DEACON AND ARCHDEACON. - Etymologically derived from διάκονος (servant), it is today the second of the Major Orders (v. SACRED ORDER). In the Gospel this name occurs eight times and always in the sense of servant. In the technical sense of today it is attested for the first time in St. Paul (Phil. 1:1 and 1 Tim. 3:8-12). The diaconate is certainly a Sacrament, although this is not a defined matter of faith, and it is hierarchical in order.
I. INSTITUTION
The first mention of deacons in the New Testament, following the order not of the writings but of the events, occurs on the occasion of the incidents stirred up in the primitive Christian community, when it appeared that the distribution of aid to the widows and orphans was not being carried out with due impartiality. The Apostles entrusted such a task "to seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3) "and praying they laid their hands upon them" (ibid., 6:6). In this account tradition sees the accomplishment of a truly sacramental act. In fact, the handling of charitable activity does not exhaust the whole activity of the deacons: they were also helpers of the Apostles. Stephen and Philip evangelized (ibid., 6:8 ff.; 8:5; 26:40), and Philip even baptized (ibid., 8:12 ff.; 38). Beginning with St. Ignatius Martyr, the Fathers place the diaconate as the lowest of the three grades of the hierarchy of Order. St. Ignatius (Ad Trall., 2:1) calls deacons "ministers of the mysteries of God"; and he says: "let all respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, so also the bishop and the priests; without them there is no church" (ibid., 3:1).
II. RITE OF ORDINATION
Today, to be admitted to the diaconate, besides the bovum testimonium of which the Acts already speak, celibacy is also required (can. 132, 1); in the East, from the Council of Nicaea onward, only the first marriage is permitted.
It is further required that the candidate have completed his 22nd year of age (can. 975), have begun the 4th year of the theological course (can. 976 § 2) in schools approved by ecclesiastical authority and organized in accordance with can. 1365 (can. 976 § 3); that he have already been a subdeacon for three months and have exercised the Order of the subdiaconate (can. 978 §§ 1-2). To then ascend to the priesthood, an identical interval of three months must be observed, with the exercise of the Order of the diaconate (can. 978 § 2).
The rite of ordination to the diaconate is described in the Pontificale Romano (title de ordinatione diaconi). The minister of ordination is the bishop. This is the common doctrine against which difficulties are raised by the bulls Exponii of Innocent VIII of 1489 and Sacrae Religionis of Boniface IX of 1400, but the historical-theological question, still unusual, concerns the minister of the Order (v. ORDINE SACRO).
Diaconal ordination is performed, as for the other major Orders, with the imposition of hands and the episcopal prayer, in conformity with Act. 6, 1 ff. (cf. Pius XII, const. Sacramentum Ordinis, 30 Nov. 1947; AAS, 40 [1948], p. 5). From the Gallican liturgy, in the Middle Ages, the tradition of the instruments was added (stole, dalmatic, book of the Gospels); in the 14th century, following the scholastic disputations, the formula «Accipe Spiritum Sanctum ad robur et resistendum» entered the preface, that is, the consecratory prayer: hence a famous controversy over the matter and form of the diaconate, decided (loc. cit.) by Pius XII.
III. OFFICE
For the diaconate no special power to perform certain sacred actions that are exclusive to this Order is today transmitted, but the faculty is given to exercise certain sacred functions ex officio.
The proper function of the deacon was in every age that of serving the bishop (cf. St. Ignatius, Eph., 2,1; Philad., 11, 1-2) with a twofold attribution: the sacred ministry and the works of charity, in particular the care of the poor.
