Private Spanish capilla. But from whence they have their derivation seems not to have been satisfactorily accounted for. Perhaps the same may be a diminutive of the word capa, which hath been adopted to signify one of the priest's vestments, so called, (saith Lindwood), a capiendo, from its containing or covering the whole back and shoulders. For chapels at first were only tents or tabernacles, sometimes called field churches, being nothing more than a covering from the inclemency of the seasons. And the metaphor is transferred with our English word cope, which is used to demominate the same vestment, and signifieth also a canopy or other vaulted covering. So coppe denoteth the round top of a hill. So we say the cape of a wall; the cape of a coat; cape, a promontory or other extremity; cap, a covering for the head; and other such like. 2. Private chapels are such as noblemen and other religious and worthy persons have at their own private charge built in or near their own houses for them and their families to perform religious duties in. These private chapels and their ornaments are maintained at those persons' charge to whom they belong, and chaplains provided for them by themselves with honourable pensions; and these anciently were all consecrated by the bishop of the diocese, and ought to be so still (p). [Building and endowing a church originally entitled the patron to the patronage, but an impropriator of a parish has no right to nominate a preacher to every chapel within the parish; it would be a hardship should he be bound so to do, neither ought it to be at his election. A man may build a private chapel for himself and family, or for himself and his neighbours, but that will not give the parson a right to nominate his preacher (q).-ED.] "We do decree that whosoever against the prohibition of the canons shall celebrate mass in oratories, chapels, houses, or other [297] places, not consecrated, without having obtained the licence of the diocesan, shall be suspended from the celebration of divine service for the space of a month. And all licences granted by the bishops for celebrating mass in places not consecrated other than to noblemen or other great men of the realm, living at a considerable distance from the church, or notoriously weak or infirm, shall be void. Nevertheless, the heads, governors, and canons of cathedral churches, and others of the clergy, may celebrate mass in their oratories of ancient erection, as hath been accustomed. Moreover, the priests who shall celebrate mass in oratories or chapels built by the kings or queens of England, or their children, shall not incur such pain (r).” In Oratories.] An oratory differs from a church; for in a (p) Degge, p. 1, c. 12. (9) [Herbert v. Dean and Chapter of Westminster, 1 P. W. 774. See the title Impropriator, for the celebrated case of Duke of Portland v. Bingham, churches there is appointed a certain endowment for the minister and others; but an oratory is that which is not built for saying mass, nor endowed, but ordained for prayer (r). Or other places.] As suppose, in a tent, or in the open air (s). the Diocesan formance of Without having obtained the Licence of the Diocesan.] Such Licence of oratory any one may build without the consent of the bishop, requisite but without the consent of the bishop divine service may not for the perbe performed there. And this licence he shall not grant, Divine Ser for divine service there to be performed upon the greater fes-ci. tivals (t). Abundance of such licences both before and since the Reformation remain in our ecclesiastical records, not only for prayers and sermons, but in some instances for sacraments also. But the law is (as Lindwood hath it in his gloss on the said canon), that such licence be granted sparingly. And these restrictions were laid on private oratories, out of a just regard to places of public worship, that while the laws of the church provided for great infirmities or great distance, such indulgence might not be abused to an unnecessary neglect of public or parochial communion (u). And in the said oratories a bell might not be put up without the bishop's authority (x). At a considerable distance.] As suppose, a mile or more; and in such case and not otherwise (saith Lindwood) the bishop ought to permit service to be performed there (y). in a Chapel. By the 2 & 3 Edw. 6, c. 1, s. 1, and 1 Eliz. c. 2, s. 4, Open prayer in and throughout those acts is explained thereby to be [298] that prayer which is for others to come unto or hear either in common churches, or private chapels or oratories. By the 23 Eliz. c. 1, s. 12, Every person which usually on the Sunday shall have in his house divine service which is established by the law of this realm, and be thereat himself usually present, and shall not obstinately refuse to come to church, and shall also four times in the year at least be present at the divine service in the church of the parish where he shall be resident, or in some other common church or chapel of ease, shall not incur the penalty of 201. a month limited by the said act, for not repairing to church. By Can. 71, "No minister shall preach or administer the holy communion in any private house, except it be in times of necessity, when any being either so impotent as they cannot go to the church, or very dangerously sick, are desirous to be partakers of the holy sacrament, upon pain of suspension for the first offence, and excommunication for the second: provided that houses are here reputed for private houses, wherein Free Chapels. are no chapels dedicated and allowed by the ecclesiastical laws. of this realm: and provided also, under the pain before expressed, that no chaplains do preach or administer the communion in any other places but in the chapels of the said houses; and that also they do the same very seldom upon Sundays and holidays; so that both the lords and masters of the said houses, and their families, shall at other times resort to their own parish churches, and there receive the holy communion at the least once every year." 3. The distinction of free chapels is grounded on their freedom or exemption from all ordinary jurisdiction (z). Sir Simon Degge says, it is agreed on all hands, that the king may erect a free chapel, and exempt it from the jurisdiction of the ordinary, or may license a subject so to do (a). By 26 Hen. 8, c. 3, s. 2, and 1 Eliz. c. 4, free chapels are charged with first fruits; but this the late Mr. Serjeant Hill conjectures must mean only such as were in the hands of subjects. No other chapels are expressly named in the statutes: parsonages and vicarages are expressly noticed; it seems that parochial chapels are included in those words; and chapels of ease were not supposed to have any revenue (b). And Dr. Godolphin says, the king may license a subject to found a chapel, and by his charter exempt