CARDINAL is more particularly applied to an eccle siastic in the church of Rome, who is a member of the eonclaN e, and who is invested with the power of electing the pope.
The origin of this order is involved in a considerable degree of obscurity ; but there can be no doubt that it derived its existence from the oligarchical nature of the form of church government adopted by the see of Rome, and the desire which all who have sat in the el.air of St. Peter have shewn to render the city of Rome the centre of all ecclesiastical power, and to which those Wi o look ed forward to the acquisition of dignities or preferment in the Catholic church, were alone to uireet then. ,Itti tion. The aggrandisement of papal jtuisthetion was a favourite object of pursuit with all the bishops of Rome ; and by means skilfully contrived, and as skilfully exe cuted, they succeeded most effectually in accomplishing their purpose.
Some difference of opinion has existed respecting the origin of the name cardinal ; and yet it is strange that, upon a subject which appears to be so plain, ingenious men should call forth all their learning and acuteness in tracing the etymology of a word which appears to be so obvious, and accords so well with the analogy of the language. Among the Latins, the word cardinal's signi fies principal. Thus, quatuor venti cardinales, the four cardinal or chief winds ; princeps cardinalis, a sovereign prince ; missa cardinalis, the great mass ; and, altare car dinale, the great altar of a church. The name was even applied to those who held the chief civil offices in the state under the Emperor Theodosius.
The cardinals, who with the pope constitute the con clave, or sacred college, are composed of three distinct orders, viz. deacons, presbyters, and bishops. It may be proper to observe, that in towns there were three sorts of churches. The one was called Tituli, or parish churches, in which the people assembled for the general purposes of public worship, to hear the liturgies read, and to receive the sacrament. The second was called
Diaconiee, or deaconries, which were public hospitals for the benefit of the poor, and to these were annexed chapels. The third were oratories, in which it was not permitted either to administer baptism or the sacrament. Private mass was performed in them by chaplains or presbyters appointed for the express purpose, who had the title of local or stationary ; and in order to distinguish the parish priests from those who officiated in the oratories, they assumed the name of cardinales, or car dinal titles, because their functions implied the privilege of administering the sacraments, from which the priests of the oratories were precluded. Though this appella tion was exceedingly general, vet in a short time it was confined to those at Rome who assisted the Pope at the celebration of the mass, or attended him when any public procession took place.
The number of cardinals has been exceedingly fluc tuating. Like all institutions that have existed for a long series of years, their number was originally inconsider able. The deacon cardinals at first only amounted to seven, and Were gradually augmented to fourteen and eighteen. They were afterwards reduced to fourteen. The priest cardinals are to the number of fifty, which, with the six cardinal bishops of Ostia, Polio, Sabina, Palestrina, Frascati, and make generally the number of seventy. It was a favourite object ii ith the church of Rome to render the whole of its rites and ceremonies, and even the different orders or ranks which composed the whole, as sacred as possible. As they could derive little sanction from any precedent in the New Testament, they therefore had recourse to the Old ; and, by a singular conceit, a resemblance was sup posed to exist between the pope and Moses, and the cardinals and the seventy elders of the people. Till the year 1125, their number was only fifty-two or fifty-three.