DIOCESAN CONSULTORS. — This is a college of secular priests which, Chapter (v.) cannot be established or re-established, the bishop must, unless the Holy See provides otherwise, constitute with the task of carrying out those duties that would belong to the Chapter as the bishop’s senate. In particular, therefore, it is the responsibility of the d. c. to give the bishop their consent or opinion for those acts which, if there were a Chapter, could not be performed without its consent or opinion; and it is the responsibility of the d. c. to assume the government of the diocese in the event of a vacancy and to elect the capitular vicar within eight days (CIC, cann. 423 and 427, and authentic interpretation of 29 Jan. 1931).
The d. c. are appointed by the bishop (can. 424); as a rule there must be six, or, if the number of priests in the diocese is small, at least four, residing in the diocesan capital or nearby (can. 425); they serve for a three-year term, but may be confirmed (can. 426); the bishop may remove them before the expiration of their term, for a just cause and after obtaining the opinion of the other d. c. (can. 428).
The origin of the d. c. is to be sought in the United States of America, where, when the ordinary ecclesiastical hierarchy was established, Cathedral Chapters were not instituted; but, recognizing the desirability of having the bishop assisted in the government of the diocese by some adviser, the First Plenary Council of the United States (Baltimore, 1852) exhorted the bishops, insofar as possible, to appoint some priests of suitable age, virtue, and experience as d. c., who would give their opinion whenever necessary. Subsequent councils (the Eighth Provincial Council of Baltimore, 1855; the First and Second Provincial Councils of St. Louis, 1855–58; the Second Plenary Council of the United States, Baltimore, 1866; the Tenth Provincial Council of Baltimore, 1869; the Third Plenary Council of the United States, Baltimore, 1884) issued various regulations, making them obligatory and specifying their number and duties.
Apart from the questionnaire for the report on the condition of dioceses (decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory, 31 Dec. 1909), the first text of pontifical canon law to mention the d. c., thus implicitly confirming the institution, was the decree Maxima cura of the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory (20 Aug. 1910), cann. 4–5, which was subsequently clarified on this point by a response of 3 Oct. 1910 (cf. AAS, 3 [1910], pp. 636–37, 854–55); and another response from the same Sacred Congregation (27 Feb. 1914) likewise mentioned the d. c., also recognizing that they took the place of the Cathedral Chapter. But the d. c. did not enter general canon law until the CIC.