Chapter

CHAPTER. - From the Latin capitulum, a diminutive of caput, the term came to mean: 1) the various divisions of a book; 2) the passage of Holy Scripture that is chanted or read in the divine office; 3) the section of the rule of a religious Order that monks are obliged to read; 4) the college of priests officiating a church; 5) assemblies of religious to discuss matters of interest to the community in any way; 6) the place where such assemblies are held.

I. THE CANONICAL CHAPTER

It is defined as a college of priests, established for the purpose of rendering divine worship more solemn in the church of its foundation and, in the case of a cathedral C., also to assist the bishop, as

(phot. Alinari)
CHAPTER. - Chapter house of the Charterhouse of S. Martino (16th century). Naples.

senate and diocesan council, and to supply his place, during a vacant see, in the government of the diocese (can. 391, § 1).

1. Origin

It originates from the ancient presbyterium, that is, from the body of the local clergy which from the earliest centuries of the Church constituted the bishop's senate, assisting him in the functions of worship and in diocesan administration and taking his place during a vacancy of the see. From the end of the 4th century, following the example of what St. Augustine had successfully implemented in his see of Hippo, the presbyterium had adopted in many regions a common life in the bishop's house, regulated by certain norms (canones), functioning as a rule (canon), with a marked monastic tendency. Thus began the canonical life, which quickly enjoyed rapid development; those who professed it were called canons, and capitulum was the name given to their daily assembly, inasmuch as it was obligatorily devoted to the reading of a capitulum, that is, a short passage of their rule: a terminology that soon came to designate generally any assembly of the college, and then became definitively fixed to signify the college itself. Subsequently the example of the cathedral churches was followed also by the clergy of the great rural centers organized in common life around the principal church of the place, creating from that time, alongside that of cathedral C., the category of collegiate C., a category that had in southern Italy a wholly singular expression in the so-called chiese recettizie (whose members, however, do not constitute a true and proper C.).

The Carolingian era marked the golden period of the canonical life. Its best-known organizers and legislators were Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, in the 8th century, who gave it a rule widely adopted, especially in France, and, in the early years of the following century, Amalarius of Metz, charged by the synod of Aachen, promoted by Louis the Pious, with extracting from the patristic texts a norm for the clerical life; thus came the De institutione canonicorum.

The common life, however, did not last long. Already in the 9th century, after alternations of flourishing and decline, it showed signs of fatigue and was heading decisively toward disappearance. The individual division of the C.'s patrimonial goods marked its end. Under the influence of benefice ideas, the bishops were the first to separate their own patrimony (mensa episcopalis) from that of the C. (portio cleri, mensa canonicorum), followed after a short interval by the canons, who, besides separate dwellings (mansio), obtained that the common patrimony (massa communis), at first enjoyed pro indiviso, be divided into various benefice shares (praebendae) to be enjoyed individually. Where the number of the C. was fixed according to the number of prebends, the C. was called numeratum or clausum, while non numeratum or apertum was called that in which the number of canons did not depend on the number of prebends.

The attempts of the great reformers of the clergy of the 11th century to restore the common life by reforming it produced no other result than that of creating a new type of it, but a more perfect one, inasmuch as it was now guaranteed by the taking of the vow of poverty and by the profession of a strictly monastic rule. Thus there arose, in contrast to the secular canons, gathered in secular C., regular canons and C.

The disappearance of the common life, however, did not in any way alter the functional unity and the juridical physiognomy of the C., which continued to exist in the form and with the competences of an autonomous corporation, with its own personality, its own statutes and its own patrimony.

2. Evolution

The evolution of the C., although it did not follow through the various statutes a rigidly uniform development, may be considered substantially complete as early as the 13th century. The college, presided over by a head (praepositus, decanus, archidiaconus, archipresbyter), comprised, in hierarchical order, preeminences with jurisdiction (dignitates), preeminences of protocol only (personatus), and offices (officia, canonicatus); to this last category belonged various competences of worship (primicerius, praecentor, cantor, succentor), of school (scholasticus), of care of souls (lector, theologus, poenitentiarius) and of service in general (thesaurarius, vestatarius, sacristus, custos, portarius, cellerarius, punctator). The holders of the various offices, that is, the canons strictly understood, were then generally distinguished by their respective order into three groups: presbyteral, diaconal, subdiaconal. The special categories of aspirants (domicellares, scholares, canonici in pulvere, in herbis, so called in contrast to those in floribus et fructibus) and of the other auxiliaries of the office (hebdomadorii, portionarii, mansionarii, beneficiati, canonici minores, etc.) represented collateral and subordinate aggregations of the C., but forming part of it optimo iure.

Each canon had a right to a distinct prebend, or to a personal allowance from the common patrimony (massa communis): the lower categories enjoyed the beneficii minora (v. CANONICO).

By reason of its subordination to the bishop and of the care of souls with which it could be charged, the C. could be exempt or non-exempt, with cure of souls or without. The honorific qualification of insigne or perinsigne indicated for some time the C. reserved to nobles, and later became an honorary title bestowed by ecclesiastical authority on particularly illustrious C.