Soon liturgical functions were assigned to deacons: according to St. Ignatius (Trall., 2,3) "they are ministers of the mysteries of Jesus Christ... for they are not ministers of food and drink, but of the Church of God": they preach (Philad., 11,1) and, according to St. Justin (Apology, I, 65 and 67), they distribute the Eucharist, especially the Blood of Christ, and bring Holy Communion to the absent; they receive the oblations from the hands of the faithful, read the diptychs and, with the permission of the bishop, baptize, instruct the catechumens and perform exorcisms over them: from St. Cyprian (Epist., 18,1) they received the authority to readmit in case of necessity the "lapsi," at least when they could show the libellus of the confessors; this practice of reconciling was preserved for deacons until the Middle Ages (B. Bartmann, Lehrbuch der Dogmatik, II, 7th ed., Freiburg im Br. 1929, p. 409). According to the old practice the deacons were the eye of the bishop: they watched over discipline; they were his ear, to let him hear the requests and complaints of the faithful, his hand to give alms to the poor, his heart to take care of the sick and the needy (Didascalia, III, 13,7; IX, 28, 6; 44, 3 and 4). Already in the Apostolic Constitutions (2,57) the singing of the Gospel is reserved to deacons.
The care of the poor brought with it the administration of the goods of the Church.
Of the many offices of the deacon, the Roman Pontifical and the CIC have preserved three principally: to serve the priest at the altar when he celebrates solemnly or to substitute for him in certain functions, to baptize and to preach.
1. The assistance to the priest who celebrates solemnly, as his first minister, involves various duties, determined by the liturgical books, such as singing the Gospel, handing him the host at the moment of the oblation, pouring the wine into the chalice for him, handing him the monstrance at the act of the eucharistic blessing, etc. The deacon, as extraordinary minister of the Most Holy Eucharist, can substitute for the priest and distribute Holy Communion on two conditions: a) that there be a grave reason, understood in a rather broad sense, such as an illness or pressing occupations of the parish priest, etc.; b) that there be the license of the Ordinary or of the parish priest, that is, of him to whom by right it belongs to distribute Holy Communion to the faithful: which license, in case of necessity, can legitimately be presumed (can. 845 § 2). If one of these conditions were lacking, the deacon, though administering, would nevertheless not commit a grave sin and much less would he incur the irregularity referred to in can. 985 § 7.
The deacon is also a minister, together with the priest, of the exposition or reposition of the Most Holy Sacrament, but not of the blessing (can. 1274 § 2), which he can and must give only in the case that he brings Communion to the sick according to the rite prescribed in the Roman Ritual (tit. IV, cap. 4, n. 23, 36; Pont. Comm. Cod., 13 July 1930: AAS, 22 [1930], p. 365). Then, as in the ordinary case of distributing Holy Communion, he must also bless with the hand according to the prescriptions of the same Ritual (tit. IV, cap. 2, n. 10; AAS, 22 [1930], p. 365), and sprinkle with holy water at the beginning (Rit. Rom., tit. IV, cap. 4, n. 15).
These, together with the blessing of the paschal candle on Holy Saturday (cf. Missale Rom., Rubrica in Sabb. Sancto "benedictio cerei"), the exorcisms and the blessings that occur in solemn Baptism, are the only blessings expressly permitted and therefore allowed to the deacon (can. 1147 § 4).
Finally the deacon, with the license of the Ordinary or at least of the parish priest, can substitute for the priest who is lacking in conducting the funeral (Decr. authent. S. R. C., n. 3074), wearing also, as seems more probable, the pluvial. In case of particular necessity he can probably also conduct the ordinary processions according to can. 1290 § 2, under the same conditions as above (F.M. Cappello, De Sacramentis, IV, Rome 1942, n. 119).
The proper vestment of the deacon is the stole worn transversally from the left shoulder to the right side, and in a certain sense the dalmatic.
2. The deacon is extraordinary minister of Baptism
solemn, which however he cannot administer except under two conditions: a) the existence of a just cause, which need not be grave, as above for Holy Communion; b) the permission of the local Ordinary or of the parish priest, which may be presumed in case of necessity (can. 471).
In administering Baptism he must observe the rite of the Roman Ritual (tit. II, chap. 2) and perform all the ceremonies, with the exception of the blessing of the salt (loc. cit., n. 6) and of the water (Rit. Rom., tit. II, chap. 8; S. R. C., Decreta Authent., n. 3684).
3. The deacon is enabled "qua talis" for the ministry of preaching as is the priest, but he can exercise it only after a legitimate mission and permission from the competent superior (cans. 1342 § 1, 1328).
