Catholic Pocket Dictionary/V

Three Eucharist veils were in use in the ancient Church, the paten veil for covering the bread before consecration, the chalice veil, and a very thin transparent veil for covering both paten and chalice. The offertory veil was used, according to the various parts of the ceremonial of High Maas. It seems to be the same as the benediction veil with which the subdeacon now covers the chalice at High Mass and which is also used at the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The nuptial veil is worn by brides in the marriage ceremony. St. Ambrose speaks of a veil stretched over the heads of the bride and bridegroom during the celebration of marriage, with a mystical significance.

VESTMENTS

Long before the ecclesiastical vestments were distinguished by their form from those in common we certain garments were reserved for the officiating clergy, though they were identical, in form with the ordinary garb.

VIATICUM

Holy Communion given to those in danger of death.

VICAR-APOSTOLIC

By this is meant either a bishop or archbishop, to whom the Roman Pontiff delegates a portion of his jurisdiction; or an ecclesiastic, not necessarily a bishop, who, acting under a Papal brief, or in virtue of instructions received from the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, is commissioned to exercise the episcopal jurisdiction (except in certain special cases) in a diocese where the ordinary, from whatever cause, is incapacitated from its full and efficient discharge.

VICAR-GENERAL

Is an ecclesiastic appointed by the bishop of the diocese to assist him in matters of administration. In matters of jurisdiction the vicar general is regarded as the ordinary, and his tribunal is identical with that of the bishop, so that there is no appeal from the one to the other. But he is bound to keep carefully within the limits of his commission; thus he may not do any of those things which come under the definition of "Pontificalia" and belong to the episcopal order, such as making the holy oils, consecrating churches, altars, chalices, &c. Nor may he decide anything without a special mandate, which it may be reasonably presumed the bishop could not have intended to entrust to him by his general commission. For instance, although his commission warrants him to do all formal acts required in the institution of ecclesiastics to benefices, offices, or dignities, it does not authorize him to confer any of these; to do so lawfully he must have a special mandate. He cannot summon a synod, nor visit the diocese; "and generally, in business of an arduous and weighty nature, he cannot act without consulting the bishop." The powers of a vicar-general cease when his commission is cancelled by the bishop; upon his resignation; when, from whatever cause, the bishop's own jurisdiction in the diocese ceases.

VIGILS

The watch kept on the night before a feast.

VINCENT OF PAUL, ST., SOCIETY OF

This society, which exists for the purpose of helping the poor, was founded at Paris in 1833.

VIRTUE

A good quality of the mind whereby a man lives rightly and which no one uses wrongly, which God works in us without our aid.

VISITATIO AD LIMINA APOSTOLORUM

That it was a duty incumbent on a Catholic bishop to visit from time to time the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul at Rome, in order to honor the institution of Christ in the person of his vicar, to strengthen his own communion and that of his flock with the living center of Christianity, and to report the state of his diocese to the Supreme Pastor and Ruler, was a conviction which had been growing in force for centuries, and had found continuous practical expression in those innumerable visits of bishops to Rome which the annals of the Church record. Leo III (Ep. i.) ordained that bishops should visit the limina Apostolorum, but without prescribing anything as to the time. In the sixteenth century the practice assumed the form of a positive law. Sixtus V by the Constitution "Romanus Pontifex" (1585) ordained that the bishops of Italy, the islands in the Adriatic, and the neighboring parts of Greece, should be bound to visit the limina Apostolorum once in three years; the bishops of France, Spain, England, Germany, and other countries within the North and Baltic Seas, as also of the islands in the Mediterranean, once in four years; all other bishops in Europe and those of Africa once in five years; and all Asiatic and American bishop, once in ten years. The visit was to be made either in person, or, if a legitimate hindrance intervened, by a suitable proctor or representative.

VISITATION, EPISCOPAL

To visit his diocese, and ascertain the state and progress of religion in every part of it, is of course one of the main portions of that duty which belongs to the bishop's office. The aim of such visitation is described as comprehending the maintenance of sound doctrine, the expulsion of heresy, the reformation of morals, the right arrangement of whatever relates both to persons and things ecclesiastical, and the encouragement of the faithful, by preaching and other means, to lead religious and peaceful lives.

VISITATION, ORDER OF THE

This order was founded at Annecy in 1610 by the holy widow Jane Frances, Mme. de Chantal (who was canonized in 1767), under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, then bishop of Geneva. It was designed by the bishop to be open to widows and ladies of weak health as well as to the young and robust; hence but few corporal austerities were required by the rule, and at first there was no enclosure, so that the religious could freely visit the sick and needy in their own homes. On the other hand, the employment of time and the regulation of the thoughts were provided for in the rule with great minuteness. St. Francis did not wish the religious to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishops, and therefore he would not consent to the appointment of a superior for the whole order. The rule of enclosure was adopted in 1618. Many houses of "Visitandines" – so these nuns are called in France – soon arose, and have ever been conspicuous for the order, harmony, and piety which reigned in them. Ven. Marie Marguerite d'Alacoque, so well known in connection with the devotion to the Sacred Heart, belonged to this order.

VISIT TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

The daily visit to a church in order to engage in silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

VOCATION

Vocation is taken for that “disposition of Divine providence” whereby persons are invited to serve God in some special state – e.g. as ecclesiastics or religious. The ecclesiastical vocation is manifested by the pious desires of the heart, by innocence of life, by the sincere love of Christ, by pure zeal for God's glory and the salvation of souls. That to the religious state, or the perfect practice of the evangelical counsels, comes to souls with a certain pressing invitation, with a strong desire of self-sacrifice and a clear perception of worldly vanity, with a certain attractiveness for intimacy with Christ and for the exaltation of His holy Name. But it is given differently to different persons, and prepares them "powerfully" though "sweetly" for the practice of solid virtue. "If thou wouldst be perfect," said our Lord, "go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, . . . and come, follow Me."

VOWS

A vow is a deliberate promise made to God in regard to something possessing superior goodness.

VULGATE

The name is now commonly given to the Latin version of the Bible, authorized by the Catholic Church. In this version all the books found in the Hebrew Bible were translated by Jerome from the Hebrew and Chaldee originals, except the Psalter, which belongs to an Old Latin version revised by Jerome. Judith and Tobias were freely translated by Jerome from the Chaldee (this Chaldee, however, being merely the version of Hebrew originals now lost; see Neubauer, "Book of Tobias," p. xvi.). In the rest of the Old Testament books, and in the deuterocanonical portions of Esther and Daniel, we have the Old Latin translation unaltered; the New Testament consists of the Old Latin text revised by Jerome from the Greek.