Question III: How many prelates there are in one religious order, and what order among them

Since the hierarchical Order consists in this, that some are supreme, some lowest, and some intermediate, as the Seraphic Doctor inculcates from St. Dionysius more often here and there, and especially in part one de ecclesiast. hierarchia: It is certain that that regimen is more perfect in which this Order is observed, such as that of the Church, whose governance is most perfect and most hierarchical: it has one supreme Prelate, but very many lowest pastors, and many intermediate Bishops, so that it may thus approach nearer to the Church triumphant, in which there is one supreme power, namely the Divine; another intermediate, namely the Angelic; and finally another lowest, namely the Human; in which hierarchy, the higher one ascends, the more excellent a power dominates over the rest; and on the contrary, the more one descends, the more the divided power is weakened.

Hence the Religious Order, whose task it is to stand steadfastly in the footsteps of the Church, that it may better attain that perfection which it vowed in her, is governed under a threefold kind of Prelates; of whom one is supreme, commonly called the General; not that he is simply supreme, since he acknowledges the Pontiff as his superior; but because in that order over which he is set he has no other to whom he owes obedience.

Another is the intermediate Prelate, subject to the General, having many convents under himself in one province, and on that account he is called Provincial.

The lowest Prelate is called the one who has no other inferior to himself, and is set over a certain convent or place, whence he is wont to be called Conventual, or local, or Guardian: he is wont, however, to have another subordinate to himself rather in the economic administration than in any spiritual jurisdiction; this one is called Vicar in some religions, especially where the local superior has the name of Guardian; he is also called Subprior in respect of the Prior, and Prior in respect of the Abbot, just as Minister in respect of Rector: for local superiors rejoice in various names signifying this very thing; and since they are ordinary pastors, they can in some cases delegate their jurisdiction.

There are also those who hold the place of local Superiors, so that after their death, until the chapter is celebrated, or on account of the smallness of the convent or the fewness of the brothers, they preside; and although they are called Vicars, they are nevertheless in fact ordinary prelates, as is gathered from cap. In singulis, de statu Monachor.

In every Religious Order there is wont to be a Provincial, not so in the Monastic, in which the sole Abbot or local Prior, under the general superior, governs each monastery: nevertheless usage has prevailed among the Carthusians that at the time of the chapter they institute certain Visitors, who however are not prelates, but for the time exercise a certain commission, on the completion of which they cease; so also in the Order of Minors Commissaries are created for certain causes, who are as it were intermediate Prelates, holding a delegated power; yet not exceeding the exigency of the cause for which it is given, unless it has been expressed otherwise; nevertheless in certain Missions there are commissaries having ordinary jurisdiction, and these are held in place of provincials there.

AMONG Us the first Ordinary before all is the Lord Pope; after him the General chapter; third the General minister; fourth in each province the provincial chapter; sixth the Provincial; lastly in his place the Guardian, whether elected or provided. Our Elizzus places ordinary jurisdiction also in the Procurator of the curia, in the visitor, and in the commissary, whether general or provincial, and he cites Boerius, and Bictus, tract. 4, quaest. 1, num. 9. Yet it is certain that these do not come into the share of ordinary jurisdiction, if we take it insofar as it is contrasted with delegated; since these cannot subdelegate their own causes, except by the concession of the first delegating one, or with a grave cause pressing, in which the will of the delegating one is presumed, as Elizzus himself concedes, num. 10. Except those general Commissaries who are deputed not for one cause or another, but hold an ordinary residency, while they are set over Missions or a few convents, which cannot be erected into a province, in the governing of which the Commissary has, whether you wish to call him a general commissary or a provincial, ordinary jurisdiction.

THERE are also other intermediate Superiors, frequently among the Minors, called Custodes; which name signifies an act, not a degree, just as the name Seraph signifies an act, not an order, as the holy Doctor says on chapter 8 of the rule: and these, from the beginning of our Religion on account of the breadth of the provinces, which a sole Provincial did not suffice for, were instituted, having in their custodies the same power, though subordinate, which the provincial minister had in the whole Province: but now, this breadth of the provinces having been so restricted that the provincials can visit them twice a year, the use of these custodes has fallen into disuse; yet another succeeded to it, namely of watching over the brothers, in the absence of the Provincial, and of admonishing him of graver cases emerging; but if some sudden case has emerged, which must be provided for at once, the Custos can in that case exercise the office of the Provincial, as also in any other occurring, for which power is delegated to them: moreover he is subject to the local superior together with the others.

THERE is also another kind of Custos, especially customary among us Capuchins: for in the first provincial Chapter, the Pentecost immediately preceding, they are wont to name one Custos alone, who in the election of the General may put forward the voice of the rest.

IN this all the said prelates agree, namely the general, provincial, and local, that each one hold spiritual jurisdiction over subjects, and indeed ordinary, not delegated; since each of them is destined to his office by the election of the whole chapter: they also have immediate jurisdiction; for this pertains to ordinary prelacy; likewise this jurisdiction in all is quasi-episcopal, as Suarez notes, num. 9 and following, yet in a diverse manner, which, that you may understand,

IT IS TO BE NOTED that the particle quasi imports two things, as Suarez notes in the same place. For first it signifies the proper power of a Bishop, residing in an alien subject: second it signifies the power of a Bishop, but with a certain diminution; so that it is not properly an episcopal power, but quasi.

THAT the general minister has this quasi-episcopal power, no one doubts, since he can exercise over his subjects many acts of jurisdiction which the Bishop can over his own; yet it is said quasi in the general, on account of the twofold reason signified, both because in dignity or character he is inferior to the Bishop; and because he cannot exercise absolutely all the acts of jurisdiction which the Bishop can; the same holds a fortiori in the provincial, since something is always in each province reserved to the general; and it flourishes most of all in the local superior; who could be said, by a more fitting similitude, to have a quasi-parochial power, if we compare the religious hierarchy with the ecclesiastical, and regard only ordinary jurisdiction; since nevertheless the local prelates can have from their privileges more acts forbidden to parish priests and commonly proper to Bishops, it must be said that in them there flourishes thus a quasi-episcopal power, yet with a greater diminution than in provincials; as the common law of old granted this quasi power to conventual abbots, as is plain at Suarez, loco citato, although they were subject to Bishops.

But the said prelates DIFFER in many things, especially in the greater or lesser dependence, in subordination, and in the power of restricting the law of the inferior, as also in the breadth of power, especially extensive; for the local superior can care only for those things which are of his house; the provincial, those of his province; and the general, those of the whole religion; the first of these is subject to the second, the second to the third; not contrariwise; yet the rights of each are so composed among themselves that in one religion, according to its proper institute and custom, a conventual prelate can have less, in another more, as also the rest; which, since they rest more on a diverse practice, and the common law has not cared much for these, cannot be prescribed by any certain rules.