Moreover the deacon has all the privileges and all the obligations common to the other clerics; furthermore, in common with the subdeacon, he has the obligation of reciting the Divine Office (can. 135), and from celibacy there arises for him a diriment impediment with regard to Matrimony (can. 1072). The Holy See today dispenses, with less rigor than in the past, from this impediment as well, and therefore one may be dispensed from it in an urgent case and in periculo mortis according to the norm of cans. 1043-1045; not however according to the norm of can. 81 (Pont. Comm. Cod., 26 Jan. 1949: AAS, 41 [1949], p. 158).
IV. THE ARCHDEACON
1. Origins
In memory of the original institution, most Churches, beginning with that of Rome, did not at first have more than seven deacons, while there was no fixed number for priests; and at the Council of Caesarea (314), against certain abuses, it was established that there should be seven deacons in each church (can. 15). But later the Eastern Church first, as Sozomen attests (Hist. eccl., I, 15), and then the Western Church, no longer adhered to this number.
At Alexandria in the 4th century there were 9 deacons who were followers of Arius and 20 who subscribed to the decree for his deposition (PG 18, 577-81); at Edessa in 451 there were 39 deacons (Mansi, VII, 255), and at Constantinople in the 6th century there were 100 (Novellae, III, 1).
In Rome the tradition remained more constant because of the division of the city into seven regions (under Pope Fabian, 263-51, according to the Lib. Pont.), each of which was presided over by a deacon (regionarius). But here too, little by little, alongside the regionarii other deacons were appointed (stationarii, martyrarii: J. Mabillon, Museum Ital., II, Paris 1689, pp. XVII-XVIII).
It was natural that, since the administration and distribution of the Church's goods were entrusted in particular to the deacons, one among them should have the direction and direct responsibility for them, and that the others should be subject to him. Thus arose the archdeacon, who is mentioned first in the East, but who in the West assumes a broader and more clearly defined task. He arises as the bishop's trusted man in such a delicate sector; this does not mean that later he did not dare to lord it over others and seek to impose his will. Thanks to his qualities or his ascendancy, he could succeed in making his influence felt in the election of the new bishop, when the see remained vacante, in favore della propria persona o di quella da lui preferita: nei casi ordinari infatti la scelta cadeva nell'antichità o su un d. o su un prete.
The full evolution of this office took place from the 4th to the 8th century. Caecilian, later bishop of Carthage, is the first in the West to whom the title of archdeacon is applied by his biographer, Optatus of Milevis (ca. 380), while he narrates the rigorous measures taken as such to correct certain abuses during the Diocletianic persecution (De schism. Donatist., I, 16: PL 11, 916). Some other author applies the title to figures who are likewise earlier, but writes later.
S. Agostino chiama s. Lorenzo arcid. (Serm., 302, 9: PL 38, 1388). « Ducem diaconorum » è invece chiamato s. Atanasio d'Alessandria presso Teodoreto (Hist. eccl., I, 25: PG 82, 980).
Sozomen (Hist. eccl., IV, 28: ibid. 67, 1204) calls "archdeacon" the cleric who in 361 attempts to prevent the bishop St. Meletius the Great from making an orthodox profession of faith on the Trinity at Antioch, and relates that St. Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 380) appointed Evagrius archdeacon of Constantinople (op. cit., VI, 3: ibid. 67, 1384). Likewise, in the acts of the Synod "ad Quercum" (403) the accuser of St. John Chrysostom is Martyrius, former archdeacon of the Church of Constantinople (Act of accusation, no. 26: Mansi, VI, 1144; Ep. S. Ioh. Crys. ad Inn., I, 1: PG 52, 531).
The First Council of Toledo of 400 also speaks of the archdeacon (c. 20, Mansi, III, 1002), as does St. Jerome in several places in his works (Ep. 125: PL 22, 1080; Ep. 146, 1: ibid., 1194, etc.).
In the 5th century the title of archdeacon became common for many Churches, and St. Leo the Great could write that to the archdeacon of the Church of Constantinople (453) was entrusted the dispensationem totius causae et curiae ecclesiasticae (Ep. 111, 2: ibid. 54, 1021), that is, subordinate to the bishop, the whole of ecclesiastical discipline. As regards the administration of goods, entrusted to the archdeacon, his letters (492-96) bear witness to it.
