COADJUTOR. — A coadjutor is the holder of a coadjutorship, that is, a cleric to whom it falls to assist or substitute a beneficiary in the fulfillment of the functions pertaining to his office. The granting of a coadjutor, with or without future succession, is reserved to the Holy See (can. 1433).
A coadjutor may be granted especially to bishops, canons, and parish priests.
I. THE COADJUTOR OF BISHOPS. — It is customary to grant a coadjutor to a bishop when, either on account of personal impediments or the vastness of the diocese, he is rendered unequal to the worthy discharge of his office (cc. 350–55). It may be granted to a person, with or without future succession, or, more rarely, to the see itself. In the strict sense, it is granted to a person with the right of succession; when granted to a person without such a right, it takes the specific name of auxiliary.
If the coadjutor bishop is entirely unable to perform his office, the coadjutor granted to the person acquires all the powers and rights of the ordinary; but if he is not entirely unable, he has only those powers that may be delegated to him by the ordinary. A coadjutor granted to the see has no jurisdiction except insofar as it may be committed to him by the bishop or the Holy See; however, he may exercise, within the territory of the diocese, all the functions proper to the episcopal order, except sacred ordination.
When granted to a person with the right of succession, he automatically succeeds the ordinary as ordinary of the diocese upon the vacancy of the see (hence, article 19 of the Italian Concordat prescribes for the appointment of such coadjutors the same formalities as are required for the appointment of bishops); when granted to the see without future succession, he remains in office even during the vacancy. The auxiliary, on the other hand, ceases from office with the cessation of the residential bishop from his own office.
The practice of assigning to residential bishops coadjutors without jurisdiction (auxiliaries or *vicarii in pontificalibus*) seems originally to have been confused with the institution of the chorepiscopus (q.v.). After the suppression of chorepiscopi (8th century), residential bishops made use, when necessary, of the services of itinerant bishops or those who had emigrated from dioceses occupied by infidels. Abuses and inconveniences led Clement V to forbid ordination without the authorization of the Holy See (c. 5 in Clem. 1, 3). Subsequently, *vicarii in pontificalibus* were permitted only for special reasons pertaining to the person of the residential bishop or on account of the vastness of the diocese, in which case they were sometimes granted to the see in a stable manner. This practice is now sanctioned in the *CIC*.
Examples of coadjutors of bishops with jurisdiction, usually constituted with the right of succession, are found from the earliest centuries of the Church. Alexander of Jerusalem (212), Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, and Augustine of Hippo, in their respective sees, were coadjutors before becoming ordinaries. This was, however, exceptional, since it was then held that such a practice clashed with the conciliar provisions of the time forbidding the plurality of pastors in individual dioceses (c. 5, 6, C. VII, q. 1; Nicene Council, c. 8; c. 14, X, 1, 31). Later, however, a more lenient interpretation prevailed, especially in view of urgent needs that had to be met (c. 5, X, 3, 6). Boniface VIII expressly reserved to the Holy See the granting of a coadjutor with the right of succession (c. 1 in *Sexto*, 3, 5, n. 11). The Council of Trent, while generally abrogating expectations for any ecclesiastical benefice and, in particular, all coadjutorships with the right of succession, made an express exception for the coadjutors of bishops when urgent necessity or evident utility of the cathedral church recommended their concession (sess. XXIV, c. 19 *de ref.*; sess. XXV, c. 7 *de ref.*). In the present *CIC*, the matter is regulated in cc. 350–55.
II. THE COADJUTOR OF CANONS. — The coadjutor granted to the canons of a chapter with the right of future succession (*coadiutores perpetui*) was formerly in wide use in the law prior to the Council of Trent. Although suppressed by the Council itself through the abrogation of expectations and coadjutorships with succession, vestiges of it survive in the statutes of some chapters in Italy, particularly in Rome. Canon coadjutors have the duty of substituting the coadjutor in canonical functions. They are, however, not true beneficiaries and do not belong to the chapter (*canonici facti*).
III. — THE COADJUTOR OF PARISH PRIESTS. — For the coadjutor of a parish priest (*vicarius adiutor*), see **VICARIO**.
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Zaccaria da S. Mauro