excluded, as well as near relatives of the pope (with one exception) and of the cardinals; the personal qualities to be most sought for are learning, holiness and an honourable life. All these recommendations have been, on the whole, well observed, and are so better than ever in the present day. We may add that the religious orders have had a certain number of representatives, four, at least, in the Sacred College, since Sixtus V., several of whom, as we know, became popes. As to the cardinals’ hats granted at the request of the heads of Catholic states, they are subject to negotiations analogous to those concerning nominations to the episcopate, though entailing no concordatory agreement, strictly speaking, on the part of the popes.
The creation of cardinals (to use the official term) is in fact nowadays the function of the pope alone. It is accomplished by the publication of the persons chosen by the pope in secret consistory (q.v.). No other formality is essential; and the provision of Eugenius IV., which required Creation. the reception of the insignia of the cardinalate for the promotion to be valid, was abrogated before long, and definitely annulled by the declaration of Pius V. of the 26th of January 1571. Similarly neither the consent nor the vote of the Sacred College is required. It is true that a Roman Ceremoniale of 1338 (Thomassin, loc. cit. cap. 114, n. 12) still enjoins upon the pope to consult the Sacred College, on the Wednesdays during Ember days, as to whether it is necessary to nominate new cardinals, and if so, how many; but this is only a survival of the ritual of the ancient form of ordination. The injunctions of the councils of Constance and Basel as to the written vote of the cardinals became before very long a dead letter, but there still remains a relic of them. In the consistory, when the pope has nominated those whom he desires to raise to the purple, he puts to the cardinals present the question: “Quid vobis videtur?” The cardinals bend the head as a sign of their consent, and the pope then continues: “Itaque, auctoritate omnipotentis Dei, sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et Nostra, creamus et publicamus sanctae romanae Ecclesiae cardinales N. et N., etc.”
The new dignitary, who has been warned of his nomination several weeks in advance by “biglietto” (note) from the office of the secretary of state, is then officially informed of it by a ceremoniarius of the pope; he at once waits upon the pope, to whom he is presented by one of the cardinals. The pope first invests him with the rochet and red biretta, but there is no formal ceremony. The conferring of the cardinal’s red hat takes place a few days later in a public consistory; while placing the hat on his head the pope pronounces the following words: “Ad laudem omnipotentis Dei et Sanctae Sedis ornamentum, accipe galerum rubrum, insigne singularis dignitatis cardinalatus, per quod designatur quod usque ad mortem et sanguinis effusionem inclusive pro exaltatione sanctae fidei, pace et quiete populi christiani, augmento et statu sacrosanctae romanae Ecclesiae, te intrepidum exhibere debeas, in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.” While pronouncing the last words the pope makes the sign of the cross three times over the new cardinal. The public consistory is immediately followed by a secret consistory, to accomplish the last ceremonies. The pope begins by closing the mouth of the new cardinal, who is led before him, as a symbol of the discretion he should observe; after this he bestows on him the cardinal’s ring, assigns him a title or diaconia; and finally, after going through the formality of consulting the Sacred College, finishes with the symbolic ceremony of the opening of the mouth, signifying the right and duty of the new cardinal to express his opinion and vote in the matters which it will fall to him to consider.
When the cardinals are resident abroad and appointed at the request of the heads of their state, a member of the Noble Guard is sent on the same day that the consistory is held to take the new dignitary the cardinal’s “calotte”; after a few days the red biretta is brought to him by a Roman prelate, with the powers of an ablegatus; the biretta is conferred on him with great pomp by the head of the state. But the conferring of the red hat always takes place at the hands of the pope in a public consistory.
Sometimes, after nominating the cardinals, the pope adds that he also appoints a certain number of others, whose names he does not divulge, but reserves the right of publishing at a later date. These cardinals, whose names he conceals “in his breast,” are for that reason called cardinals Cardinals “in petto.” in pectore (Ital. in petto). This practice seems to go back to Martin V., who may have had recourse to this expedient in order to avoid the necessity of soliciting the votes of the cardinals; but for a long time past the popes have only resorted to it for quite other reasons. If the pope dies before making known the cardinals in petto, the promotion is not valid; if he publishes them, the cardinals take rank from the day on which they were reserved in pectore, the promotion acting retrospectively, even in the matter of emoluments. This method has sometimes been used by the popes to ensure to certain prelates who had merit, but were poor, the means of paying the expenses of their promotion. In March 1875 Pius IX. announced the nomination of several cardinals in petto, whose names would be given in his will. It was pointed out to the pope that this posthumous publication would not be a pontifical act, and ran the risk of being contested, or even declared invalid; Pius IX. gave way before this reasoning, and published the names in a subsequent consistory (Sept. 17).
The dignity of the cardinals is a participation in that of the sovereign pontiff, and as such places them above all the other ecclesiastical dignitaries and prelates. This rank, however, has not always been assigned to them; but was attributed to the cardinal bishops before it was to Dignity. the rest. Their common prerogative was definitively established when they became the sole electors of the pope, at a period when the papacy, under pontiffs like Innocent III., shone with its most brilliant lustre. For example, at the council of Lyons in 1245 all the cardinals took precedence of the archbishops and bishops. It was in 1245, or perhaps the year before, that Innocent IV. granted the cardinals the privilege of wearing the red hat; as to the scarlet robe which still forms their costume of ceremony, it was already worn by cardinals performing the functions of legate; and the use was soon extended to all. As to their civil relations, cardinals were assimilated by the Catholic kings to the rank of princes of the blood royal, cardinals being the highest in the Church, after the pope, just as princes of the blood royal are the first in the kingdom after the king. Of the many ecclesiastical privileges enjoyed by the cardinals, we will mention only two: the real, though nowadays restricted, jurisdiction which they exercise over the churches forming their title or diaconia; and the official style of address conferred on them by Urban VIII. (10th of June 1630), of Eminence, Eminentissimo signore.
The most lofty function of the cardinals is the election of the pope (see Conclave). But this function is necessarily intermittent, and they have many others to fulfil sede plena. On those rare occasions on which the pope officiates in person, they carry out, according to their respective Functions. orders, their former functions in the ritual. But they are, above all, the assistants of the pope in the administration of the Church; they fill certain permanent offices, such as those of chancellor, penitentiary, &c.; or again, temporary missions, such as that of legate a latere; they have seats in the councils and tribunals which deal with the affairs of the Church, and the Roman congregations of cardinals (see Curia Romana).
Bibliography.—All works on canon law contain a treatise on the cardinals. See particularly, for the history, Thomassin, Vetus et nova discipl., tom. I., lib. ii., cap. 113-115. For history and law, Phillips, Kirchenrecht, vol. vi.; Hinschius, System des kathol. Kirchenrechts, vol. i. p. 312. For the canonical aspect, Ferraris, Prompta bibliotheca, s.v. “Cardinales”; Bouix, De curia romana (Paris, 1859), pp. 5-141; Card. de Luca, Relatio curiae romanae, disc. 5. For details of the ceremonies and costume, Grimaldi, Les Congrégations romaines (Sienna, 1890), p. 99 et seq.; Barbier de Montault, Le Costume et les usages ecclésiastiques (Paris), s.d. For a list of the names of the cardinals, according to their titles, see De Mas-Latrie, Trésor de chronologie, col. 2219-2264; and in the chronological order of their promotion, from St Leo IX. to Benedict XIV., ibid. 1177-1242; also Dictionnaire des cardinaux (Paris, 1856). (A. Bo.*)
