ROMAN
137
ROMAN
procurator or advocate, in liis own department or in
any other ecclesiastical tribunal. The competency
of the congresso in each congregation is determined.
The congresso consists of the major officers under the
presidency of the cardinal who presides over the con-
gregation. It deals with the matters of less impor-
tance among those that are before the congregation,
while those of greater moment must be referred to the
full congregations of cardinals. It is also the business
of the congresso to prepare for their discussion those
matters that are to be considered by the full congre-
gation. On the other hand, the congresso is charged
with the execution of the orders of the full congrega-
tion that have received the approval of the pope. As
examples of matters of greater importance which must
be considered by the full congregation, the special
rules {normce peculiares) mention the solution of
doubts or of questions that may arise in regard to the
interpretation of ecclesiastical laws, the examination
of important administrative controversies, and kin-
dred matters. The norrrue peculiares and the normce.
communes, together with the Constitution "Sapienti
consilio ", constitute the entire code of the new organi-
zation of the Roman ecclesiastical departments.
I. Congregation of the Holy Office. — As the Roman Inquisition {Romana InquisUio) this con- gregation is of very ancient origin, dating from Inno- cent III (1194-1216), although some authorities at- tribute its establishment to Lucius III (1181-85). In the beginning of the thirteenth century Innocent III established at Rome an inquisitorial tribunal against the Albigenses and other innovators of the south of France. From its first title of Romana In- quisUio was derived the usage of calling this body Congregation of the Holy Roman Universal Inquisi- tion. Sixtus V, in the Bull "Immensa", calls it Con- gregatio pro S. inquisilione and also Congregatio sancta; inquisilionis h(rreticce pravitalis. Benedict XIV calls it Romance Universalis Inquisilionis Congregatio (Const. "Sollicita"). Later it had the official title Suprema Congregatio sanctce romance et universalis inquisilionis. Pius X in his recent Constitution calls it, simply, Congregatio S. Officii. The qualification of Supreuia was omitted, jjossibly to avoid the ap- pearance of an iiic(iu:ility of dignity among the con- gregations, they being all of the same rank and dignity, since they an; corny)os(Hl of cardinals. According to Leitner, the name Inquisition was suppressed in order to shield this congregation from the hatred inspired by that name. It retains, therefore, the title of Holy Office, so well suited to the most holy office to which it is assigned, namely, that of removing the faithful from the danger of deviation from the Faith through the influence of false doctrine. In 12.51 Innocent IV gave the Dominicans charge of this tribunal. In view of the progress of the Reformation, Paul III, by the Bull "Licet ab initio", of 21 July, 1542, declared the Roman Inquisition to be the supreme tribunal for the whole world; and he assigned to it six cardinals. Simier (La curie romaine, cf. S. n. I) is of opinion that Paul III appointed the six cardinals of S. Clemente, S. Sisto, S. Balbina, S. Cecilia, S. Marcello, and S. Silvestro general inquisitors, with universal powers, not, however, to act collegialiter, as a tribunal, but individually and independently of one another. The Constitution "Licet ab initio" lends itself to that interpretation. But the Holy Office did not begin its existence as a congregation until 1558, in the reign of Paul IV. As time went on, the number of cardinals assigned to the Holy Office was increased, and the tribunal took a form like that of the other congregations. Formerly a cardinal used to be se- lected to preside over the Holy Office with the title of prefect; the first to be appointed to this charge was Cardinal Michele Ghislieri, afterwards Pius V. The prefecture of the congregation, however, has long been reserved by the pope to himself.
Like all the other congregations, the Holy Office
has officials of the second order. The first of these is
the assessor, one of the highest officers of the Curia;
next comes the commissary, always a Dominican.
Sometimes, as an exception, these two officials are
invested with the episcopal character. Among the
other officers who complete the personnel of the Holy
Office are a vice-commissary, a first associate (socius),
and a second associate, all Dominicans, also a som-
mista, a fiscal advocate, an advocatus reorum and some
notaries.
It may appear strange that so many positions in this congregation are filled by Dominicans. The reason is to be found in the great solicitude of Pius V for the Holy Office, which solicitude led him to re- serve all these functions for his fellow-Dominicans, especially those of the Province of Lombardy, to which he himself had belonged, and in whose members he reposed great confidence. It is to be observed that, whereas the assessor now takes precedence of the commissary, the contrary order obtained in for- mer times, even in the days of Cardinal De Luca (Relatio curia; forensis disc, 14, n. 6), for the com- missary had the faculties of a true judge in ordinary, while the assessor was merely an assessor or consultor, as in other tribunals. According to Simier (La curie romaine, ch. i, n. I) this change occurred towards the middle of the seventeenth century. Besides the officers already mentioned, the Holy Office, like most other congregations, has a number of consultors, chosen from among the most esteemed and learned prelates and religious. Some are ex officio consultors by \nrtue of a right anciently granted ; these are called natural consultors {cotisullori nail). They are the Master General of the Order of Preachers, the Master of the Sacred Palace (of the same order by a pri\nlege granted by Pius V), and a religious of the Order of Friars Minor added by Sixtus V, himself a Friar Minor.
This congregation also has certain officers peculiar to itself, required by the nature of its attributes. They are the qualifiers {qualifica tores), exT^laincd by the function of these officials, theologians whose duty it is to propose to the cardinals the particular note or censure by which objectionable propositions are to be condemned, since all such propositions do not affect the Faith in the same degree, and therefore are con- demned by the Holy Office not in a general, but in a specific way, being termed heretical, erroneous, teme- rarious, false, injurious, calumnious, scandalous, or qualified by the ancient special phrase piarum aurium offensivce, "offensive to pious ears". Since the prom- ulgation of the recent Constitution by the reigning pope, giving a new organization to the Curia, while all that has been referred to in regard to the internal status of this congregation has remained, a new divi- sion, to deal with indulgences, has been added to the Holy Office. For this division a congresso h;is also been established. Although no mention is made in the basic constitution of a congress (congresso) for the main part of this congregation, the Holy Office itself, the fact that it is said in the "Norma3 pecuHares" that the Holy Office shall retain its former methods of pro- cedure insures to it a kind of congress analogous to that of the other congregations and consisting of the assessor, the commissary, the first associate, and a few other officers. Its duties are to examine the various cases, and to decide which of them must be submitted to the congregation of the consultors and which others may be disposed of without further proceedings, as is the case in matters of minor importance or of well- established precedent. The Decree often makes it clear that the case has been determined in this way, as when use is made of the formula: "D. N. . .Papa . . per f acultates R. P. D. Assessori S. Off. impertitas ..." The ongresso of the new division consists of the cardinal, secretary, the assessor, the commissary, and the surrogate for indulgences.
