E. F. vicar of ——.
G. H. rector of ——.
If all the subscribers are not beneficed in the diocese of the bishop to whom the testimonial is addressed, the counter-signature of the bishop of the diocese wherein their benefices are respectively situate is required.
4. A short statement of the title of the patron in case of a change of patron since the last incumbent was presented.
The same subscriptions and declarations are to be made, and oaths taken, as by a clergyman on being licensed to a perpetual curacy. (See Curacy.)
If the clergyman presented, or to be collated, should be in possession of other preferment, it will be necessary for him, (if he wishes to continue to hold a cathedral preferment, or a benefice with the cathedral preferment, or benefice to which he has been presented, or is to be collated,) to look to the provisions of the act 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, sect. 1 to sect. 14, before he is instituted, or collated.
INTENTION. Priest’s Intention. On this subject the following is the eleventh canon of the Council of Trent:—“If any shall say that there is not required in the ministers while they perform and confer the sacraments, at least the intention of doing what the Church does, let him be accursed.”
This is a monstrous and fearful assertion, which supposes it to be in the power of every malicious or sceptical priest to deprive the holiest of God’s worshippers of the grace which is sought in the sacraments. There is mention of this notion in Pope Eugenius’s letter to the Armenians at the Council of Florence; but this was the first time that a reputed general council sanctioned it. But the Church of Rome is not content with placing all receivers of sacraments at the mercy of the priest’s intention; and when we know how many avowed infidels there have been found in the ranks of her priesthood, this alone (according to her own theory) opens a fearful door to doubt and hesitation, affecting the validity of the ordinations and administrations within her pale since the Council of Trent; but in the sacrament of the holy eucharist she has placed the communicants at the mercy of the baker’s and vintner’s intention, and any malevolent tradesman who supplies the wine and wafers to be used in the Lord’s supper, has it in its power, according to their rubrics, to deprive the communicants of the grace of the sacrament. For, “Si panis non sit triticeus, vel si triticeus, admixtus sit granis alterius generis in tanta quantitate, ut non mancat panis triticeus, vel sit alioqui corruptus: non conficitur sacramentum.” “Si sit confectus de aqua rosacea, vel alterius distillationis, dubium est an conficiatur.” “Si vinum sit factum penitus acetum, vel penitus putridum, vel de uvis acerbis seu non maturis expressum; vel ei admixtum tantum aquæ ut vinum sit corruptum, non conficitur sacramentum.”—Rubricæ Generales Missalis Rom.
INTERCESSIONS. That part of the Litany in which, having already prayed for ourselves, we now proceed to supplicate God’s mercy for others. The intercessions are accompanied by the response, “We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.” (See Litany.) The different species of prayer are alluded to by St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 1. “I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” δεήσεις, προσευχὰς, ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας.
INTERCESSOR. (See Lord and Jesus.) One who pleads in behalf of another. The title is applied emphatically to our blessed Lord, “who ever liveth to make intercession for us.” The practice of the Romanists in investing angels and departed saints with the character of intercessors, is rejected as being unsanctioned by Catholic antiquity, as resting on no Scriptural authority, and as being derogatory to the dignity of our Redeemer. (See Invocation, Saints, Idolatry.)