HIERARCHIA CATHOLICA. – A title given by the Conventual Franciscan friar C. EUBULO (v.) to his critical collection of chronological episcopal lists of all Catholic sees. The author chose 1198 as his starting point, the year in which the continuous series of the Vatican Registers and the Regesta Pontificum Romanorum from the year 1198 to 1305 (2 vols., Berlin 1873–75) by A. Potthast begins. Initially, Fr. Eubel intended to cover only the Middle Ages, but he and his collaborators, to the benefit of scholars, extended the chronological boundaries, and Volume V, now in preparation, will bring the episcopal lists up to 1730. This is a work of great scholarly value, though susceptible to improvement in certain details, based on archival sources, especially the Vatican Archives. It definitively replaces, for the period it covers, the more schematic and in many parts outdated work of P. B. Gams (v.), *Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro Apostolo* (Ratisbon 1873, supplement, ibid. 1886, anastatic reprint, Leipzig 1931), which was compiled solely from printed works, such as, for example, the *Gallia christiana* (v.) for France and the *Italia sacra* (v.) for Italy. Four volumes have been published to date:
I. *H. C. Medii Aevi sive Summorum Pontificum, S. R. E. Cardinalium, Ecclesiarum Antistitum series ab anno 1198 usque ad annum 1431 perducta. E documentis tabularii praesertim Vaticani collecta, digesta, edita* (1st ed., Münster in V. 1898; 2nd ed., ibid. 1913).
II. *H. C. ... ab anno 1431 usque ad annum 1503 perducta* (1st ed., ibid. 1901; 2nd ed., ibid. 1914). These first two volumes are the work of Eubel.
III. *H. C. Medii et recentioris Aevi ... Saeculum XVI ab anno 1503 completens* (1st ed., ibid. 1910); the volume begun by Fr. G. Van Gulik was completed by Eubel (2nd ed., ibid. 1923, edited by L. Schmitz-Kallenberg).
IV. *H. C. ... a pontificatu Clementis Papae VIII (1592) usque ad pontificatum Alexandri Papae VII (1667)* (ibid. 1935), the work of Fr. Conventual P. Gauchat.
V. In preparation, by Frs. Conventuals R. Ritzler and P. Sefrin; will cover the period from 1667–1730.
Each volume is divided into two parts: the first devoted to popes and cardinals, arranged by their creation under each pope, by their titular churches, and by their surnames, with various annotations in the footnotes; the second part is devoted to bishops, whose dioceses are arranged in alphabetical order by their Latin curial names. Each name is accompanied by the dates of appointment (in the case of translation or removal) and of death, with references to archival sources, and in their absence, references to Gams; other brief but valuable information is provided in the footnotes. Each volume includes at least three appendices: the *Provinciale sive conspectus provinciarum per catholici orbis terrarum situs ac regiones dispositus*, for the period covered by the volume; an index of dioceses in the vernacular; and a list of “auxiliaries or vicars general in pontifical functions”; “addenda et corrigenda.”
Volume III contains an interesting appendix, *De Camera et Apostolica et S. Collegii Cardinalium* (pp. 81–88), and Volume IV includes an index of bishops’ surnames.
It is clear that in such a vast work errors and defects may be found, but taken as a whole it is an indispensable aid for scholars and does credit to the Order of the Conventual Franciscans, which promoted and continues to support II.
**