Congregation of Bishops and Regulars

Contents

The Congregation of Bishops and Regulars (Latin: Congregatio episcoporum et regularium) was a department of the Roman Curia that, beginning in the late 16th century, managed the diocesan bishops and those individuals, both male and female, and establishments associated with religious orders.

It was also concerned with the relationship, at times contentious, between the two. The term regulars derives from the Latin regula meaning rule; it refers to those religious who follow a rule, as the Benedictines follow the Rule of St. Benedict. Its competence changed over time as the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia competed for jurisdiction, and by the 19th century included new institutions and their rules, the erection of monasteries and convents, granting transfers and leaves from such institutions, and their sale of property.[1] It handled criminal cases as well. As late as 1903, this Congregation was described as "perhaps the most important congregation of the Roman Curia".[2]

Establishment and suppression

Pope Gregory XIII established a dicastery to address the issues raised by bishops (Congregatio super consultationibus episcoporum) in 1576 and his successor Pope Sixtus V erected a parallel structure for regulars in 1586 (Congregatio super consultationibus regularium). In 1593 Pope Clement VIII gave the two curial departments a common prefect. By 1601 they were known by the single name.[3] Pope Pius X suppressed the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on 29 June 1908 by the apostolic constitution Sapienti consilio, which accomplished an overall reorganization of the Curia, modifying its structure and the competencies of its congregations, tribunals, and lesser offices.[4]

Successor dicasteries

Responsibilities regarding bishops and seminaries passed to the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (the current Dicastery for Bishops)[5], while those concerning religious went to the refounded Congregation for Religious.

In addition to the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, other congregations existed that exercised control over religious. One was the Congregation for the Discipline of Regulars (Congregatio super disciplina regularium), founded in 1649 by Pope Innocent X, reformed in 1695 by Pope Innocent XII and suppressed in 1906. Another was the Congregation on the State of Regular Orders (Congregatio de statu regularium ordinum), established by Pope Pius IX in 1846 and united with the former in 1856.

References

  1. 1.Hemans, Charles (1860). Catholic Italy, its institutions and sanctuaries. Vol. Part I: Rome and the Papal States. Florence: Baracchi. p. 136. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  2. 2."The Administration of Catholicism". Current Literature: A Magazine of Record and Review. XXXV: 477. July–December 1903.
  3. 3.Baart, Peter A. (1895). The Roman Court: Or, A Treatise on the Cardinals, Roman Congregations and Tribunals, Legates, Apostolic Vicars, Protonotaries, and Other Prelates of the Holy Roman Church. Hoffman Bros. pp. 197ff.
  4. 4."Other Books Worth While". The Literary Digest. XLVI (16): 909. 19 April 1913. Retrieved 31 January 2021. In 1908, by an Apostolic constitution, Sapienti consilio, the organization of the Roman Curia was changed quite extensively, some of the Sacred Congregations being consolidated with others and one new one being created ... and their functions being in many cases enlarged or modified.
  5. 5.Pope Benedict XV erected in 1915 the section for seminaries (which existed within the Consistorial Congregation), joined to it the Congregatio studiorum, and called it Congregatio de Seminariis et Studiorum Universitatibus, later Congregation for Catholic Education.