VICAR OF THE FORANE — The vicar forane is the bishop’s immediate executive collaborator in a particular district of the diocese, composed of several parishes and called a forania, deanery, archpresbyterate, etc.
His office dates from the Middle Ages, as Benedict XIV demonstrated against Thomassin, who had attributed its paternity to St Charles Borromeo, whereas the latter merely perfected it and made ample use of it in his remarkable reform. Indeed, the vast size of diocesan territories naturally gave rise to the need for special organs to transmit the bishop’s directives and to gather information for each district. Thus, between the 6th and 9th centuries, just as the practice arose of dividing especially large dioceses into archdeaconries, these in turn were subdivided into smaller districts called archpresbyterates, governed by archpriests or rural deans whose powers, however, were quite limited (v. DEAN). The Council of Trent merely mentions deans in passing (sess. XXIV, cap. 3, no. 20, de reform.), further curtailing their attributions, which remained very limited in view of the importance first of the archdeacon (v. DEACON-ARCHDEACON) and later, in the post-Tridentine period, of the vicar general (v.). Moreover, until the Pio-Benedictine Code, the division of dioceses into deaneries or foranie had never been rigorously imposed by common law, nor had the rights and duties of the vicar forane been precisely and definitively determined.
Today the new Code of Canon Law prescribes that bishops divide their diocesan territory into forane vicariates, each comprising several parishes (can. 217), and, following the direction of all prior legislation, more clearly defines the vicar forane’s duties. The bishop may choose for this office any priest, even one not engaged in parochial ministry, provided he is suitable, and in any case may remove the appointee at will.
By common law the vicar forane possesses only disciplinary administrative power; by particular law (regional, provincial, synodal or extra-synodal) he may also exercise properly so-called ordinary or delegated jurisdictional power, depending on whether it is attached to the office or merely to the person. The Code orders that he be granted habitual faculty over reserved cases (can. 899 § 2) and authorizes him to grant ecclesiastical administrators permission to appear in court on behalf of the Church in urgent cases (can. 1526).
The vicar forane also has the use of a special vicariate seal and precedence over all clergy within his district (enjoying a hierarchical and permanent superiority over them), but not over his chapter colleagues in chapter acts and choral functions if he is a canon (Pontifical Commission, 10 Nov. 1925).
A novelty introduced by the Code, drawn from the particular law of many regions, is the vicar forane’s obligation to visit the parishes according to the schedule and time fixed by the bishop (can. 447 § 2). The purpose of this visit is to check compliance with canonical prescriptions regarding the cura animarum, ecclesiastical discipline and divine worship in the forania (can. 447 § 1). This visit, which is entirely distinct from the pastoral visitation, entails the obligation to submit an annual report (can. 449). Other specific and exclusive duties of the vicar forane are: to ensure that neighboring pastors receive spiritual assistance and all due care as they approach death and that no harm comes to sacred furnishings or parish archives at their demise; to convene the forane clergy on days fixed by the bishop for conferences on cases and to preside over them; and finally, if he is a parish priest, to reside in his parish; if not, to reside within the vicariate territory or at least not too far away, according to norms established by the bishop. Under current law the bishop is not bound to respect the custom, observed in many dioceses, of attaching the office of vicar forane to a particular parish in the district, ordinarily the most important one.