VISITATION
479
VISITATION
- nce for tlie Successor of St. Peter, to acknowledge
jractically his universal jurisdiction by giving an iccount of the condition of particular churches, to eceive his admonitions and counsels, and thus bind nore closely the members of the Church to its Divinely appointed head.
I. — Although it was the custom of bishops from the nost remote times to refer causes to the pope, and •ven to visit him personally when circumstances equired it, yet we can find no trace in the earliest iges of any obligation binding them to repair to Rome it stated times. The first vestiges of this duty are ound in the ancient practice of celebrating twice a ear provincial councils of the bishops of Italy who )ertained to the province of the Roman Pontiff. In he fifth century. Pope Leo I insists on the custom )f Sicily sending three bishops yearly to Rome to issist at a council. In the next century, Gregory I leclared that although in his time the Sicilian bishops vere obUged to visit Rome only once every three •ears, yet he extends the term to five years. A rloman council under Pope Zacharias {a. d. 743) lecreed that bishops consecrated by the pope, who eside near Rome, should make the visit ad limina .-early in person, and those who are far away should ulfil the same obligation by letter (can. IV). A cus- om gradually arose which, at least from the eleventh
- entury, obliged metropoUtans when asking for the
^allium, and, soon after, all bishops to visit the thresh- )lds of the apostles at stated times, either personally )r by a substitute. That this visit was of strict obli- gation can be gathered from the expressions of Pas- 'hal II (cap. iv, x, De elect., I, 0), and especially of Innocent III in many decretals, while in the Decretals )f Gregory IX, a form of oath is given (cap. iv, x, De urejurand., II, 24), in which bishops are obhged jefore their consecration to promise that they will ^isit Rome annually, either personally or by deputy, inless the pope dispenses them.
II. — In 1.585 Sixtus V issued the Constitution ' Romanus Pontifex", which for over three hundred i^ears formed the mam rule and norm for visits ad imina. This document states in detail within what
- erm of years, each bishop, from whatever part of
- he world, should visit Rome, and what heads of
nformation he should consider in making his report
- o the pope. Benedict XIV (23 Nov., 1740) in the
Constitution "Quod Sancta", extended the obliga- iion to prelates ntdlius ruhng over a separate terri- tory. This pope also established a particular congre- gation super statu erdesiarum to deal with the reports jf Bishops when they made the prescribed visit.
III. — The present discipline concerning visits id limiria is found in the Decree of the Consistorial Congregation, issued by order of Pius X (31 Dec, 1909) for all bi.shops not subject to the jurisdiction of the Proi)aganda. This decree states that every bishop must render to the pope an account of the Jtate of his diocese once every five years. The quin- quennial periods are to begin in 1911. In the first year of that term, the report is to be sent in by the bishops of Italy and of the islands of Corsica, Sar- dinia, Sicily, and Malta; in the second year, by the bishops of Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, and Ireland; in the third year, by the bishops of the Austro-Hungarian and (!erman Empires and of the remainder of Europe; in the fourth year, by the bishops of all America; in the fifth year, by the bishops of Africa, Asia, Australia, and the adjacent islands. In their first report, the bi.shops are directed to answer every (juestion in a subjoined elenchu.'!, but in subsequent relations they are merely to add anything new, if such there be, and state the result of the counsels and admonitions given by the Sacred Congregation in its reply to the report. Bishops, when they come to Rome in fulfilment of their obligation ad limina, nmst visit the tombs of
the apostles and present themselves before the pope.
Ordinaries who reside outside of Europe arc obliged
to visit the Eternal City once every alternate five
years, or otdy decennially. The bishop maj' satisfy
this obligation, either personally or by his coadjutor
or auxiliary bishop, or even, with permission of the
Holy See, by a priest. Finally, the decree declares
that this visit and diocesan report to the pope are not
to take the place of the canonical visitation of the
diocese, which must be made annually, or, in large
dioceses, biennially.
IV. — To this decree of the Consistorial Congrega- tion is added an elenchus containing the points of information to be supplied by the ordinaries in their relation to the Holy See. It may be briefly sum- marized as follows: (1) The name, age, and fatherland of the ordinary; his religious order, if he belongs to one; when he began to rule his diocese; and if a bishop, when he was consecrated. (2) A general statement concerning the rehgious and moral condition of his diocese and whether religion progressed or lost ground in it since the last quinquennium. (3) The origin of the diocese, its hierarchical grade and principal priv- ileges, and if archiepiscopal, the number and names of the suffragan sees, but if immediately subject to the Holy See, what metropolitan synod its bishops must attend; the extent of the diocese, its civil government, its climate, its language; the place of residence of the ordinary, with all directions necessary for safe epis- tolary correspondence; the number of inhabitants and the principal cities; how many CathoUcs there are, and if different rites prevail, how many Catholics belong to each; if there are non-Catholics, into what sects thay are divided; the diocesan curia: the vicar- general, the synodal judges and examiners, the ecclesi- astical court and its officials, the archives, the various chancery taxes; the number of secular priests and clerics, their dress, their mode of life and how they attend to their duties; whether there are any, and if so what, chapters of canons, and other aggregations of priests that form quasi-chapters; how many parishes there are and the number of faithful in the largest and smallest; into how many vicariates forane or rural deaneries parishes are grouped; how many non- parochial churches and public oratories there are; whether there is any celebrated sacred shrine and if BO, what; concerning the administration of the sacra- ments, exliortations to frequent communion, .special devotions, missions, sodahties, and social works; the diocesan seminary, its buildings, government, instruc- tion in theology, phDosophy, and liturgy, the admis- sion and dismissal of seminarians; the inter-diocesan seminary, if there is one, and its condition; what institutes of religious men there are, with the number of hou.ses and of religious, both priests and lay- brothers; what special work these religious dedicate themselves to and their relations to the ordinary; what are the institutes of religious women in the dio- cese, with the number of houses and persons; con- cerning the cloister of religious women, their work and the observance of canonical prescriptions; the in.st ruc- tion and education of youth; and the editing and reading of books and periodicals.
LrciDi. De VitiUitione SS. Liminum (4th ed., Rome, 1899); Melchers, Df Canoniea Diacesium Visilalione (Cologne. 18S3); Tacnton, The Law of the Church (London, 1906), s. v.. Limina: Ferraris. Bibliotheca Canoniea, V (Rome. 1889), a. v., Limina; Wehnz, Jus Decrelalium, II (Rome. 1899).
William H. W. Fanning.
Visitation, Canonical, the act of an ecclesiastical superior who in the discharge of his office visits i)er- sons or places with a view of maintaining faith and discipline, and of correcting abuses by the applica- tion of pro|)er remedies. Such visitation is in- cumbent on the shepherd who would properly feed and guard his flock. This practice, in vogue from early Christian times, had somewhat fallen into
