Title II: On Clerics in Species

Utility. In order that moral solutions may be better understood, it seems useful to sketch in a few words how, in the Latin Church, ecclesiastical governance is ordered under the Roman Pontiff. Therefore:

— I. On the Supreme Pontiff.

The Supreme Pontiff, from accepted legitimate election, obtains the full power of supreme jurisdiction; from the same moment, if he is a bishop, but if not, from received episcopal consecration, he acquires the fullest power of order as to use. His power "is truly episcopal, ordinary, and immediate, both over all and individual churches and over all and individual pastors and faithful, independent of any human authority" (c. 218). To him has been committed the office of preaching the Catholic faith for the universal Church (c. 1327); and, outside constituted dioceses and parishes, the whole care of missions among non-Catholics is reserved solely to the Apostolic See (c. 1350, §2).

Affairs of graver moment which are reserved to the Roman Pontiff alone are called major causes (c. 220).

Concerning the full power of making laws and dispensing which belongs to the Supreme Pontiff, and concerning the mode by which he himself is held by his own laws, it has been treated in fundamental theology.

Concerning his titles and honorific insignia, canonists are to be consulted.

In the same fundamental part, we have sufficiently sketched what the Roman Curia is, and what province falls to the Sacred Roman Congregations.

There also, as much as suffices in moral theology, we have treated of Councils.

Therefore it is permissible to come at once to indicating the rights and obligations of bishops.

— II. Bishops, successors of the Apostles, are freely nominated by the Supreme Pontiff. Yet he sometimes grants by indult or concordat that either a prince or a college present or elect a bishop, with the inalienable right of the Pontiff of providing for the common good of the Church always intact.

All bishops possess the fullness of the priesthood, and as such they have rights and enjoy privileges.

Rights: of having a deliberative voice in Councils to which they are called, unless in the letters of convocation it has been established otherwise concerning non-diocesans (cc. 223, 282, 286); of ordaining, as ordinary ministers of the sacrament of Order, those to whom they can give dimissorial letters (cc. 951, 959); of performing consecrations and conferring several reserved blessings (c. 1147); of preceding non-bishops even in choir (c. 408, §1), and of preserving episcopal dress there; of wearing episcopal insignia. They participate in several privileges of Cardinals. Cf. cc. 239 and 349. These privileges they obtain from accepted authentic notice of canonical provision, even before consecration itself or possession taken.

From divine institution there must be bishops who, under the Supreme Pontiff, are immediate Pastors of parts of the flock committed to St. Peter and his successors. And therefore, besides merely titular bishops, others, residential or diocesan, are placed over particular churches, which they govern with ordinary power, in spiritual and temporal matters, under the authority of the Roman Pontiff (c. 329, §1).

That ordinary power comprehends: 1. legislative power, explained in I, 277, 278; 2. judicial power: they are, by themselves or through delegates, judges of first instance; indeed of appeal if they are Metropolitans, or if they are suffragans of a Metropolitan who, with the Holy See approving, has chosen them for causes which the Metropolitan has treated in first instance; 3. coercive power, by which bishops can sanction laws and precepts with penalties.

They have the power of dispensing which is explained in I, n. 295.

Besides, from possession taken, they enjoy the right of perceiving the revenues of the episcopal benefice, or mensa; of conceding indulgences of fifty days, for the living alone; of raising in all churches of their diocese a throne with baldachin (c. 349); of exercising pontificals in every place of their diocese; of preceding the rest, with Cardinals, Legates of the Pontiff, and their own Metropolitan excepted.

— III. Several dioceses constitute an ecclesiastical Province, over which a Metropolitan or Archbishop presides. In his own diocese he is a bishop; he presides over the Provincial Council; he supplies the negligence of suffragans; he makes the Pontiff more certain concerning abuses; but, outside canonical visitation, he possesses no immediate jurisdiction over the subjects of suffragans. The insignia of archiepiscopal power is the pallium.

— IV. In a diocese there are usually one or several Vicars General, who themselves are also called Ordinaries of the place.

With the bishop they are one juridic person, so that, when the jurisdiction of the bishop ceases or is suspended, the very jurisdiction of the Vicar General ceases or is suspended. By the nomination itself they obtain every power which belongs to the bishop by ordinary law, with those things excepted which the bishop has reserved to himself, or which by law demand a special mandate. With express exception saved, the Vicar General can execute rescripts remitted to the bishop, and habitual faculties granted to the bishop by the Holy See generally pertain also to him. He precedes all clerics of the diocese, not bishops. Cf. cc. 366-371.

The Vicar General of the Pope, insofar as he bears the person of the Bishop of Rome, is the one who is called the Cardinal Vicar of the City.

— V. The cathedral chapter, while the see is full, is the senate of the bishop, who, in several matters, especially in alienations of a certain value, must seek its consent or its counsel for the validity or liceity of the act.

When the see is impeded in such a way that the bishop cannot communicate with the diocesans even by letter, the administration in the first place is in the hands of the Vicar General or another ecclesiastical man delegated by the bishop. But if these are lacking, the cathedral chapter constitutes its own vicar who, with the power of a capitular Vicar, assumes the governance of the diocese (c. 429).

