:''See: Catholic Church hierarchy#Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law'' A diocesan administrator is a provisional ordinary of a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Diocesan administrators in canon law

The

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

consultors A consultor is one who gives counsel, i.e., a counselor. In the Catholic Church, it is a specific title for various advisory positions: *in the Roman Curia, a consultor is a specially appointed expert who may be called upon for advice desired b ...

elects an administrator within eight days after the see is known to be

vacant Within the context of building construction and building codes, "occupancy" refers to the use, or intended use, of a building, or portion of a building, for the shelter or support of persons, animals or property. A closely related meaning is ...

. The college must elect as administrator a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

at least 35 years old. If the college of consultors fails to elect a priest of the required minimum age within the time allotted, the choice of diocesan administrator passes to the metropolitan archbishop or, if the metropolitan see is vacant, to the senior by appointment of the suffragan bishops of the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

. If a diocese has a

coadjutor bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "co- ...

, the coadjutor succeeds immediately to the episcopal see upon the previous bishop's death or resignation, and there is no vacancy of the see. The see also does not become vacant if the Pope appoints an

apostolic administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

. Before the election of the diocesan administrator of a vacant see, the governance of the see is entrusted, with the powers of a

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...

, to the auxiliary bishop, if there is one, or to the senior among them, if there are several, otherwise to the college of consultors as a whole. The diocesan administrator has greater powers, essentially those of a bishop except for matters excepted by the nature of the matter or expressly by law. Canon law subjects his activity to various legal restrictions and to special supervision by the college of consultors (as for example canons 272 and 485). The diocesan administrator remains in charge until a new bishop takes possession of the see or until he presents his resignation to the college of consultors. Some Bishops ruled more than one bishopric for long. In any beside their primary bishopric, they would have to be called an ''administrator''. Nevertheless, in local tradition often they are called bishops in all their bishoprics. An episcopal conference can transfer the functions of the consultors to the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. ...

. In those countries in which the episcopal conference has transferred the functions, the cathedral chapter, and not the consultors, elect the diocesan administrator. Capitular election was the default rule before the adoption of the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the second and current com ...

; this old default rule is reflected in the term for the equivalent of a diocesan administrator in the 1917 code: vicar capitular.

Administrators of prince-bishoprics

Since the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest (German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...

in 11th and 12th centuries the

s used to elect the Catholic bishops in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

. Prince-bishoprics were

elective monarchies An elective monarchy is a monarchy ruled by an elected monarch, in contrast to a hereditary monarchy in which the office is automatically passed down as a family inheritance. The manner of election, the nature of candidate qualifications, and t ...

imperial immediacy Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular pri ...

within the Empire, with the monarch being the respective bishop usually elected by the chapter and confirmed by the Holy See, or exceptionally only appointed by the Holy See. Papally confirmed bishops were then invested by the emperor with the princely regalia, thus the title prince-bishop. However, sometimes the respective incumbent of the see never gained a papal confirmation, but was still invested with the princely power. Also the opposite occurred with a papally confirmed bishop, never invested as prince. Candidates elected, who lacked

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is t ...

prerequisites and/or papal confirmation, would officially only hold the title diocesan administrator (but nevertheless colloquially be referred to as prince-bishop). This was the case with Catholic candidates, who were elected for an

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

with its revenues as a mere appanage and with all Protestant candidates, who all lacked either the necessary vocational training or the papal confirmation.

Protestant "elected bishops"

With many capitulars converting to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the majorities in many chapters consisted of Protestant capitulars. So they then also elected Protestants as bishops, who usually were denied papal confirmation. However, in the early years of Reformation, with the

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

not yet fully implemented, it was not always obvious, who tended to Protestantism, so that some candidates only turned out to be Protestants after they had been papally confirmed as bishop and imperially invested as prince. Later, when Protestants were usually denied papal confirmation, the emperors nevertheless invested the unconfirmed candidates as princes - by a so-called liege indult (german: Lehnsindult) - due to political coalitions and conflicts within the empire, in order to gain candidates as imperial partisans. Many Protestant candidates, elected by the capitulars, neither achieved papal confirmation nor a liege indult, but nevertheless, as a matter of fact held de facto princely power. This was because the emperor would have to use force to bar the candidates from ruling, with the emperors lacking the respective power or pursuing other goals. A similar situation was in a number of imperially immediate abbeys with their prince-abbots and princess-abbesses. Unconfirmed incumbents of the sees were called ''Elected Bishops'' or ''Elected Archbishops''. The information that Protestant clerical rulers would generally have been called administrators, as written in several encyclopedies, does not fit historically documented practice.Eike Wolgast: Hochstift und Reformation. Studien zur Geschichte der Reichskirche zwischen 1517 und 1648, Stuttgart 1995 In their dioceses as well as in their territories, they had almost the same power as Catholic prince-bishops. However, one common restriction was that administered prince-bishoprics were denied to emit their deputies to the diets of the Empire or of the imperial circles (german: Reichstag, or Kreistag, respectively). This restriction was abandoned by the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (german: Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought pe ...

