3. In ecclesiastical use, a rule or law of doc trine or discipline as established by ecclesiasti cal authority. The term is further applied to various matters of church organization and ceremony; also to books containing the rules of religious orders, etc., and to a list or cata logue of acknowledged and canonized saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
Another distinctive ecclesiastical me of the term is that which designates a dignitary pos sessing a prebend, or revenue allotted for the performance of divine service in a cathedral or collegiate church. Canons were originally priests who lived in community, appointed to assist the bishop in his duties, and supported by the revenues of the bishopric. Secular canons are those who, in progress of time, have left off the custom prevalent in monasteries of living a community life, and have the privilege of enjoying the returns of their respective bene fices. The obligations of the canons are con tained under three heads: (1) The duty of re siding in the place where the church they be long to is situated; (2) assisting at the canoni cal offices which are celebrated in the church; and (3) attending the meeting of the chapter at the appointed times. They cannot be absent from their benefices for a longer period than three months, and are obliged to sing or recite their office in choir. In their collective capacity they are called a chapter, and form the council of the bishop. In each chapter there are digni taties. The name was originally applied to all the clergy, but was afterward confined to those who were connected with the cathedral church, or to specially privileged churches.
4. In music, with the ancient Greeks, the term canon signified what now is called mono chord. At present it signifies a composition in
which the several voices begin at fixed inter vals, one after the other, and in which each successive voice sings the strain of the preced ing one. In Italian, therefore, it is called fuga di conseguenza; in Latin, canon perpetuus, or continuous fugue; in German, Kreisfuge (circu lating fugue). Sometimes each voice begins with the same, sometimes with different notes. The phrase or passage for imitation is called the theme or subject, the imitation, the reply. Canons may be finite or infinite. The former end, like any other compositions, with a cadence, while the infinite canon is so contrived that the theme is begun again before the parts which follow are concluded. A canon may consist of two, three, four or more voices. Canons differ from ordinary fugues; for, in the latter, it is sufficient that the subject be occasionally re peated and imitated according to the laws of counterpoint; but in the former, it is essential that the subject be strictly repeated by all the succeeding parts; which repetition may be made in the unison or octave, the fourth, or the fifth, or any other interval of the scale. There are several other canons, as canon polymorphus, canon per diminutionem and canon per augmen tationem. Sometimes, also, a musical passage of a composition in which one voice repeats for a short time another is called, improperly, a canon. Consult Ouseley's 'Treastise on Coun terpoint, Canon, and Fugue) (1869).
5. In printing, canon is the name given to a large type which is so called from the early use of it for printing the canon of the mass and the Church service-books.