Possessio, Presa di

POSSESSIO, Presa di. - It is one of the subsequent acts by which canonical provision is carried out.

I. GENERAL CONCEPT

In order to prevent harmful uncertainties in the fulfillment of duties and in the exercise of rights inherent in an ecclesiastical benefice, office or dignity, canon law generally provides for a rite of investiture, called institutio corporalis or missio in possessionem (can. 1443 § 2), to which in many cases it subordinates the very juridical efficacy of the subsequent acts or at any rate their legitimacy, according to the particular norms in force in the various places. To the act of investiture there corresponds on the part of the titular the so-called taking of possession. The principle that no one in the Church may by his own authority occupy an office, a dignity or a benefice, even though he has a title to it, is undisputed in doctrine and is implicitly sanctioned in can. 2394, which imposes grave penalties against arbitrary occupiers. But as regards benefices it is also explicitly expressed in can. 1443, where it is further specified that only the local Ordinary may hand over possession, unless the matter concerns benefices customarily conferred by the pope in consistory, for which the missio in possessionem is reserved to the Holy See, according to the special norms established by the CIC. For simple offices or non-beneficial dignities the general law does not provide for a true and proper taking of possession, so that a vicar general, a diocesan chancellor or a parish consultor has full enjoyment of his office from the moment of appointment: but if no rite of installation is prescribed, the principle that subordinates the exercise of the new functions and their beginning to the competent authority is not for that reason set aside.

For the taking of possession of common benefices there exists no form determined by a general law, but can. 1444 requires Ordinaries to observe the rite which the particular norms or customs prescribe in the various places; the same canon, however, authorizes a derogation for a just cause. In such a case the bishop issues an express dispensation which substitutes for the taking of possession to all effects according to the various cases contemplated in cann. 81, 82, 291. When this is instead carried out in the ordinary forms, the bishop sets beforehand, if not already fixed by law, the term within which it must take place; the illegitimate non-observance of the term renders the benefice ipso facto vacant and the candidate's title null (can. 1444). The titular of the benefice has the faculty, if absent or impeded, to delegate for the taking of possession a priest furnished with a special mandate (can. 1445), but he cannot delegate to him the task of making the profession of faith which is often prescribed as a preliminary act of possession (can. 1406), since such profession is always reserved to the person of the titular (can. 1407).

A particular form is established for the taking of possession of bishops, apostolic administrators, coadjutor and auxiliary bishops. For the former, the possession of the diocese takes place with the presentation of the apostolic letters of appointment, made to the Chapter of the cathedral church and recorded in a special minute by the capitular secretary or by the chancellor of the Curia (can. 334 § 3); the time allowed for such act is fixed at four months from the appointment (can. 333). For apostolic administrators, on the other hand, and for coadjutor bishops with the right of succession or assigned to the see (cann. 313, 353 § 2), the presentation of the letters must be made to the bishop of the diocese if he is sui compio and present in the territory, and furthermore to the Chapter of the Cathedral. This suffices, at least in the present legislation, so that in case of vacancy coadjutors with succession immediately acquire the full and ordinary pastoral government of the diocese, and apostolic administrators as well as coadjutors assigned to the see continue in their functions without any further formality (can. 355 § 1). If finally the matter concerns simple auxiliaries, that is, bishops assigned to the person, the taking of possession is exhausted in the presentation of the letters made to the local bishop. Special mention deserves the taking of possession of vicars and apostolic prefects, who present the document of appointment only to the pro-vicar or pro-prefect who, in accordance with can. 309, temporarily succeed titulars deceased or impeded, and who are designated from the very first moment of the ordinary government.

The effects of the taking of possession of a benefice are fixed in can. 1472 and following. Rights and duties find therein their moment of origin, and the same powers find therein their juridical efficacy. Thus every jurisdictional act issued by the bishop before that rite is deprived of every effect (can. 334 § 2); from that rite arise the pastoral duties sanctioned in cann. 336, 338, 339, etc., as well as the episcopal privileges which are not acquired by simple appointment.

The Church protects the above-mentioned principle with grave sanctions; she strikes indeed with immediate disqualification and with other penalties the arbitrary occupier (can. 2394), just as she punishes the electors who, before the superior ratification, if required by the laws, install the elect. The usurper must in any case leave the benefice, nor may he aspire to it again if the disqualification is not dispensed. Good faith, however, can heal the illegitimacy of the possession if this lasts peacefully for three years and there has been no simony (can. 1446). The time can be interrupted by the intervention of third parties, and in such a case prescription is impossible, the possession must be judicially annulled and replaced with a new provision which will follow the ordinary norm of canonical investiture (can. 1447).

