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 zealous dioceses were provided with them when the circular of the Secretariat of State of His Holiness of September 1, 1924 (the same one that instituted the Pontifical Central Commission) obligated ordinaries to establish 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 the lists of sacred buildings and the inventories of works of art, according to the model record cards prepared by the central commission, to be drawn up in triplicate; oversee the formation and organization of diocesan museums for artistic objects that are disused or infrequently used, or that are in any case in danger; examine the plans for new buildings, expansions, decorations, restorations, etc.; supervise the state of conservation of buildings and works of art; promote taste and artistic culture in the diocese and gather into a society those friends of art who can favor the adornment of the temple; submit to the Pontifical Central Commission all the more serious cases and report to it each year on the activity carried out.
In the years from the founding to the outbreak of the Second World War, many Italian dioceses saw the diocesan commissions arise, and several of these had already compiled or expanded the inventories and lists required of them. For their functioning, the Central Commission drafted a model regulation that was favorably received and applied. The weeks of sacred art for the clergy offered a very useful occasion for encounter to all those who work in this field, and several sessions were reserved precisely for the representatives of the diocesan Commissions.
Among the diocesan museums already existing or newly formed, we recall those of Trento, Pienza, Bressanone, Gandino, S. Gimignano, Palermo, Aquila, Bergamo, Verona.
Corrado Mezzana