CAPITULAR VICAR. - He is the ecclesiastic who, during a vacant see, governs the diocese in the name of the cathedral Chapter.
In the first centuries of the Church, when the vacancy of the episcopal see occurred, 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, then, entrusted its provisional government to the canons, who could hold it collegially or take turns in rotation or depute a mandatory; this last custom, already in use in the 14th century, gave rise to the office of the vicar capitular, to which office, according to what was later established by the Council of Trent, an ecclesiastic had to be elected by the Chapter within eight days of the notice of the vacancy of the diocese. It was held, even after the Council of Trent, that the deputation of the vicar capitular was a mandate subject to revocability and to the possibility of attaching limits to 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 the concordats whose commitments he had violated, and the Chapters then, in order to remedy the inconvenience, removed their respective vicars, replacing them with the nominated bishops, who thus came to take possession of the see as vicars capitular. Naturally the Holy See protested against these anti-canonical appointments, both because they were in conflict with the provisions whereby the one presented by the lay authority must not interfere with the governance of the diocese before ecclesiastical confirmation, and because they clashed with the principle, by then consolidated by the jurisprudence of the Roman Curia, on the basis of which the vicar capitular was to be considered irremovable, a principle that was later definitively confirmed in the CIC at can. 44 § 1.
The vacancy of the diocese, which makes the appointment of the vicar capitular necessary, can be determined by the death of the bishop or by his resignation accepted by the Holy See, or by the deprivation imposed on him; on the contrary, the vacancy by transfer of the bishop does not entail the necessity of providing for the appointment of the vicar capitular, since the bishop remains by right vicar capitular of the old diocese until he takes possession of the new see. The cathedral Chapter has the obligation to elect within eight days of the known vacancy of the diocese the vicar capitular «qui loco sui diocesi regat», unless the Sacred Consistorial Congregation has directly provided for the government of that diocese with an apostolic administrator (can. 430 ff.). The vicar capitular is likewise 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. Once the prescribed period of eight days has elapsed without the chapter having provided for the appointment, it falls to the metropolitan to designate the vicar capitular. The appointment of the vicar capitular by the Chapter, that is, by a college, constitutes an exception in canon law, where as a rule the appointment of the vicar is made by natural persons invested with an office (thus the Pontiff appoints his vicar for the government of the Church of Rome; the bishop designates the vicar general; the parish priest, in case of temporary absence from his territory, appoints the substitute vicar).
The office of vicar capitular must be held by a single ecclesiastic, whereas, according to a previous custom tolerated but never approved by the Holy See, in France there was the possibility of appointing several. To be chosen as vicar capitular one must have the priestly order, be thirty years of age, and be neither elected, nor presented, nor nominated to the vacant see (can. 434 § 1).
As for powers, on the basis of can. 435 § 1, those inherent in the ordinary jurisdiction of the bishop in spiritualibus et temporalibus belong to the vicar capitular, with the exception of acts expressly forbidden by law and in general under the bond «sede vacante nihil innovetur», which bring about a change in the state or in the patrimony of the diocese. In a vacant see, in fact, acts that imply a substantial modification of the juridical condition of the diocese and of the ecclesiastical institutes included in it are forbidden; thus, for example, it will be the precise task of the vicar capitular to attend to the preservation of archive documents or to refrain from causing any prejudice to the rights of the diocese and of the bishop. In application of this principle the vicar capitular is forbidden to alienate goods and to suppress, divide or unite benefices; it is likewise forbidden, during the vacancy, to convoke the diocesan synod (can. 357 § 1), to appoint honorary canons (can. 406 § 1), to establish religious congregations and associations (can. 492 § 1), to unite parish churches and religious houses among themselves and with non-curate benefices (can. 1423 § 1), to authorize the exchange of benefices (can. 1487 § 1) and, it seems, also to grant indulgences.
The activity of the vicar capitular as regards the ranks of the clergy is controlled by the cathedral Chapter, which assumes almost the position of a tutelary authority with respect to him. The Chapter must thus give its consent for incardinations and excardinations (can. 113), for the dismissal of officials of the chancery of the Curia (can. 373 § 5), for granting dimissory letters to the clerics of the diocese, who, given the absence of the bishop, cannot be ordained, unless they are clerics who would otherwise lose their benefice or in the case in which the vacancy lasts more than a year (can. 958 § 1, n. 3).
A characteristic of the office of vicar capitular is that it is not a benefice: given the provisional character of the functions, no proper benefice is annexed to the office, nor may it dispose integrally of the interim revenues of the episcopal benefice, although it has a right to a suitable remuneration deducted from the income of the episcopal mensa within the limit fixed by the provincial council or by custom.
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Lorenzo Spinelli