Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/654

 BISHOP

584

BISHOP

diminished exemptions from episcopal authority, and delegated to the bishops some of the rights which in the past the Holy See had reserved to itself. Sub- sequent pontifieal acts completed the Tridentine legislation, which is still valid. Protestantism and at a later date the French Revolution destroyed all temporal power of the bishops; thenceforth they were free to consecrate tliemselves with greater earnestness to the duties of their spiritual ministry.

II. Present Legislation. — Two classes of bishops must be distinguished, not with regard to the power of order, for all bishops receive the fullness of the priesthood, but with regard to the power of juris- diction: the diocesan bishop and the titular bishop or, as he was called before 1882 the episcoptis in partibiis infidelium. The former is here considered. Those belonging to the second class cannot perform any episcopal function without the authorization of the diocesan bishop; for as titular bishops they have no ordinary jurisdiction. They can, however, act as auxiliary bishops, i. e. they may be appointed by the pope to assist a diocesan bishop in the exercise of duties arising from the episcopal order but entailing no power of jurisdiction. (See Auxili.\ry Bishop.) Such a bishop is also called vicarius in pontificalibus, i. e. a representative in certain ceremonial acts proper to the diocesan bishop, sometimes sulfragan bishop, episcopus sufjraganeus. In the proper sense of the term, however, the suffragan bishop is the diocesan bishop in his relations with the metropohtan of the ecclesiastical province to which he belongs, while the bishop who is independent of any metropoh- tan is called an exempt bishop, episcopus exemptus. The titular bishop may also be coadjutor bishop when he is appointed to assist an ordinary bishop in the administration of the diocese. Sometimes he is in- correctly called auxiliary bishop. He possesses some powers of jurisdiction determined by the letters ApostoUc appointing him. Often also, notably in missionary countries, the coadjutor bishop is named cum jure successionis, i. e. with the right of succession; on the death of the diocesan bishop he enters on the ordinary administration of the diocese (Taunton, The Law of the Church, London, 1906, 55, 204, 617).

The Council of Trent determined the conditions to be fulfilled by candidates for the episcopate, of which the following are the principal: birth in lawful wedlock, freedom from censure and irregularity or any defect in mind, purity of personal morals, and good reputation. The candidate must also be fully thirty years of age and have been not less than si.x months in Holy orders. He ought also to have the theological degree of Doctor or at least be a licentiate in theology or canon law or else have the testimony of a public academy or seat of learning (or, if he be a religious, of the highest authority of his order) that he is fit to teach others (c. vii, De electione et electi potestate, X, I, vi; Friedberg, II, 51. Council of Trent, Sess. XXII, De ref., ch. ii). The Holy Office is charged with the examination of persons called to the episcopate, with the exception of the territories subject to the Congregation of the Propaganda or to the Congregation of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, or of those countries where the nomination of bishops is governed by special laws and concordats ("Motu proprio" of Pope Pius X, 17 December, 1903; "Acta sancta; Sedis, 190-1, XXXVI, 385). We have said that the Decretals recognize the right of the cathedral chapters to elect the bishop. This right has been long withdrawn and is no longer in force. In virtue of the second rule of the Papal Chancery the choice of bishops belongs exclusively to the pope (\Valter, Pontes juris ecclesiastici antiqui et hodierni, Bonn, 1861, 483). Exceptions to this rule, however, are numerous. In Austria (with the exception of some episcopal sees), in Bavaria, in

Spain, in Portugal and in Peru, the Government pre- sents to the sovereign pontiff the candidates for the episcopate. It was so in France, and in several South American Republics before the rupture or denuncia- tion of the concordats between these states and the Apostolic See. By the cessation of these concordats such states lost all right of intervention in the nomi- nation of bishops; tliis does not, however, prevent the Government in several South American Republics from recommending candidates to the sovereign pon- tiff. The cathedral chapter is authorized to elect the bishop in several dioceses of Austria, Switzerland, Prussia, and in some States of Germany, notably in the ecclesiastical province of the LTpper Rhine. The action of the electors, however, is not entirely free. For example, they may not choose persons distaste- ful to the Government (Letter of the Cardinal Secre- tary of State to the Chapters of Germany, 20 Julv. 1900; Canoniste Contemporain, 1901, XXIV, 71^7"). Elsewhere the pope himself nominates bishops, but in Italy the Government insists that they obtain the royal exequatur before taking possession of the episcopal see. In missionary countries the pope generally permits the "recommendation" of can- didates, but this does not juridically bind the sov- ereign pontiff, who has the power to choose the new bishop from persons not included in the hst of recom- mended candidates. In England the canons of the cathedral select by a majority of votes, at three successive ballots, three candidates for the vacant episcopal see. Their names, arranged in alphabetical order, are transmitted to the Propaganda and to the archbishop of the province, or to the senior suffragan of the province, if the question is one of the election of an archbishop. The bishops of the province discuss the merits of the candidates and transmit their observations to the Propaganda. Since 1874 the bisliops are empowered, if they so desire, to propose other names for the choice of the Holy See, and a decision of the Propaganda (25 April, 3 May, 1904) confirms this practice (Instruction of Propaganda, 21 April, 1852; "Collectanea S. C. de Propaganda Fide", Rome, 1893, no. 42; Taunton, 87-88), Analogous enactments are in force in Ireland. The canons of the cathedral and all the parish priests free from censure and in actual and peaceful pos- session of their parish or united parishes, choose in a single ballot three ecclesiastics. The names of the three candidates who have obtained the greatest nmnber of votes are announced and forwarded to the Propaganda and to the archbishop of the province. The archbishop and tlie bishops of the province give the Holy See their opinion on the candidates. If they .judge that none of the candidates is capable of fulfilling the episcopal functions no second recom- mendation is to be made. If it is a question of the nomination of a coadjutor bishop with the right of succession the same rules are followed, but the presidency of the electoral meeting, instead of being given to the metropohtan, his delegate, or the senior bishop of the province, belongs to the bishop who asks for the coadjutor (Instruction of Propaganda, 17 September, 1829, and 25 April, 1835; " Collecta- nea," nos. 40 and 41). In Scotland, when there is a chapter of canons, they follow the same rules as in England; and when there is no chapter, the bishops of Scotland and the archbishops of Edinburgh and Glasgow choose by a triple ballot the three candidates. The names of these latter are communicated to the Holy See together with the votes which each candi- date has obtained. At the same time is transmitted useful information about each of them according to the questions determined by the Propaganda (In- struction of the Propaganda, 25 July, 1883; "Col- lectanea", no. 45). In the United States of America the diocesan consultors and the irremovable rectors of the diocese assemble under the presidency of the