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Roman Catholic Church

the name of that community of Christians who profess the same faith, partake of the same sacraments and sacrifice, and are united under one head, the Pope or Bishop of Rome and successor of St.

Peter, and under the bishops subject to him. Its essential parts are the Pope, bishops, pastors-so far as they are priests and laity. The distinctive characteristic of the Roman Church is the supremacy of the papacy. Its doctrines, like those of the rest of Christendom, are chiefly found in the articles of the Nicene Creed. After the Council of Trent Pope Pius IV. added to the formal profession of faith the articles on transubstantiation, invocation of saints, and others which chiefly distinguish the Roman from other Christian communities. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary and papal infallibility were defined as articles of faith in 1854 and 1870 respectively. One great and central object of faith and worship is the Mass, which is the mystical sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, instituted by Himself at the Last Supper, and is essentially the same as the Sacrifice of the Cross. Scripture and tradition are appealed to in sup support of this and other doctrines, as the Seven Sacraments, the honor due to the Blessed Virgin, Purga tory, Invocation of Angels and Saints, etc. There is a great distinction be- ROMANCE tween what is of doctrine and what of discipline; the former belonging to the deposit of faith taught by Christ and the Apostles, which is invariable, while the latter, founded on the decisions and canons of councils and the decrees of Popes, is the Church's external policy as to government, and may vary according to times and circumstances. The Sacred College of Cardinal. - The College of Cardinals-70 in number, after the 70 disciples is the supreme council or senate of the Church and the adviser of the sovereign pontiff, and at the death of a Pope its members elect his successor (see POPE). They are also the chief members of the Sacred Congregations, or permanent ecclesiastical commissions (about 20 in number), to which much of the business of the Holy See is intrusted. Among the best known of these congregations are the Propaganda, the Index, the Inquisition or Holy Of fice, and the Congregation of Rites. The number of cardinals is hardly ever complete. In 1919 there were 14 patriarchal sees; 8 belonging to the Latin Rite and 6 Oriental. Archbishops, Latin Rite, 178; Oriental, 19. Bi 19. Bishops, 874, Latin Rite, 49 Oriental. There were 300 titular Bishops as coadjutors or engaged in mission work. Sacred congregations presided over by the Pope or cardinals for adjusting the spiritual and temporal affairs of the world, 13.

The leading prelate in the hierarchy, apostolic delegate and personal representative of the Pope at Washington in 1920, was his Excellency Archbishop John Bonzano. There were 14 archbishops (among_them two cardinals at Baltimore and Boston); 96 bishops and 21,- 019 priests. There were 10,608 churches with resident priests and 5,573 mission churches. The Catholic population of the United States was 17,735,553, and including Alaska and insular possessions over 26,000,000. In the World War 762 secular and 264 priests of all orders were engaged in religious work.

ROMANCE. Romance has long since lost its original signification in every country except Spain, where it is still occasionally used in speaking of the vernacular, as it was in the Middle Ages when Latin was the language of the lettered classes and of documents and writings of all kinds. But even there its commoner application is, as elsewhere, not to a language, but to a form of composition. In English it has been almost invariably applied to a certain sort of prose fiction, and, in a secondary sense, to the style and tone prevailing therein. By "the romances," using the term specifically, we generally ROMANCE LANGUAGES mean the prose fictions which, as reading became a more common accomplishment, took the place of the lays and "chansons de geste" of the minstrels and trouvères, and were in their turn replaced by the novel. Of these the most important in every way are the so-called romances of chivalry, which may be considered the legitimate descendants of the "chansons de geste." The chivalry romances divide naturally into three families or groups; the British (which, perhaps, would be more scientifically described as the Armorican or the Anglo-Norman), the French, and the Spanish; the first having for its center the legend of Arthur and the Round Table; the second formed round the legend of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers; and the third consisting mainly of Amadis of Gaul followed by a long series of sequels and imitations of one kind or another.