AGENTS AT THE SACRED CONGREGATIONS. – In the past, the procurators of hospitals held considerable importance, as they represented individual decisions or persons before the Roman Curia. Predominantly laymen, they intervened in various aspects of the organizational structure, including the offices and pontifical congregations (especially those involved in appointments or granting dispensations, favors, privileges, etc.), forming a powerful body that was highly protective of its long-standing privileges. With the multiplication of communication methods, the role of these intermediaries became increasingly less useful and gave rise to numerous inconveniences. Thus, the decree *Spiente Consilio* (1908) ordered the suppression of the body of Apostolic Couriers, while safeguarding any acquired rights (cap. VIII), and permitted henceforth only two types of representatives to exist: 1) occasional agents of private individuals, who were required only to be Catholic, of unblemished reputation, and unrelated to the dicastery handling the matter; 2) habitual and recognized agents of bishops or dioceses. The latter were to be enrolled in the register of agents, kept at the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, whose assessor, in an unassailable judgment, could admit or reject applicants. In addition to being Catholic and of unblemished reputation, they were required to have a sufficient knowledge of Latin and canon law; ecclesiastics needed the approval of the Vicariate, and religious of their superior general.
Enciclopedia Cattolica