THE AGES DIGITAL LIBRARY REFERENCE CYCLOPEDIA of BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL LITERATURE Chapter, Monastic - Cnopf, Ernst by James Strong & John McClintock To the Students of the Words, Works and Ways of God: Welcome to the AGES Digital Library. We trust your experience with this and other volumes in the Library fulfills our motto and vision which is our commitment to you: MAKING THE WORDS OF THE WISE AVAILABLE TO ALL — INEXPENSIVELY. AGES Software Rio, WI USA Version 1.0 © 2000 2 Chapter, Monastic. This was held in winter after tierce, but after prime in summer. At the sound of a bell, rung by the prior, the monks entered two and two, and bowed to a cross in the centre of the room, to the superior's chair, and to one another. The ordinary business transacted comprised reading the martyrology, announcement of coming festivals, reading the rule, or, on Sundays and holy-days, a homily of the fathers, commemoration of the departed and living benefactors, nomination of celebrants and the officiating priest for the week ensuing, public confession of faults, infliction of. penance and discipline, and once a year recital of charters. The novice was admitted in chapter; the superior was elected, and the great officers of the house were confirmed in it; the inventory of the library was also carefully inspected in chapter every Lent. In the secular chapter, held after prime, all business connected with the church, the services, and lands was transacted, and all disputes determined. Every canon had his voice in chapter, and his stall in choir. In 1279 there were two general archidiaconal chapters and four quarterly ruridecanal chapters held yearly in England. Chapter, The Little. SEE CAPITULARIES. Chapter, house. The following details further illustrate this subject: "The conventual or. capitular parliament-house, rare in France and Germany, was used daily by the regulars, and on- every Saturday by the secular canons. In it also the bishop convened the community at. his visitation or diocesan synod. It derived its name from the little chapters or rubrics of the statutes being read over in it in the monastery it is said. At Valencia and Hereford the pulpit for the theological lecture stood in it until recently. In the 9th century, the north alley served for the purpose of the chapter- house, as at St. Gall; but in the 10th century a separate building was erected at Fontenelle, and Edward the Confessor built one of a circular form at Westminster. The chapter-house in a convent was almost invariably an oblong, sometimes terminating in an apse, and round or polygonal .in a secular establishment. The latter form may have been suggested by the column with radiating arches which is found at the east end of an apsidal crypt, or by the Italian baptistery, in which councils were sometimes held. The-rectangular 3 form was more convenient for the judicial character of the building, as the polygonal was for syniodical meetings convened by the diocesan. There are two apparent, rut not real exceptions; at Exeter, where the chapter-house is oblong, and the Benedictines were replaced by, canons; and at Worcester, where it is polygonal without and circular within, and canons were superseded by Benedicties. At Barin, the baptistery, round on the exterior, is twelve-sided within, each compartment formerly having a figure of an apostle. At Wells, Lincoln, Licifield, Southwell, York, and Elgin, this council-chamber stands on the north side of the church, connected with it by a passage for marshaling processions; but at Salisbury it occupies its normal position in convents, the centre of the east side of the cloister. At Chichester and St. David's it is in an upper story, adjoining the transept. In the secular canons' chapter- house a large crucifix stood in the centre, near a pulpit for sermons and reading, and stalls were ranged round the sides of the walls; the dignitaries occupying the east end, and the canons sitting in order of installation, reckoning from the east to the west. In the Benedictine houses the walls were generally arcaded to form stalls, and a large coffer, called the trunk, was placed at the entrance, as the place of offenders. The abbot's or prior's chair fronted it, and every monk who, approached it performed the venia, an inclination of reverence. The apse of the chapter-house possibly contained an altar; since the building was regarded as only less sacred than the church, and a light burned constantly in it, and before the door. At Tongres the altar remains; and at Exeter the chapel of the Holy Ghost adjoins it in the usual position of the steeple. At Belvoirand St. Paul's it stood in the centre of the cloisters. 