"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