Pope Gelasius, who entrusted to the archdeacon Justin, along with two others, the administration of the property of the church of Volterra, of which he had deprived Bishop Eucaristus (ibid. 59, 140-45), recalls the case of the bishop of Faieria, who had removed his archdeacon John from office in order to be able to dispose of the property more freely for his own use (ibid., 100). The case would recur under Gregory I at Salona (Ep., II, 18-20: ibid. 77, 552-65).
The care of widows and orphans entrusted to the archdeacon is recalled in the Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua (ch. 17: H. T. Bruns, Canones Apostolorum et conciliorum, Berlin 1839, I, 143) and in the Second Council of Mâcon (ch. 12: Bruns, II, 253) of 585; the care and visitation of prisoners is imposed as an obligation in the Fifth Council of Orléans ([519], ch. 20: Bruns, II, 214); while the Councils of Paris of 614 (II, chs. 7-9: Bruns, II, 257) and of Châlons-sur-Marne of 650 (ch. 7: Bruns, I, 266) impose on him, together with the bishop, the office of executor of the wills of clerics.
The education of young clerics, especially of those gathered in the "diaconate" of the episcopal city, is attested to us in various sources (cf. St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc., 10, 8: PL 71, 536; Statuta Eccl. antiqua, ch. 9: Bruns, I, 142), which together tell us the part played by the archdeacon in their ordination (Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua, chs. 5-6: loc. cit.), since admission to the Orders itself depended on his judgment (Council of Beirut [449]: Mansi, VII, 223).
Even after ordination, young clerics remained subject to the supervision of the archdeacon (Councils of Agde of 506, ch. 20: Bruns, II, 150, and of Orléans [541], ch. 26: Bruns, II, 206). The office of archdeacon was freely assigned by the bishop (Sozomen, Hist. eccl., VI, 30; 8, 9; 8, 15) and, given its importance, was often retained for life.
La promozione al presbiterato era ritenuta un'ingiuria (s. Girolamo, Comm. ad Ezech., cap. 48: PL 25, 484) e ad essa i vescovi ricorrevano, quando volevano disfarsi di un arcid. (Ep. Leonis I: ibid. 54, 1021; Ep. Gregorii M.: ibid. 77, 552 sgg.).
2. Vicar of the bishop
From the end of the 7th century the archdeacon appears increasingly as the bishop's vicar in everything concerning the government of the diocese, so much so that the Ordo Romanus, I, no. 4 (M. Andrieu, Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen âge, II, Louvain 1948, p. 68) calls the archdeacon of the Roman Church the sicarius Pontificis, and Hincmar of Reims in the 9th century names his archdeacon with the appellation commister noster (Capit. a. XII episcopatus super., chap. 1: PL 125, 793). The visitation of the diocese is entrusted to the archdeacon together with the bishop and also in his place, and it extends not only to the lower clergy, but also to the personal visitation of priests, on which various councils lay down minute prescriptions (Capit. Walteri episc. Aurelian. [871]: ibid. 119, 726-46), while Hincmar (Capit. Archidiaconibus, presbyteris data, chaps. 1-13: ibid. 125, 800) recommends to his archdeacons that they exercise with charity, but without weakness, their office of correctors.
The Ordo Romanus, inserted into the Decretals (1, X, I, 23), subjects to him all the clergy without exception, urban and rural. A text of the same period, attributed at times to a Council of Toledo (1, X, I, 24) and at times to St. Isidore (1, § 12, D. 25), states expressly that the archpriest is subject to the archdeacon; he must obey him as he would his bishop, even though he is the head of the priests (loc. cit.). The same is repeated for the primicerius (c. unic., X, I, 25), for the sacristan (c. unic., X, I, 26) and for the custodian (1, X, I, 27). With the growth of the archdeacon's power, the danger of abuses also increases. Capitularies and councils warn the archdeacon against them. Eight of the thirteen Capitularies of Hincmar mentioned above deal with this subject (chaps. 1-6, 9, 11). The office becomes desirable even to laymen, but the Capitularies hasten to bar their way to it (Capit. minor. in Theodonis villa [805], chap. 15).