in 1648, when the emperor accepted Protestant administrators as fully empowered rulers. However, the Peace also secularised many of the prior Protestant prince-bishoprics and transformed them into hereditary monarchies.

Prince-bishoprics ruled by Protestant bishops

Prince-bishoprics, which were ruled by Protestants, were the following: *

Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg The Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg (german: Hochstift Brandenburg) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the 12th century until it was secularized during the second half of the 16th century. It should not be confused w ...

, Lutheran bishops and administrators since 1539, secularised and merged into the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1571. * Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, Lutheran administrators since 1567, secularised as hereditary

Duchy of Bremen ), which is a public-law corporation established in 1865 succeeding the estates of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (established in 1397), now providing the local fire insurance in the shown area and supporting with its surplusses cultural effor ...

in 1648 *

Prince-Bishopric of Cammin The Bishopric of Cammin (also Kammin, Kamień Pomorski) was both a former Roman Catholic diocese in the Duchy of Pomerania from 1140 to 1544, and a secular territory of the Holy Roman Empire ( Prince-Bishopric) in the Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) area f ...

, Lutheran bishops and administrators since 1544, secularised and merged into the Duchy of Pomerania in 1650 *

Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt The Diocese of Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic diocese (german: Bistum Halberstadt) from 804 until 1648.

, Lutheran administrators 1566–1628, after the rule of the last, however, Catholic administrator, secularised as

Principality of Halberstadt The Principality of Halberstadt (german: link=no, Fürstentum Halberstadt) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by Brandenburg-Prussia. It replaced the Bishopric of Halberstadt after its secularization in 1648. Its capital was Halberstadt ...

in 1648 * Prince-Bishopric of Havelberg, Lutheran bishops and administrators since 1558, secularised and merged into the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1598. * Prince-Bishopric of Lebus, Lutheran bishop and administrators since 1555, secularised and merged into the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1598. * Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, Lutheran bishops and administrators in 1535 and from 1555 on, secularised as

Principality of Lübeck A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant- monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall ...

in 1803 * Prince-Archbishopric of Magdeburg, Lutheran administrators between 1566 and 1631 and again since 1638, secularised as hereditary Duchy of Magdeburg in 1680 * Prince-Bishopric of Merseburg, Lutheran administrators since 1544, secularised and merged into the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charle ...

in 1565 * Prince-Bishopric of Minden, Lutheran administrators between 1554 and 1631, after the rule of the last, however, Catholic prince-bishop, secularised as Principality of Minden in 1648 * Prince-Bishopric of Naumburg, Lutheran bishop and administrators between 1542 and 1547 and from 1562 on, secularised and merged into the

in 1615 * Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück, Lutheran bishops and administrators between 1574 and 1623, and Lutheran administrators and Catholic bishops in alternate succession since 1634, secularised and merged into the Electorate of Brunswick and Lunenburg in 1803 *

Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg The Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg (german: Fürstbistum Ratzeburg) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was located in what is today the states of Schleswig-Holstein (the district of Herzogtum Lauenburg) and Mecklenbur ...

, Lutheran administrators since 1554, secularised as the Principality of Ratzeburg in 1648 * Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin, Lutheran administrators since 1533, secularised as the

Principality of Schwerin A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchy, monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to ...

in 1648 * Prince-Bishopric of Verden, Lutheran bishop and administrators between 1574 and 1630, and, after the rule of the last, however, Catholic prince-bishop, from 1631 on, secularised as Principality of Verden in 1648

References

{{Reflist

External links

Out-of-date article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, written before the Codes of Canon Law of 1917 and 1983 altered the conditions
Catholic ecclesiastical titles