CONSISTORY. - The consistory consists in a solemn assembly of all the cardinals who are in Rome, presided over by the pope, for the transaction of some of the most important affairs relating to the government of the universal Church.
The name of consistory is found used in this sense from the Middle Ages onward, and derives from the same name by which, in the last centuries of the Roman Empire, the assembly of imperial dignitaries presided over by the emperor was designated. Traditionally consistories are held in the palace where the supreme pontiff resides.
Three kinds of consistory are distinguished: the ordinary or secret consistory, which at present is usually held in the hall called the consistorial hall; the public consistory, which is usually held in a larger setting suited to the solemnity of the assembly (often in the Sistine Chapel, or sometimes in St. Peter's), and the semi-public consistory, which is held in some hall of the Pontifical palace. Nowadays consistories are not held on fixed dates; in more remote times, however, they had an established periodicity (Innocent III used to hold three each week), given the great number of questions that were dealt with in them.
The secret consistory is attended, together with the pope, by the cardinals alone; before the consistory begins, the extra omnes is intimated, and all persons not belonging leave the consistorial hall, and the doors are closed, and they are reopened at the end of the consistory. If a cardinal is to be assigned or have changed his episcopal see, then the cardinal remains outside during the time in which the pope makes the relative proposal.
The secret consistory often begins with the reading, by the supreme pontiff, of an allocution (generally in Latin), on subjects of great importance and of current religious relevance or of ecclesiastical policy; which allocution is almost always published (v. ALLOCUZIONE).
Among the things that are customarily dealt with in secret consistory are remembered: a) the announcement by the pope of eventual resignations of cardinals; b) the appointments of cardinals legates a latere; c) the appointment of the cardinal camerlengo or chancellor of the Holy Roman Church; d) the appointments of new cardinals; e) the options of cardinals (v. CARDINALE); f) the preconization of new archbishops, bishops, prelates or abbots nullius; g) the promulgation of the Holy Year and the appointment of legates for the opening or for the closing of the Holy Doors.
Also in secret consistory the pope, after the report of the cardinal prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, asks the cardinals whether or not one may proceed to the canonization of some blessed, whose cause has been previously instructed by the Congregation of Rites. The cardinals, at the pope's question (quid vobis videtur?) manifest individually their opinion on the matter.
It is to be noted that, on the other hand, in the other affairs the presence of the cardinals no longer has any function other than that of giving greater solemnity to the ceremony; and even when (as for the appointments of new members of the Sacred College) the pope asks quid vobis videtur?, the response of the cardinals present in consistory is given collectively and is always affirmative, being thereby reduced to a mere formality, a remembrance of the time when business was discussed during the consistory even for long hours.
Metropolitans (v.), and other bishops having the privilege of the pallium (v.), must ask the pope for the pallium itself: the relative postulation is made by the newly appointed personally or through a procurator, at the end of the secret consistory.
It is to be noted that, when new cardinals are appointed, it is customary to hold two secret consistories, one on Monday, the other on the following Thursday or Friday, interspersed with a public consistory (which is held on Thursday). The appointments of the new cardinals are published in the consistory of Monday, and the newly appointed, if present in Rome, take part both in the public consistory, in which the pope imposes on them the cardinal's hat, and in the second secret consistory: at the beginning of which the pontiff closes their mouth, and reopens it (thereby attributing to them the faculty of taking part in all the deliberations of cardinalitial assemblies) at the end of the consistory itself, giving to each of them the ring and conferring on him the title or the deaconry.
The public consistory is attended, besides the pope and the cardinals, by other ecclesiastical and lay dignitaries of the pontifical court, and by members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.
In it there first takes place the peroration (petition for canonization) of the causes of saints dealt with in the preceding secret consistory; the peroration is made, for each cause, by a consistorial advocate; once the perorations are finished, the Secretary of the briefs ad Principes now usually responds, in the name of the pope, generally deferring, for the definitive decision, to a semi-public consistory. Then the pope imposes on the new cardinals the cardinal's hat. There follow, if there are any, the perorations for the causes of beatification (these perorations too are made by a consistorial advocate).
To the semi-public consistory are summoned, besides the cardinals, all the archbishops and bishops whose see is less than 100 miles from Rome; all the other patriarchs, archbishops or bishops may moreover attend it. All these have in such a consistory the right of vote.
The pope asks whether one may proceed to the canonizations that have been dealt with in the last secret and public consistories (the semi-public consistory is held at a distance of some days, or even of some months, from those). Once the responses have been received, the apostolic protonotaries are charged with drawing up the relative record. - See pl. VII.
