PRELATO (Prae-latus, antistes, praesul). — A person superior to others in dignity. In current canon law, in the strict sense, it designates members of the secular or regular clergy possessing jurisdiction in the external forum; in the broad sense, clerics endowed with this title by the Holy See honoris causa (can. 110). A prelature is the dignity of a p. (praesulis dignitas) or the territory in which quasi-episcopal jurisdiction is exercised. A distinction is made between major p., namely cardinals (v.), bishops (v.), and others who, by virtue of their prelatial dignity, share in the government of the universal Church (secretaries of Congregations, assessors, etc.); minor p. are: the p. nullius, with full episcopal jurisdiction; abbots (v.), possessing the use of pontifical privileges with jurisdiction; the superiors general and provincial of religious orders; vicars general and capitular; and, in a certain respect, also superiors of convents, insofar as they exercise jurisdiction, albeit very limited, external and actual, over their subjects, whom they can command and punish. In ancient times, the heads of collegiate churches and the dignitaries of Chapters were also called p.; even abbesses (v.), insofar as they presided over the government of the communities entrusted to them (in 813 by the Council of Reims and in 816 by that of Aachen, although women are incapable of true ecclesiastical jurisdiction).
As for the Roman prelatures mentioned here, they followed the vicissitudes and development of the pontifical household and the curial offices of which they formed part. Thus, there were first of all the palatine p., who had their offices and residence in the Apostolic Palace, and among whom some members of the Sacred College were also included. They were called p. of the Apostolic Camera, of the Sacred Roman Rota, of the Apostolic Signatura, etc., from their membership in these dicasteries. The pontiffs had to intervene repeatedly to regulate and limit privileges, remove abuses that had infiltrated the Roman prelature, and specify the requirements necessary for access to the prelatures. In particular, Alexander VII should be remembered, who, in the constitution Inter coeteros of 13 June 1659 (Bullarium Romanum, XVI, Turin 1869, p. 472), enumerates as necessary requirements legitimacy of birth, good conduct, an unblemished reputation, and the age of 25; for the prelature of justice, it was additionally required that one have pursued at least five years of legal studies at a university, or have obtained a degree in utroque iure, and possess annual revenues amounting to 1,500 scudi (cf. on the same subject the constitution of Pius VII, Post diuturnas, 30 Oct. 1800: Bullarium Romanum, Continuatio, VII, part 1, Prato 1850, p. 59, and the address of Leo XII to the Sacred College of 13 March 1826: cf. Moroni, XXVIII, p. 69).
In the former Papal States, purely civil offices were often entrusted to p., without their ceasing to be ecclesiastical prelatures. Indeed, when Pius IX established the Council of Ministers by the motu proprio of 12 June 1847, he reserved the dispatch of sovereign appointments of p. to the Secretariat of State, from which the letters and briefs of appointment are still issued today. At that time, the p. also included the advocate for the poor, the attorney general of the treasury, the procurator general of the treasury, and the commissioner of the Apostolic Camera, called p. of the mantellone, as well as the consistorial advocates (cf. Moroni, LV, p. 146). In addition, in the Papal States there were benefices constituted as prelatures, ordinarily under noble and familial patronage, without the care of souls, fideicommissum (v.). Italian Law no. 3848 of 15 Sept. 1867, art. 1, no. 9, suppressed them; and this suppression was extended by Law no. 1402 of 15 June 1873 also to those existing in Rome (F. Scaduto, Diritto ecclesiastico vigente in Italia, II, Cortona 1929, p. 103).
The occupation of Rome in 1870 brought disorder to many colleges of the prelature, which, in the administration of the pontifical government, were assigned to the organization of justice, finances, and other functions relating to civil government. Pius IX retained them, although they had by then become inactive. Leo XIII, in order to make use of the members of the Curia who had been left without a purpose, partially restored the functions of the auditors of the Rota and distributed the other members (about 40) among the more important cardinalitial congregations.
