in procession were in England sometimes themselves called " processions." Thus we read in the " Order of making Knights of the See also:Bath for the See also:coronation of See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth ": " the See also:parson of the said church knelynge said the procession in Englysche and all that were there answered the parson " (B. M. Add. See also:MSS. 4712, p. 51, printed in Anstis's Observations, p. 53).

' See Martigny, See also:

Diet. See also:des antiquites chr. s.v. " Processions," " Stations," " See also:Translations " for details of processions under Constantine, and Du Cange, s.v. Processio for various processions in the See also:middle ages. It is impossible to describe in detail the vast development of processions during the middle ages. The most Processions important and characteristic of these still have a in the place in the ritual of the Roman See also:Catholic Church. =See also:ear: The rules governing them are laid down in the Catholic Rituale Romanum (Tit. ix.), and they are classified Church. in the following way: (1) Processiones generates, in which the whole body of the clergy takes part. (2) Processiones ordinariae, on yearly festivals, such as the feast of the See also:Purification of the Virgin (Candlemass, q.v.), the procession on Palm Sunday (q.v.), the Lttaniae majores and minores, the feast of Corpus Christi (q.v.), and on other days, according to the See also:custom of the churches. (3) Processiones extraordinariae, or processions ordered on See also:special occasions, e.g. to pray for See also:rain or See also:fine See also:weather, in time of See also:storm, See also:famine, plague, See also:war, or, in quacunque tribulatione, processions of thanksgiving, translation of relics, the See also:dedication of a church or See also:cemetery. There are also processions of See also:honour, for instance to meet a royal personage, or the bishop on his first entry into his See also:diocese (Pontif. rom. iii.). Those taking part in processions are to walk See also:bare-headed (weather permitting), two and two, in decent See also:costume, and with reverent mien; clergy and laity, men and See also:women, are to walk separately. The cross is carried at the head of the procession, and See also:banners embroidered with sacred pictures in places where this is customary; these banners must not be of military or triangular shape. See also:Violet is the See also:colour prescribed for processions, except on the Feast of Corpus Christi, or on a day when some other colour is prescribed.

The officiating See also:

priest wears a See also:cope, or at least a See also:surplice with a violet See also:stole, the other priests and clergy See also:wear surplices. Where the See also:host is carried in procession it is covered always by a See also:canopy, and accompanied by lights. At the litaniae majores and minores and other penitential processions, joyful hymns are not allowed, but the litanies are sung, and, if the length of the pro-cession requires, the penitential and See also:gradual psalms. As to the discipline regarding processions the bishop, according to the Council of See also:Trent (Sess. 25 de reg. cap. 6), appoints and regulates processions and public prayers outside the churches. The observance or variation of the discipline belongs to the See also:Congregation of Rites; in pontifical processions, which are regulated by the masters of the ceremonies (magistri ceremoniarum pontificalium), these points are decided by the chief See also:cardinal See also:deacon. As to processions within the churches, some difference of See also:opinion having arisen as to the regulating authority, the Congregation of Rites has decided that the bishop must ask, though not necessarily follow, the See also:advice of the See also:chapter in their regulation. Reformed Churches.—The See also:Reformation abolished in all Protest-See also:ant countries those processions associated with the See also:doctrine of See also:transubstantiation (Corpus Christi); " the See also:Sacrament of the Lord's Supper," according to the 28th See also:Article of Religion of the Church of England " was not by See also:Christ's See also:ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped." It also abolished those associated with the cult of the Blessed Virgin and the saints. The stern simplicity of Calvinism, indeed, would not tolerate religious processions of any kind, and from the " Reformed " Churches they vanished altogether. The more conservative See also:temper of the See also:Anglican and Lutheran communions, however, suffered the retention of such processions as did not conflict with the reformed doctrines, though even in these Churches they met with opposition and tended after a while to fall into disuse. The Lutheran practice has varied at different times and in different countries.

