CAMERA APOSTOLICA. – The term C. A., which from the beginning of the 11th century prevailed over the other analogous terms fiscus, palatium, arca, and saccus, was used to designate the administrative body of the Roman Church.
The revenues and possessions of the Church were anciently entrusted to the college of deacons, who were assisted in this task by the colleges of the notarii and defensores; but the organization gradually changed with the progress of time, and particularly when the entire Curia took on a new aspect as a consequence of the investiture controversy and of the new tasks that it was assuming. When Gregory VII, who had been archdeacon, was elected pope in 1073, the office of archdeacon disappeared without a trace and was replaced by that of the camerarius, head of the C. A., who acquired primary importance in the Curia. Cardinal Cencio de’ Savelli, known precisely as the camerarius, who later became Pope Honorius III, felt the need in 1192 to compile the Liber censuum, a kind of ledger listing, province by province, the contributions that ecclesiastical institutions, towns, and individuals were required to pay to the C. A. To this list he also added a collection of illustrative documents (ed. P. Fabre and L. Duchesne, Le liber censuum de l'Eglise Romaine, 2 vols., Paris 1910, with extensive notes), which was subsequently enlarged. At this point the C. A. was a financial and administrative body responsible for all the material affairs, rights, and interests, and for the government of the temporal possessions, of the Roman Church. Later, during the 13th century, when the cardinals, organized as a college, acquired their own nucleus of goods and revenues, they also acquired their own C. A., distinct from the C. A., headed by their own camerarius, whom the pope chose from among them. The Camerarius domini papae was the pope’s particular adviser in administrative affairs and was also the custodian of money, valuables, provisions, and everything that arrived in the Curia’s storehouses; he controlled revenues and expenditures and kept a regular record of them. All the lower personnel attached to the Curia came under the C. A.: bakers, cellarers, farriers, doorkeepers, armed men, guards, and also commanders with their troops. The collectors whom the camerlengo (as the camerarius came to be called in common usage) appointed in individual countries to collect the taxes owed to the Holy See also came under II. The entire administration of the papal mint likewise depended on the C. A. When the camerlengo was absent on a mission, the pope appointed a lieutenant or vice-camerlengo to act in his place.
The camerlengo, who had previously been a high prelate, generally holding episcopal rank, was as a rule appointed a cardinal, and this promotion did not cause him to relinquish the office; indeed, in the second half of the 15th century it was conferred only upon a cardinal. This fact, however, resulted in an expansion of the powers and responsibilities of the subordinate officials.
Gregory X, fully understanding that, for the administration of the Church’s temporal possessions to be sound, it should not suffer interruptions or periods of uncertainty, had established at the Council of Lyons on 7 July 1272 (Ubi periculum) that the camerlengo should continue, even during a vacancy of the Holy See, to have custody of the C. A. This provision was followed by that of Clement V (Clementine, chap. 2: Ne Romani), according to which the office of camerlengo was not to lapse upon the death of the pontiff. Pius IV (const. 4 In eligendi) established that the cardinal camerlengo, together with the three senior cardinals by order of precedence, should provide for the government of the conclave and supervise its closure.
The camerarius made use, in carrying out his numerous activities, of the work of several clerics, later called chierici di C. A. Their number, at first not precisely determined, was fixed at seven by Eugenius IV (const. Inter cetera gravia). Innocent VIII (const. Cum sicut accepimus) and Alexander VI (const. Etsi ex pastoralis) granted them the power to judge, even summarily, cases concerning the collection of things and goods belonging to the C. A., and entrusted them with the government of many cities subject to the temporal dominion of the Holy See, as well as with the power to inspect every year all the lands of the Papal States. The last pontifical document concerning the chierici di C. A. is Pius XI’s const. Ad incrementum decoris, dated 15 Aug. 1931, in which their appointment and taking of possession, their functions, and their privileges are established.
The office of vice-camerlengo, having become permanent, came to enjoy all the powers, jurisdictions, and honors proper to the camerlengo, and was also assigned, at first not permanently, the government of Rome; indeed, after Sixtus V, the vice-camerlengo became the ordinary governor of Rome.
In addition to judicial jurisdiction in civil matters, the vice-camerlengo, as governor of Rome, possessed extremely broad jurisdiction in criminal matters, to which various papal provisions also referred (Leo X’s const. Etsi pro cunctarum, Paul V’s const. Universi agri); this jurisdiction also included preventive police and surveillance functions intended to maintain public order and prevent crimes. These functions were carried out with a corps of police officers commanded by a bargello. The vice-camerlengo was assisted in exercising these jurisdictions by a civil lieutenant, two criminal lieutenants, and various other officials. While exercising all these jurisdictions and functions, the vice-camerlengo continued to participate in the ordinary activity of the C. A.
The camerlengo, who at first entrusted the office of treasurer to a cleric of the C. A., subsequently made this appointment permanent, thereby creating the office of
general treasurer, whose authority was increasingly extended by the pontiffs. The administration of the property of the Holy See and supervision of the sub-collectorships scattered throughout the Catholic world required an authority to control the introitus and exitus of money—that is, the state of the treasury—while maintaining direct contact with the mercatores romanam Curiam sequentes, namely, the bankers who were the depositaries and money changers. The general treasurer was thus required to render an account every six months to the C. A. of all the money received and spent, and in turn could summon before him all collectors, sub-collectors, and officials, so that they might account for their actions.
