Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/35

 CELESTINE

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CELESTINE

Romp, in one of which is noted the object and peculiarities of each church.

Second Department. — The second department has four sections, the head of each of which is a secretary: the first section has to do with theclerg>-; the second, with the convents for women; the third, with the schools, colleges, and other institutions for education in the city; the fourth, with the brother- hoods, unions, and social societies. All four sections are subordinate first to the vicar and next to the assessor. The powers of the first section are laid down in twelve ordinances, the details of which cannot here be entered into. Mention should, how- ever, be made of the stringent rule that no clergy- man, regardless of whether he belongs to the Roman clergy or to another diocese, can be called to an office or a benefice bj' anyone, even a cardinal, unless it has been previously established by a secret letter to the vicar that the vicariate has no objection to his ap- pointment. This regulation puts an end finally to an old abuse of historic growth which in past times led to much that was disadvantageous.

This department has to keep a register of all mem- bers of the secular and regular clergy of the city, giving the name, age, residence, kind of employment, and other personal notes. The ^^car is aided in the settle- ment of all matters regarding the clergy by the examiners of the clergj-, in the settlement of questions as to the transfer or deposition of parish priests by (he consultors, in all questions as to offices and benefices by the general supervisorj- council, the deputies for the seminaries, and the advisory council (commissio directiua). Detailed regulations are given as to the examiners of the clergy in paragraph 30, a to i. The .second section of this department is charged with the supreme direction and supervision of the numerous convents for women; the details are regulated in seven paragraphs. Paragraphs 38-46 are concerned with the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions for the laity. The care of these is the duty of the third section. Its secretary must ket-p an exact list of all such institu- tions, of their teachers and principals, and exact statistics respecting the pupils. He mu.st attend the meetings of the school board, keep its minutes, and must execute all the orders of the vicar or the super- visory council respecting these in.stitutions. Para- graphs 47-57 regulate in detail the work of the fourth section, which has under its charge the brotherhoods, unions, and social societies. It consists of a council of six members with a secretary of its own.

Third Department. — .\11 previously existing judi- cial bodies are suppressed and the pope has made the vicar the ordinary and sole judge in the first instance for all suits brought in the court of the Roman dio- cese. The vicar pa.sscs judgment only in those cases which he has expressly reserved for himself; in other cases his auditor acts as judge, forming with the \'icar one and the same court. The auditor is re- garded as the official of the curia of the Roman Dioce.se and tries the suits according to common law. The office and jurisdiction of the camerlengo of the Roman clergy- have been suppres.sed and his faculties and jurisdiction have been transferred completely to the auditor, who is provided with a substitute. \Anien according to common law a suit is to be decided not by a single judge but by a full bench, the auditor is then held to be the presiding judge, in case the vicar does not reserve I lie position of presiding officer to himself. The appointment of the associate judges belongs to the pope; for the individual case the vicar has the right to select Ihe a.ssociate judges from those appoint eil by the pope. This ordinance is especially worth noticing. The other ordinances cannot here be discus,spd in detail.

Fourth Department. — The fourth department is directed by a prefect. It has charge of all the

purely administrative affairs of the vicariate, its principal work being the care of finances; it has also charge of the purchase of supplies, as the formularies, suppfies for the chancellery, etc. The organization effected offers nothing that requires any particular comment. The head of the department is called a prefect.

Order of Business op the Vicariate. — The necessary changes being made, the essential ordinances of the Constitution "Sapienti consiUo" and the enacting ordinances afterwards issued for the congrega- tions and curial authorities in regard to the manner in which business should be transacted also apply to the vicariate. It should be observed that a secret and a pubhc archive have been established for the vicariate. The vicar is to submit to the pope for approval the rules respecting office hours and holi- daj's. Of much importance is the closing formula of the Constitution which was drawn up in accordance with the new formulary of the Apostolic Chancellery. After the formulary has been tested for a time by practice it is to be jjublished. It says: "Decernentes pra?sentes litteras firmas, validas et efficaces semper esse et fore, suosque plenarios et integros effectus sortiri et obtinere a die promulgationis in Commen- tario de Apostolicae Scdis actis".

A comparison with the earlier article shows that the reconstruction of the vicariate is not an organic continuation of the former condition but that an entirely new organization has been created. There is in this change an evident effort to organize the official bodies as servants of the public and to do this on the basis of the modern method of carrying on business, as it is found everywhere in countries that lead in civihzation and in well-organized central boards of authorities. Formerly the administration was a cumbrous one, impeded by traditional ob- stacles; it may perhaps be said to have regarded itself as the primary object and the pubhc which it shoukl serve as of subordinate consideration. This state of things is now past, thanks to the energj- of the reigning pope, which overcame all obstacles. Now, any- one who has business with the vicariate knows ex- actly to which department, w-hich official, he must go in order to have the matter in question speedily settled. It is to be expected that in the course of time the third department owing to the test of practical working may undergo slight changes, as it is not probable that all ordinances will prove capable of permanent execution. The characteristics of the new organization are division of work and rigid separation of the judiciary from the executive ad- ministration, together with an ample supply of officials for the different departments. In the re- organization customs that had become historical were taken into consideration only in so far as they could be combined without difficulty with modern methods of business.

To inspire greater confidence in the newly-created offices of the vicariate, the pope, in May, 1912, ap- pointed a superior board of control, composed of three cardinals, whose duty it is to supervise the business affairs of the vicariate. Cardinals Lugari, Pompilj, and Van Rossum were the first to be named for this important and influential board. These nom- inations of the pope were received by the clergy of Rome with unanimous expressions of good will and gratification.

P. M. Baumgarten.

Celestine Order (also called the Hermits of St. Damian or Hermits of Murrone). — This Bene- dictine congregation must not be confused with the Franciscan congregation of the same name. The order was founded in 12.54 by Pietro di Murrone, afterwards Celestine V. At first the saint gave no written rule to hia monks, but by his own life he