3. The archdeacon prelate, who until the 9th century was a simple deacon, from that time onward was often a priest, and whereas previously there was only one for the whole diocese, from this time he lost his unity, because the Frankish sources begin to speak to us of several archdeacons in the same diocese, to each of whom a particular territory was assigned (Council of Chalon-sur-Saône [813], ch. 5; Paris [829], ch. 25).
The Germanic sources, on the other hand, speak to us of several archdeacons in the same diocese only in the 10th century, but in the 11th-12th century the division had become common (A. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, IV, Leipzig 1931, p. 11 ff.) and it is found also in England, at Canterbury (PL 214, 1029); whereas in Italy it is barely found in the 12th century. The number of archdeacons varies according to the regions. In Germany there was often one per mother parish.
In Rome the archdeacon had remained unique, and he was one of the principal figures in the college of cardinals. It is not truly known what his functions in particular were in the 11th century. Previously there is only the testimony of Pope Martin ([657], ibid., 87, 201), according to which it fell to him to hold the government during a vacant see, together with the archpriest and the primicerius of the notaries. But precisely in the 11th century we see an archdeacon of the Roman Church, even before being elected pontiff, filling the history of the Church with himself, Hildebrand.
The multiplication of archdeacons, even if not from the very beginning, soon led to the division of the diocese into districts (archdeaconries). Where the division exists, the boundaries of the archdeaconry often correspond to the boundaries of a civil district (pagus); sometimes they correspond to the deaneries, as at Basel; but ordinarily several deaneries constituted an archdeaconry, while there exist churches and monasteries that by privilege obtain exemption with their own archidiaconal rights. The name of archdeaconry, however, does not appear until the 11th century, whereas previously the term parish is found (cf. B. Guérard, Essai sur le système des divisions territoriales de la Gaule, Paris 1832, p. 93).
With the division into territories, the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, which previously was delegated ab episcopo, little by little became habitual for his own territory. On the other hand, since certain revenues were attached to the exercise of jurisdiction, there thus arose the office and benefice of archdeacon with a jurisdiction no longer delegated but ordinary. From the 11th century the office constituted one of the dignities of the Chapter of the cathedral or of a collegiate church and sometimes, as in the diocese of Salzburg, it was annexed to the care of certain parishes.
Thus, in many places, the archdeacons in the 11th-12th century were true prelates with ordinary jurisdiction in their own territory.
It followed that the archdeacons in the dioceses were ordinary judges of first instance, from whom appeal lay to the bishop. To contentious jurisdiction there corresponded a very broad administrative power (7, 9, 10, X, de officio archid., I, 23). This brought about a certain independence from the diocesan bishop, and a resistance on the latter's part to the transformation under way. In this resistance the archdeacons often also had the support of the Roman Pontiffs (c. 4-5, XI, I, 23).
Nevertheless, in the 12th century, the jurisdiction of the archdeacons became ordinary and, as ordinary, delegable. The Council of Tours of 1163 (can. 7) does not censure the archdeacons who appoint their delegates, but only because they appoint them for money.
The archdeacons, placed almost on the same level as bishops, in turn appoint their own vicars and officials (cf. St. Thomas of Canterbury, Letters, 173, 182, 189, 191, 225, 292, in Recueil des histor. des Gaules, XVI, pp. 345, 354, 360, 363, 389, 447).
With the 13th century the apex of the archdeacons' power is reached. This is visible through the councils and statutes of the time, more than through the sources of common law, which appear rather backward with respect to the existing reality (cf. 7, X, I, 23). As the gloss of the Decretals observes, custom had considerably increased the prerogatives of the archdeacons, who are no longer simple delegates (In Decret., I, I, tit. 23, c. 4, v. Consuetudinis etc.). It is superfluous to repeat their prerogatives in detail: it will suffice to emphasize some new conquest. Regarding the preparation of ordinations and of ordinands they can do everything, with the exception of dimissory letters, which are to be granted only de consensu episcopi (8, X, I, 23). Thus the supervision of the clergy extends to all, including archpriests and deans (7, X, I, 23) and, having obtained institution from the bishop, to whom they present them, they can put them in possession of any office and benefice (loc. cit.). Sometimes particular law and custom authorize the archdeacon even to override this latter exclusive right of the bishop and to put clerics in possession, episcopo irrequisito. Likewise, while common law authorized the archdeacons to install abbots and abbesses in their archdeaconry (9, X, I, 23), custom gave them the right, as at Sens, to install even bishops (cf. A. Amanieu, Archidiacre, in DDC, I, col. 969).
