The conferral of dignities is likewise reserved to the Holy See (can. 396, § 1). Canonships and minor benefices, whether of the cathedral or collegiate churches, are filled by appointment made by the bishop after consulting the interested chapter (can. 394, § 2). For the provision of the offices of theological canon and penitentiary canon, in Italy and adjacent islands, the form of competition prescribed by the constitution *Pastoralis officii* of 19 May 1725 is obligatory; this constitution retains its full force even after the *Codex Iuris Canonici* (can. 399, § 2). The right of passing by option (*ius optionis*) from one office to another, or from one dignity to another (a right introduced by custom around the 12th century), is abolished unless authorized by the law of foundation (can. 396, § 2).
4. Nor does the patrimonial organization differ substantially from the historical traditional system. The income of a canonical benefice is usually derived from three distinct sources: the prebend, the ordinary distributions, and the
The C. can be organized either with distinct prebends to be drawn from distinct benefices, or with a common fund, that is, with indistinct prebends to be drawn from a common patrimony. In either case, alongside the so-called large (or main) fund, which is the property of the corporate body C., intended for chapter expenses and, in the remainder, for supplementary allowances in favor of the members of the C., there must exist the so-called small fund, resulting from autonomous assets, or, failing these, compulsorily constituted by the setting aside of one-third of the benefice revenues (called in this case the third of the council, because introduced by the Council of Trent), the fruits of which are intended to ensure the ordinary daily distributions, consisting of attendance quotas assigned as a reward to canons actually present in choir or deemed present by right if legitimately absent. By virtue of the right of accretion, such quotas automatically increase by the quotas (fallentiae) not enjoyed by illegitimately absent members (cc. 394 § 3, 395). If it is exceptionally impossible to constitute the small fund for distributions, the Code provides for the creation of a compensation system, consisting of pecuniary fines corresponding, in the case of negligence, to the amount of the distributions that would be lost (cc. 395, § 2).
A different category consists instead of the distributions *inter praesentes*, which derive neither from the benefice nor from the fund, but are constituted either by the revenues of special foundations (fixed distributions) or by the uncertain proceeds of extraordinary functions and services (occasional distributions) and are divided among those actually present (cc. 420, § 2). The calculation of absences is handled by the *punctatores* elected for this purpose by the C., to whom the bishop may add a controller (cc. 395, § 4).
5. The hierarchical functions belonging to the C. as such represent the exercise of its rights and duties as an autonomous corporation for the purpose of worship and as the diocesan senate. As an autonomous corporation (v. AUTONOMIA), it has the right to regulate its own activity through statutes, recognized by common law as juridical norms of particular law, and to deliberate, in ordinary and extraordinary meetings, on matters within its competence (cc. 410, 411). If a parish cure of souls is attached to the chapter church in such a way that habitual cure belongs to the C., the actual cure, that is, the effective performance of parochial functions, is entrusted to a curate vicar, who may also not be a member of the C. (cc. 402, 415).
As a corporation, the C. is obliged to assist the bishop when he functions solemnly in the city and its suburbs (cc. 412) on certain days (cc. 414).
As the diocesan senate, finally, the functions of the cathedral chapter vary depending on whether the episcopal see is full, vacant, or impeded. In a full see, the C. represents an advisory body that the bishop is obliged to consult in matters of greater importance, in some of which with merely consultative efficacy (cc. 386 § 1, 388, 394 § 3, 403, 406, 1234 § 1, 1428), and in others with binding efficacy (cc. 394 § 2, 712 § 2, 1541 § 2 n. 2, etc.). In a vacant see, due to death, resignation, transfer, or deprivation of office, if the Holy See has not otherwise provided, the government of the diocese belongs to the C., which, within eight days of receiving notice of the vacancy, must elect a capitular vicar to exercise in its name a large part of the ordinary powers of the bishop (v. VICARIO CAPITOLARE). In the case of an impeded see, that is, in the case of imprisonment, relegation, exile, or inability of the bishop such that he cannot communicate with the diocese even by letter, the succession of the C. and the appointment of the capitular vicar will likewise take place, but only when the vicar general or a delegate specially appointed by the bishop is lacking and the Holy See has not otherwise provided, or when both the vicar general and the bishop’s delegate are themselves impeded (cc. 429).