3. In current canon law the C. are moral collegiate persons, that is, corporations endowed with juridical personality and with autonomy within the sphere of their jurisdiction. The constitutional order maintains, save for very few modifications, the historical-traditional characteristics already noted. With the intermediate category of personatus having disappeared, the modern C. consists, in the strict sense, of dignities and of offices or canonries. The dignities, however (archdeacon, archpriest, provost, prior, dean, primicerius), which may even not belong to the C., have lost their prerogatives of jurisdiction, retaining only those of precedence and honor. The mansionarii or minor beneficiati, who reproduce the ancient categories of the auxiliaries of the office, are not considered a constitutive part of the C. (can. 393, § 2). Among the offices, particular prominence is given by the CIC to those of theologian and penitentiary (v. CANONICO TEOLOGO; CANONICO PENITENZIERE).

The erection, modification and suppression of C., as well as the erection of new dignities, belong exclusively to the Holy See (cann. 392, 394 § 2). A special concession of the same Holy See is moreover required for the institution of the so-called statutory canonries, that is, nominal benefices without allowance (can. 393, § 3).

The conferral of dignities is likewise reserved to the Holy See (can. 396, § 1). To canonries, on the other hand, and to minor benefices, whether of the cathedral or of the collegiate churches, provision is made by appointment made by the bishop after consultation of the C. concerned (can. 394, § 2). For the provision to the offices of canon theologian and canon penitentiary, the form of competition is obligatory, in Italy and the adjacent islands, as prescribed by the constitution Pastoralis officii of 19 May 1725, which retains its full force even after the CIC (can. 399, § 2). The right to pass by option (ius optionis) from one office to another, or from one dignity to another dignity (a right introduced by custom around the 12th century), is abolished, unless it is authorized by the law of foundation (can. 396, § 2).

4. The patrimonial order likewise does not differ substantially from the historical-traditional one. The income of the canonical benefice usually rests on three distinct sources: the prebend, the ordinary or daily distributions nae, and the distributiones inter praesentes. The C. can be organized either with distinct prebends, to be received from distinct benefices, or as a common mass, that is, with undivided prebends to be received from a common patrimony. In either case, alongside the so-called large (or gross) mass, owned by the chapter entity, destined for capitular expenses and, with the remainder, for supplementary allowances in favor of the members of the C., there must exist the so-called small mass, resulting from autonomous goods or, in their absence, obligatorily constituted by setting aside a third part of the benefice revenues (called in that case the conciliar third, because it was introduced by the Council of Trent), whose fruits are destined to secure the distributiones ordinariae quotidianae, consisting of shares of attendance assigned as a premium to canons actually present in choir or deemed present by right if absent for a legitimate cause. By virtue of the ius accrescendi, such shares are automatically increased by the shares (fallentiae) not enjoyed by those unlawfully absent (cann. 394 § 3, 395). Should it be impossible by way of exception to constitute the small mass for the distributions, the Code provides for the creation of a system of compensation, consisting of monetary fines that correspond roughly to the amount of the distributions that would be lost in cases of negligence (can. 395, § 2).

To a different category, on the other hand, belong the distributiones inter praesentes, which derive neither from the benefice nor from the mass, but are constituted either by the revenues of special foundations (fixed distributions) or by the incidental income from functions and extraordinary services (adventitious distributions), and are divided among those actually present alone (can. 420, § 2). The calculation of absences is attended to by the punctatores elected for that purpose by the C., to whom the bishop may add a supervisory punctator (can. 395, § 4).

5. The hierarchical functions pertaining to the C. as such represent the exercise of its rights and duties as an autonomous corporation for purposes of worship and as a diocesan senate. As an autonomous corporation (v. AUTONOMIA), it has the right to regulate its own activity by means of statutes, recognized by common law as juridical norms of particular law, and to deliberate, in ordinary and extraordinary meetings, on the business within its competence (cann. 410, 411). If the capitular church has a care of souls annexed to it in such a way that the habitual care belongs to the C., the actual care, that is, the effective discharge of parochial functions, is entrusted to a vicar curate, who may even not be a member of the C. (cann. 402, 415).

As a corporation the C. is bound to assist the bishop when he functions solemnly in the city and in the suburb (can. 412) on determined days (can. 414).

As a diocesan senate, finally, the functions of the cathedral C. vary according to whether the episcopal see is full, or vacant or impeded. In sede plena, the C. represents a consultative body that the bishop is bound to consult in affairs of greater importance, in some of which with purely consultative effect (cann. 386 § 1, 388, 394 § 3, 403, 406, 1234 § 1, 1428), in others with binding effect (cann. 394 § 2, 712 § 2, 1541 § 2 n. 2, etc.). In sede vacante, through death, resignation, transfer or deprivation of office, if the Holy See has not provided otherwise, the governance of the diocese belongs to the C., which within eight days of the notice of the vacancy must elect the capitular vicar who exercises in its name a great part of the ordinary powers of the bishop (v. VICARIO CAPITOLARE). In the case of an impeded see, that is, in the case of imprisonment, relegation, exile or incapacity of the bishop, such that he cannot communicate with the diocese even by letter, the succession of the C. and the appointment of the capitular vicar will likewise take place, but only when the vicar general or a delegate appositely appointed by the bishop is lacking and the Holy See has not provided otherwise, or when the vicar general and the delegate of the bishop are themselves in turn impeded (can. 429).

