LIMINA APOSTOLORUM. — All residential bishops are bound to visit, at fixed periodic intervals, the tombs (limina) of the Apostles and to present themselves to the successor of Peter.
This practice has a very ancient origin, dating back to the earliest Christian centuries. At first it was a manifestation of devotion toward the relics of the Apostles, but as the exercise of papal authority became more clearly defined and intensified, the duty of reporting to the Supreme Pastor on the condition of one’s own flock and of receiving his appropriate directives came to prevail. Sixtus V, with the bull *Romanus Pontifex* of 20 December 1585, established this periodic visit as a juridical obligation.
The *ad limina* visits, beginning on 1 January 1911, are quinquennial and fall in the years when the bishop is required to submit to the Holy See (Sacred Consistorial Congregation) reports on the state of his diocese. The first year of each five-year period is devoted to the reports, and thus to the visits, of the bishops of Italy; the second to the bishops of Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Sweden, and Ireland; the third to the remaining bishops of Europe; the fourth to the reports of the bishops of America; the fifth to those of Africa, Asia, Australia, and adjacent islands. For bishops outside Europe, the obligation of the visit is limited to once every ten years. All are bound, unless prevented by grave impediment, to fulfill this obligation in person or through their coadjutor (canons 341–42), except for apostolic vicars, who, as missionaries and ordinarily hindered, may delegate a procurator to Rome (canon 209).