Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/766

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692

ARCHCONFRATERNITY

heeded by the delinquent suffragan, he will not him- self use compulsory measures, e. g. censures, but report the case to Rome. Only civil, not crimi- nal, cases of suffragans come within the competency of the archbishop. (2) Generally speaking, the met- ropolitan has no direct jurisdiction over the subjects of his suffragans. But he acquires such jurisdiction in three ways, namely: by appeal, by devolution, and by the canonical visitation. To-day arch- oishops cannot visit a suffragan diocese, unless the matter has been discussed and approved by the pro- vincial council. Matters of episcopal jurisdiction will devolve upon the archbishop in certain cases mentioned in the law, when the suffragan bishop neglects to do his duty, e. g. to fill in due time vacant benefices or parishes, or to absolve from excom- munication when the necessary conditions have been complied with. This proceeds on the general prin- ciple that superiors ought to remedy the neglect of their inferiors lest too great harm be done to the Church and her faithful children. When a diocese becomes vacant the cathedral chapter is bound to elect a vicar-capitular who will act as administrator of the vacant diocese. If such election is not made in eight days the archbishop of the province will appoint the vicar-capitular. In the United States the archbishop appoints an administrator of the vacant diocese until Rome shall further provide. If the archdiocese becomes vacant, the senior suf- fragan appoints the administrator. An appeal or recourse, judicial or extrajudicial, lies directly, at least in the regular course of ecclesiastical procedure, from the bishop to his archbishop, as to the next higher instance. Whenever some disputed matter is thus brought, according to the law, from a suf- fragan diocese before the metropolitan for adjudica- tion, he acquires direct jurisdiction over the case. Appeals and recourses by the archbishop's own sub- jects against his judicial sentences, or other ordinances given in the first instance, lie directly, when allowed by law, to the Holy See, at least in the absence of a proper primate or patriarch. But, to expedite and facilitate matters, other ways are usually granted by Rome, e. g. to appeal from the archbishop to his senior suffragan, as in England; or to the nearest other metropolitan, as in the United States and in Germany; or to a second and special metropolitic court in the same province called Metropoliticum as in France. Since the establishment of the Apos- tolic Delegation in the United States, cases from the suffragan sees (except matrimonial cases) are usually brought directly before the delegate and no longer before the archbishop. (3) Archbishops also have the right and duty of compelling, if nec- essary, the superiors of religious orders, even those who are otherwise exempt, in charge of parishes or congregations, to have the Gospel preached in such parishes according to the provisions of the Council of Trent. It may be observed, however, that, although such are by law the rights of an archbishop, their exercise is now seldom called for, so that his more prominent position is rather one of honour and dignity than of actual jurisdiction. Still, with all this, it remains necessary to distinguish the incumbent of a metropolitan see from the bearer of a mere honorary title of archbishop (who never receives the pallium and is never called metropolitan), often granted by the Holy See to prelates without an actual see and sometimes to ordinary bishops. By the Mohamme- dan conquest nearly all of the early metropolitan sees in Asia and Africa became extinct. In more recent time some of these were restored by the popes, being made residential sees. But the titles of the others are ronferre<l as a more honorary distinction, mostly upon prelates of the Roman courts and coadjutor bi.shops of molronolitans. Besides the powers of jurisdiction, archbishops also enjoy certain


692 ARCHCONFRATERNITY

rights of honour within their province. The fore- most among these is the right of wearing the pal- lium. Before receiving the pallium from Rome the archbishop cannot exercise any metropolitic functions nor officiate in pontifical vestments within the province, unless by a special privilege from the Holy See. Other honorary rights are: to have the processional cross carried immediately before him, to wear the mozetta or short cape, to bless the people, to precede his suffragans, and to occupy the bishop's throne, all this anywhere in the province. In the archiepiscopal coat of arms the episcopal hat is flanked by ten tassels on each side. His address is "Your (His) Grace", "Most Reverend".

M.^NNER OF Appointment. — The vacancy of an archiepiscopal see is filled in the same manner as that of an ordinary bishopric, whether it be by an election properly so called, or by a presentation or nomination, or by direct papal appointment. If the new archbishop be a priest, he will receive epis- copal consecration; if already a bishop, he will be solemnly installed in the new office. But it is neither the con-secration nor the installation which makes the archbishop. It is his appointment -o an arch- diocese.

Statistics. — There are at present (1906) in the Catholic Church 164 archbishops with provinces, and 37 with only their diocese but no province, and, lastly, 89 purely titular archbishops. In the United States there are now 14 provinces, in British Amer- ica 9, in Cuba 1, in the Philippine Islands 1. For a full description of the present metropolitan organiza- tion in the Catholic Church, East and West, see the article Hierarchy.

II. — In the Eastern Schismatic (so-called Ortho- dox) Church archbishops are as a rule only titular, without any suffragans, but with their own diocese, the same as most of the Catholic metropolitans in the East. But in the autocephalous, or independent, national churches of Austria, Hungary, Servia, Rou- mania, Bosnia, and Herzegovina the so-called arch- bishops or metropolitans exercise, in union with the autocephalous synod, the highest ecclesiastical au- thority over the Church of such country. Their office, therefore, resembles that of a patriarch.

III. — ^The Anglican Episcopal Church has two archbishops in England, one of Canterbury, the other of York, both of whom are invested with primatial dignity; and two archbishops in Ireland, one of Armagh, the other of Dublin. Their author- ity is similar to that of Catholic archbishops. In Scotland the Episcopalians have no archbishop; but one of the bishops is chosen by the rest to act as " Primus " without metropolitan jurisdiction (see Bishop, Diocese, Metropolitan, Hierarchy, Pri- mate). S. G. Messmer.

Archconfratemity, a confraternity empowered to aggregate or affiliate other confraternities of the same nature, and to impart to them its indulgences and privileges. The prehminary requisite, the con- ditions governing aggregation, the ordinary method of conducting the process, and a list of the principal archconfraternities comprehend the information nec- saiy to a proper understanding of the general subject.

A preliminary requisite to gain the indulgences is the canonical erection of the confraternity to be aggregated. Canonical erection is the approval of the proper ecclesiastical authority which gives the organization a legal existence. Archconfraternities do not erect confraternities; they merely aggregate them. It ordinarily belongs to the bishop of the diocese to erect confraternities. In the case, how- ever, of many confraternities and archconfraternities the power of erection is vested in the heads of cer- tain religious orders. Sometimes, especially in missionary countries or under abnormal conditions,