When the see is vacant, unless the Holy See has provided otherwise, the governance of the diocese passes to the cathedral chapter with all the ordinary power of the bishop, and with the use of habitual faculties granted to the same, unless the personal industry of the bishop was chosen. But the chapter must, within eight days from accepted notice of the vacancy, elect one single capitular vicar, and transfer all its power to him (c. 431 ff.).

— VI. The Capitular Vicar governs the diocese by the same power by which the chapter possessed it, also keeping the rule: "When the see is vacant, let nothing be innovated" (c. 436). He is removed unwilling only by the Holy See; but his resignation is valid without acceptance of the chapter, which nevertheless constitutes a new one. The office of itself ceases through possession entered upon by the new bishop or quasi-bishop, to whom the Capitular Vicar is held to render an account.

— VII. Canons, of whom the chapter consists, are called selected clerics, ascribed to a definite church so that in it they may form a college deputed to singing divine praises and celebrating sacred offices. That church is cathedral, which possesses the chair of the bishop; otherwise it is collegiate. The erection of each is reserved to the Holy See.

Some canons are titular, who have a prebend or benefice and a voice in chapter; others are honorary, who participate only in the honorific rights of canons. Among titular canons are dignitaries, who in order precede other non-bishops or Vicars General; and officials, who have a certain function to fulfill. The chief offices are those of the canon theologian, who must explain lessons on sacred Scripture or on another part of Catholic doctrine in the church, and not rarely today rather teaches the sacred disciplines in the seminary; of the canon penitentiary, who is furnished with peculiar faculties so that in the capitular church he may receive the confessions of the faithful. He is endowed with ordinary jurisdiction, by which he can absolve his own diocesans even outside the diocese, yet can grant no delegation. Cf. cc. 873, 401; of the canon curate, who, when the habitual care of souls is in the hands of the chapter, administers the parish as vicar of the chapter.

With dignities excepted, whose designation is reserved to the Holy See, it pertains of itself to the bishop, the chapter having been heard, to confer all benefices and canonries (c. 403). In order to name as honorary canon a cleric who belongs to another diocese, the bishop needs the assent of the Ordinary to whom the one to be named is subject; nor can he bestow that honor on so many outsiders that they equal a third part of the titular canons in number (c. 406). Observe that capitular insignia cannot be used except in the diocese in which the chapter is; and a contrary custom is reproved.

— VIII. On Diocesan Consultors (cc. 423-428). In dioceses which lack a cathedral chapter, a group of consultors is to be constituted by the bishop, which "supplies the place of the cathedral chapter as the senate of the bishop," so that whatever the canons attribute to the cathedral chapter in administering the diocese, whether the see is full, impeded, or vacant, is to be understood of the group of consultors (c. 427). Consultors must be at least six in number, or four if there are few priests in the diocese.

— IX. "A pastor is a priest or moral person to whom a parish has been conferred in title, with the care of souls to be exercised under the authority of the Ordinary of the place" (c. 451).

But a parish is a distinct part of a diocese, to which there is a particular church and a particular rector as the proper pastor of a determined people. Cf. c. 216, §1 and 3, which orders that such a division of dioceses be made, and §4 forbids that, without a special Apostolic indult, parishes be constituted for diversity of language or nation of the faithful, or merely familial or personal parishes.

Moral persons which sometimes hold a parish are monasteries, chapters, or similar institutes. But they keep only habitual care; actual care they must hand over to some vicar (cc. 452, 471).

The conferral of a parish which is not of the right of patronage belongs by ordinary law to the bishop or quasi-bishop. When the see is vacant, it belongs to the Capitular Vicar after the episcopal see has been vacant for a year. If it is of the right of patronage, the patron presents a suitable candidate to be instituted by the bishop, as was said above. Likewise a religious Superior presents a priest of his religion so that he may be instituted by the Ordinary of the place as pastor of a religious parish. Where the form of special or general competition is in force, it is said to be observed until the Apostolic See decrees otherwise. His own pastor must be placed over each parish, and he must be one (cc. 455-460).

Besides the care of souls with ordinary power in the internal forum, by which their office is defined, the rights of pastors are referred to a twofold genus: functions which are reserved to them, and prestations which they can demand.

1. From c. 462, there are reserved to the pastor: solemn baptism; public carrying of the Most Holy Eucharist to the sick in his own parish; administration of Viaticum and Extreme Unction; banns; assistance at marriages, the nuptial blessing; just funeral rites of parishioners, "unless the deceased has legitimately chosen another church of burial" (c. 1216, §1); blessing of houses on Holy Saturday, or on another day according to the custom of places; blessing of the baptismal font on Holy Saturday; public procession outside any church; blessings outside the church, with pomp and solemnity, "unless there is question of a capitular church, and the chapter performs these functions." These functions, that is, the three just numbered or some of them.

2. He has a right to the prestations which approved custom or legitimate taxation attributes to him. He keeps this right even if some parochial office has been fulfilled by another, "unless the contrary will of those offering is certainly established concerning the sum which exceeds the tax" (c. 463, §3). At the same time, in c. 463, these two things are provided: "One demanding preferable prestations is held to restitution"; "Let the pastor not deny gratuitous ministry to those who are not able to pay."

