|
PATRONAGE
-
Generally, patronage is the act of a so-called patron who supports or favors some individual, family, group or institution.
Originally the term was coined in Latin (patronatus) for the formal relationship between a Patronus and his Clientes.
A patronage system has different characteristics depending on the area in which it is practiced. Generally it can be described as a system where someone in a powerful position (the Patron) offers handouts in return for support.
The terms patron or patroness may also be used to refer to a patron saint.
Politics
Political leaders often have at their disposal a great deal of patronage, in the sense that they take decisions on the appointment of officials inside and outside government (for example on quangos). Patronage is therefore a recognized and legitimate power of the executive branch. In most countries it has the right to make many of appointments, some of which may be lucrative, or sinecures. In some countries, high level appointments may be reviewed by the legislature; in other countries, such as those using the Westminster system, this is not the case. Some countries, such as the United States, permit the legislature to review some appointees, but not all.
In politics, patronage more narrowly defined is the practice by holders of political office of appointing their followers or fellow party members to positions. For example, those could be high-level posts such as ambassadorships, or lower-level civil service posts. Even blue-collar jobs on the government payroll may be sought after. Such overt political patronage is seen as a tool for rewarding and enforcing loyalty; loyalty is the criterion for selecting a person rather than more meritocratic considerations. The selection process - if not based upon the competence of the person - is then naturally seen as questionable. There is a fine line dividing this from rewarding supporters corruptly with government contracts.
Patronage can consequently be seen as one of the possible major deficiencies of a system of excess bureaucracy, defined as a system with a weak bureaucratic structure, the availability of large public resources to the Patron, and that these public resources be easily divisible in order to target specific groups and individuals.
Nepotism and cronyism are more specific types of patronage.
See also: political machine
Patronage in the Gilded Age
In the United States during the Gilded Age, patronage became a central issue, due to bipartisan agreement on national issues and political decadence.
Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York became a powerful political figure by determining who in the party would gain certain lucrative positions. Conkling and his supporters were known as Stalwarts. Their rivals for patronage were called Halfbreeds. Those who abstained from the patronage conflicts were referred to as Mugwumps - their "mug" on one side of the fence, their "wump" on the other.
When James Garfield became President, he appointed Halfbreeds to most offices (despite the appointment of Stalwart Chester A. Arthur to the role of Vice President, which was a compromise within the Republican Party). This provoked the ire of the Stalwarts. Charles J. Guiteau, a Stalwart, assassinated Garfield in 1881, 6 months after he became President.
To prevent further political violence, and in response to public outrage, Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which set up the Civil Service Commission. Henceforth, applicants for most federal government jobs would have to pass an examination. Federal politicians' influence over bureaucratic appointments waned, and patronage declined as a national political issue.
The Arts
Classical musicians worked primarily under the patronage system: royalty, other nobles and very wealthy people, usually looking for notoriety, e.g to endorse their political ambitions, and the church, comanded works and provided resources for writers, sculptors, painters, composers, etc. That is, patrons operated as sponsors. Various languages still use a word for it, mecenate, derived from the name of Emperor Augustus' generous friend and adviser Gaius Maecenas.
This kind of system continues across many fields of the arts. Though the nature of the sponsors has changed, the term patronage has a more neutral connotation than in politics. It may simply refer to direct support (often financial) of an artist, for example by grants.
See also: Category:Philanthropy
Commercial
Sometimes consumers support smaller or local businesses or corporations out of loyalty even if other cheaper options exist.
Ecclesiastical
Catholic
-
Canon law
In Roman Catholic canon law, the "right of patronage" (ius patronatus) is a collection of rights and obligations in connection with the assignment and administration of a benefice; these rights are legally entailed upon a patron by the Church, "out of gratitude towards her benefactor." It is a combination of rights that pertain to the spiritual realm, designated in the decretals as ius spirituali annexum, and is therefore subject to ecclesiastical legislation and jurisdiction. However, property rights are also involved, so it is also subject to civil law (in the sense of laws passed by states, contrasted to canon law).
In the early Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, such rights were often granted to the clerical or lay founder of a church; for example, the Synod of Toledo in 655 gave a layman this privilege for each church erected by him. In the countries occupied by the Germanic tribes, the builder of a church, the feudal lord or the administrator possessed full right of disposal over the church founded or possessed by him, as his own church (ecclesia propria) and over the ecclesiastics appointed by him, whom he could dismiss at pleasure, though appointment and dismissal of ecclesiastics was at least formally subject to the consent of the bishop. In the course of the Conflict of Investitures (11th and early 12th centuries), the private right over churches was abolished. Still, even after that time the lord of an estate, as patron, was conceded the right as ius spirituali annexum of presenting a cleric to the bishop on the occasion of a vacancy in the church.
Any church benefice, with the exception of the papacy, the cardinalate, the episcopate, and the prelatures of cathedral, collegiate and monastic churches, may be the object of the right of patronage. Patronages may be heritable or ex officio.
In theory, the patron must be a member of the Church, though there are few other limitations (for example, women, minors, and illegitimates may be patrons in this sense). "Member of the Church" is construed broadly: in Germany and Austria the Peace of Westphalia (1648) left Protestant princes the rights of patronage over Catholic church offices (and vice versa), and modern concordats have continued it. However, a patron must be a Christian, and cannot be an excommunicati vitandi, though could be an excommunicati tolerati or someone "infamous according to ecclesiastical or civil law."
Patronage of Our Lady
The liturgical Feast of the Patronage of Our Lady was first permitted by Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 6 May, 1679, for all the ecclesiastical provinces of Spain, in memory of the victories obtained over the Saracens, heretics and other enemies from the sixth century to the reign of Philip IV of Spain.
Pope Benedict XII ordered it to be kept in the Papal States on the third Sunday of November. To other places it is granted, on request, for some Sunday in November, to be designated by the ordinary. In many places the feast of the Patronage is held with an additional Marian title of Queen of All Saints, of Mercy, Mother of Graces.
The Office is taken entirely from the Common of the Blessed Virgin, and the Mass is the "Salve sancta parens".
The Greeks have no feast of this kind, but the Ruthenians, followed by all the Slavs of the Greek Rite, have a feast, called Patrocinii sanctissimæ Dominæ etc., or Pokrov Bogorodicy, fixed on 1 October, which, however, would seem to correspond more with the Catholic Feast of the Scapular.
Anglican
- See main article Parish
In the Church of England, patronage is the commonly-used term for the right to present a candidate for the benefice of a particular parish.
Patronage in the Renaissance
During the Renaissance, most artistic and scientific work was supported by an extensive system of patronage, encompassing both royal and holy courts. Patrons—such as kings, dukes, cardinals and other authority figures—recruited eminent artists, musicians, astrologers, natural philosophers and others as clients. Often they commissioned particular pieces; would-be clients often dedicated their works to powerful men in order to attract them as patrons. In return for support (both social and financial), clients enhanced the reputations of wealthy patrons through association with their own work. Some patrons, such as the Medici, may have done this to "cleanse" wealth that was perceived as ill-gotten through usury.
See also
Sources and external links
|