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CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)
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See also:CARDINAL (See also:Lat. cardinalis) , in the See also:Roman See also: The grouping of the cardinals into a body called the Sacred College, the College of Cardinals, is connected, in the See also:case at least of cardinal priests, with the See also:ancient presbyterium, which existed in each church from the earliest times. The Sacred The Sacred College as such was not, however, de- College. finitively .constituted until the uniting of the three orders of cardinals into a single body, the body which was to elect the pope; and this only took See also:place in the 12th century. Up till that time the elements remained distinct, and there were See also:separate classes: the " Roman " bishops, i.e. bishops of See also:sees near Rome, presbyters of the " titles " (tituli) of Rome, and deacons of the Roman Church. Nowadays, the Sacred College is still composed of three orders or categories: cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons. But the process of evolution has not been the same in the case of all these orders. Cardinal bishops are the bishops of suburbicarian churches, situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome. Very early we find them assisting the pope in his See also:ritual functions and in dealing with important business; they formed a See also:kind of permanent See also:synod (cf. the din/am EvSr uouaa of See also:Constantinople) ; and they also took the place of the pope in the ceremonies of the See also:liturgy, excepting the most important ones, and especially in the service of the See also:cathedral at Rome, the Lateran. A passage from the See also:life of See also:Stephen II. (A.D. 769), in the See also:Liber Pontificalis (ed. See also:Duchesne, i. p. 478), shows clearly that they were seven in number and served for a See also:week in turn: Hic constituit ut omni dominico See also:die a septem Episcopis cardinalibus hebdomadariis, qui in ecdesia Salvatoris (the Lateran) observant, missarum solemnia super altare Beati Petri celebrarentur. They were called " cardinal bishops of the Lateran church," as recorded by St See also:Peter Damian in.1o58 (Ep. 1, lib. ii.). Their sees are the same to-day as they were then: See also:Ostia, See also:Porto, See also:Santa Rufina (Sylva Candida), Albano, Sabina, See also:Tusculum (See also:Frascati) and See also:Palestrina. From time immemorial the bishop of Ostia has had the See also:privilege of sacring the pope, and on this ground he enjoys the right of wearing the " See also:pallium "; he is ex officio See also:dean of the suburbicarian bishops, and consequently dean of the Sacred College. His episcopal see having been in ruins for a long time, that of See also:Velletri has been joined to it. The second See also:rank belongs to the bishop of Porto, who is ex officio See also:vice-dean of the Sacred College; his episcopal see being also in ruins See also:Calixtus II. added to it that of Santa Rufina, thus reducing the number of suburbicarian bishoprics and cardinal bishops to six; this number was adhered to by See also:Sixtus V., and has not varied since. The second order of cardinals is that of the cardinal priests. It represents and is a continuation of the ancient presbyterium; but in Rome the process of evolution was different from that in the other episcopal towns. In the latter, the See also:division into parishes was but slowly accom- plished; there is no authority for their existence before the See also:year 1000; the bishop with the higher clergy, now See also:developed into the See also:chapter, were in See also:residence at the cathedral, which formed, as it were, the one See also:parish in the See also:town. At Rome, on the contrary (and doubtless at See also:Alexandria), certain churches, to which were attached certain districts, were at an early date entrusted to one or more priests. These churches, in which the liturgy was celebrated, or certain sacraments administered, were called tituli (titles). According to the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, i. pp. 122, 126, 164), the titles of Rome, numbering twenty-five, were already established as early as the 1st century; this seems hardly probable, but it was certainly the case in the 5th century. The See also:priest serving one of these churches was the priest of that title, and, similarly, the church which he served was that priest's title. When several priests were attached to the same church, only the first, or See also:principal one, had the title; he alone was the See also:presbyter