Not only to the pastor, but to every priest who assists the sick, there has been granted the faculty of conceding the apostolic blessing in the article of death (c. 468, §2).

— X. Parochial Vicars bear actual parochial care when parochial care is in the hands of a moral person, such as a chapter or monastery.

Churches which are neither parochial nor capitular, nor annexed to the house of a religious community which celebrates offices in the same church, are committed to a Rector, whom the Ordinary of the place names or at least approves, and removes for a just cause, even if the church belongs to an exempt religion.

With parochial functions excepted, that rector can celebrate divine offices, even solemn ones, provided they do not harm the parochial ministry; and if parishioners cannot without grave inconvenience go to the parochial church, the Ordinary has the right of imposing, under grave penalties, certain parochial ministries on the rector of a church which is of easier access. Cf. cc. 479-486.

— XI. Cooperating Vicars are named by the bishop so that they may supply the place of the pastor and help him in the whole parochial ministry, with the application of Mass for the people excepted, by which they themselves are in no way held. A cooperator from the secular clergy is named after the pastor has been heard. A vicar from the regular clergy is approved by the Ordinary, having been presented by the Superior, after the pastor has been heard.

— XII. Vicars Forane. The territory of a diocese of itself must be divided into districts consisting of several parishes. Over these is placed a vicar forane, or dean, or archpriest, etc., to whom a function chiefly of vigilance and inspection is committed.

He is freely named and removed by the Ordinary of the place. He presides over the collations of the clergy; he also takes care that gravely sick pastors not lack spiritual aids, and, if they depart from the living, an honorable funeral, and then he must at the same time take care lest documents and furnishings which pertain to the church perish or be carried away.

Besides, he is accustomed to be furnished with certain faculties. Cf. cc. 445-450.

In places where, on account of perpetual or accidental circumstances, bishops are lacking, quasi-bishops are constituted, that is, an Abbot or Prelate nullius, understand: of a diocese; an Apostolic Administrator; an Apostolic Vicar and Prefect. Here we must treat only of the first two.

— I. An Abbot or Prelate nullius governs a territory, in the very regions of the faithful, separated from every diocese.

That territory contains parishes; and if there are at least three in number, the Abbot or Prelate is to be equated altogether with a bishop. He governs the territory as his own: he names a Vicar General; he convokes a diocesan synod; he grants indulgences of fifty days. Yet if he lacks episcopal character, he will not be able to perform major ordinations and bless sacred oils. But within the bounds of the territory he confers tonsure and minor orders; imparts all blessings reserved to bishops; consecrates chalices, patens, portable altars, indeed immovable altars, with oils blessed by bishops, and churches; and administers confirmation.

He who administers fewer than three parishes is governed by special law.

— II. An Apostolic Administrator, on account of grave and special causes, is placed over a diocese in perpetuity or for a time. Constituted permanently, as now in the free city of Danzig, he is assimilated to a residential bishop; given for a time, he is like a Capitular Vicar. He does not have a Vicar General.

There are mission places, for example the Indies, in which the episcopal hierarchy has been restored; but parishes, at least many, and especially chapters, are lacking. These are then supplied by diocesan Consultors. Therefore:

— I. An Apostolic Vicar and Prefect administer territory which is not strictly their own, but that of the Supreme Pontiff.

Wherefore, even if bishops, they do not use a throne with baldachin, nor, without indult, which is granted quite easily to Apostolic Vicars, is their name pronounced in the canon, or prayer made for them in the ferial prayers of the breviary. As to power, they are assimilated to bishops, indeed they obtain broader faculties; and if they are adorned with episcopal character, they participate in other rights and privileges of bishops. Lacking that character, they have the honorific privileges of Apostolic Protonotaries of the number of participants; and besides they can do in their territory those things which are granted to a Prelate nullius (cf. n. 70), with the consecration of a church and of an immovable altar excepted. They cannot name a Vicar General properly so called.

— II. One or several delegated Vicars are permitted to be named in place of a Vicar General. The delegate can do all things which a Vicar General can; but since he is properly delegated, when the right of the Apostolic Vicar or Prefect ceases or is suspended, he does not of himself fall from his power. Cf. circular letters of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, December 8, 1919.

— III. A Pro-vicar or Pro-prefect must be named by the Apostolic Vicar or Apostolic Prefect if there is no coadjutor with future succession. He, when the Vicar or Prefect is lacking, assumes the governance of the vicariate or prefecture. If no one has been designated, the senior, that is, he who is present in the territory and in the same territory has earlier shown the letters of his destination, is judged delegated by the Holy See to assume governance.

— IV. Quasi-pastors govern quasi-parishes, that is, distinct territorial parts into which, at the exhortation of c. 216, the Apostolic Vicar or Prefect has divided his territories.

The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, by instruction of July 25, 1920, advised that they try to divide the territory also into districts over which one like a vicar forane would be placed.

Where the territory is not divided, all missionaries who are assigned to the care of souls are to be considered as cooperating Vicars of the Ordinary of the place.