Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/25

 DIOOESE

DIOCESE

I

ated a city or town suitable for the episcopal resi- dence; the ancient discipline which rules that sees should be established only in important localities is still observed.

Third, a proper endowment (dos congrua) is requi- site. The bishop should have at his disposal the re- sources necessary for his own maintenance and that of the ecclesiastics engaged in the general administration of the diocese, and for the establishment of a cathedral church, the expenses of Divine worship, and the gen- eral administration of the diocese. Formerly it was necessary that in part, at least, this endowment should oinsist in lands; at present this is not always possible. It suffices if there is a prospect that the new bishop will be able to meet the necessary expenses. In some cases, the civil government grants a subsidy to the bishop; in other cases, he must depend on the liberal- ity of the faithful and on a contribution from the par- ishes of the diocese, known as the cathetlraticum (q. v.).

Fourth, generally for the division of a diocese the consent of the actual incmnbent of the benefice is requisite; but the pope is not bound to observe this condition. John XXII ruled that the pope had the right to proceed to the division of a diocese in spite of the opposition of the bishop (c. 5, Extrav. commun., De praebendis, III, 2). As a matter of fact, the pope asks the advice of the archbishop and of all the bishops of the ecclesiastical province in which the diocese to be divided is situated. Often, indeed, the division takes place at the request of the bishop himself.

Fifth, theoretically the consent of the civil power is not required; this would be contrary to the princi- ples of the distinction and mutual independence of the ecclesiastical and civil authority. In many countries, however, the consent of the civil authority is indis- pensable, either because the Government has pledged itself to endow the occupants of the episcopal sees, or because concordats have regulated this matter, or be- cause a suspicious government would not permit a bishop to administer the new diocese if it were created without civil intervention (see Nussi, Oonventiones de rebus ecclesiasticis, Rome, 1809, pp. 19 sqq.). At pres- ent, the creation or division of a diocese is done by a pontifical Brief, forwarded by the Secretary of Briefs. As an example, we may mention the Brief of 11 March, 1904, which divided the Diocese of Providence and es- tablished the new Diocese of Fall River. The motive prompting this division was the incrementum religionis and the majus bonum animarum; the Bishop of Provi- dence himself requested the division, and this request was approved Ijy the Archbishop of Boston and by all the bishops of that ecclesiastical province. The ex- amination of the question was submitted to Propa- ganda and to the Apostolic Delegate at Washington. The pope then created, motu propria, the new diocese, indicated its official title in Latin and in English, and determined its boundaries, which correspond to polit- ical divisions, and, finally, fixed the revenues of the bishop. In the case before us these consist in a mod- erate cathedraticum to be determined by the bishop (discreto arbitrio episcopi imponendum). According to the practice of Propaganda, all the priests who at the time of the division exercised the ministry in the dis- membered territory belong to the clergy of the new diocese (Rescript of 13 April, 1891, in Collectanea S. C. de P. F., new ed., no. 1751).

(b) Union of Dioceses. — As in the case of the divi- sion of a diocese, the vmion of several dioceses ought to be justified by motives of public utility, e. g. the small luunber of the faithful, the loss of resources. As in the case of division, the pope is influenced by the ad- vice of persons familiar with the situation; .sometimes he asks the advice of the Government, etc. It is a generally recognized principle in the union of bene- fices, that such union takes effect only after the death of the actual occupant of the .see which is to be united to another; at least when he has not given his consent

to this union. Though the pope is not bound by this rule, in practice it must be taken into account. The union of dioceses takes place in several ways. There is, first, the unio wque principalis or (rqualis when the two dioceses are entrusted for the purpose of adminis- tration to a single bishop, though they remain in all other respects distinct; each of them has its own cathe- dral chapter, revenues, rights, and privileges, but the bishop of one see becomes the bishop of the other by the mere fact of appointment to one of the two. He cannot resign one without ipso jaclo resigning the other. This situation differs from that in which a bishop administers for a time, or even perpetually, another diocese; in this case there is no union between the two sees. It is in reality a case of plurality of ecclesiastical benefices; the bishop holds two distinct sees, and his nomination must take place according to the rules established for each of the two dioceses. On the contrary, in the case of two or more united dio- ceses, the election or designation of the candidate must take place by the agreement of those persons in both dioceses who possess the right of election or of designa- tion. Moreover, in the case of united dioceses, the pope sometimes makes special rules for the residence of the bishop, e. g. that he shall reside in each diocese for a part of the year. If the pope makes no decision in this matter, the bishop may reside in the more im- portant diocese, or in that which seems more conven- ient for the purposes of administration, or even in the diocese which he prefers as a residence. If the bishop resides in one of his dioceses he is considered as present in each of them for those juridical acts which demand his presence. He may also convoke at his discretion two separate diocesan synods for each of the two dio- ceses or only one for both of them. In other respects the administration of each diocese remains distinct. There are two classes of unequal unions of dioceses {uniones incequales): the unio subjectiva or per access- orium, seldom put into practice, and the unio per con- fusionem. In the former case, the one diocese retains all its rights and the other loses its rights', obtains those of the principal diocese, and thus becomes a de- pendency. When a diocese is thus united to another there can be no question of right of election or designa- tion, because such a dependent diocese is conferred by the very fact that the principal diocese possesses a titular. But the administration of the property of each diocese remains distinct and the titular of the principal diocese must assume all the obligations of the imited diocese. The second kind of union (per conlusiotiem) suppresses the two pre-existing dioceses in order to create a new one; the former dioceses simply cease to exist. To perpetuate the names of the former sees the new bishop sometimes assumes the titles of both, but in administration no account is taken of the fact that they were formerly separate sees. Such a union is equivalent to the suppression of the dioceses.

(c) Suppression of Dioceses. — Suppression of dio- ceses, properly so called, in a manner other than by imion, takes place only in countries where the faithful and the clergy have been dispersed by persecution, the ancient dioceses becoming missions, prefectures, or vicariates Apostolic. This has occurred in the Orient, in England, the Netherlands, etc. Changes of this na- ture are not regulated by canon law.

(d) Change of Boimdaries. — This last mode of inno- vnlio is made by the Holy See, generally at the request of the bishops of the two neighbouring dioceses, ■•^mong the sufficient reasons for this measure are the difficulty of communication, the existence of a high mountain or of a large river, disputes between the in- habitants of one part of the diocese, also the fact that they belong to different countries. Sometimes a re- settlement of the bovmdaries of two dioceses is nece.s- sary because the limits of each are not clearly defined. Such a settlement is made by a Brief, sometimes also