On the archdeacon's right to the pastoral visitation, to be carried out annually, there is by now no doubt; he ordinarily carries it out alone. The councils limit themselves to specifying and analyzing the object of the visitation or to advising the archdeacon against making it too burdensome with his retinue, with the increase of fees, etc. (cf. Third Lateran Council, a. 1179, c. 4; Fourth Lateran, a. 1215, c. 33 [6, 23, X, III, 39]).
The archdeacon had the same power in special gatherings, a kind of conference of the clergy of the archdeaconry and almost a complement of the pastoral visitation (Const. Aegidi Sarriaburieu. [1256], de Capitulis celebrandis: Mansi, XXIII, 905); thus far the archdeacon's power of jurisdiction.
Regarding the power of Order, even before the 10th century there had been examples of archdeacons ordained priests, while still retaining their office: the examples multiply from the 10th to the 12th century, but this practice never became universal, some of them protesting that receiving presbyteral ordination was not increasing the dignity of the office, but rather diminishing it (cf. Peter of Blois, Epist., 123: PL 207, 365-66). Some, moreover, did not even bother to receive the Order of the diaconate, so that many councils and finally the first three Lateran Councils (I, can. 6; II, can. 10; III, can. 3), besides prescribing the age of 25 years, had to command the archdeacon having care of souls to receive the Order of the diaconate within a year of assuming the office (23 D. 60; c. 7 X, I, 6).
All in all, at this time the archdeacon is almost solely inferior to the bishop in the power of Order; and his power is personal, no longer vicarious.
4. Decline
The danger of an excessive power of the archdeacons increased owing to the fact that the ancient free collation by the bishop had often been replaced by their designation through capitular election or royal appointment (P. Hinschius, System des Kath. Kirchenrechts, II, Berlin 1878, pp. 195 ff., 201 ff.).
It is therefore no wonder that the bishops sought to contain the excessive power of the archdeacons by various means (Council of Tours, [1239], c. 8), gradually replacing them with other ministers more dependent on their own will, because removable ad nutum, and that in this struggle of theirs they found help sought or unsought in the capitular competitions.
The Chapters cooperated alongside the bishops in eroding the dignity of the archdeacon, first containing and then seeking to undermine to their own advantage the extent of his powers in the life of the chapter and of the diocese. The thing in certain respects was also natural; once the archdeacon entered the Chapter, the other canons tend to consider him as one of their equals. Favored by discipline and by esprit de corps, the canons called into question not only the precedence that the archdeacon claimed, but the very jurisdiction of prelate, so as to reduce him to the limits of any one of them.
Regularly the archdeacons should have been the first dignities in the Chapters; but this does not happen always and everywhere. In France the Chapters generally have at their head a provost or a dean: the archdeacons thus come in second place, if not third, as at Paris and at Meaux, and sometimes even seventh, as at Chartres.
This custom, according to the canonists, was quite widespread also outside France. In Italy, for example, at Turin, at Padua and at Reggio the archdeacon was preceded by the archpriest, while at Antwerp he came third. In Spain, at Avila and at Barcelona the archdeacon is the second dignity, at Zamora the third. St. Antoninus of Florence bears witness in his time to this diversity (Summa theol. mor., part 3, tit. 19, c. 6 § 1, Venice 1571, p. 345). This determination of precedence is often the fruit of struggles, in which the archdeacon, as is evident, not seldom remains the loser.
Abbots too seek to make their monasteries ever more independent of the power of the archdeacons (cf. M. Quantin, Cartulaire général de l'Yonne, Auxerre 1854, p. 102 ff., n. 235).
