Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/391

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CARDINAL


339


CARDINAL


order the public recitation of prayers. In case of the death of the cardinal camerlengo, the cardinal grand penitentiary, and individual penitentiaries, this car- dinalitial commission could nil their places for the period of the vacancy (0. 2, § 1 in "Clem, de Elec- tione", I, 6; Clement XII, "Apostolatus Officium", 4 Oct., 1732, §§ 6, 15, 18, in "Bullar. Roman.", XXIII, 445 sqq.). No canonical provisions exist regulating the authority of the College of Cardinals sede RomanA impeditd, i. e. in case the pope became insane, or personally a heretic; in such cases it would be necessary to consult the dictates of right reason and the teachings of history.

IX. Rights of Cardinals. — To the many duties of the cardinals correspond very extensive rights. They enjoy, in a very special manner, the privilcijium fori, or right to ecclesiastical court and judges; the pope is their only judge, and alone can depose them (C. 2, X, de clerico non residente, III, 4). The pro- vision that for the condemnation of an ecclesiastic seventy-two, forty-four, or twenty-seven witnesses were needed, according as he was bishop, priest, or deacon, is no longer recognized (C. un. in VI to de schismaticis, V, 3; Paul IV, "Cum ssepius", 9 Jan., 1556 in "Bullar. Rom.", VI, 507 sq.). Modern states no longer recognize the privilegium fori even for cardinals; in recent times they have often ap- peared before the civil courts at Rome (S. Brandi, I Cardinali di S.R. Chiesa nel diritto pubblico italiano, Rome, 1905). Inimical persecution of a cardinal, personal injury to, or imprisonment of, him, are counted high treason (crimen Iwsce majestatis) ; not only the principals, but also those intellectually re- sponsible for the wrong (originators, participants, auxiliaries), and their maie descendants incur the canonical penalties of infamy, confiscation, loss of testamentary rights and civil offices, and excommuni- cation. (('. 5, in VI to de poenis, V, 9; "Apostolicae Sedis moderationi", 12 Oct., 1869, I, 5). Apart from excommunication these penalties are no longer practically applicable. In accordance with the his- torical development of the office, the cardinals ob- tained place and vote in general councils. They alone can be sent abroad as leqati a latere. They enjoy all the privileges of bishops. Any censure, canonical, or otherwise threatened, or any odious provision is applicable to cardinals only when it is expressly so provided (C. 4, in VI to de sententia ex- communicationis, V, 11). They may choose a con- fessor in any diocese; he must, however, have the approbation of Ins own bishop (C. 16, X de poeni- tentia V, 38). Like the bishops, they have the right to a domestic chapel, and may everywhere use por- table altars (C. 12 in VI to de privilegiis, V, 7). In their titular churches the cardinals exercise a certain quasi-episcopal jurisdiction, i. e. they may there use the episcopal ornaments (pontificalia), give the epis- copal blessing, and promulgate indulgences of 200 days (Congreg. Indulg., 28 Aug., 1903). They may confer tonsure and minor orders on the members of their ecclesiastical family, also on persons attached to their titular churches (Benedict XIV, " Ad audien- tiam", 15 Feb., 1753. § 16, in " Bullar. Bened.". XIV. IV, Const. 11). When actually present in Rome, they may grant benefices in their titular churches (C. 24, X de electione, I, 6; C. 11, X de Metrop. et Ord., I, 33). They may also hold visitations in their own churches, and exercise therein corrective and disciplinary authority; they may not, however, exer- cise judicial authority (C. 11, X de Metrop. et Ord., I, 33; Innocent XII, "Romanus Pontifex , 17 Sept., 1692, § 9. in "Bullar. Rom.", XX, 464; F. Albitius, "De iurisdictione quam habent cardinales in ecclesiis suonim titulorum", Rome, 1668). If a cardinal is promoted to a bishopric, the usual informational process is omitted; he is not obliged to take the usual oath, and is relieved of the ordinary curial expenses


known as taxn' (Sagmtiller, Die Tatigkcit und Stellung der Kardinale, 153 sqq.). Every cardinal resident in Rome has a right to a revenue of 4,000 scudi (about $4,000). This is known as his piatto cardinalicio, or ordinary means of support. If the ordinary revenues assigned him do not produce as much, the papal treasury makes up the deficit. For their support churches are also assigned to them, e. g. as com- mendatory abbots. Their right to elect the pope will be treated in the article Conclave.

The honorary rights of the cardinals are also nu- merous. They come immediately after the pope, and precede all other ecclesiastical dignitaries. As Roman princes they follow immediately the reigning sovereign, and rank with the princes of reigning houses (" Ca?remoniale cardinalium", 14 May, 1706, § 6; Decree of 16 April, 1858; Bangen, " Die romische Curie", 462). Hence, only cardinals of reigning houses retain their inherited titles of nobility and their family arms, but without the crown and with the cardinal's hat and the fifteen tassels (Innocent X, "Militantis ecclesia;", 19 Dec, 1644, in "Bullar. Rom.", XV, 339 sq.). They alone have the right to the name of cardinal, and are addressed as Eminentia, Eminentissimi (Your Eminence, or Your Eminences), a title formerly borne by the < ierman ecclesiastical prince-electors and, to the present day, by the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John. Urban VIII in- structed them (10 June, 1630) to cease correspon- dence with any sovereign who refused them this title. It may be added that the legislation of several states takes cognizance of the exalted rank of the cardinals.

Chief among the insignia, of the cardinal is the red hat, first worn by the legati a hitere (cardinal envoys of the pope). It was granted to the secular cardinals by Innocent IV at the Synod of Lyons in 1245, and to the religious cardinals by Gregory XIV in 1591; the latter, it must be noted, continue to wear the dis- tinctive habit of their order (Baumgarten, " Die Uebersendung des rothen Hutes" in "Hist. Jahr- buch", XXVI, 99 sqq.). They wear also the red (scarlet) biretta, that was granted to them, probably, by Paul II (1464-71). They also have the right to wear scarlet, particularly a scarlet mantle, which according to tradition was probably granted them by Boniface VIII (1294-1303). They also wear a ring with a sapphire stone, and use the ombrellino that is held over them whenever they quit their carriages to ac- company with bare heads the Blessed Sacrament, if perchance they meet it on their way. In their titular churches a baldacchino covers the cardinalitial throne, and they have the right to use in these churches the episcopal ornaments, i. e. the mitre of damask silk (since Paul II), the crosier and the pec- toral cross. They also give the bencdictio mllemnis after the manner of a bishop. Pius X , by a decree of 24 May, 1905, permitted cardinal-priests and cardi- nal-deacons to wear everywhere the pectoral cross, even in presence of the pope ("Acta S. Sedis", XXXVII, 681; Sagmuller, "Die Tatigkcit und Stel- lung der Kardinale", 149 sqq.). During I lie vacancy of the Apostolic See the colour of the cardinal's dress is saffron (J. M. Suaresius, Dissert, de crocea cardina- lium veste, Rome, 1670).

X. The College of Cardinals. The cardinals, as already said, are a corporation, a college alter the manner of the cathedral chapters. When the latter ceased to lead any longer the vita canonica or common life, they became corporations recognized by the canon law, with free administration of their property, chapter-meetings, autonomy, disciplinary authority, and the right to have and use a seal. That the mem- bers of the chapter (capitulars, canons) were the only counsellors and auxiliaries of the bishop helped to round out the position of the former, and to unite them as against the other clergy of the cathedral, all the more so as this right of the capitulars to co-gov-