Salvatore Indelicato

II. POSSESSIO OF THE PONTIFFS

In itself the Roman Pontiff would have no need to carry out the taking of possession, inasmuch as, with the acceptance of the election, he immediately becomes bishop of Rome and successor of St. Peter in the universal government of the Church. Nevertheless, a solemn ceremony soon came into use, by which the Popes took possession of the Lateran Basilica and Palace.

The coronation (v.) of the new Pontiff was followed by a grand procession from the Vatican to the Lateran, which traveled along the via Papae, that is, to use modern topographical terminology, after crossing the Borghi, it passed before Castel S. Angelo, then took via dei Banchi Nuovi, del Governo Vecchio, passed before the Massimo and Della Valle Palaces, and the church of the Gesù, reached the magnificently adorned Campidoglio, where the senator of Rome offered the homage of the City to the new Pope; it crossed the Roman Forum, skirted the Colosseum and finally reached the Lateran. Sometimes, however, the possession was postponed for some time, as was done for the first time by Julius II. The author of the Ordo Romanus XIII (1271-76) has left a complete description of the pontifical procession. This was ordered by the prior diaconorum cum ferula. At the beginning was a horse of the Pope covered with a cloth; there followed a subdeacon with the cross, twelve standard-bearers with as many red banners, the group of lay dignitaries, the singers, the ecclesiastical dignitaries, the bishops, the archbishops and finally the group of cardinals. Surrounded by the subdeacons with the baldachin, the Pope came last. All the participants in the procession, including the Pope, were on horseback. E. S. Piccolomini (later Pius II) relates that in the procession for the coronation of Nicholas V the Most Holy Sacrament was carried, surrounded by many lights. The custom of carrying the Most Holy Eucharist was repeated also in the subsequent possessions, as is found in the possession of Leo X. All the sumptuous processions that preceded it were surpassed by that of the possession of Leo X, prepared by the Rome of the Cinquecento and described by the Florentine physician Giovanni Penni.

Along the streets traversed, the Romans spread carpets, tapestries, statues and raised triumphal arches. The Ordo XII recalls that the procession took place cum honore arcuam. The Renaissance raised arches designed by the most valiant artists, adorned with statues reproducing, according to the spirit of that time, Christian and pagan subjects. During the route, in the vicinity of the churches, the clergy prepared altars and incensed the pontiff as he passed. The same Ordo XII says that clerici omnes romani occurrunt eidem induti undecunque possunt cum turbolo. The Ordo XIII and XIV recall the custom of throwing money to the people, especially in the narrow streets, to clear the crowd. Often this custom was a cause of quarrels and sometimes even of deaths, as happened when, once the Pope had reached the Lateran, the Romans seized the horse and the baldachin. Near Monte Giordano the chief of the rabbis used to present the Code of the law to the new Pope, asking respect and protection for his people. The Pope replied that he venerated Holy Scripture, but not the rabbinic interpretation. Subsequently this custom was performed inside the bastions of Castel S. Angelo to spare the Jews the mistreatment of the Romans; then it was totally abolished. When the Pontiff reached the Lateran Basilica he was received by the cardinal archpriest and the canons: ibi ante porticum stat prior Laterani et canonici cum eorum comitiva, induti solemniter (Ordo XIII). The cardinal archpriest, in the name of the whole Chapter, addressed words of homage to the new Pope, then offered him the Crucifix to kiss.

