Diocesan Consultors
A college of secular priests which, in dioceses where it is impossible to constitute or reconstitute the cathedral chapter (v.), the bishop must—unless the Holy See provides otherwise—establish to perform those functions that would pertain to the chapter as the bishop’s senate. In particular, the so-called diocesan consultors are to give their consent or advice to the bishop for those acts that, if the chapter existed, could not be performed without its consent or advice; and they are to assume governance of the diocese in the event of a vacancy and to elect the vicar capitular within eight days (CIC, can. 423 and 427, and authentic interpretation of 29 January 1931).
The consultors are appointed by the bishop (can. 424); normally there should be six, or, if the number of priests in the diocese is small, at least four, residing in the episcopal see or nearby (can. 425). They hold office for a triennium but may be reappointed (can. 426); they may be removed by the bishop before the term expires for a just cause and after hearing the opinion of the other consultors (can. 428).
The origin of the diocesan consultors is to be traced to the United States of America, where, when the ordinary ecclesiastical hierarchy was established, no cathedral chapters were instituted. Recognizing the need for the bishop to be assisted in diocesan governance by some counselors, the First Plenary Council of the United States (Baltimore, 1852) exhorted the bishops to select, as far as possible, priests of suitable age, virtue, and experience as consultors who would give their advice when necessary. Subsequent councils (Eighth Provincial Council of Baltimore, 1855; First and Second Provincial Councils 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) issued various norms making the institution obligatory and specifying their number and duties.
Apart from the questionnaire for the report on the state of dioceses (decree of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation, 31 December 1909), the first pontifical canon law text to mention diocesan consultors—thereby implicitly confirming the institution’s intent—was the decree *Maxima cura* of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (20 August 1910), cann. 4–5, which was later clarified on this point by a response of 3 October 1910 (cf. *AAS*, 3 [1910], pp. 636–37, 854–55); and another response of the same Congregation (27 February 1914) likewise mentioned diocesan consultors, acknowledging that they took the place of the cathedral chapter. However, diocesan consultors did not enter general canon law until the 1917 *Codex Iuris Canonici*.