But more than these clashes, so to speak, based on reservations and compromises, it was the creation, on the part of the bishops, of vicars general, for the ordinary government of the diocese, and of officials for the administration of justice, that gave the strongest impulse to the decline of the archdeacons' power.
The archdeacons, in fact, had transformed themselves from vicars of the bishops into ordinary prelates, acting on their own account and no longer as delegates, in a part of the territory of the diocese. The bishop had practically remained without help at a moment when the affairs of the diocese were multiplying and the rebirth of law demanded in the episcopal curia the presence of a legal expert.
Between the 15th and 16th century the decline of the archdeacon becomes more marked and in the 16th century he no longer exists, except as a capitular dignity, and the common law concerning him is no longer applied. M. Navarro (Manuale confessariorum, cap. 25, n. 136) said he did not know in Spain any archdeacon to whom the texts of the Decretals could be applied.
5. From the Council of Trent to the Code
This slow disintegration of the archdeacon's powers had its epilogue in the Council of Trent, which withdrew from his jurisdiction matrimonial and criminal cases of clerics (Sess. XXIV, c. 20 de ref.), especially the cases of concubinous clerics: indeed it even took away the power to excommunicate and to visit the diocese (Sess. XXV, c. 3 de ref.). And even where particular law recognized in archdeacons the right of visitation, the Council specified that it had to be exercised personally and with the authorization of the bishop, to whom an account had to be rendered (loc. cit.).
Therefore, after the Council of Trent, which had nevertheless highly praised the merits of the archdeacon (Sess. XXIV, c. 12 de ref.), this office, emptied of every power of jurisdiction, was reduced to a mere honorary dignity in Chapters (cf. S. C. C., 23 Jan. 1598; 4 May 1726); often it is the first dignity, but at other times it must yield precedence to the provost or more rarely to the archpriest.
The attributions of the archdeacon, observed Benedict XIV, were reduced to assisting the bishop in sacred ordinations (Const. Ex quo dilectus, 14 Jan. 1747; Bullarium, IV, Malines [1826], p. 369 ff.); and this corresponds with what the Sacred Congregation of Rites had decided for pontifical functions in general.
6. Current discipline
The CIC does not even speak of the archdeacon. It does not speak of him when, in can. 217 § 1, it recommends to the bishop to divide his diocesan territory into regions or districts, containing several parishes, although it sets no limit to the variety of names by which they may be called, especially in view of historical designations. It does not speak of him when it treats of capitular dignities, respecting the variety of names and the hierarchy of precedence that the development of the centuries has established in each Chapter. But it is natural that the canons concerning capitular dignities apply to the archdeacon, a capitular dignity, wherever he exists, whether regarding erection (can. 391 § 1), or regarding collation (can. 396 § 1, 1435 § 1), the right of option (can. 396 § 1), the requirements (can. 396 § 3), the rights and duties (cann. 397, 405, 408), relations with the Chapter (cann. 393 § 2; 411 § 3), obligations (cann. 1406 § 1 n. 5, § 2; 410 § 1; 2403), exemptions (can. 416), and distributions (can. 395 § 3). And it is likewise natural that those norms which concern the first capitular dignity (can. 396 § 3) apply in particular, wherever the archdeacon truly is such. Like any other dignity, that of archdeacon can be revived where it existed, by the bishop himself with the consent of the Chapter, without need of recourse to the Apostolic See (can. 394 § 1). In the Roman Pontifical the assisting priest who presents the candidates for ordination and to whom the interrogation concerning their fitness for the Order is addressed is still today called archdeacon (Pont. Rom., tit. de ordinatione diaconi, presbyteri, etc.).
On the right of precedence, a response of the Sacred Congregation of the Council after the CIC clarifies that always and in every case the right of precedence over the archdeacon or over the other capitular dignities belongs to the vicar general « etiam in choro et actibus capitularibus... est interveniat non ut vicarius et in habitu vicariali, sed ut canonicus et in habitu canonici » (Cuneem. et Utineu., praecedentiae, 17 May 1919; H. Ferretti, De iure praecedentiae Vicarii generalis super clero dioecesis..., Rome 1919, p. 3). - See plate XCIV.
Bibliography25 works
Pietro Palazzini