ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICE. - It is, in general, any stable task carried out for a spiritual purpose, such as the spiritual director of seminaries, the confessor of monasteries, the preacher, the organist, the cantor, etc. In the proper sense, it is the stably constituted task which, by divine or ecclesiastical ordination, makes one a participant in the power of order or of jurisdiction (CIC, can. 145; v. GIURISDIZIONE; ORDINE).
Thus the office of cardinal, of bishop, of vicar general, of parish priest, etc., which have the required requisites of objective stability and of participation in the power of order or of jurisdiction. In a very strict sense, exclusive to canonistic doctrine, the expression u. e. indicates those offices whose holders are prelates in the juridical sense (can. 110). The normal meaning in canon law is the one indicated above, of can. 145. Since, however, certain offices entail benefices (v. BENEFICIO), the canons concerning offices (cann. 147-195) must be completed by those concerning benefices (cann. 1409-89).
I. NATURE AND DIVISION OF ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICES
Although almost all modern canonists hold that ecclesiastical offices are, ipso iure, juridical persons, in more recent doctrine the consideration of the personal aspect of the office prevails over the real aspect, so that it is generally held that the organ of the Church is not the office in itself considered as an abstract complex of attributions, but rather the person of the holder of the office himself, that is, of him through whom the power of order or of jurisdiction is exercised. Besides the distinction between ecclesiastical offices of divine institution (that of the Supreme Pontiff and, as a class, that of residential bishops) and of human institution (all the others), it is customary to distinguish ecclesiastical offices into: 1) beneficed, if connected with a benefice (can. 1409), and non-beneficed; 2) major, if the holders have episcopal or quasi-episcopal power, and minor; 3) residential (also called double) and non-residential (or simple), according to whether or not they entail the obligation of residence (v.); 4) with cure of souls and without cure of souls; 5) secular and religious, according to whether, by their nature, or by laws of foundation, or by legitimate custom, they can be conferred only on secular or religious clerics; 6) irremovable or removable, according to whether their holders can be removed with greater or lesser ease (v. AMOVIBILITÀ; INAMOVIBILITÀ); 7) of free or necessary collation; 8) reserved or non-reserved.
II. HISTORICAL NOTES
Although, as already noted, some offices, such as that of the supreme pontificate and of bishops in general, are of divine institution, it is nevertheless impossible to form a correct idea of the origin and nature of ecclesiastical offices in particular without going back to the beginning of the Church and following the evolution of ecclesiastical discipline through the various eras. It is certain, however, that in the primitive Church all positions were purely offices. The goods of the Church were then held in common, and every cleric, in his rank, exercised an office to which no revenue was attached. Once, however, the institution of the benefice had been introduced, the ecclesiastical office was lost sight of, which canonistic doctrine prior to the ecclesiastical office had combined with the concept of benefice.
For the erection, modification, or suppression of any ecclesiastical office, the following are required: 1) the competent authority, which will differ according to the offices; 2) a just cause, which is ordinarily indicated in the necessity or utility of the Church; 3) the due form, which varies according to the provision of the office (v. PROVISTA CANONICA).
III. LOSS OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICE
It is a juridical fact by which the ecclesiastical office is lost by the cleric who holds title to it and becomes vacant. It occurs: a) through the natural death of the titular; b) through the lapse of the established time, when the ecclesiastical office has been conferred ad tempus (can. 183 § 1); c) through the cessation of the power of the grantor, when the law expressly declares it (can. 183 § 2, 371) and when the ecclesiastical office was granted ad beneplacitum nostrum (can. 183 § 2); d) through resignation on the part of the one invested; e) through deprivation of the ecclesiastical office by the superior or also through amotio; f) through transfer.
Bibliography7 works
Innocenzo Parisella