A Unique Case

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 26, 1914

A rather unique case is before the Supreme Court of the United States for settlement. We quote the following statement from Zion's Herald of March 11, 1914:—

Is the vow of poverty taken in brotherhoods and sisterhoods of the Roman Catholic Church against public policy? This is the question which the United States Supreme Court will be called upon to answer. The case upon which the test will take place arises out of the death of Father Wirth, a member of the order of St. Benedict. At the time of his death, by special permission of his superior, given years before, he was in possession of $5,000, in addition to royalties from books. The Probate Court of Brown County, Minnesota, where he died, recognizes his heirs as entitled to his property. By his vow, however, the property was to be transferred to the order. The United States Circuit Court decided later that the vow of poverty was against public policy, and therefore void. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court. The attorneys for the order state that if the decision of the lower court is carried out to its full implication, it may eventually dissolve and disintegrate the temporal organization of every order in the country. Some 59,000 priests, brothers, and nuns will be affected by the decision. It is considered probable that, should the case go against the Benedictines, the title of all religious orders to their churches, colleges, schoolhouses, hospitals, and sanitariums in nearly every State in the Union may, as a result, be drawn into question.

Last week the decision of the lower court was reviewed in the Supreme Court, but at this writing (March 15) the decision has not been handed down.