“What exactly is a Canon; what are his functions, and the origin of his office?”

“The origin?  It is lost in the night of ages.  It is supposed that Colleges of Canons existed in the time of Pepin le Bref; it is at any rate certain that during his reign Saint Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, assembled the clerks of his cathedral and obliged them to live together, in a house in common, as though it were a convent, under a rule of which Charlemagne makes mention in his Capitularies.—­A Canon’s functions?  They consist in the solemn celebration of the Canonical services, and the direction of all processions.  As a matter of conscience every Canon is required in the first place to reside in the town where the church is situated to whose service he is attached; then to be present at the Canonical hours when Mass is said; finally to sit on the meetings of the Chapter on certain fixed days.  But to tell the truth, their part has almost fallen into desuetude.  The Council of Trent speaks of them as the ‘Senatus Ecclesiae,’ the Senate of the Church, and they then formed the necessary Council of the Bishop.  In these days the prelates do not even consult them.

“They only exercise a small part of their lost prerogatives when the See is vacant.  At that time the Chapter acts in the place of the Bishop, and even then its rights are greatly restricted.  As it has not Episcopal Orders, it can exercise none of the powers inherent in them.  It cannot consequently ordain or confirm.”

“And if the See remains long vacant?”

“Then the Chapter requests the Bishop of a neighbouring diocese to ordain its seminarists, and confirm the children it presents to him.  In short, as you see, a Canon is not a very important gentleman.

“I am not speaking, of course, of Honorary Canons, or Titular Canons.  They have no duties to fulfil; they merely enjoy an honorary title which allows them to wear the Canon’s hood, by permission of their own Bishop when, as frequently happens, they belong to another diocese.

“The Chapter of this Cathedral of Chartres is said to have been founded in the sixth century by Saint Lubin.  It then consisted of seventy-two Canons, and the number was added to, for when the Revolution broke out it amounted to seventy-six, and included seventeen dignitaries:  the Dean, the sub-Dean, the Precentor, the sub-Precentor, the chief Archdeacon of Chartres, the Archdeacons of Beauce-en-Dunois, of Dreux, of Le Pincerais, of Vendome, and of Blois; the gatekeeper, the Chancellor, the Provosts of Normandy, of Mezangey, of Ingre, and of Auvers; and the Chancel Warden.  These priests, most of them men of family and wealth, were a nursery ground of Bishops; they owned all the houses round the Cathedral and lived independently in their cloister, devoting themselves to history, theology, and the Canon law—­they are now indeed fallen!”

The Abbe was silent, shaking his head.  Then he went on,—­