6. The laws abolishing ecclesiastical property had suppressed collegiate chapters in Italy, with the exception of the chapters of the city of Rome and the suburbicarian sees, and, in the preserved cathedral chapters, had suppressed lay ecclesiastical patronage canons, as well as canons existing beyond the number of six (law of 15 Aug. 1867, no. 384, art. 1 n. 2, art. 6; law of 11 Aug. 1870, no. 5784, art. 8); the same cathedral chapters had moreover been subjected to the fiscal regime common to other preserved entities (conversion of immovable goods, extraordinary tax of 30%, contribution quota and tax on the transfer of usufruct), and canonical provision to individual canonries had been subjected to the modalities of *placet* and *executur*.
The Concordat of 11 Feb. 1929, although not expressly recognizing juridical personality to collegiate chapters and other ecclesiastical entities already suppressed, contemplates the possibility of such recognition to be granted by decree of the Head of State, after hearing the opinion of the Council of State, upon request of the legal representative of the entity, accompanied by the canonical decree of erection and other documents demonstrating the necessity and evident utility of the entity and the sufficiency of its means (Concordat, art. 29, d. 7; law of 27 May 1929, art. 3). It also abolishes the *placet* and *executur* and any form of state interference in the provision of canons, save for the *privilegium praesentationis* recognized to the Head of State for the appointment to the canons of the basilica of the Pantheon in Rome.
II. RELIGIOUS CHAPTER
The religious chapter must be distinguished from the canonical chapter; it is the representative assembly of the members of an Order or of a religious Congregation, which is periodically convened for the election of major superiors and for the discussion of important matters. Depending on whether the assembly gathers the representatives of the entire religious institution or only those of a territorial portion of it, the chapter will be called general, provincial, or local. Every chapter always possesses dominative power in accordance with its own statutes and common law; chapters of exempt clerical religious institutes, moreover, possess ecclesiastical jurisdiction both for the internal and external forum (cc. 501, § 1).III. CHAPTER HOUSE
In monasteries the chapter (or chapter house) is the room intended for the meetings of the monks to discuss matters concerning the community; in cathedrals it is for the meetings of the canons.As a rule, the chapter (which is a square or rectangular hall, almost always vaulted, with masonry seating or wooden stalls along the sides) is situated immediately after the sacristy, on the side of the cloister normal to the axis of the church and near the choir. The hall has, in the wall facing the cloister, a door and two large windows (paired or with mullions), very often with a sill very high from the ground, and sometimes has smaller windows on the opposite side.
In monasteries of the Romanesque and Gothic periods, in France,
In Germany and in those of Italy that are most influenced by architectural currents from beyond the Alps (e.g., in the Cistercian abbeys of Fossanova, Casamari, and S. Galgano), the chapter houses appear as halls divided into two or three small naves covered by ribbed vaults (with or without ribs) that rest on one, two, or more columns or piers. When in Italy, especially during the 14th century, Gothic forms were reworked according to our artistic sensibility, and thus in the Renaissance, even in chapter houses there was a tendency toward a more unified sense of space through the elimination of piers and columns and by altering proportional relationships. See, for example, the chapter house of S. Maria Novella in Florence, from the mid-1300s, decorated with famous frescoes.
IV. THE CHAPTER HOUSE IN LITURGY
This term also refers to a short scriptural verse (Lectio brevis) recited in the canonical hours after the psalms. This brief reading, already found in the Rule of St. Benedict (chapters 10–18), replaced in monasteries the ancient reading of an entire chapter from the Rule itself in the second part of the hour of Prime; at the beginning of Compline, however, an ascetic or hagiographic reading is used instead.In the Mozarabic Mass, it serves as the introduction to the singing of the “Pater noster”; in ancient usage, it sometimes denotes the Prayer of the Mass (e.g., Pope Vigilius, Epistle to Profuturus).