aritable
thought and endeavours of the present day.

The parish and charitable relief.

Naturally, two methods of relief have usually been prominent: relief
administered locally, chiefly to residents in their own homes, and
relief administered in an institution. At the time of Charlemagne
(742-814) the system of relief was parochial, consisting principally of
assistance at the home. After that time, except probably in England, the
institutional method appears to have predominated, and the monastery or
hospital in one form or another gradually encroached on the parish.

The system of parochial charity was the outcome, apparently, of three
conditions: the position and influence of the bishop, the eleemosynary
nature of the church funds, and the need of some responsible
organization of relief. It resulted in what might almost be called an
ecclesiastical poor-law. The affairs of a local church or congregation
were superintended by a bishop. To deal with the outlying districts he
detached priests for religious work and, as in Rome and (774)
Strassburg, deacons also for the administration of relief. Originally
all the income of the church or congregation was paid into one fund
only, of which the bishop had charge, and this fund was available
primarily for charitable purposes. Church property was the patrimony
of the poor. In the 4th century (IV. Council of Carthage, 398) the
names of the clergy were entered on a list (_matricula_ or _canon_),
as were also the names of the poor, and both received from the church
their daily portion (cf. Ratzinger, _Geschichte der kirchlichen
Armenpflege_, p. 117). There were no expenses for building. Before the
reign of Constantine (306) very few churches were built (Ratzinger, p.
120). Thus the early church as has been said, was chiefly a charitable
society. By degrees the property of the church was very largely
increased by gifts and bequests, and in the West before St Gregory's
time the division of it for four separate purposes--the support of the
bishop, of the clergy, and of the poor, and for church
buildings--still further promoted decentralization. Apart from any
special gifts, there was thus created a separate fund for almsgiving,
supervised by the bishop, consisting of a fourth of the church
property, the oblations (mostly used for the poor), and the tithe,
which at first was used for the poor solely. The organization of the