CONGRUA. — Under the name c. or portio congrua, canonists designate that amount of income considered necessary for the dignified support of a beneficiary (v. BENEFICIO ECCLESIASTICO) or of anyone holding any ecclesiastical office (for the concept of c. in the CIC cf. cann. 471 § 1, 472 n. 1, 475 § 1, 476 § 1, 1429 § 1, 1439 § 2, 1473, etc.; and, in some manner, also cann. 122 and 979 § 2). The amount of the c. varies according to the importance of the office and the duties it entails.
At times the name c. is also used simply to designate the parochial benefice, just as the terms mensa and prebenda are used to designate, respectively, the episcopal or capitular benefice.
Supplementi di c. or assegni supplementari di c. are the monetary allowances that the State pays to the holders of benefices whose income is lower than what the State itself regards as the portio congrua, so that the benefice income properly so called, with the addition of the supplement, reaches precisely this c. portion.
It cannot be excluded that one of the reasons why the Italian State introduced the assegni supplementari di c. was the aim of asserting, to some extent, the State’s will over that part of the clergy which is in closest contact with the people (this idea had already been held by Napoleon), or also that of favoring the lower clergy to the detriment of the higher clergy (the supplementi di c. were originally established only in favor of parish priests).
But the objective and official reason for introducing the supplemento di c. was the improvement of the economic conditions of the poor clergy through an equalization and redistribution of ecclesiastical revenues: the State in fact used for assegni supplementari di c. part of the revenues obtained from the assets of ecclesiastical bodies suppressed as useless, and from the levies imposed on benefices that were not suppressed but endowed with greater revenues.
In the legislation of the Kingdom of Italy, the supplemento di c. was introduced for the first time by art. 28 no. 4 of R. D. 7 July 1866, no. 3036, in favor of parish priests who, including casual income calculated on the average of a three-year period, had an annual income of less than 800 lire. Subsequently, the limit of the c. was increased several times, and the supplements were also extended to other categories of beneficiaries; however, all improvements granted after 30 June 1920 were provisional in character, and their effectiveness was extended from year to year (cf. art. 9 of law 14 June 1928, no. 1315, under which they would have expired on 30 June 1920).
Art. 30 of the Concordat (para. 2) provided that «the Italian State, until such time as new agreements establish otherwise, shall continue to make up deficiencies in the incomes of ecclesiastical benefices by allowances to be paid in an amount not lower than the real value of that established by the laws currently in force», and consequently art. 25 of law 27 May 1929, no. 848, provided: «The current economic treatment of the clergy hereby becomes definitive, including the improvements which the provisions hitherto issued regarded as temporary».
The matter is now regulated, in addition to these two provisions, principally by the Testo Unico 29 January 1931, no. 227, and by the Regolamento 29 January 1931, no. 228.
The categories of beneficiaries who, under the laws in force, enjoy the supplemento di c., and the limits of the annual c. in force in 1929, are as follows: metropolitans: L. 18,000; other archbishops and bishops, prelates and nullius abbots: L. 17,000; parish priests of the city of Rome: L. 6000; the two first dignitaries of the cathedral or collegiate Chapters of Rome: L. 4000; other parish priests, dignitaries of Chapters, and theological and penitentiary canons: L. 3500; other canons (cathedral canons outside Rome; cathedral or collegiate canons in Rome): L. 3000; other beneficiaries (no more than six) of the Chapters (cathedral or collegiate, as above), and independent parochial vicars: L. 2000.
Since, however, art. 30 of the Concordat spoke of «an amount not lower than the real value of that established by the laws currently in force», the amounts of the c. limits were changed from time to time (cf. R. D. L. 23 January 1942, no. 162; R. D. L. 24 January 1944, no. 19; Decreto legislativo luogotenenziale 22 March 1945, no. 213; D. L. 1 April 1947, no. 272; D. L. 22 January 1948, no. 44; law 29 July 1949, no. 494).
The categories were established by the Italian laws according to the criterion of favoring the holders of benefices whose duties the State considers most necessary to the life of the Church, and therefore especially those exercising jurisdiction or the care of souls; consequently, the categories of benefices whose holders are granted the allowance partly coincide with the categories of ecclesiastical bodies preserved by the suppressive laws.
It should be noted that the supplemento di c. is reduced by an amount not exceeding one third of the c. limit for parish priests of parishes with fewer than 200 inhabitants, unless «in the judgment of the administration of the fund for worship, serious circumstances concerning the locality and communications obtain» (art. 2 of the aforementioned Testo Unico).
For each cathedral Chapter, with the exception of those of Rome and of the suburbicarian dioceses, the allowance may not be paid to more than twelve canons and six minor beneficiaries.
Detailed rules are established by law for calculating the income of the benefice for the purposes of granting the supplemento di c., and for determining its amount (art. 6 et seq. of the Testo Unico); in particular, the law, proceeding from the principle that net income, not gross income, must be calculated, establishes which assets are to be taken into account and which liabilities are to be deducted.
The supplemento di c. is an allowance granted not to the benefice but to the person of the beneficiary; it is therefore not granted during a vacancy. Whereas, however, under canon law the enjoyment of benefice revenues begins not on the day the benefice is conferred but on the day possession is taken, the supplemento di c. is paid from the date of conferral: this is in fact how the provision in the first part of art. 26 of the Concordat was applied by subsequent provisions (cf. art. 25 of law 27 May 1929, no. 848; art. 82 of the Testo Unico sugli assegni supplementari di c.; art. 45 of the related Regolamento).
Under art. 6 of the Concordat, assegni supplementari di c. are exempt from attachment to the same extent as the salaries and allowances of State employees, and may therefore be attached only within the following limits: a) up to one third, for legally owed maintenance; b) up to one fifth, for debts owed to the body on which the debtor depends, arising from the exercise of the duties of the office; c) up to one fifth, for taxes owed to the State, provinces, and municipalities, chargeable from their origin to the person receiving the salary or allowance (art. 80 of the aforementioned Testo Unico, and arts. 1–2 of R. D. 5 June 1941, no. 874).
Moreover, the assegno di c. may not be assigned except within the limit of one fifth, and only in reduction or guarantee of debts contracted or to be contracted, with the prescribed authorization, in the interest of the benefice or of the Church (art. 80 of the aforementioned Testo Unico).