Privilege of the Clan Macduff.
In ancient times any person within the ninth degree of kinship with the Chief of the Macduffs who had been guilty of unpremeditated homicide could, if he reached in safety Macduff’s Cross in Fife, escape the death penalty, and go free on payment of a fine. This privilege is said to have been granted by Malcolm Canmore (1057-93.)
Professio Fidei.
A profession of the Catholic Faith, issued by the Council of Trent in 1545, as a counterblast to the Protestant Confession of Augsburg. Its acceptance was made obligatory on every aspirant to a degree throughout the German Universities.
Promissory Oaths Act.
An Act passed in 1868, consolidating and amending the various Acts dealing with the oath of allegiance and abjuration. It provides a Parliamentary, an official and a judicial oath, of a nature that can be taken by Roman Catholics and Jews, ending with the formula “So help me, God.” The wording of the Parliamentary oath came into special prominence in 1880-5, in the course of Mr. Bradlaugh’s attempts to take his seat in the House of Commons.
Pronunciamiento.
In Spain and Spanish America a proclamation issued by a military leader, backed by his troops, against the existing Government.
Propaganda, College of the.
The Congregatio de Propaganda Fide is a council of ecclesiastics, founded by Gregory XV in 1622, to superintend the diffusion of the Catholic Faith in distant lands. The Council has at present control of all foreign missions and of a college at Rome for the training of missionaries.