A ( sequence of the participation ol the presbyters in
the administration during the lifetime of the bishop was thai they governed alone during the vacancy of the see. After the death of pope Fabian, the clergy of Rome wrote to the clergy of Carthage ( Ep.23ap.Cypr?) : "< >mnes nos ilr,-, i. pro corpore totius ecclesiae, cujus per varias quas- que provincias membra digesta sunt, excubare." Only the decisions aboul the most momentous concerns were postponed till after the new occupancy of the ,-. , . i hus the clergy of Rome say (Ajp.31): "Quanquam nobis differendse hnjus rei major necessitas incumbat, quibus essum Fabiani nullus esl episcopus propter re- rum el temporum difficultates constitutus;" and in an- other passage : " \nir constitutionem episcopi nihil in- novandum putavimus, ul interim, dum episcopus dari a Deo nobis sustinetur, in suspensu eornm causa tenea- tur. i|iii moras possunl ililatione sustinere." It was the same when the bishop was for a longer period of time absent from his residence. Thus St. [gnatius says:
"Pascite presbyteri cum. qui in vobis est, gregem, us- quequo Dominus ostendal emu qui vobis principabitur." And St. Cyprian {Ep. 10) says to his presbyters and deacons: "Hortor et mando, ut vos vice men. quern abesse oportet, fungaraini circa ca gcrenda qua; admi- nistrate religiosa derjoscit;'' andlib. iv, ep.6: "Officium metim diligentia vestra prsesentet, el facial omnia, quae fieri oportel circa eos," etc Thus St Bilariua, in his petition to the emperor Constant ins. states thai he has administered his diocese through his presbyters: '•■ Licet in exilio pcrmanens el ecclesise adhuc communionera ]ht presb} teros meos distribuens." Bui al an early pe- riod the bishops commenced to appoint vicars for the despatch of all their business at the time of their ab- sence. The institution of the old presbyteries melted organically into the cathedral chapters. St. Eusebius ol Vercelli and St. Augustine, to promote Christian life in their presbyteries, had already given them monasti- cs! constitutions. Other cathedral churches imitated
this arrangement; and in the empire of the Franks the
institution of common life, after the model of the insti- tutions founded by bishop Chrodegang of .Met/, spread rapidly. Jn consequence of the confirmation of the rule proposed by the deacon Amalarius at the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (816), tie' innovation was accepted m all episcopal churches, 'the bishops of those timi s, in imitation of those of the first centuries, did in thing of importance without their canons. We have an exam- ple oi it in the business transacted concerning the lease of some real estate between Hincmar of Rheims and a Thuringian abbot. But if the cathedral chapter was the privileged part of the clergy in this respect, yel the bishop was free to take the advice of the other m< mhers both of the secular and regular clergy. Thus bishop Jonas of Auiiin. who wished to raise the income of his canons, insured the "consensual presbyterorum, diacc- iiorum. ac totius Bequentis ordinis ejusdem ecclesiae." When, in the 10th century, the canonic common life was given up. the canons continued to form the senate of the bishop. According to the decretals, the canons are the horn counsellors of the hishops. Calixtus II forbids arch priests and archdeacons to interdict clerks: ■• Prater episcopi el totius capituli commune consilium." Alexander III blames the patriarch of Jerusalem lor appointing and deposing abbots and other prebendaries without consulting his chapti r, ami upon the mere ad- vice of foreigners. Yet, as a rule, th< bishop is not bound by the vote of the chapter, although there are questions which cannot be decided without its consent. The Council of Trent also, in sess xxiv. c. 13, calls the ca- thedral chapter th< senaU <<f the bishop. He has to take its advice for the appointment of a lector ol the Holy Scriptures | ( 'one. Ti id. sess. v, c. 1 I; lor the fixing of the holy orders, to lie requested ill those who are to be promoted to the dignities and canonries of the cathe- drals (sess. xxiv. c. 12); for the establishment of semi- naries (>ess. xxiii. c. 18); lor any addition to the iium- ber of the canonries (sess. xxiv, c 15), etc. But the presumption is always in favor of the episcopal inde- pendence. Thus, when the chapters of the ecclesiasti- cal province of Milan endeavored to increase to an mi- lawful extent the number of the causa mojot es, in which the bishop has to obtain the consent or take the advice of the canons. St. BorromamS (Iceland, in the fourth Council of Milan, that the bishop was bound to have the approbation or to take the advice of his chapter
only in such cases as are stated by law. The litigations
about these cases had become of quite frequent occur- rence since the dissolution of the community of goods
in the chapters, and the latter had ii\t]\ conducted themseh es in regard to the bishop as hide] t ndent cor- porations. In many places the hishop had In come a simple member of the chapter. Up to the year 1803 the chapters of Germany held at tin same time two sharply defined positions: they constituted, first, as of old. the senate of the hishop. and subordinate to him: and. secondly, they were independent corporations. The secularization of 1803 destroyed this latter position. The reorganization of the Church in Germany makes the chapter simply an episcopal council. The papal see ha- resolutely set its face against all pretensions of