CURIA. — This term, initially used to designate one of the divisions of the Roman people, came also to signify the seat of the Roman senate, and subsequently that of certain other offices in Rome; it was used in analogous senses in the municipalities. In the Middle Ages it acquired various meanings, but that of a tribunal or of a body of offices concerned with the administration of justice soon prevailed.
In canon law, besides the medieval meaning (now disappeared from official terminology and, almost entirely, from ordinary usage as well) of a judicial body, the name c. has remained chiefly in the following uses:
I. C. ROMANA. — An expression which in modern law serves exclusively to designate the vast complex of ecclesiastical dicasteries that assist the Supreme Pontiff in the general government of the Church. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, it also included the Papal Court and Household; the CIC subsequently restricted its meaning as indicated above, so that, by virtue of can. 242, it was established that the C. Romana “constat sacris congregationibus, tribunalibus et officiis.”
The first use of this expression is nevertheless encountered around the middle of the twelfth century, in a sense even broader than those mentioned above, since it was employed to indicate the Church of Rome itself. This usage immediately provoked numerous protests, including the authoritative one of the prior of Reichersberg, Gerhob (1093–1169), who complained about it directly to Eugene III: “Neque enim vel hoc ipsum carere macula videtur, quod nunc dicitur C. Romana, quae antehac dicebatur Ecclesia Romana” (PL 194, 9).
The formation of the ecclesiastical dicasteries composing the C. was a slow process, and although some of them may be traced back as far as the fourth century, the period during which the individual institutions developed should be placed between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, specifically up to the reorganization by Sixtus V, through which the C. was organized upon the foundations that still constitute its basis today.
The first centuries of the Church were characterized by the presence of a special council of priests and deacons who, meeting collegially, surrounded the Bishop of Rome, with whom he habitually discussed the common affairs of his spiritual government. This was the Presbyterate (Presbyterium Apostolicae Sedis), whose existence is attested by many documents from that early period. An important testimony in this regard is a letter from Pope s. Cornelius, addressed in 251 to s. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, in which we read: “Omni igitur actu ad me perlato placuit contrahi Presbyterium” (PL. 3, 742). The matters discussed in the Presbyterate did not, however, concern the sacred patrimony of faith and morals; from that early period, responsibility for resolving such matters, as the sole body competent to impose condemnations and inflict canonical penalties, belonged to the Synod or Roman Council, before which the more important questions were brought, especially those relating to ecclesiastical discipline.
In the eleventh century, when the cardinals began to be the Pope’s closest collaborators in the government of the Church, the functions formerly belonging to the Presbyterate and the Roman synods—which, although they did not disappear entirely, were nevertheless largely deprived of authority—were almost completely transferred to a new and highly important body, the Consistory (Consistorium). Composed entirely of cardinals, it became from then onward the place where all cases of an exclusively or predominantly spiritual character were dealt with. The importance attributed to this high council of prelates is demonstrated by the frequency of its meetings, which, having already been fixed at once a month by Alexander III, were increased under the pontificate of Innocent III to as many as three times a week (PL. 214, 80–81).
For contentious and criminal cases, from the time of Alexander III, the so-called Auditorium Papae operated alongside the Consistory; in it are to be found the earliest traces of the tribunal of the S. Romana Rota (v.). The activity of the Church could not, however, be exhausted by the even intensive work of the bodies so far considered. Indeed, as early as the fourth century, there existed an office whose employees, the notari, were responsible for drafting, dispatching, and preserving papal letters and acts. Probably established as a particular section of the papal archive (serinium), this office gradually assumed an increasingly organized form, eventually becoming the Papal Chancery (v.), Apostolic Dataria (v.) was then gradually constituted between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Among the oldest dicasteries of the C. Romana must Apostolic Camera (v.), entrusted with the administration of the Church’s property and becoming, in the fifteenth century, the unquestionably most important institution of the C.
Alongside the development and consolidation of these offices, and beside the Consistory, the pontiffs from time to time appointed commissions of cardinals to entrust them with the handling of special matters. These were always temporary institutions, however, and thus, once their tasks had been completed, they automatically ceased to exercise the authority with which they had been invested. Nevertheless, the ever-widening spiritual and political relations of the Holy See with the Catholic nations, together with the inadequacy of a single body upon which the entire mass of affairs arising from those relations was concentrated, made the Popes feel, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the urgent need to create, as a relief to the Consistory, permanent bodies with which responsibility for governmental affairs could be shared. From these bodies arose the Roman Congregations (v.), later established by Sixtus V in the midst of his general reorganization of the C., carried out through the famous constitution Immensa aeterni Dei of 22 January 1588, which fixed their number at fifteen, including the five already in existence. Paul IV had already turned his attention to a reform, above all a moral one, of the C. by establishing, in January 1556, a special Congregation for the reform of the C., composed of 62 members, later increased to 144, and divided into three classes, each presided over by a cardinal (Pastor, VI, p. 429 ff.). With the new organization of Sixtus V, which crowned the noble efforts pursued unsuccessfully in this direction by Paul IV in 1556 and by Pius V in 1566, the C. Romana began to become that vast and delicate complex of governmental institutions which, thanks also to the substantial contributions of subsequent Pontiffs, it still presents today.