In the same portico the Pope was made to sit or almost recline on a throne, while the verse of the canticle of Hannah was sung: suscitat de pulvere egenum et de stercore elevat pauperem. For this reason such a chair was called stercoraria and is mentioned for the first time in the Ordo XII of Cencio Camerario (end of the 12th century). Having risen, the Pope took from his camerlengo three times a handful of coins and threw them into the midst of the people, saying: argentum et aurum non est mihi ad delectationem, quod autem habeo hoc tibi do. Immediately afterwards the Pope, accompanied by the cardinals, by his court and by the Lateran Chapter, entered the church and sat on a throne prepared in the apse and admitted all the canons to the kiss of the foot. From the 15th century onward the documents speak of a blessing to the people that the Pope would have given at this moment in the Basilica, but it is not mentioned in the Ordines. Once this ceremony was finished, the solemn possession of the Lateran Palace began. The Pope entered it from the Basilica and was received by a group of nobles and dignitaries who accompanied him through the palace as far as the oratory of St. Sylvester. In the subsequent period, as Burchard attests, he was conducted into the hall of the Council adorned with a central tribune where the cardinals renewed to the Pontiff the laudes already sung at St. Peter's. The oratory of St. Sylvester was located on the first floor of the Lateran Palace. In the oratory itself there were two porphyry seats. The new Pontiff sat first on the one on the right: the prior of the basilica of St. Lawrence in Palatio (today the oratory of the Scala Santa) gave him the ferula, a kind of staff, signum regiminis et correctionis, and at the same time handed him the keys of the Lateran Basilica and Palace. Then the Pope rose and went to sit on the other seat placed on the left. Shortly thereafter the same prior girded the Pope with a red silk belt, from which hung a small purse containing twelve seals of precious stones and a small vial of musk. Finally the Pontiff went to St. Lawrence in Palatio, where he remained in brief prayer. When this was finished, he returned to the oratory of St. Sylvester where he distributed the presbyterium, that is, a gift to the clergy in coins or in gold and silver medals. The whole ceremony of the possession was closed by the banquet, at which, before the 16th century, Pope, cardinals and bishops sat in sacred vestments. At other times the Pope preferred to be alone, and then the tables were set in the halls of the canons, as happened for the possession of Innocent VIII.

The solemn cavalcade remained in force until Pius VI. Pius IX took possession of the Lateran on 8 Nov. 1846 in a carriage, preceded and followed by a procession of dignitaries on horseback. The possession was not repeated after the occupation of Rome in 1870. After the Conciliation, Pius XI, having gone to the Lateran in a private capacity, took official possession in a rather simple form (1929). Pius XII, on the feast of the Ascension in 1939, took possession of the Lateran in solemn form, but with greatly reduced formalities. He closed the ceremony with the blessing to the Roman people from the loggia of the main façade of the Basilica.

III. POSSESSIO OF THE CARDINALS

After the creation of the cardinals, the pope assigns to each one his titular church. For cardinal bishops the taking of p. takes place in a manner identical to that of bishops. Cardinal priests and cardinal deacons have iura pontificalia in their titles, but they cannot exercise jurisdiction over the faithful.

The ceremony of the p. may have had its origin in the solemn reception that the clergy and the parish people of the respective title paid, from the 4th century onward, to the newly ordained priest on the Saturday of the September "Ember days." Once the Ordination had taken place, the clergy and the people of the title would lead the priest in triumph to his own see. The newly elected walked on a white horse, covered with a white cloth. During the procession, the singers performed the laudes of the consecration of the pope. The feast closed with a solemn banquet. In the Middle Ages, since it was the common opinion that the titular churches were to be considered as the dioceses of the cardinal priests and deacons, with their own clergy and people (v. TITOLI), the taking of p. by them took place like the taking of p. of bishops, with the necessary variations. The same was repeated in the Renaissance and afterward (cf. Sixtus V, const. Religiosa Sanctorum, a. 1587). At present the p. of the cardinalitial title takes place in private form or in solemn form. In the private form the rector of the titular church, in cotta, receives the cardinal at the door of the titular church, handing him the aspergillum for the sprinkling of those present. There follows the visit to the Blessed Sacrament and to the patron saint of the church. Having gone into the sacristy, the bull of appointment is read and the clergy present give an act of obedience. After an exchange of speeches between the rector and the cardinal, the act of the p. is signed. In the solemn form, on the other hand, the cardinal, accompanied by some prelates, goes in solemn form to his title, where he is received by the rector in cope and by all the clergy. At the entrance he kisses the Crucifix, presented to him by the same rector; then he sprinkles those present and is incensed three times by the rector. A small procession is formed which leads the cardinal to the altar of the Blessed Sacrament for a brief prayer. Then the cardinal goes to the throne and there listens to the reading of the bull of appointment. There follows the act of homage and obedience of the clergy, after which the rector gives an address, which is followed by the cardinal's reply. The ceremony is closed by the singing of the Te Deum and by the blessing imparted by the new titular cardinal. In the sacristy or in another hall the act of the p. is signed.