A CONSISTORY

New Zealand Tablet, 18 January 1912, Page 27

A CONSISTORY

■yi On November 27, his Holiness Pope Pius X. held a Consistory at which 'several Cardinals were created. Most people have only a vague idea of what a Consistory is, and therefore the following explanation, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia, will be of interest Consistories are of three kinds: secret or ordinary, public or extraordinary, and semi-public. —(l) The secret consistory is so called because no one save the Pope and the cardinals is present at its deliberations. Formerly it was customary for the Pope, soon after entering the hall of consistory, to confer singly with the cardinals on such personal matters as they wished to bring before him, and it was only after this audience was over that nobles and prelates were excluded from the hall. But at the present day this audience is omitted. The consistory is frequently opened with an address, or allocution, in which the Pope often reviews the condition of the Church in general or in some particular country, pointing out what deserves praise or needs to be condemned. Such allocutions are afterwards given to the public in order that the world at large may know the mind of the Pope on these matters. At the end of the allocution the creation of new cardinals takes place. The Pope announces the names of those whom he intends to raise to the cardinalate, and asks the, cardinals for their opinion; the cardinals remove their caps as a. sign of consent, and the Pope proceeds immediately to the formal appointment. It is also in the secret consistory that the cardinals receive from the Pope the cardinal’s ring, are appointed to some titular church or deaconry, exercise the option of passing from one titular church to another, and of ascending from the Order of deacons and priests to the Order of priests and bishops respectively. It is also here that the Pope appoints the camerlengo and the Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, and performs the ceremony of ‘ closing ’ and ‘ opening ’ the mouth of the new cardinals. To this consistory belong also the appointments of bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs, the transfers of these dignitaries from one see to another, the appointments of coadjutors, the creation and announcement of new dioceses, the division and union of dioceses, the division and union of dioceses already existing, But the details are not discussed in the consistory itself. All the previous consultations that are required in order that the Pope may come to a prudent conclusion have taken place in a congregation called consistorial, and the Pope in the consistory itself only gives his decision. There are some sees whose bishops are appointed through a brief outside the consistory. Such are those in territories depending on the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, and others as necessity may ; require. These appointments are merely: promulgated in the secret consistory. At the end of the consistory the advocates called consistorial are admitted to request, with the usual formalities, the pallium for newly-appointed archbishops ; their petition is granted immediately, 'but the conferring of the pallium takes place later. " (2) The public consistory is so called because persons foreign to the Sacred College of Cardinals, such as Apostolic prothonotaries, the auditors of the Sacred Rota, and other prelates are called to it. Laymen also, who have made previous application, are permitted to be present. Formerly, in this consistory the Pope used to give ■ solemn reception to kings, princes, and ambassadors; but this is no longer the custom. In the public consistory the Pope performs the ceremony of delivering the red hat to the newly-created cardinals. Moreover, the consistorial - advocates plead here the causes of beatification and canonisation. These pleadings are of two kinds. In the first permission is asked that the ordinary process of beatification or canonisation may be introduced, or continued, or brought to completion. The second has reference only to causes of canonisation. For in accordance with the practice of the Holy See, even after it has been conclusively proved that the miracles required for canonisation have been performed through the intercession of one declared blessed, the honors of a saint are not decreed to him, unless the question as,

to whether canonisation should take place has been treated in three consistories: secret, public, and semipublic. In the secret consistory the Pope asks the opinions of the cardinals, who express it singly by answering placet or non placet (aye or no). In the public consistory one of the consistorial advocates pleads the cause and a prelate answers in the Pope’s name, 4 inviting all to pray in order that ; the Pope may be enlightened on the subject. The final voting takes place in the semi-public consistory. „• (3) -The semi-public consistory is so called because, besides the cardinals, bishops also take part in it. To this consistory the bishops residing within one hundred miles of Rome are summoned, while invitations are sent to all the other bishops of Italy ; moreover, titular patriarchs and archbishops and bishops who live in Rome, as well as bishops who happen to be sojourning there at the time, are likewise present. After all the Fathers have expressed their opinions on the subject, the Pope closes the assembly with an address on the following canonisation. With regard to the time for holding the consistories, the old practice of assembling them at fixed intervals has passed out of use and to-day they meet, as occasion demands, at the Pope’s wish, v