VICARIO CAPITOLARE
The *Vicario Capitolare* is the person appointed, in the event of a vacant see, to govern the diocese in the name of the cathedral chapter.
In the early centuries of the Church, when a diocesan see fell vacant, an interim government of the diocese was provided for by means of a commissioner appointed by the metropolitan, who acted in agreement with the presbyterate. Later, the Decretals entrusted the provisional government to the canons, who could exercise it collegially, by rotation, or through a delegate; this last practice, already in use in the fourteenth century, gave rise to the office of the *vicario capitolare*. According to the provisions of the Council of Trent, the cathedral chapter was to elect an ecclesiastical person to this office within eight days of learning of the vacancy. Even after the Council of Trent, it was held that the appointment of the *vicario capitolare* was a revocable mandate subject to certain limitations; the last application of this principle occurred during the Napoleonic period. Pius VII refused canonical institution to bishops presented by Napoleon I under the concordats whose terms he had violated, and the chapters, to avoid the inconvenience, removed their respective vicars and replaced them with the bishops named by Napoleon, who thus took possession of the see as *vicario capitolare*. Naturally, the Holy See protested against these uncanonical appointments, both because they contravened the provisions whereby a lay authority’s presentation must not interfere in the governance of the diocese before ecclesiastical confirmation, and because they clashed with the principle, now firmly established in the jurisprudence of the Roman Curia, that the *vicario capitolare* was to be considered irremovable—a principle later definitively confirmed in the 1917 Code of Canon Law at canon 44 §1.
The vacancy of the diocese, which necessitates the appointment of a *vicario capitolare*, may arise from the death of the bishop, the acceptance of his resignation by the Holy See, or his deprivation. By contrast, a vacancy caused by the transfer of the bishop does not require the appointment of a *vicario capitolare*, since the bishop remains by law the *vicario capitolare* of the former diocese until he takes possession of the new see. The cathedral chapter is obliged to elect a *vicario capitolare* “qui loco sui diocesim regat” within eight days of learning of the vacancy, unless the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory has directly provided for the governance of the diocese by an apostolic administrator (canons 439 ff.). The *vicario capitolare* is also appointed when all communication—even by letter—with the bishop is interrupted and there is no vicar general or other episcopal delegate to represent him. If the chapter fails to make the appointment within the prescribed eight days, it falls to the metropolitan to designate the *vicario capitolare*. The appointment of the *vicario capitolare* by the chapter—a corporate body—is an exception in canon law, where appointments to vicarial offices are normally made by individual officeholders (thus the Pope appoints his vicar for the governance of the Church of Rome; the bishop designates the vicar general; the parish priest, in the event of temporary absence from his territory, appoints a substitute vicar).
The office of *vicario capitolare* must be held by a single ecclesiastical person, whereas a previous French custom—never approved by the Holy See—allowed for the appointment of several. To be chosen as *vicario capitolare*, one must be in priestly orders, at least thirty years of age, and not be elected, presented, or appointed to the vacant see (canon 434 §1).
As regards powers, according to canon 435 §1, the *vicario capitolare* enjoys those pertaining to the ordinary jurisdiction of the bishop in spiritual and temporal matters, with the exception of acts expressly forbidden by law and, in general, those bound by the principle “sede vacante nihil innovetur,” which would bring about a change in the status or patrimony of the diocese. During a vacancy, acts that would entail a substantial alteration in the juridical condition of the diocese and of the ecclesiastical institutes within it are prohibited; thus, for example, it is the precise duty of the *vicario capitolare* to safeguard archival documents or to refrain from causing any prejudice to the rights of the diocese and the bishop. In application of this principle, the *vicario capitolare* is forbidden to alienate property or to suppress, divide, or unite benefices; likewise forbidden during the vacancy are the convocation of the diocesan synod (canon 357 §1), the appointment of honorary canons (canon 406 §1), the establishment of religious congregations and associations (canon 492 §1), the union of parish churches with one another or with non-curate benefices (canon 1423 §1), the authorization of exchanges of benefices (canon 1487 §1), and, it seems, the granting of indulgences.
The actions of the *vicario capitolare* regarding the clergy are subject to the oversight of the cathedral chapter, which assumes a quasi-tutelary authority in relation to him. Thus, the chapter must give its consent for incardinations and excardinations (canon 113), for the dismissal of chancery officials of the curia (canon 373 §5), and for the granting of letters of excardination to diocesan clerics, who, in the absence of the bishop, may not be ordained unless they would otherwise lose their benefice or if the vacancy has lasted more than a year (canon 958 §1, n. 3).
A distinctive feature of the office of *vicario capitolare* is that it is not a benefice: given the provisional nature of the functions, no benefice is attached to the office, nor may the *vicario capitolare* dispose of the entire interim revenues of the episcopal benefice, though he is entitled to a suitable remuneration drawn from the income of the episcopal table within the limits fixed by the provincial council or by custom.