The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by William James Miller (thriller books to read .TXT) 📕

Digest of the Canons.—The name given to the collection of the laws or canons of the American Church enacted and set forth by the General Convention. The word "Digest" is derived from the Latin word digestus, meaning carried apart, resolved, digested, and is applied to a body of laws arranged under their proper heads or titles. The Canons set forth by the General Convention as thus arranged come under four titles, viz.:

TITLE I.—Of the Orders of the Ministry and of the Doctrine and
Worship of this Church. Under this head there are Twenty-six Canons.

TITLE II.—Of Discipline, Thirteen Canons.

TITLE III.—Of the Organized Bodies and Officers of the Church,
Nine Canons. {81}

TITLE IV.—Miscellaneous Provisions, Four Canons.

There is also an appendix of Standing Resolutions.

Dimissory Letter.—A letter given to a clergyman removing from one Diocese to another. The General Canons provide that "before a clergyman shall be permitted to settle in any Church or Parish, or be received into union with any Diocese of this Church as a Minister thereof, he shall produce to the Bishop, or if there be no Bishop, to the Standing Committee thereof, a letter of dismission from under the hand and seal of the Bishop with whose Diocese he has been last connected . . . which shall be delivered within six months from the date thereof; and when such clergyman shall have been so received he shall be considered as having passed entirely from the jurisdiction of the Bishop from whom the letter of dismission was brought, to the full jurisdiction of the Bishop or other Ecclesiastical Authority by whom it shall be accepted and become thereby subject to all the canonical provisions of this Church." The effect of this law is that in the Episcopal Church there can be no strolling, irresponsible evangelists or preachers, and thus the people are protected from imposture, and may know, when the proper steps are taken, that their ministers come to them fully accredited and duly authorized to minister to them in Christ's Name.

Diocese.—The territorial limits of a Bishop's Jurisdiction. Properly speaking the Diocese is the real unit of Church life. Originally the Bishop went first in the establishing of the Church in any nation or country; out of this Jurisdiction grew the parishes or local congregation, being ministered to by the Priests {82} under the Bishop. In the American Church, through force of circumstances, the reverse of this has been the case. But notwithstanding, the fact remains here as elsewhere that the Diocese with the Bishop at its head is the real unit of Church life and organization, and the Parish a dependency of it and from which it gets its corporate existence as a Parish. In the phraseology of the Canons, a missionary Bishop presides over a "Missionary Jurisdiction" which it is expected will develop into a Diocese, but according to the true theory of the Church his Missionary Jurisdiction is really a Diocese. (See CATHEDRAL.)

Diocesan.—The name given to a Bishop who presides over a Diocese.
The word also means relating or pertaining to a Diocese.

Diocesan Convention.—The annual gathering of the Bishop, Clergy and people of a Diocese. The Bishop and Clergy represent their own Order and the people are represented by delegates elected by the Vestries of the various parishes. The purpose of the Convention is to review the work of the past year; make provision for the work of the year following, and by legislative acts provide such laws as may further the purpose for which the Diocese exists. For cause special conventions may be called, a month's notice at least being given to the clergy, and to the parishes within the Diocese. (See CONVENTION.)

Diocesan Missions.—Church work done in a Diocese outside of its Parishes and having for its object the extension of the Church within the territorial limits of the Diocese, is called Diocesan Missions. This work is prompted by those words of our Lord {83} when He said, "Let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth." The Diocese embraces all the people within its limits and for them all it has a message and a blessing. For the deliverance of this message and the bestowal of this blessing all, both Clergy and Laity, have responsibilities and therefore the Church turns to them for the means whereby this work can be carried on. The support of Diocesan Missions is as obligatory on all members of the Church as the support of the Bishop or their own Parish, and to this all will contribute annually if they love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. (See CONVOCATION.)

Diptychs.—In the early ages of the Church it was customary to recite in holy commemoration the names of eminent Bishops, of Saints and Martyrs; the names of those who had lived righteously and had attained the perfection of a virtuous life. For this purpose the Church possessed certain books, called diptychs, from their being folded together, and in which the names of such persons "departed in the true faith," were written that the Deacon might rehearse them at the time when the memorial of the departed was made at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. This was done to excite and lead the living to the same happy state by following their good example; and also to celebrate the memory of them as still living, according to the principles of our Religion, and not properly dead, but only translated by death to a more Divine Life. To this custom is to be traced the origin of the Christian CALENDAR (which see). In many parishes at the present time a similar {84} custom obtains, of reciting at the Holy Communion on All Saints' Day the names of parishioners who, during the year, have departed in the true faith of God's Holy Name.

