COMMENDA. — From the letters of Gregory the Great it appears that, at times, for the needs of the Church, the pope entrusted to a bishop the government of a second diocese deprived of its pastor by extraordinary circumstances, or the temporary government of a vacant diocese; but at times vacant abbeys were also entrusted by the pope to a bishop, and it likewise happened that, upon the death of an abbot, the abbey, with the consent of the monks, was taken over by the territorial bishop, himself formerly a monk. Finally, it also occurred that a secular church was entrusted to an abbot. Outside Italy, bishops sometimes gave canons of their cathedral the government of convents, on condition that they relinquish the revenues of their own benefice. This entrusting of churches to one who was not their regular superior was called commendare, dare in c., or custodia, or cura, or guardia.
In the Carolingian period and in the Frankish kingdom, there were extensive usurpations of ecclesiastical property by the sovereigns, justified by the burdens they had to bear in subduing infidel populations, and thus tolerated or eventually ratified by the Church; it then happened that princes gave abbeys or convents to their favorites, imposing the customary feudal obligations; these were called c. spurie.
The first reforming movement of the Church took a position against c., and in general against the plurality of benefices, and sought to eliminate c., particularly those held by laymen; the privilege of the abbey of Cluny confirmed by Agapetus II in 948 contains the exclusion of every commendatary. Nevertheless, even Gregory VII and Paschal II, though rarely, granted abbeys and also dioceses in c.
The abuse spread particularly during the Avignonese period, although Clement V in 1307 revoked (can. 2, Extr. comm., de praeb. et dignitat., III, 2) all appointments made by title of c. to churches patriar-
COMMONDA - COMMENDATORE DI S. SPIRITO
patriarchal, archiepiscopal, and episcopal churches and monasteries at the request of kings or magnates (recalling the harm caused by such appointments to the care of souls and the preservation of possessions); and although Giovanni XXII in 1317 issued stringent provisions against the plurality of benefices (un. chap., Extr. Ioann. XXII, de prae. et dignit., III).
The Council of Constance formulated objections to the institution, but it was favored by sovereigns, and the Council of Basel adopted no measures.
The Council of Trent, in sess. XXI de ref., can. 8, decreed that bishops, also as delegates of the Holy See, should annually visit commendatory monasteries in which regular observance was not in force, and benefices, with or without cure, secular or regular, commended in any manner, including exempt ones; and should take the necessary measures for the preservation of buildings and possessions and for the care of souls. In sess. XXV, de regul. et monial., can. 21, it recalled the spiritual and temporal evils arising from monasteries granted in commendation; yet, given the difficulties of the times, it considered it impossible to adopt an immediate and general remedy. It trusted, however, that the pope would ensure, insofar as circumstances permitted, that regulars of the same Order, capable of governing the community worthily, be placed over monasteries then held in commendation; that only regulars of proven virtue be placed over monasteries that should become vacant in the future; and that, in the case of monasteries serving as the head of an Order or Congregation, the commendatory holders should, within six months, make the solemn profession of the Order, on pain of forfeiture.
The abuse of commendations, particularly for the benefit of cardinals, nevertheless continued for a long time, and has disappeared altogether only in recent decades. There are no longer secular prelates holding monasteries in commendation; and for the secular abbeys or prelatures that it has been deemed necessary to keep united to an episcopal see, provision has been made in the form of perpetual union.
The CIC merely recalls in can. 1412 the «c. temporaria, i. e. concessio reditum alicuius ecclesiae aut monasterii alicui facta ita ut, eo deficiente, reditus ipsi ad ecclesiam vel monasterium revertantur», and in can. 1435 provides that the benefices upon which the pope «manus apposuit» in certain ways are reserved to the pontiff, including this one: «si beneficium in commendam dederit».
THE C. OF THE KNIGHTLY ORDERS. - Certain knightly Orders that have preserved their original characteristics have foundations attached to them, which may have been established by the Order or by particular families, and whose purpose is to ensure the means of subsistence for a knight of the Order. Those established by a family are almost always under family patronage and are in fact intended for a member of the family who is a professed member of the Order (in former times this was a means of providing for younger sons). If the foundation consists of movable property, it is called a pension; if of immovable property, a c., and the knight endowed with it is called a commendatore.
In Italy, c. still exist in the Order of Jerusalem; whereas the patronage c. of the Order of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro were suppressed by the Piedmontese law of 18 January 1851 abolishing fideicommissa, which ordered the release of the property concerned.
Arturo Carlo Jemolo