Thus, according to the See also:

Wurttemberg Kirchenordnung of 1553, a funeral procession was Lutheran prescribed, the bier being followed by the congrega- Church. tion singing hymns; the See also:Brandenburg Kirchenord- nung (1540) directed a cross-See also:bearer to precede the procession and lighted candles to be carried, and this was prescribed also by the Waldeck Kirchenordnung of 1556. At See also:present funeral processions survive in general only in the country districts; the processional cross or crucifix is still carried. In some provinces also the Lutheran Church has retained the ancient rogation processions in the See also:week before Whitsuntide and, in some cases, in the See also:month of May or on special occasions (e.g. days of humiliation, Busstage), processions about the fields to ask a blessing on the crops. On these occasions the ancient litanies are still used. In England " the perambulations of the circuits of the parishes ... used heretofore in the days of rogations " were ordered to be observed by the Injunctions of Queen Elizabeth in 1559; and for these processions certain " psalms, prayers and homilies " were prescribed. The Puritans, who aimed at setting up the Genevan See also:model, objected; and the visitation articles of the bishops in See also:Charles I.'s time make frequent See also:inquisition Church of into the neglect of the clergy to obey the law in this England. See also:matter. With " the profane, ungodly, presumptuous multitude " (to quote See also:Baxter's Saint's See also:Rest, 165o, pp. 344, 345), however, these " processions and perambulations " appear to have been very popular, though " only the traditions of their fathers." However this may be, the See also:Commonwealth made an end of them, and they seem never to have been revived; See also:Sparrow, in his Rationale upon the See also:Book of Common Prayer (London, 1668), speaks of "the service formerly appointed in the Rogation days of Procession." Among the processions that survived the Reformation in the English Church was that of the See also:sovereign and the Knights of the Garter on St See also:George's day. This was until Charles II.'s time a See also:regular rogation, the choristers in surplices, the gentlemen of the royal See also:chapel in copes, and the canons and other clergy in copes preceding the knights and singing the litany. In 1661, after the Restoration, by order of the sovereign and knights companions in chapter " that supplicational procession " was " converted into a hymn of thanksgiving." Akin to this procession also are the others connected with royal functions; coronations, funerals. These retained, and retain, many pre-Reformation features elsewhere fallen obsolete.

Thus at the funeral of George II. (176o) the body was received at the See also:

door of the See also:Abbey by the See also:dean and prebendaries in their copes, attended by the See also:choir, all carrying lighted tapers, who preceded it up the church, singing. The only procession formerly prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer is that in the order of the See also:burial of the dead, where the See also:rubric directs that " the priest and clerks See also:meeting the See also:corpse at the entrance of the See also:churchyard, and going before it, either into the church, or towards the See also:grave, shall say, or sing " certain verses of Scripture. Tapers seem to have been carried, not only at royal funerals, until well into the 18th century (see LIGHTS, CEREMONIAL). Processions, with singing of the litany or of hymns, appear also to have been always usual on such occasions as the See also:consecration of churches and churchyards and the solemn reception of a visiting bishop. Under the influence of the Catholic revival, associated with the See also:Oxford Tractarians, processions have become increasingly popular in the English Church, pre-Reformation usages having in some churches been revived without any legal See also:sanction. The most common forms, however, are the processional litanies, and the solemn entry of clergy and choir into the church, which on festivals is accompanied by the singing of a processional hymn, their exit being similarly accompanied by the chanting of the Nunc Dimittis. In this connexion the use of the processional cross, banners and lights has been largely revived. See the article " Bittgange," by M. See also:Herold, in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, iii. 248 (3rd ed., See also:Leipzig, 1897) ; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, s.v. " Prozession, Bittgange Litanei " and Smith's See also:Dictionary of Christian Antiquities s.v.

" Procession." For the early ritual see Duchesne, Origines du culte chretien (3rd ed., See also:

Paris, 1903). See also G. See also:Catalani, Rituale romanum perpetuis commentarsis exornatum (1760) ; N. Serarius, Sacri peripatetici de sacris ecclesiae catholicae processionibus (2 vols., See also:Cologne, 16o7); Jac. Gretser, De ecclesiae romanae processionibus (2 vols., See also:Ingolstadt, 1606); Jac. Eveillon, De processionibus ecclesiae (Paris, 1641); Edw. Martene, De antiquis ecclesiae ritibus (3 vols., See also:Antwerp, 1763), &e. For the past usage of the Church of England, Hierurgia anglicana, ed. See also:Vernon Staley, p. ii pp. 3-22 (London, 1903).

End of Article: PROCESS

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