RURAL DEAN. - He is the immediate executive collaborator of the bishop in a specific diocesan district, composed of several parishes and called a forania, deanery, archpresbyterate, etc.
His existence dates back to the Middle Ages, as Benedict XIV demonstrated against Thomassin, who attributed the paternity of the institution to St. Charles Borromeo, whereas the latter only perfected it and made ample use of it for his wonderful work of reform. In fact, the extent of diocesan territories naturally determined the need for appropriate organs for transmitting episcopal directives and information for the individual districts. And so, between the 6th and 9th centuries, just as the practice was introduced of dividing dioceses, especially the larger ones, into archdeaconries, in the same way these were dismembered into smaller districts called archpresbyterates, presided over by archpriests or rural deans, though with greatly reduced powers (v. DECANO). Trent only mentions deans in passing (sess. XXIV, c. p. 3, 20, de reform.), further restricting their attributions, which always remained very limited, given the importance of the archdeacon first (v. DIACONO-ARCIDIACONO) and that which the vicar general (v.) went on to acquire in the post-Tridentine period. All the more so since, until the Pian Code, the division of dioceses into deaneries or foranias had never been rigorously imposed by common law, and much less had the rights and duties of the v. f. been accurately and mandatorily determined.
Today the new CIC prescribes that bishops divide the diocesan territory into vicariates forane, each comprising several parishes (can. 217) and, embracing the direction of all earlier legislation, better sets out the attributions of the v. f. The bishop may choose for this office any priest, even one not engaged in the care of souls, provided he is suitable, and in any case may remove the appointee ad nutum.
By common law the v. f. has only administrative disciplinary power; by particular law (regional, provincial, synodal, extrasynodal) a jurisdictional power properly so called may also belong to him, ordinary or delegated, according as it is given to the office or only to the person. The CIC ordains that the habitual faculty over reserved cases be attributed to him (can. 899 § 2) and authorizes him to grant to administrators of ecclesiastical goods the license to stand trial in the name of the Church in urgent cases (can. 1526).
It is further the responsibility of the v. f. to use a special seal of the vicariate and to have precedence over all the clergy of his district (enjoying over them a hierarchical and permanent superiority) but not over his colleagues of the Chapter in capitular acts and in choral functions, where he is a canon (Pont. Comm., 10 Nov. 1925).
An innovation introduced by the CIC, drawn from the particular law of many regions, is for the v. f. the obligation of visiting the parishes according to the turn and time fixed by the bishop (can. 447 § 2). The purpose of this visit is to check whether or not the canonical prescriptions concerning the care of souls, ecclesiastical discipline and divine worship in the forania are observed (can. 447 § 1). To this visit, which is entirely distinct from the pastoral visit, there corresponds the duty of an annual report (can. 449). Other specific and exclusive duties of the v. f. are: to watch that parish priests close to death are given spiritual assistance and all the care required, and that at their passing the sacred furnishings and the parish archive suffer no harm; to convoke on days established by the bishop the clergy of the forania for the conferences on cases and to preside over them; lastly, to reside in his parish if he is a parish priest, and if he is not a parish priest, in the territory of the vicariate or at least in a place not too distant, according to the norms fixed by the bishop. Under current law the bishop is not bound to respect the custom according to which in many dioceses the office of v. f. is annexed to a specific parish of the district, ordinarily the most important one.
Bibliography6 works
Luigi Fini