Fundamental to the powers of the general treasurer of the C. A. is Sixtus V’s constitution In conferendis praecipuis of 23 January 1590. According to this constitution, he could settle and reconcile questions concerning spoliations, fruits, revenues, proceeds, goods, and rights belonging to the C. A.; he could also, upon payment, absolve even from censures or penalties those who had incurred them for failing to make such payments, and so forth. For a certain period, moreover, under the pontificate of Benedict XIV, the general treasurer combined in his person the offices of superintendent of the papal customs, castellan of the fortress of Castel S. Angelo, and general commissioner of the sea.
Since fiscal operations often gave rise to disputes—for example, disagreements between taxpayers and collectors, embezzlement by collectors, refusal to make payments, extortion by officials, protests, and so forth—a tribunal was established within the C. A. itself to judge such matters by summary procedure. It was presided over by a magistrate called the general auditor of the C. A., who was assisted by a vice-auditor; it judged cases at first instance in both civil and criminal matters, while appeals went to the camerlengo.
The general auditor of the causes of the reverend C.A., already under Innocent VIII (constitution Apprime ad devotionis), judged cases and could impose ecclesiastical penalties on those who did not obey apostolic mandates (the personal trial against Luther was conducted before this tribunal), or who did not pay their debts (constitution Ad eximiae devotionis of Pius IV). This office was suppressed in 1558, and its functions and jurisdiction were entrusted to the regent of the reverend C.A.; in 1561 Pius IV, by the constitution Ad eximiae devotionis, reestablished it, abolishing the short-lived office of regent.
Other chamber offices were: the advocate of the poor (one of the conciliar advocates), who was the free defender of the indigent and, by taking part in inspections of the prisons, was responsible for ensuring that prisoners were not burdened by the judges, the officers, or the prison warders; the general commissioner of the C.A., appointed to participate in the handling of affairs and to supervise the chamber’s interests; and the procurator of the treasury, who had to initiate cases concerning the advantage of the treasury and acted as public prosecutor in criminal cases.
It is readily understandable that, in order to draw up its public acts, the C.A. had among its members several notaries who were also its secretaries and chancellors.
When, on the eve and morning of the feast of ss. Peter and Paul, the C.A. met in the Chamber of Tributes to receive the tributes of the vassal states, the procurator of the treasury had the right to protest against those in arrears and would read a protestation before the pope.
In the judicial sphere too, the attributions of the
C. A. grew until, through the assembly of all its members, it formed a tribunal known precisely as the Tribunal of the full C. A., or simply the Tribunal of the C. A. Its jurisdiction extended to cases directly or indirectly concerning the papal treasury, or relating to levies and customs duties, to the relevant chapters of the contracts, or connected with fiscal matters or with the devolution and forfeiture of ecclesiastical fiefs. It also judged on appeal the sentences and decrees of the governor of Rome, of the C. A., of the treasurer general, and of the clerics of the C. A. who served as presidents (so called because, among other things, they were also entrusted with the presidencies and prefectures of the grain supply, the food market, the roads, the banks of the Tiber, the archives, the prisons, the mint and assay office, the gold and silver offices, and the customs houses, as well as with the commissariats of the army and navy). Finally, it judged in third instance cases concerning “compulsory removals, building regulations, and easements.” As can be seen, the jurisdictional character of this tribunal was strictly temporal and lay.
Under Pius IX the C. A. underwent profound changes. By the motu proprio of 12 June 1847 he established the Council of Ministers, appointing the cardinal camerlengo as a member in the capacity of Minister of Commerce, Fine Arts, Industry, and Agriculture.
With the end of the temporal dominion of the popes, all activity of the C. A. in its full capacity ceased.
At present the reverend C. A. consists of the cardinal camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, the vice-camerlengo, the treasurer general, the general auditor, a college of eight prelate clerics, and two notaries of the C. A. Its functions are established in can. 262 of the CIC, which refers to the constitution Vacante Sede Apostolica of Pius X, dated 25 December 1904, now replaced by the constitution Vacantis Apostolicae of Pius XII (8 December 1945). Under this constitution, during the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the cardinal camerlengo is responsible for the care and administration of the temporal property and rights of the Holy See, with the assistance of the cardinal heads of the orders. Having therefore learned from the master of the C. A. of the pope’s death, he must go to the Vatican Palace to take possession of it and exercise its government, just as he takes possession of and exercises the government of the Lateran Palace and the palace at Castelgandolfo, and affix the seals to the private rooms of the deceased pontiff, providing, with the advice of the cardinal heads of the orders if the deceased pontiff has made no provision, for the suitable preservation of the body. At the beginning of the conclave, the camerlengo must ensure that all the conclavists take the required oath de secreto servando and that none of them communicates with the outside world, thereby ensuring that the enclosure of the conclave is not violated. During the conclave, the jurisdiction of the clerics of the C. A. concerns the custody of the various parts of the Vatican Palace, the Lead Office of the Chancery, the Secretariat of Briefs, and the Dataria.