cardinalis. This practice explains how it is that the Roman presbyterium did not give rise to a cathedral chapter, but to cardinal priests, each attached to his title. As the higher II Cardinal bishops. Cardinal priests. clergy of Rome gradually acquired a more important status, the relations between the cardinal priest and the church of which he See also:bore the title became more and more nominal; but they have never entirely ceased. Even to-day every cardinal priest has his title, a church in Rome of which he is the spiritual head, and the name of which appears in his See also:official See also:signature, e.g. " Herbertus tituli sanctorum Andreae et Gregorii sanctae romanae ecclesiae presbyter cardinalis See also:Vaughan." When the See also:attachment of the cardinal priest to his title had become no more than a tradition, the number of cardinal titles, which in the 11th century had reached twenty-eight, was increased according to need, and it was held an See also:honour for a church to be made titulary. The last general rearrangement of the titular churches was begun by See also:Clement VIII. and completed by See also:Paul V.; See also:Leo XIII. made a title of the church of See also:San Vitale. To-day, according to the Gerarchia Pontificia the cardinal titles number fifty-three; since the highest possible number of cardinal priests is fifty, and this number is never reached, it follows that there are always a certain number of vacant titles. The first title is that of San Lorenzo in See also:Lucina, and the cardinal priest of the See also:oldest See also:standing takes the name of " first priest," protopresbyter. The third order of cardinals is that of the cardinal deacons. For a long time the Roman Church, faithful to the example of Cardinal the See also:primitive church at See also:Jerusalem (Acts vi.), had only deacons. seven deacons. Their See also:special See also:function was the ad- ministration of her temporal See also:property, and particularly See also:works of charity. Between them were divided at an early date the fourteen districts (regiones) of Rome, grouped two by two so as to constitute the seven ecclesiastical districts. Now the charitable works were carried on in establishments called diaconiae, adjoining churches which were specially appropriated to each diaconia. The connexion between the names (diaconus) and (diaconia) and the presence of a church in connexion with each diaconia gradually established for the deacons a position analogous to that of priests. In the 8th century Pope See also:Adrian found sixteen diaconiae and founded two others (Lib. See also:Pont. ed. Duchesne, i. p. 509); in the 12th century the cardinal deacons, who then numbered eighteen, were no longer distinguished by an ecclesiastical See also:district, as they had formerly been, but by the name of the church connected with some diaconia (loc. cit. p. 364). By the time of Sixtus V. the connexion between a cardinal See also:deacon and his diaconia was merely nominal. Sixtus reduced the number of cardinal deacons to fourteen; and this is still the number to-day. Except that his church is called a diaconia, and not a title, the cardinal deacon is in this respect assimilated to the cardinal priest; but he does not mention his diaconia in his official signature: e.g. " Joannes Henricus diaconus cardinalis See also:Newman." There are at present sixteen diaconiae, the chief being that of Santa Maria in Via lata; the cardinal deacon of longest standing takes the name of " first deacon," protodiaconus.
Cardinals can pass from one order, title or see to another, by a process of " See also:option." When a suburbicarian see falls vacant, the cardinals See also:resident at Rome have the right of " opting " for it in order of rank,—that is to say, of claiming it in See also:consistory and receiving their promotion to it. In the same way cardinal deacons can pass after ten years to the order of priests, while retaining after their passage the rank in the Sacred College given them by the date of their promotion.
With the exception of the classes resulting from the order to which they belong, there are no distinctions between the rights of the various cardinals. As to the ordination obligatory upon them, it is that indicated in their title; cardinal bishops must naturally be bishops; for cardinal priests it is enough to have received the priesthood, though many of them are actually bishops; similarly, it is enough for cardinal deacons to have received the diaconate, though most of them are priests; cases have occurred, however, even in quite See also:recent times, of cardinals who have only received the diaconate, e.g. Cardinal Mertel.