6. The eversive laws of the ecclesiastical estate had suppressed in Italy the collegiate C., with the exception of the C. of the city of Rome and the suburbicarian sees, and, in the cathedral C. that were preserved, had suppressed the canonries of lay ecclesiastical patronage, as well as the canonries existing beyond the number of six (law of 15 Aug. 1867 no. 2848, art. 1 no. 2, art. 6; law of 11 Aug. 1870 no. 5784, art. 8); the same cathedral C. moreover had been subjected to the fiscal regime common to the other preserved entities (conversion of immovable goods, extraordinary tax of 30%, quota of contribution and transfer tax of a single income), and the canonical provision to the individual canonical benefices had been subjected to the procedures of the placet and the exequatur.

The Concordat of 11 Feb. 1929, while not expressly recognizing juridical personality to the collegiate C. and to the other ecclesiastical entities already suppressed, contemplates the possibility of such recognition to be given by decree of the Head of State, after hearing the opinion of the Council of State, upon application of the legal representative of the entity, accompanied by the canonical measure of erection and the other documents apt to demonstrate the necessity and evident utility of the entity itself and the sufficiency of its means (Concordat, art. 29, d. 7; law of 27 May 1929, art. 3). It further abolishes the placet and the exequatur and every form of state interference in the provision to canonries, save for the privilegium praesentationis recognized to the Head of State for appointment to the canonries of the basilica of the Pantheon in Rome.

II. THE RELIGIOUS CHAPTER

The religious chapter must be distinguished from the canonical chapter; it is the representative assembly of the members of a religious Order or Congregation, which is periodically convened for the election of the major superiors and for the transaction of the most important business. According as the assembly gathers the representatives of the whole religious institution or only those of a territorial portion of it, the chapter will be called general, provincial or local. Every chapter always has dominative power, in accordance with its own statutes and the common law: moreover, the chapters of exempt clerical religious institutes have ecclesiastical jurisdiction, both for the internal and for the external forum (can. 501, § 1).

Zaccaria da S. Mauro

III. CHAPTER HALL

In monasteries the chapter hall, or chapter room, is that space intended for the meetings of the monks for the discussion of matters concerning the community; in cathedrals, for the assemblies of the canons.

As a rule the chapter hall (which is a room with a square or rectangular plan, almost always covered by a vault, with masonry benches or wooden stalls along the sides) is situated immediately after the sacristy, on the side of the cloister perpendicular to the axis of the church and close to the choir. The hall has in the wall facing the cloister a door and two large windows (biforate or poliforate) very often with a sill quite high above the ground and, sometimes, it has smaller windows on the opposite side.

In monasteries of the Romanesque and Gothic period, of France, of Germany and in those of Italy that are most affected by architectural influences from beyond the Alps (for example, in the Cistercian abbeys of Fossanova, Casamari and S. Galgano) the chapter halls present themselves as rooms divided into two and three small naves covered by groin vaults (with or without ribs) that rest on one, two or more columns or piers. When in Italy, especially during the 14th century, Gothic forms came to be reworked according to our artistic feeling, and therefore in the Renaissance, even in chapter halls there was a tendency toward a more unified sense of space through the abolition of piers and columns and through changed relationships of proportion. See, for example, the chapter hall of S. Maria Novella in Florence, of the mid-14th century, decorated with famous frescoes.

IV. THE CHAPTER IN THE LITURGY

This is the name given to a short scriptural versicle (Lectio brevis), which is said in the canonical hours after the psalms. This brief lesson, which already appears in the rule of St. Benedict (chs. 10-18), replaces in monasteries the ancient reading of an entire chapter of the Rule itself in the 2nd part of the hour of Prime; at the beginning of Compline, on the other hand, it is an ascetic or hagiographic lesson.

In the Mozarabic Mass it is the introduction to the singing of the "Pater noster"; in ancient times it sometimes denotes the Oration of the Mass (for example, Pope Vigilius, Epist. ad Profuturum).

V. THE CHAPTER OF FAULT

A monastic custom, now under various forms common to many religious families, which goes back to St. Augustine (Epist. 211) and to St. Benedict (Regula, ch. 46), in which individual religious one by one accused themselves of external faults against the regular observance before the whole religious community in order to receive the appropriate penance. Among the Benedictines each abbey had its own customs in hearing the fault. Ordinarily this took place in the morning during the office of Prime. After the reading of the martyrology, the monks went in procession to the chapter hall, usually near the choir, and before the abbot accused themselves of their faults and received from him words of admonition and suitable penance. In some abbeys the abbot took the occasion of the chapter of fault to hold the conference for the monks. The chapter of fault was not held daily, but on specific days of the week. Among the Franciscan Orders it is held three times a week in the refectory before the blessing of the table. In other Congregations there are different customs.