VOW (OF. von, co, rev, Fr. voru, from Lat. potnni, wish, engagement, vow). A promise made to God of a certain thing or action good in itself, and within the dominion and right of the person promising. The practice of vows appears to have formed part of the religious observance of almost all races in any degree civilized; and it largely pervaded the whole ceremonial system of the :Mosaic dispensation (Gen. xxviii. 20; Lev. 2; Num. X X X . 2; Judges xi. 30). The stringency of the obligation of fulfilling a vow when once made is distinctly laid down (Dent. xxiii. 21; Eeeles. v. 4, 5) ; but it. is equally clearly stated, that it is by no means a matter of obligation to make a vow (Dent, xxiii. 22). The practice of making vows continued among the Jews in the time of Christ; and Saint Paul. after his con version to Christianity, continued to conform to this usage (Acts xviii. IS). Vows, while dis carded as a religious observance by the Reform ers. enter largely into the system of the Roman Catholic Church. The objects of these engage ments among Catholics are various; but they are drawn, for the most part, from what are called the evangelical 'counsels,' in contradistinc tion to 'precepts' or `commands'—the most ordi nary subject of vows being the so-called 'evangeli cal' virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Pilgrimages, however, acts of abstinence, or other self-nnirtifications whether of the body or of the will, special prayers Or religious exercises, a re frequently made the object of vows; and there is another large class of more material ob jects, as the building of churches, monasteries, hospitals, and other works of public interest or utility, to which mediieval Europe was indebted for iy of its most magnificent memorials of piety awl of art. Vows in the ('hunch law :Ire
either 'simple' or 'solemn.' The principal differ ence bet ween them consists in the legal effects of the 'solemn' vow which. where the subject of such vow is chastity, renders not merely unlaw ful, 1.111 null and void, a marriage subsequently contracted. A 'simple' vow of chastity makes it unlawful to marry, but, except in the Jesuit so ciety, does not invalidate a marriage, if subse (ineptly contracted. Catholics acknowledge in the Church a power of dispensing from vows; bishops are held to possess the power of dispensing from simple vows generally; but the power of dispens ing from solemn vows and certain simple vows, as, for example, that of absolute and perpetual chastity, and of the greater pilgrimages, is re served to the Pope. The practical operation of the canon law regarding vows has evidently been much modified, even in Catholic countries, since the French Revolution. and the subsequent po litical changes; but this must be understood to regard chiefly their external and purely juridical effects. So far as concerns their spiritual obli gation, the modern Catholic theology recognizes little if any change.