VICARIO CAPITOLARE. – This is the ecclesiastic who, when the see is vacant, governs the diocese in the name of the cathedral Chapter.
In the first centuries of the Church, whenever the episcopal see became vacant, provision was made for the interim government of the diocese by means of a commissioner, appointed by the metropolitan, who acted in agreement with the presbyter. The Decretals subsequently entrusted its provisional government to the canons, who could exercise it collegially, alternate in turns, or appoint a representative; the latter practice, already in use in the fourteenth century, gave rise to the office of the V. c. According to what was later established by the Council of Trent, the Chapter was to elect an ecclesiastic to this office within eight days of receiving notice that the diocese had become vacant. Even after the Council of Trent, the deputation of the V. c. was held to be a mandate subject to revocation and to the possibility of having limitations imposed upon it: the last application of this principle occurred during the Napoleonic period. Pius VII denied canonical institution to the bishops whom Napoleon I had presented on the basis of concordats whose obligations he had violated, and the Chapters then, in order to remedy the difficulty, removed their respective vicars, replacing them with the appointed bishops, who thus took possession of the see as V. c. The Holy See naturally protested against these uncanonical appointments, both because they conflicted with the provisions according to which a person presented by the lay authority must not interfere in the administration of the diocese before ecclesiastical confirmation, and because they ran counter to the principle, by then consolidated through the jurisprudence of the Roman Curia, that the V. c. was to be considered irremovable—a principle that was subsequently definitively confirmed in the CIC, canon 44 § 1.
The vacancy of the diocese, which makes the appointment of the V. c. necessary, may be caused by the death of the bishop, by his resignation accepted by the Holy See, or by his deprivation of office; on the other hand, a vacancy caused by the transfer of the bishop does not entail the necessity of appointing a V. c., since the bishop remains, by right, V. c. of the former diocese until he takes possession of the new see. The cathedral Chapter is obliged to elect within eight days of learning that the diocese has become vacant the V. c. «qui loco sui diocesi regat», unless the Sacred Congregation of the Council has itself provided for the government of that diocese by appointing an apostolic administrator (can. 430 ff.). The V. c. is also appointed when all communication, including correspondence, with the bishop has been interrupted and there is no vicar general or other episcopal delegate to represent him. Once the prescribed period of eight days has elapsed without the Chapter having made the appointment, it falls to the metropolitan to designate the V. c. The appointment of the V. c. by the Chapter—that is, by a college—constitutes an exception in canon law, where, as a rule, the appointment of a vicar is made by individuals holding an office (thus the Pontiff appoints his vicar for the government of the Church of Rome; the bishop designates the vicar general; and the parish priest, in the event of a temporary absence from his territory, appoints a substitute vicar).
The office of V. c. must be held by a single ecclesiastic, whereas, according to an earlier custom tolerated but never approved by the Holy See, in France it was possible to appoint several of them. To be chosen as V. c., one must have received priestly orders, have completed thirty years of age, and be neither elected, presented, nor appointed to the vacant see (can. 434 § 1).
As regards his powers, under can. 435 § 1, the V. c. possesses those pertaining to the bishop’s ordinary jurisdiction in spiritualibus et temporalibus, except for acts expressly prohibited by law and, in general, those subject to the principle «sede vacante nihil innovetur» that bring about a change in the condition or property of the diocese. During a vacancy, in fact, acts involving a substantial modification of the juridical condition of the diocese and of the ecclesiastical institutions included in it are prohibited; thus, for example, it is the specific duty of the V. bishop. In application of this principle, the V. c. is prohibited from alienating property and from suppressing, dividing, or uniting benefices; he is likewise prohibited, during the vacancy, from convoking the diocesan synod (can. 357 § 1), appointing honorary dignitaries (can. 406 § 1), establishing religious congregations and associations (can. 492 § 1), uniting religious parish churches with one another and with non-curate benefices (can. 1423 § 1), authorizing the exchange of benefices (can. 1487 § 1), and, it seems, also granting indulgences.
The activity of the V. Chapter, which assumes toward him almost the position of a tutelary authority. The Chapter must therefore give its consent to incardinations and excardinations (can. 113), to the dismissal of officials of the Curial chancery (can. 373 § 5), and to the granting of dimissorial letters to the clerics of the diocese, who, in the absence of the bishop, cannot be ordained, except where they are clerics who would otherwise lose their benefice or where the vacancy has lasted for more than a year (can. 958 § 1, n. 3).
A characteristic of the office of V. c. is that it is not beneficed: given the provisional character of its functions, no benefice of its own is attached to the office, nor may the V. c. dispose in full of the intercalary revenues of the episcopal benefice, although he is entitled to suitable remuneration deducted from the revenues of the episcopal mensa within the limits fixed by the provincial council or by custom.