Agents of Roman Congregations

Agents of Roman Congregations are persons whose business it is to look after the affairs of their patrons at the Roman Curia.

History

The name is derived from the Latin Agens in Rebus, corresponding to the Greek Apocrisiarius (both have specific historical secular uses in the Roman/ Byzantine empires).

Such agents first appear for ecclesiastical matters not at the court of Rome, but at the imperial palace of Constantinople. Owing to the close connection between Church and State under the early Christian emperors and the absence of canons concerning many matters of mixed jurisdiction, the principal bishops found it necessary to maintain agents to look after their interests at the imperial court. Until the French Revolution, the prelates of France maintained similar agents at the royal court of St. Denis.

By the 16th century, various curial congregations had the authority to decide petitions within the area of their own competence. The importance of mediators grew, particularly on behalf of those who could not appear in person.

While serving as Pope Urban VIII's unofficial representative in England, Carlo Rossetti not only managed to persuade some at the English court to banish Roman Catholic priests from England, rather than execute them, but also relayed requests for funds from Queen Henrietta Maria through his Barberini patrons. As a cardinal, Alessandro Albani furthered the interests of the governments of Austria, Savoy and Britain against those of France and Spain.

The agents often acted as facilitators, helping to move requests or information through the curial bureaucracy. In modern times the agents of the Roman Congregations were employed by bishops or private persons to transact their affairs in the pontifical courts. If it is a question of papal favors, such as dispensations or increased faculties, these agents prepare the proper paperwork, pay the filing fee and call repeatedly on the officials of the proper congregation until an answer is obtained.

As rector of the Pontifical Irish College, Paul Cullen often acted as Roman agent for the Irish hierarchy. His successor, Tobias Kirby. was rector for forty-one years, during which time he acted as agent for Irish, Australian, Canadian, and American bishops. Irish Benedictine Bernard Smith was Roman procurator for the English and American Benedictine congregations, and Roman agent for at least 22 American dioceses and several American religious communities.

Under regulations promulgated by Pope Paul VI, it is forbidden for any dicastery official or subaltern "...to act in any way as agent, procurator, or advocate in one's own or in another dicastery."

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Agents of Roman Congregations, persons whose business it is to look after the affairs of their patrons at the Roman Curia. The name is derived from the Latin Agens in Rebus, corresponding to the Greek Apocrisiarius. We first meet these agents for ecclesiastical matters not at the court of Rome, but at the imperial palace of Constantinople. Owing to the close connection between Church and State under the early Christian emperors and the absence of canons concerning many matters of mixed jurisdiction, the principal bishops found it necessary to maintain agents to look after their interests at the imperial court. Until the French Revolution, the prelates of France maintained similar agents at the royal court of St. Denis. (See Assemblies of French Clergy.) At present the agents of the Roman Congregations are employed by bishops or private persons to transact their affairs in the pontifical courts. Such an agency is undertaken temporarily or perpetually. The principal business of the agents is to urge the expedition of the cases of their patrons. They undertake both judicial and extrajudicial business. If it is a question of favors, such as dispensations or increased faculties, these agents prepare the proper supplications and call repeatedly on the officials of the proper congregation until an answer is obtained. They expend whatever money is necessary to pay for the legal documents or to advance in general the affairs of those who employ them. These agents have a recognized position in the Roman Curia, and rank next in dignity before the notaries. The money they expend and the pay they receive depend entirely on the will of their employers. Some authors include under this name the solicitors and expeditioners of the Roman Curia, whose business it is to assist the procurators in the mechanical details of the preparation of cases for the congregational tribunals. Usually, however, these functionaries are considered as distinct from agents and as outranking them in dignity.

Baart, The Roman Court (New York, 1895); Humphrey, Urbs et Orbis (London, 1899); Migne, Dict. de droit canon. (Paris, 1846), I; Wernz, Jus Decretalium (Rome, 1899), II.

Bibliography

Sources

• Baart, Peter A. (1895). The Roman Court, or a Treatise on the Cardinals, Roman Congregations [etc.] of the Holy Roman Church.
• Binasco, Matteo (2018). Rome and Irish Catholicism in the Atlantic World, 1622–1908. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-95975-7.
• Hilling, Nikolaus (1909). Procedure at the Roman Curia: A Concise and Practical Handbook.
• Martin, Michael (1913). The Roman Curia as it Now Exists: An Account of Its Departments: Sacred Congregations, Tribunals, Offices; Competence of Each; Mode of Procedure; how to Hold Communication with: The Latest Legislation.

Further reading

• "Mode of Applying to the Various Departments of the Roman Curia", The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 1909
• "Roman Congregations", The Month, 1897