CANON. The Greek word Kav v means primarily a straight rod, and metaphorically what serves to keep things straight, a rule. In Gal. vi. 16 it means rule or measure, in 2 Cor. x. 13, 15, 16, what is measured, a province. The word canon is used in various senses, mostly signifying either a rule or else a list (e.g., of books containing the rule) .
Music.—A canon in part-music is a composition in which the successive parts repeat the same melody, each beginning at a stated period after its precursor. (See also under FUGUE, CON TRAPUNTAL FORMS and Music.) When the first part completes its rhythmical sentence before the second enters, and then con tinues the melody as an accompaniment to the second, and so on for the 3rd or 4th, this form of canon in England was styled a "round" or "catch" ; the stricter canon being one in which the succession of parts did not depend on the ending of the phrase. But outside England catches and canons were undifferentiated.
(H. C.) The Church Dignitary.—A canon is a person who possesses a prebend in a cathedral or collegiate church. The name is prob ably derived from the list (matricula) of the clergy belonging to a church, Kavcov being thus used in the Council of Nicaea. In the synod of Laodicea the adjective Kavovucos is found in this sense; and during the 6th century the word canonicus occurs com monly in western Europe in relation to the clergy belonging to a cathedral or other church. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli (d. 371), lived with his clergy, leading a semi-monastic life in common and according to rule; and St. Augustine led a similar manner of life with his clergy at Hippo. St. Gregory's injunction to St. Augustine that at Canterbury the bishop and his clergy should live a common life together, similar to the monastic life in which he had been trained, is familiar; that these "clerics" at Canterbury were not monks is shown by the fact that those of them in the lower cleri cal grades were free to marry and live at home, without forfeiting their position or emoluments as members of the body of cathedral clergy (Bede, Hist. Eccl., i. 27). This mode of life for the secular clergy, which became common in the West, came to be called vita canonica, canonical life, and was the object of various enact ments of councils during the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries. Chrode gang, bishop of Metz (c. 75o), composed a rule for the clergy of his cathedral, which was mainly an adaptation of the Benedictine Rule for secular clergy living in common. Chrodegang's Rule was adopted in many cathedral and collegiate churches. In 816 the synod of Aix-la-Chapelle (see Mon. Germ. Concil., ii. 307) made further regulations for the canonical life, which became the law in the Frankish empire for cathedral and collegiate churches. The Rule of Chrodegang was supplemented and made less monastic in character. Each canon was allowed a dwelling-room within the cloister, and retained the use of his private property. The chief duty of the canons was the performance of the church services.
The canonical life thus regulated subsisted in the 9th and loth centuries ; but there was a constant tendency to relax the bonds of the common life. In England, by the middle of the loth cen tury, the prescriptions of the canonical life seem to have fallen into desuetude, and in nine cathedrals the canons were replaced by Benedictines. The turning point came in 1059, when a synod held at the Lateran abolished the Aix-la-Chapelle regulations, and imposed a stricter rule. Out of this reforming movement grew the religious order of Canons Regular or Augustinian Canons (q.v.), while the opposite tendency produced the institute of secular canons. The revenues of the cathedral were divided be tween the bishop and the clergy, so that each member of the clergy received his own separate income. All attempts at leading any kind of common life were frankly abandoned. In England the introduction of this order of things was due to St. Osmund (d. 1099). The nature and functions of the institute of secular canons are described in the article CATHEDRAL.
See Du Cange, Glossarium, under "Canonicus"; Amort, Vetus Disciplina Canonicorum (1747), to be used with caution for the earlier period ; C. du Molinet, Reflexions historiques et curieuses sur les antiquites des chanoines taut seculiers que reguliers (1674) ; Herzog, Realencyklopdidie (3rd ed.), art. "Kapitel"; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed.), art. "Canonica vita" and "Canonikat." The history of the canonical institute is succinctly told, and the best literature named, by Max Heimbucher, Orden and Kongregationen, i. sec. S5 (1896) ; also by Otto Znckler, Askese and Monchtum, PP. (1897). On mediaeval secular canons a standard work is Chr. Wordsworth's Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral (1892-97) ; see also an article thereon by Edm. Bishop in Dublin Review, July 1898.
(E. C. B.) In the Church of England the canons of cathedral or collegiate churches retain their traditional character and functions, though they are now, of course, permitted to marry. Their duties, as defined by the canons of 1603, included residence at the cathe drals and preaching in the cathedral and other churches of the diocese. A canon may hold a benefice in addition to his prebend, but may not make his canonry an excuse for neglecting his cure. The act of 184o reduced the number of canonries, and made some applicable to the endowment of archdeaconries and profes sorships. The obligatory period of residence, hitherto varying in different churches, was fixed at three months. The right of pre sentation to canonries is now vested in the Crown, in the lord chancellor, the archbishop or the bishop of the diocese. In the old cathedrals the title of honorary canon is conferred by the bishop as a mark of distinction. In new cathedrals, where no en dowment exists for a chapter, the bishop may appoint honorary canons to act as a cathedral body. (See CATHEDRAL.) Minor canons, sometimes styled priest-vicars, whose function is mainly to sing the service, are appointed by the dean and chapter. They may hold a benefice if it lies within six miles of the cathedral. In Protestant Continental churches canons as ecclesiastical officers have ceased to exist. In Prussia and Saxony, however, certain chapters, secularized at the Reformation, still exist; but the canons (Domlierren) are usually laymen, cadets of noble families.
See Phillimore, Eccles. Law, 2 vols. (1895).
The Scriptures.—The origin of the term "canon," as applied to the writings used by the Christian Church, is uncertain. Ac cording to the most probable opinion the term included from the first the idea of a regulating principle. This idea lies in the New Testament and patristic use of the noun, down to the time of Constantine, as Credner has shown. The of the Church" in the Clementine homilies, "ecclesiastical and "Kavwv of the truth" in Clement and Irenaeus, Kavwv of the faith in Polycrates, regula fidei of Tertullian, and libri regulares of Origen imply a normative principle.
Its earliest application to a catalogue of the Old or New Testa ment books occurs in the Latin translation of Origen's homily on Joshua, where the original seems to have been Kavwv. The word itself is in Amphilochius, Jerome and Rufinus. The first occur rence of Kavovu coc is in the 59th canon of the Council of Laodi cea, where it is contrasted with acwru cbs and lucavovcaros. Kavovtroµ€va, "canonized books," is first used in Athanasius's festal epistle. The early Fathers certainly believed the Old Testa ment books to be a Divine and infallible guide. But the New Testament was not so considered till towards the close of the 2nd century (about A.D. 180) . Irenaeus applies the epithets divine and perfect to the Scriptures; and Clement of Alexandria calls them inspired.
When distinctions were made among he biblical writings other words were employed, synonymous with KavovcOµeva or KeKavovcaµEVa, such as wpwwµiva. (See BIBLE : section Canon.) The term "canonical" is applied to ecclesiastical vestments and to the hours set apart by the Church for prayer and devotion. (See BREVIARY.) (E. C. B. ; W. A. P.; S. D.)