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Capable of endless repetition; -- said of certain forms of the canon, called also perpetual fugues, so constructed that their ends lead to their beginnings, and the performance may be incessantly repeated. Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Infinite; perpetual, as a canon whose end leads back to the beginning. See Infinite, a., 5.

An interval of time; specifically (R. C. Ch.), in the plural, the intervals which the canon law requires between the reception of the various degrees of orders. Nonobservance of the interstices . . . is a sin. Addis & Arnold.

Mariotte's law, and the law of Boyle and Mariotte. -- Brehon laws. See under Brehon. -- Canon law, the body of ecclesiastical law adopted in the Christian Church, certain portions of which (for example, the law of marriage as existing before the Council of Tent) were brought to America by the English colonists as par…

of the line rhymes with the middle; -- so named from Leo, or Leoninus, a Benedictine and canon of Paris in the twelfth century, who wrote largely in this measure, though he was not the inventor. The following line is an example: Gloria factorum temere conceditur horum.

The third canonical book of the Old Testament, containing the laws and regulations relating to the priests and Levites among the Hebrews, or the body of the ceremonial law.

f Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes, and which are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Also applied to three books, two of which are found in some MSS. of the Septuagint.

Resident; residentiary; as, mansionary canons.

Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei, besides sometimes an Offertory and the Benedictus. Canon of the Mass. See Canon. -- High Mass, Mass with incense, music, the assistance of a deacon, subdeacon, etc. -- Low Mass, Mass which is said by the priest through-out, without music. -- Mass bell, the sanctus bell. See San…

Time of morning service; the first canonical hour in the Roman Catholic Church.

ward or honor; worthy of recompense; valuable. And meritorious shall that hand be called, Canonized, and worshiped as a saint. Shak. -- Mer`i*to"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- Mer`i*to"ri*ous*ness, n.

also improperly used for any large church. Minster house, the official house in which the canons of a cathedral live in common or in rotation. Shipley.

To take; to steal; to filch. [Obs.] This canon it in his hand nam. Chaucer.

The canonical office, being a part of the Breviary, recited at noon (formerly at the ninth hour, 3 P. M.) in the Roman Catholic Church.

Belonging to a certain number; counting as one of a collection or body. A supernumerary canon, when he obtains a prebend, becomes a numerary canon. Ayliffe.

The written precept of a superior in a religious order or congregation to a subject. Canonical obedience. See under Canonical. -- Passive obedience. See under Passive.

he Mass (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass which is the same every day; -- called also the canon of the Mass.

al cross (Eccl.), a cross worn on the breast by bishops and abbots, and sometimes also by canons. -- Pectorial fins, or Pectorials (Zoöl.), fins situated on the sides, behind the gills. See Illust. under Fin. -- Pectorial rail. (Zoöl.) See Land rail (b) under Land. -- Pectorial sandpiper (Zoöl.), the jacksnipe (b).…

ts. Plenary indulgence (R. C. Ch.), an entire remission of temporal punishment due to, or canonical penance for, all sins. -- Plenary inspiration. (Theol.) See under Inspiration.

The prelude or introduction to the canon of the Mass. Addis & Arnold. Proper preface (Ch. of Eng. & Prot. Epis. Ch.), a portion of the communion service, preceding the prayer of consecration, appointed for certain seasons.