Nevertheless, the succession of all the institutions that flourished after the Sistine reform until almost the end of the nineteenth century, while on the one hand helping to introduce into the Church’s government the order necessary for handling the affairs of the pontiffs’ spiritual and temporal administration, on the other created, through reciprocal interference, considerable confusion in the functions of each. Although precise measures aimed at eliminating this problem were issued over the course of time, such as those promulgated by Innocent XII in 1592 and by Clement XIII in 1759, it was necessary to wait until Pius X for the implementation of a further reform of the C. Romana, intended, among other things, to regulate the sphere of competence of each dicastery. This reform, carried out by the constitution Sapienti consilio of 29 June 1908, clearly delimited the powers of the individual dicasteries, separated administrative matters from strictly judicial ones, restored the two tribunals of the S. Romana Rota and the Apostolic Signatura, which had fallen into decline after 1870, suppressed certain Congregations, and established new ones.
The Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Benedict XV in 1917, substantially accepted the Pius reform, incorporating it into cann. 242–64. The only significant innovations subsequently introduced were the establishment of Church (v.) and of the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities (v.), by Benedict XV himself, and the suppression of the Congregation of the Index, whose functions were transferred to the S. Office. The C. Romana therefore currently consists of eleven Congregations (to which, however, the Congregation of the Rev. Fabbrica di S. Pietro must be added as a twelfth, although it is omitted by the Code), three tribunals, and six offices.
BIBLI: J. Simier, La Curie Romaine; notes historiques et canoniques, Parigi 1909; F. M. Cappello, De C. Romana iuxta reformationem a Pio X sapientissime inductam, Roma 1911-1912; A. Monin, De C. Romana, eius historia ac hodierna disciplina iuxta reformationem a Pio X inductam, Lovanio 1912; E. Ruck, Die Organisation der Römischen Kurie, Tubinga 1913; G. J. Ebers, Der Papst und die Römische Kurie, Paderborn 1916; D. Grisar, Compendium historiae Curiae Romanae, Roma 1937; K. Jordan, Die Entstehung der Römischen Kurie, in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtssgeschichte. Kanonistische Abteilung, 28 (1939), pp. 97-152; N. Del Re, La C. Romana, Roma 1941; P. Torquebiau, s. V. in DDC, IV, coll. 971-1008.
Niccolò Del Re
II. DIOCESAN CURIA
This is constituted by the group of administrative or judicial offices (as a rule, all non-beneficial: V. BENEFICIO) that assist the bishop, or whoever acts in his place, in the government of the entire diocese (CIC, can. 363). Similarly, a curia may exist in territorial jurisdictions parallel to dioceses, such as apostolic vicariates and prefectures, prelatures, or nullius abbeys (in these jurisdictions, however, the curia may be absent or constituted in a more limited form).The diocesan curia may be considered as consisting of two sections, one for administrative matters and the other for judicial affairs.
The administrative section includes:
a) the vicar general (v. VACARIO), when one exists; indeed, in that case he is, as it were, its head, even though he remains strictly dependent upon the bishop; b) the chancellor, with the functions of archivist and notary; and, where applicable, a vice-chancellor or vice-archivist, as well as other notaries, who may exceptionally also be laypersons (cann. 372–384; V. ARCHIVIO); c) the synodal examiners (v.) and the consultor pastors (v. PARROCO).
INNOCENTIAN CURIA - Palazzo Montecitorio, formerly the seat of the c. i. Bernini, Mattia De Rossi, C. Fontana (1650–94) - Rome.
may be assisted by one or more vice-officials (v. TRIBUNALE); and also the other members of the tribunal, namely: promoter of justice (v.), the defender of the bond (v.), the notary or recording clerk (v. NOTAIO), who is not infrequently the same person as the chancellor, the cursors (v.), and the apparitors.
The diocesan c. does not include, although they participate in the governance of the diocese, either the cathedral Chapter (v. CAPITOLO) or the college of diocesan consultors (v. CONSULTORI DIOCESANI).
For the history of the diocesan c., V. the entries referred to above.
III. PALATINE CURIA
For this, which is the curia of the Palatine Ordinary, V. PALATINE, CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.IV. C. GENERALIZIA. — In many male religious orders (v.), especially clerical ones, the office of the superior general, together with the religious assigned to it, is usually called the general curia.