Such is now, for the lower clergy, ecclesiastical law, and likewise
secular law, both agreeing together in not affording him protection;
add to this change in the jurisprudence which concerns him a no less
divisive change in the jurisprudence which concerns him a no less
decisive change in the titles which place and qualify him. Before
1789, there were in France 36,000 cur?s entitled irremovable; at the
present day, there are only 3,425; before 1789, there were only 2500
cur?s entirely removable, while to-day there are 34,042;[40] all of
the latter, appointed by the bishop without the approbation of the
civil powers, are removable at his discretion; their parochial
ministry is simply a provisional commission; they may be placed
elsewhere, passing from one precarious curacy to another no less
precarious. "At Valence,[41] Mgr. Chartrousse, in one month
transferred 150 priests from one parish to another. In 1835, in the
diocese of Valence, 35 transfers were sent out by the same mail." No
assistant-priest, however long in his parish, feels that he is at home
there, on his own domain, for the rest of his life; he is merely there
in garrison, about the same as lay functionaries and with less
security, even when irreproachable.
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