A diocesan administrator (also known as archdiocesan administrator, archiepiscopal administrator and eparchial administrator for the case, respectively, of an archdiocese, archeparchy, and

eparchy Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an Ecclesiology, ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administra ...

) is a provisional ordinary of a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

particular church In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with ''universals''. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars. Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed ...

Diocesan or archdiocesan administrators in canon law

The

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

of consultors elects an administrator within eight days after the see is known to be vacant. 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 deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, or

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

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 an administrator passes to the metropolitan archbishop or, if the metropolitan see is vacant, to the senior by appointment of the

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led b ...

s of the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

. If a diocese has a coadjutor bishop, 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 admi ...

. Before the election of the 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 or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

, to the

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

, if there is one, or to the senior among them, if there are several, otherwise to the college of consultors as a whole. The administrator has greater powers, essentially those of a bishop or archbishop 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 administrator remains in charge until a new bishop or archbishop is installed into office ending the sede vacante period 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. In those countries in which the episcopal conference has transferred the functions, the cathedral chapter, and not the consultors, elect the 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 Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

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

Administrators of prince-bishoprics

Since the Investiture Controversy in 11th and 12th centuries the cathedral chapters used to elect the Catholic bishops in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies of imperial immediacy 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 , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

prerequisites or papal confirmation, would officially only hold the title diocesan or archdiocesan 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 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, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

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 a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, 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 () - 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 encyclopedias, 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 (, respectively). This restriction was abandoned by the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) 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 peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

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, 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 in 1648 * Prince-Bishopric of Cammin, Lutheran bishops and administrators since 1544, secularised and merged into the Duchy of Pomerania in 1650 * Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt, Lutheran administrators 1566–1628, after the rule of the last, however, Catholic administrator, secularised as Principality of 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 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 ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

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, 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 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

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External links