SACRED ART, DIOCESAN COMMISSIONS FOR. These are the organs of episcopal activity in the field of sacred art and are subordinate to the Pontifical Central Commission.
Only a few more diligent dioceses had them when the circular of the Secretariat of State of His Holiness of 19 Sept. 1924 (the same that established the Pontifical Central Commission) obliged ordinaries to found them in all dioceses.
Particular difficulties or local needs may advise providing for the needs of two or more dioceses with a single interdiocesan or regional commission.
These commissions must: compile lists of sacred buildings and inventories of works of art, according to the models of cards prepared by the central commission, to be drawn up in triplicate; oversee the formation and organization of diocesan museums for artistic objects no longer in use or infrequently used, or which are in any case in danger; examine the plans of new buildings, extensions, decorations, restorations, etc.; supervise the state of conservation of buildings and works of art; promote artistic taste and culture in the diocese and gather into societies those friends of art who can promote the decorum of the temple; submit to the Pontifical Central Commission all the most serious cases and report to it every year on the activity carried out.
In the years from their foundation to the outbreak of the Second World War, many Italian dioceses saw the rise of diocesan commissions, and several of these have already compiled or expanded the inventories and lists required of them. For their operation, the Central Commission has drawn up a model regulation that has been favorably received and applied. The weeks of sacred art for the clergy have offered a very useful opportunity for meeting for all those working in this field, and several sessions have been reserved precisely for representatives of the Diocesan Commissions.
Among the diocesan museums already in existence or newly formed, we recall those of Trento, Pienza, Bressanone, Gandino, San Gimignano, Palermo, L'Aquila, Bergamo, and Verona.