Discretion, Years of.—In the Prayer Book the Rite of Confirmation is described as "The Laying on of Hands on those who are Baptized and come to years of Discretion." The phrase "years of discretion" is defined in the Rubric at the end of The Catechism, as follows, "So soon as children are come to a competent age and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and can answer the other questions of this Short Catechism, they shall be brought to the Bishop." According to the modern capacity of children, they are able to learn what is required by the time they are from twelve to fourteen years old; but if they are quick and intelligent children, they will probably be ready to "be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him" at an even earlier age. From immemorial usage this is evidently the intention of the Church.

Dispensation.—A formal license, granted by ecclesiastical authority, to do something which is not ordinarily permitted by the canons, or to leave undone something that may be prescribed. In the American Canons, dispensation has special reference to an official act by the Bishop whereby he may excuse candidates for Holy Orders from pursuing certain studies required by canon.

Divine Liturgy.—(See HOLY COMMUNION, also LITURGY.)

Divine Service.—In the old rubrical usage of the {85} Church, "Divine Service" always meant the Holy Communion, which was also called the Divine Liturgy. The central point of all Divine Worship, towards which all other services gravitate, and around which they revolve, like planets around the sun, is the great sacrificial act of the Church, the offering of the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood.

Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.—This society is the largest and most influential working organization in the American Church. By means of it the Church shows how aggressive she is, for it has enabled her to place Bishops and Missionaries in many of the States and in all the Territories in the Union and also in foreign lands. This society is the Church's established agency, under the authority and direction of the General Convention, for the prosecution of missions among the negroes of the South, the Indians in the North, the people in the New States and Territories in the West and in some of the older Dioceses; in all the Society maintains work in forty-three Dioceses and seventeen Missionary Jurisdictions in this country. It also conducts missions among the nations in Africa, China, Japan, Haiti, Mexico, Porto Rico and the Philippines. It pays the salary and expenses of twenty-three Missionary Bishops and the Bishop of Haiti, and provides entire or partial support for sixteen hundred and thirty (1,630) other missionaries, besides maintaining many schools, orphanages and hospitals. For the prosecution of this work the Society expends about $700,000 a year, which amount it expects to receive from the devotions of the faithful. The Society should be {86} remembered in making wills, and its constant needs should never be forgotten since it must regularly each and every year provide for so great a work.

The legal title of this important society is, "The Domestic and
Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States of America." The Society was organized by the
General Convention in 1821 and incorporated by the State of New
York, May 13th, 1846, and is organized as follows:

MEMBERS.—The Society is considered as comprehending all persons who are members of this Church.

BOARD OF MISSIONS.—Composed of all the Bishops of the Church in the United States and the members for the time being of the House of Deputies of the General Convention (including the Delegates from the Missionary Jurisdictions), the members of the Board of Managers and the Secretary and Treasurer of the Board.

THE MISSIONARY COUNCIL.—Comprises all Bishops of the Church, all members of the Board of Managers, and such other clergymen and laymen as may be elected by the General Convention, and in addition thereto, one Presbyter and one layman from each Diocese and Missionary Jurisdiction to be chosen by the Convention, Council or Convocation of such Diocese or Jurisdiction. The Missionary Council meets annually except in the General Convention years, and is competent to take all necessary action in regard to the missionary work of the Church consistent with the general policy of the Board of Missions.

BOARD OF MANAGERS.—Comprises the Presiding Bishop, fifteen other Bishops, fifteen Presbyters and {87} fifteen Laymen selected from the Missionary Council. The Board of Managers, thus composed, has the management of the general missions of the Church, and when the Board of Missions is not in session, exercises all the corporate powers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.

THE HEADQUARTERS of the Society are in the CHURCH MISSIONS HOUSE (which see) at 281 Fourth Avenue, New York City.

THE PUBLICATIONS of the Society by which its work is made known are "The Spirit of Missions," published monthly; "The Quarterly Message," and "The Young Christian Soldier," published weekly and monthly.

Domestic Missions.—(See DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.)

Dominical Letter.—Meaning Sunday Letter is one of the first seven letters of the alphabet used in the Calendar to mark the Sundays throughout the year. The first seven days of the year being marked by A. B. C. D. E. F. G., the following seven days are similarly marked, and so throughout the year. The letter which stands against the Sundays in any given year is called the Dominical or Sunday letter. For example, the year 1901 began on Tuesday and the first week of that year with the first seven letters of the alphabet would give us the following table:

Jan. 1. Tuesday A. " 2. Wednesday B. " 3. Thursday C. " 4. Friday D. " 5. Saturday E. " 6. Sunday F. " 7. Monday G. {88}

From this table we learn that the Dominical letter for 1901 is F., for that letter falls opposite the first Sunday in that year. The Dominical letters were first introduced into the Calendar by the early Christians. They are of use in finding on what day of the week any day of the month falls in a given year, and especially in finding the day on which