CATTEDRATICO. — It is a tribute that all churches (including public oratories) and benefices subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop, as well as all Confraternities, must pay annually to the bishop in recognition of their subjection (in signum subiectionis: CIC, can. 1504). It is also called synodaticum (this name is found in two texts of 1506 and 1218 in c. 20, X, III, 39, and c. 16, X, I, 31), because in ancient times it was customarily paid on the occasion of the diocesan synod, which was supposed to be convened every year.
The amount of the tribute is not determined by the CIC, which refers to the pre-existing custom of long standing (understood to mean at least forty years), or, where this is lacking, stipulates that the amount be fixed by the provincial council or by the episcopal conference of the province and approved by the Holy See (CIC, cann. 1504 and 1507 § 1); the CIC merely states, in conformity, moreover, with the purpose for which the c. was instituted, that it must be moderate. Some authors maintain (with sound historical and logical arguments, but in opposition to practice and to part of the doctrine preceding the CIC) that the tribute must be established in an equal amount for all those subject to it, rather than in proportion to income.
Those obliged to pay the c. are all the entities indicated above, including benefices united to another ecclesiastical entity, provided that they are not exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop; and it would not be legitimate to exempt some or all of them, since this would be contrary to can. 1504. Neither extinctive prescription (can. 1509 n. 8), nor, it seems (as the Rota, the S. Congr. of the Council, and doctrine had already recognized for several centuries), desuetude, can release them from the obligation (although in fact there are places where payment of the c. is not customary); it can therefore be abolished only by pontifical provision.
The c. is payable only while the bishop is in office; during a vacancy of the episcopal see there is no such obligation (cf. S. Congr. of the Council, 20 Aug. 1917). But the obligation exists, unless otherwise provided by the Holy See, not only in dioceses but also in Wallinian abbeys and prelatures (cf. can. 215 § 2); it does not seem, however, to exist in apostolic vicariates and prefectures, notwithstanding the provision of can. 294 § 1.
It is to be classified among general taxes or tributes (v. TASSE ECCLESIASTICHE).
The legislation currently in force in Italy does not protect the Church’s right to the compulsory collection of the c.; it does, however, recognize the existence of this tax when it permits its deduction as a liability in determining the net income of benefices, for the purposes of granting the supplementary allowance of congrua (cf. art. 21 n. 227 and art. 12 n. 228 of the T. U. of 29 January 1931).
The term c. is already found in the Latin epitome of Justinian’s Novels (115, § 431), where it denotes the tax that the bishop, on the occasion of his consecration, paid once only, in part to the consecrating bishops and in part to the clergy and notaries who had taken part in the ceremony, in accordance with the custom reported in Nov. 123, chap. 3.
The origin of the present c. is commonly traced to Spanish customs or synodal decrees of the sixth and seventh centuries. The oldest known text seems to be can. 2 of the Second Council of Braga of 572 (c. 1, C. X, q. 3), which presupposes a maximum amount of two solidi (a limit subsequently found almost constantly in legislation and doctrine: cf. can. 4 of the Seventh Council of Toledo of 646, in c. 8, C. X, q. 3). The tribute is subsequently mentioned in various texts of particular councils (cf., among others, can. 2 of the Council of Ravenna of 998), and by many medieval ecclesiastical writers, as well as in a decretal of Alexander III of 1180 (c. 9, X, III, 39).
The first legislative text for the whole Church was most probably a decretal of Honorius III of 1218, which had the force of universal law at least from 1226 (later also reproduced in c. 16, X, I, 31), and which confirms the amount of two solidi.
The almost symbolic character of this tax must at times have been forgotten, since Benedict XIV could include among the purposes of the c. that of contributing to the burdens attached to the office of the bishop.
The c. also exists, under the name of canonico, in Eastern canon law, where, moreover, among certain rites, it must also be paid to the patriarch.