'At Bristol, Exeter, Beulieu, Haughmond, and Chester, a large vestibule, with a central" door and windows opening eastward, is built in front of the chapter-house, in order to afford additional accommodation to the general assemblies of the orders. The Cistercians had sermons in the chapterhouse; and, like the other regular orders, admitted novices, administered punishment, and transacted general business in this room, which abroad was known as the chapter-hall. It was a peculiarity with the Cistercians to [subdivide their chapter-houses into alleys by ranges of pillars, and between it and the transept they invariably pilaced a large aurmbry or cloister library; and the Clugniracs at Wenlock followed the example; but in the 4 Benedictiue houses the slype, or way to the cemetery, always intervenes in this position. Burials were permitted in the chapter- house to bishops, priors, and eminent -laymen, before interments within the church itself were suffered to be made.. At Durham and Norwich penitential cells adjoined the chapter-house, the offenders being at once taken to them, after sentence had been delivered." Chapter (Or Convenitual) Mass is the highmass or mass of the day, usually sung before 10 A.M.; in France the hour is 8 or 9 A.M. Chapuzeau, Samuel, a Swiss Protestant divine, was born at Geneva of a poor family originally from Poitiers. After practicing as a physician, he was appointed preceptor and governor in the royal family. He died at Zell in 1701; leaving a Traiti de la M'arire e de Preh'esr, and several geographical works, among them Tavernier's Voyages (1682). See Rose, Gen. Biog. Dict. s.v. Charak Pujah is one of the most popular festivals in Eastern India. It is held in honor of Siva (q.v.), in his character of Maha Kali, or. Time, the great destroyer of all things; and by association of thought, the goddess Kali (q.v.) has come' to occupy a most conspicuous place in this annual festival. The name of the festival is derived from chakra, a disk or wheel, in allusion to the circle performed in the rite of swuisging, which forms so prominent a part of the observances. An upright pole, twenty or thirty feet in height, is planted in the ground. Across the top of it, moving freely on a pin or pivot, is placed horizontally a long beam. From one end of this transverse beam a rope is suspended, with two hooks affixed to it, which are fastened into the fleshy parts of the back of the devotee. while another rope at the opposite end of the beam serves to whirl the machine around and carry the victim in a circle swiftly through the air. As this is an exercise of great merit to the devotee, he endures the torture as long as possible, usually from ten minutes to half an hour. Thousands of these swinging posts. are in operation at one time in Bengal. If the ligaments of the back of any one' should prove too weak for the strain resulting from the very rapid motion, and the poor victim should be dashed in pieces, his violent death is considered by the spectators the just punishment of crimes committed in a previous state of existence. Other 5 practices equally cruel are carried on at these festivals, with the hope of obtaining the favor of their deity. See Duff, India and India Missions. Charalampes (Or Charilampes), Saint, is the name of two early Christian martyrs: 1. Bishop of Magnesia, who was stripped of his priestly attire and flayed alive. The prefect Lucian tried to tear him to pieces himself, but his own hands were by some accident cut off on the spot, and we are told that the saint prayed and made his persecutor whole. The lictor Porphyrius, and Adametus, and three women who saw it, thereupon believed, but the ungrateful prefect had them all. beheaded. Charalampes is commemorated Feb. 10, according to Basil's Menology. 2. Martyr at Nicomedia, with Eusebius, Romanus, Melitius, Christilia, and many others, probably in the persecution of Diocletian. May 30 is the day assigned for his commemoration in Basil's' Menology, Charan Dasis is one of tlhe Vaishnava (q.v.) sects among the Hindus. It was instituted by Charan Das,. a merchant of the Dhusar tribe, who resided at Delhi in the reign of the second Alemgir. They assert the pre-eminence of faith above every other distinction. They require no particular qualification of caste, order, or sex for their teachers; and they attach great importance to morality. Their decalogue is as follows: 1, not to lie; 2, not to revile; 3, not to speak harshly; 4, not to discourse idly; 5, not to steal; 6, not to commit adultery; 7, not to offer violence to any created thing; 8, not to imagine evil; 9, not to cherish hatred; 10, not to indulge in conceit or pride.