PRIMATIAL SEE. - It is that cathedral church over which presides a bishop adorned with the title of primate over a determined region. As such the primate precedes the other metropolitans, archbishops and bishops of the country, included within his own circumscription.
In historical sources, primates are sometimes called in a generic sense the ecclesiastical superiors (Mansi, XXI, 121).
I. HISTORICAL NOTES
In the 4th century the title of primate is often attributed to the bishop of Carthage, who exercised a true jurisdiction over the whole of Africa. In fact the Primus Cartaginensis convoked general councils in Africa and presided over them (cf. the Carthaginian councils held from 407 onward); he reviewed the provincial councils at these general councils; he indicated to the other bishops the day for the celebration of Easter; he settled disputes concerning metropolitans (cf. Hefele-Leclercq, I, pp. 1199-1200). This jurisdiction came to an end with the decline of the African Church, and from 1076 no further mention is made of it.
The other primates in the West probably originate from the appointment, made by the Roman Pontiffs from the 4th century onward, of certain metropolitans (especially Arles and Thessalonica) as their vicars. The powers, granted originally to the person, ended by being attached to the see, and in this way, with the implicit or explicit recognition of the Roman Pontiffs, the primatial sees arose of Arles, of Bordeaux, of Lyons (6th century) in Gaul; of Canterbury in England (7th century); of Armagh in Ireland (8th century); of Mainz, Salzburg (8th century) in Germany, of Toledo in Spain; of Venice for Dalmatia (15th century), of Gran (Esztergom) in Hungary; of Pisa for Sardinia; of Malines in Belgium (16th century). The rights of primates, which moreover were not always and everywhere uniform, were those of consecrating metropolitans or bishops, of visiting dioceses, of receiving appeals, etc. In France, although the primatial sees were suppressed by the Concordat of 1801, the title of primate has nevertheless remained with the archbishop of Lyons. In the East the title of primate corresponds to that of exarch (v.).
II. CURRENT LAW
The Roman Pontiff, who is the head of the whole Church, is also called Patriarch of the West and Primate of Italy (cf. Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 27).
According to the current discipline of the CIC, that of primate is merely a prerogative of honor, without true jurisdiction (can. 271); the primate has the right of precedence over archbishops, while he follows the patriarchs (cann. 271, 208). Even at present the Pope, in sending encyclicals or apostolic letters to the episcopate of the entire Catholic world, uses the formula: Ad omnes Patriarcas Primates... The title of primate is not used officially in the ecclesiastical hierarchy and in the Annuario Pontificio it is never mentioned, except for the Roman Pontiff.
Bibliography4 works
Guglielmo Felici