10. The Churching of Women is regulated by the rubrics at the commencement and close of the service for the occasion in the Prayer Book. It is contemplated as the first service in which a woman takes part after recovery from childbirth; but no specific time is prescribed for it beyond the recommendation that she should receive the Holy Communion if there be a Communion. In former times a woman was not to be churched after an illegitimate birth unless she had previously done penance or acknowledged her fault before the congregation at the time of her churching. Since penance has fallen into disuse, a clergyman must exercise his own discretion in such cases; but he will, of course, neither church nor admit to Communion a woman who impenitently continues a sinful life. The rubric directs that "accustomed offerings" shall be offered at a churching, but their amount is not regulated by any general or well-established rule.[212] Footnotes [162] Ch. ii. § 6 (i.); ch. iii. § 1; (1865) 28 & 29 Vict. c. 122, ss. 1, 4-8. [163] (1559) 1 Eliz. c. 2; (1662) 14 Cha. 2, c. 4; (1872) 35 & 36 Vict. c. 35; Westerton _v._ Liddell (1857) Moore's Special Report, 187; Martin _v._ Mackonockie (1868) L. R. 2 P. C. 365, at p. 383; 38 L. J. Eccl. 1, at p. 11. [164] Newbery _v._ Goodwin (1811) 1 Phill. 282. [165] Gibs. Cod. 280; see note to ch. ii. § 6 (i.) above. [166] As to the normal order independently of the Act, see the Rubrics and note to § 7 below. [167] Cripps, 576. [168] _Re_ Hartshill Endowment (1861) 30 Beav. 130. [169] This applies only to a church served by a distinct minister, and not where there are two churches in one parish. But even in such a case the incumbent has no right wholly to close one church and hold all the Sunday services in the other; Rugg _v._ Bp. of Winchester (1868) L. R. 2 P. C. 223; 38 L. J. Eccl. 23. [170] (1838) 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, s. 80. [171] (1818) 58 Geo. 3, c. 45, ss. 65, 66. [172] 7 Will, 4 & 1 Vict. c. 45. [173] The appointment of such person rests with the incumbent or principal officiating minister; a clergyman in priest's orders is not a "fit" person to collect the offertory money. Cope _v._ Barber (1872) L. R. 7 C. P. 393. [174] Sm. Churchw. 80; Reg. _v._ O'Neill (1867) 31 J. P. 742; Howell _v._ Holdroyd (1897) P. 198. An incumbent often takes sole charge not only of money collected in church but of money collected by appeals within and outside the parish. He should in all such cases lodge it at a bank on a separate account, and notify in his appeal that this will be done. He cannot otherwise reasonably expect to be entrusted with money by strangers; and if the money is mixed with his own, it may be difficult or impossible to disentangle it in the event of his sudden illness and death. [175] Moysey _v._ Hillcoat (1828) 2 Hag. Eccl. 30, at p. 56.