it from the visitation of the ordinary (c). But Dr. Gibson observes, nevertheless, that no instances. are produced in confirmation hereof; it is true, he says, that many free chapels have been in the hands of subjects; but it doth not therefore follow, that those were not originally of royal foundation (d). By a constitution of Archbishop Stratford, as before mentioned, ministers which officiate in oratories or chapels erected [299] by the kings or queens of England, or their children, shall not need to have the licence of the ordinary. Or their Children.] Which word children extendeth not further than to grandchildren; after these they are called posterity (e). All free chapels, together with the chantries, were given to the king in the 1st year of King Edward the Sixth; except some few that are excepted in the acts of parliament by which they were given; or such as are founded by the king or his licence since the dissolution (f). And the king himself visits his free chapels and hospitals, and not the ordinary; which office of visitation is executed for the king by the lord high chancellor (g). Free chapels may continue such in point of exemption from (z) Gibs. 210. (a) Degge, P. 1, c. 12. (b) Serjt. Hill's MS. notes. Gibs. 211. (e) Lind. 234. (f) Degge, P. 1, c. 12. ordinary visitation, though the head or members do receive institution from the ordinary (h). In short, the sum of all is this: Free chapels (says the learned and accurate Bishop Tanner) were places of religious worship, exempt from all ordinary jurisdiction, save only that the incumbents were generally instituted by the bishop, and inducted by the archdeacon of the place. Most of these chapels were built upon the manors and ancient demesnes of the crown, whilst in the king's hands, for the use of himself and retinue when he came to reside there. And when the crown parted with those estates, the chapels went along with them, and retained their first freedom; but some lords having had free chapels in manors that do not appear to have been ancient demesne of the crown, such are thought to have been built and privileged by grants from the crown (i). 4. Of chapels subject to a mother church, some are merely Chapels of chapels of ease, others chapels of ease and parochial (k). But Mother quære if they can be both at the same time. Church. A chapel merely of ease is that which was not allowed a font at its institution, and which is used only for the ease of the parishioners in prayers and preaching (sacraments and burials being received and performed at the mother church), and commonly where the curate is removable at the pleasure of the parochial minister; according to what Lindwood saith, where the minister of the mother church hath the cure of them both, yet he exerciseth the cure there by a vicar not perpetual, but temporary, and removable at pleasure; though in this case, Lindwood observes elsewhere, that there may be in other [300] respects the rights of a parochial chapel by custom. But where a chapel is instituted, though with parochial rights, there is usually (if not always) a reservation of repairing to the mother church, on a certain day or days, in order to preserve the subordination (). A parochial chapel is that which hath the parochial rights of christening and burying; and this differeth in nothing from a church, but in the want of a rectory and endowment (m). For the privileges of administering the sacraments (especially that of baptism) and the office of burial, are the proper rites and jurisdiction that make it no longer a depending chapel of ease, but a separate parochial chapel. For the liberties of baptism and sepulture are the true distinct parochial rites. And if any new oratory hath acquired and enjoyed this immunity, then it differeth not from a parish church, but (says Mr. Selden) may be styled capella parochialis. And till the year 1300, in all trials of the rights of particular churches, if it could be proved that any chapel had a custom for free baptism (h) Gibs. 211. (i) Tanner's Notit. Monast. Pref. 28. (k) Gibs. 209. (7) Ibid. (m) Degge, P. 1, c. 12. Their Endowment and Depen dence. and burial, such place was adjudged to be a parochial church. Hence at the first erection of these chapels, while they were designed to continue in subjection to the mother church, express care was taken at the ordination of them, that there should be no allowance of font or bells, or any thing that might be to the prejudice of the old church (n). And when any subordinate chapel did assume the liberty of burial, it was always judged an usurpation upon the rights of the mother church, to which the dead bodies of all inhabitants ought to be duly brought, and there alone interred. And if any doubt arose whether a village were within the bounds of such a parish, no argument could more directly prove the affirmative than evidence given that the inhabitants of that village did bury their dead in the churchyard of the said parish (o). [Sir G. Lee, in Line v. Harris (p), says, "its having sacraments and burials does not make it cease to be such," i. e. a chapel of ease; and "a chapel of ease is built for the ease of the parishioners that dwell too far from the church, and served by a curate provided at the charge of the rector (q)." A perpetual curacy or chapel has all sorts of parochial rights, as a clerk, wardens, &c., the right of performing divine service, baptism, sepulture, &c., and the curate has small tithes and surplice fees; but chapels of ease are merely ad libitum, and have no parochial rights; therefore on the union of the two parishes, one is frequently deemed the parish church, and the other as a parochial chapel, but not as a chapel of ease (r).— ED.] 5. When by long use and custom parochial bounds became fixed and settled, many of the parishes were still so large that some of the remoter hamlets found it very inconvenient to be at so great a distance from the church; and therefore for the relief and ease of such inhabitants, this new method was prac[301] tised of building private oratories or chapels in any such remote hamlet, in which a capellane was sometimes endowed by the lord of the manor or some other benefactor, but generally maintained by a stipend from the parish priest, to whom all the rights and dues were entirely preserved (s). Consents requisite for their Erection. But in order to authorize the erecting of a chapel of ease, the joint consent of the diocesan, the patron, and the incumbent (if the church was full) were (and as it seemeth still are) all required (t). By a constitution of Othobon, when a private person desireth to have a chapel of his own, and the bishop for just cause hath granted the same, the said bishop hath always provided that (n) Nulla ecclesia est in prejudicium (r) [Attorney-General v. Brereton, 2 Ves. 425, 427.] (s) Ken. Par. Ant. 587. (†) Ibid. 585, 586. |