Pius XI’s constitution Ad incrementum of 15 Aug. 1934 (AAS, 26 [1934], pp. 497 ff.), which reorganized the Roman prelature, distinguishes two major categories of p.: those who belong to a prelatial college and are designated by the title of the college to which they belong; and those who do not belong to any college and are simply domestic p.
1. P. belonging to a prelatial college. — a) that of the archbishops and bishops assisting at the throne (v. assistenti al soglio); b) the p. called fiocchetto (vice-chamberlain, auditor and treasurer of the Apostolic Camera, majordomo: V. FAMIGLIA PONTIFICIA), who nevertheless do not constitute a prelatial college in the proper sense; c) the College of Apostolic Protonotaries de numero participantium (v. PROTONOTARI APOSTOLICI); d) that of the p. auditors of the S. R. Rota (v. ROTA, SACRA ROMANA); e) that of the clerical p. Apostolic Camera (v.); f) that of the voting p. of the Signatura, to which the referendary p. are added. This constitution of Pius XI also establishes the precedence to be observed among the various prelatial colleges; the p. fiocchetto have first place, followed immediately by the assessors and secretaries of the Roman Sacred Congregations (v.). Next comes the prelatial College of Apostolic Protonotaries de numero participantium, that of the auditors of the Sacred Roman Rota, that of the clerics of the Reverend Apostolic Camera, and that of the voters of the Signatura with the referendaries. This precedence belongs not only to the prelatial College, but also to each of its members, who precedes all those belonging to the lower College. In each individual College, the first place is held by the dean, who is primus inter pares.
The ordinary title of p., established for some time, is, in almost every case, “most illustrious and most reverend monsignor.” In the nineteenth century, the title “most reverend excellency” had gradually been introduced for p. of princely birth and for some who held the principal magistracies. The aforementioned constitution Ad incrementum establishes that, in addition to the p. fiocchetto, the assessors and secretaries of the Sacred Roman Congregations, the dean of the Sacred Roman Rota, the Master of the Chamber, and the Substitute of the Secretariat of State enjoy the title of “most reverend excellency,” while all other p. shall have only the customary title of “most illustrious and most reverend monsignor.” In his aforementioned constitution (chap. I, nos. VII–X), Pius XI describes in detail the formal dress to be used in sacred functions, while the plain dress is proper to civil ceremonies. In collegiate functions, and in papal chapels, the p. wear over the rochet the cotta or the woolen cope, with or without ermine, according to the season. During the vacancy of the See, the customary dress is worn, but in black, with a plain rochet without lace.
For the privileges enjoyed by p. in the celebration of both low and sung Mass, V. P. Martinucci, Manuale sacrarum caeremoniarum (VIII, Rome 1879–80, p. 173); for privileges of another kind, V. const. Ad incrementum, nos. XLI ff., LXXI ff., CV ff., CXXVII ff., CXLII ff.
2. P. not belonging to any prelatial College, or properly so-called domestic p. — Appointed by the Secretariat of State from among ecclesiastics particularly deserving of merit in Rome and in the various Christian countries, they have the right to wear prelatial dress; at sung and low Mass they may use the bugia. Their place in solemn papal functions is standing beside the altar, in cornu epistolae.
They are designated by the name antistites urbani or antistites domus pontificis maximi; they are also called prelates of the mantelletta, because the violet mantelletta is their distinguishing mark. They are members of the papal household, with all the prerogatives granted to this dignity. By virtue of the office itself that they hold, the archbishops and bishops assisting at the Throne, the participating apostolic protonotaries, the supernumerary apostolic protonotaries, and the protonotaries ad instar are domestic prelates; likewise, those who, before their appointment as protonotaries, were appointed by brief as domestic prelates; the prelates belonging to the colleges of the prelature; and the archbishops and bishops who obtained this concession before their promotion. Domestic prelates ad instar, durante munere, are the canons of the Primatial Church of Pisa, the dignitaries of the Metropolitan Chapter of Catania, the senior among the canons of the very distinguished Basilica of S. Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome, the archpriest of the Chapter of SS. Celso e Giuliano in Rome, and the auditors of the Tribunal of the Rota of the Apostolic Nunciature of Spain.