There is one cardinal chosen by the pope from among the Sacred College to whom is entrusted the See also:administration of the See also:common property; this is the cardinal camerlengo or See also: This number was definitively fixed by Sixtus V. (constit. Number Postquam, 5th See also:December 1586); but the Sacred See also:Col- and lege never reaches its full number, and there are always distributen or so " vacant hats," as the saying goes. Though tion. the See also:rule laid down by Sixtus V. has not been modified since, before him the number of cardinals was far from being See also:constant. For a long time it varied in the neighbourhood of twenty; in 1331 See also: Thomassin, loc. cit. cap. 114, n. 9). Of the cardinals created by the popes of See also:Avignon the See also:majority were See also:French, and in 1331 John XXII. remarks that 17 cardinals were French out of the 20 who then existed. The councils of Constance and Basel forbade that more than a third of the cardinals should belong to the same See also:country. After the return of the popes to Rome and after the Great Schism, the ancient customs were soon resumed; the cardinals were for the most part Italians, the entire number of cardinals' hats conferred on the other Catholic nations only amounting to a minority. The non-See also:Italian cardinals, with rare exceptions, are not resident in Rome; together with the rank of cardinal they receive a See also:dispensation from residing in See also:curia; they are none the less, as cardinals, priests or deacons of the Roman Church. The reform of the College of Cardinals inaugurated by the councils of Constance and Basel, though without much immediate success, was not only concerned with the number and See also:nationality of the cardinals; it also dealt with conditions of See also:age, learning and other qualifications: men of the most See also:honourable See also:character, aged not less than See also:thirty, were to be chosen; at least a third were to be chosen from among the graduates of the See also:universities; persons of royal See also:blood and princes were not to be admitted in too great See also:numbers, and lastly, relatives of the pope were to be set aside. Moreover, in order to secure the effectiveness of these reforms, selection of the new cardinals was to be made by the votes of the members of the Sacred College given in See also:writing. This mode of See also:control was perhaps excessive, and the reform consequently remained ineffective. Up to the See also:middle of the 16th century there were still instances of unfortunate and even scandalous appointments to the cardinalate of very See also:young men, of relatives or favourites of the popes and of men whose qualifications were by no means ecclesiastical. In the Sacred College as elsewhere nepotism and an exaggerated estimate of temporal interests were rife. At last a real reform was effected. The council of See also:Trent (sess. See also:xxiv. cap. i. de reform.) requires for cardinals all the qualifications prescribed by law for bishops. Sixtus V. defined these still more clearly, and his regulations are still is: force: a cardinal must, in the year of his promotion, be of the canonical age required for his reception into the order demanded by his rank. i.e. 22 for the diaconate, 23 for the priesthood and 30 for the episcopate, and if not already ordained he must take orders in the year of his See also:appointment. Men of illegitimate See also:birth are Qualifications. excluded, as well as near relatives of the pope (with one exception) and of the cardinals; the See also:personal qualities to be most sought for are learning, holiness and an honourable life. All these recommendations have been, on the whole, well observed, and are so better than ever in the present day. We may add that the religious orders have had a certain number of representatives, four, at least, in the Sacred College, since Sixtus V., several of whom, as we know, became popes. As to the cardinals' hats granted at the See also:request of the heads of Catholic states, they are subject to negotiations analogous to those concerning nominations to the episcopate, though entailing no concordatory agreement, strictly speaking, on the part of the popes. The creation of cardinals (to use the official See also:term) is in fact nowadays the function of the pope alone. It is accomplished creation. by the publication of the persons chosen by the pope in See also:secret consistory (q.v.). No other formality is essential; and the See also:provision of See also:Eugenius IV., which required the reception of the insignia of the cardinalate for the See also:pro-See also:motion to be valid, was abrogated before long, and definitely annulled by the See also:declaration of Pius V. of the 26th of See also:January 1571. Similarly neither the consent nor the See also:vote of the Sacred College is required. It is true that a Roman Ceremoniale of 1338 (See also: Sometimes, after nominating the cardinals, the pope adds that he also appoints a certain number of others, whose names he does not divulge, but reserves the right of See also:publishing at a later date. These cardinals, whose names he See also:con- Cin mats ceals " in his See also:breast," are for that See also:reason called cardinals petto." in pectore (Ital. in petto). This practice seems to go back to See also: It was in 1245, or perhaps the year before, that Innocent IV. granted the cardinals the privilege of wearing the red hat; as to the See also:scarlet robe which still forms their See also:costume of ceremony, it was already worn by cardinals performing the functions of See also:legate; and the use was soon extended to all. As to their See also:civil relations, cardinals were assimilated by the Catholic See also:kings to the rank of princes of the blood royal, cardinals being the highest in the Church, after the pope, just as princes of the blood royal are the first in the See also:kingdom after the See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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