DIOCESAN CONSULTORS. - It is a college of secular priests which, in dioceses where the cathedral Chapter (v.) cannot be established or re-established, the bishop must, unless the Holy See has decreed otherwise, establish with the task of carrying out those duties that would belong to the Chapter as the bishop's senate. Therefore it falls in particular to the d.c. to give consent or their opinion to the bishop for those acts which, if the Chapter existed, could not be performed without its consent or opinion; and it falls to the d.c. to assume the governance of the diocese in the event of a vacancy, and to elect the vicar capitular 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 they must be six, or, if the number of priests in the diocese is small, at least four, resident in the chief town of the diocese or in a nearby place (can. 425); they hold office for a three-year term, but may be confirmed (can. 426); they may be removed by the bishop before the expiry of their term, for a just cause, and after consulting 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, no cathedral Chapters were instituted; but, since it was recognized as opportune that the bishop be assisted in the governance of the diocese by some counselors, the First Plenary Council of the United States (Baltimore 1852) exhorted the bishops to take on, as far as possible, certain priests of suitable age, virtue and experience, as c., who would give their opinion when necessary. Subsequent councils (Eighth Provincial Council of Baltimore, 1855; First and Second Provincial Council of St. Louis, 1855-58; Second Plenary Council of the United States, Baltimore 1866; Tenth Provincial Council of Baltimore, 1869; Third Plenary Council of the United States, Baltimore 1884) laid down various norms making them obligatory and specifying their number and duties.
If one excepts the questionnaire for the report on the state of the dioceses (decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, 31 Dec. 1909), the first text of pontifical canon law that mentions the d.c., thus implicitly confirming the institution, is the decree Maxima cura of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (20 Aug. 1910), cann. 4-5, which was later clarified on this point by a reply of 3 Oct. 1910 (cf. AAS, 3 [1910], pp. 636-37, 854-55); and another reply of 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 except with the CIC.
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