CONCISTORIAL OPTION. — The concistorial option is a request that cardinals may make in consistory, that is, before the Holy Father and their colleagues, to pass from one to another of the three Orders (deacons, priests, and bishops) into which the Holy College is divided (cf. can. 231), or from one title or diaconia to another within the same Order (can. 236 § 1). For the concistorial option to take effect, it must be approved by the pope, and the cardinals must observe seniority of Order and of promotion. Transfer to the Order of priests may moreover be obtained only after ten years have elapsed among the cardinal deacons (can. 236 § 1 and the decree Sanctissimus of Clement VIII of 18 Aug. 1597: CIC, Fontes, I, Rome 1923, p. 351).
The concistorial option of the suburbicarian episcopal sees is reserved to cardinal priests who are present in the curia at the time the suburbicarian episcopal see becomes vacant, or who are absent on an assignment entrusted to them by the Supreme Pontiff (cf. can. 236 § 3 and the constitution Pastorale officium of Clement XII of 10 Jan. 1731, 68; CIC, Fontes, I, cited ed., p. 643). This option may be made only once, since cardinals to whom a suburbicarian see has been assigned are expressly forbidden to opt for another one (cf. can. 236 § 4 and the cited constitution). It should be noted that the suburbicarian episcopal see of Ostia is combined with the suburbicarian episcopal see already belonging to the cardinal who becomes dean of the Holy College (cf. can. 236 § 4 and the constitution Romani Pontificis of Benedict XIII of 7 Sept. 1724, § 8; CIC, Fontes, I, p. 507; motu proprio Edita nobis of Pius X of 5 May 1914; CIC, Fontes, III, cited ed., p. 830, and the constitution Ex actis of Benedict XV of 1 Feb. 1915; CIC, Fontes, III, p. 846). The suburbicarian cardinal bishop does not use the formula « Dei et Apostolicae Sedis gratia episcopus », proper to bishops, but rather: « Miseratione divina episcopus », since it was not the Holy See that granted him the episcopal see; he himself obtained it by means of his concistorial option. Once the option has been made and accepted, the opting cardinal has precedence in the new Order over all the other cardinal priests who were invested with the purple after him (can. 236 § 2).
It must be inferred from the CIC that at present the possibility of opting is reserved solely to cardinals. Indeed, can. 396 § 2 prohibits opting for dignities in the Chapters both of cathedral churches and of collegiate churches, while preserving their founding law. However, even if the right of option belongs to them by virtue of that law, a capitular who has retired with a pension can never exercise it (cf. can. 422 § 3).
The first papal document in which this option is mentioned is the constitution Cum venerabiles of Paul IV of 22 Aug. 1555 § 1 (Bullarium Romanum, VI, Turin 1860, p. 502). Other provisions relating to the concistorial option are found in the constitution Postquam of Sixtus V dated 3 Dec. 1586, §§ 7 and 8 (cited work, p. 538), and in the aforementioned constitutions of Clement VIII, Clement XII, Benedict XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV.