Adiocesan administrator (also known asarchdiocesan administrator,archiepiscopal administrator andeparchial administrator for the case, respectively, of anarchdiocese,archeparchy, andeparchy) is a provisionalordinary of aCatholicparticular church.
Under the1983 Code of Canon Law of the Latin Catholic Church, thecollege ofconsultors elects an administrator within eight days after thesee is known to bevacant.[1] The college must elect as administrator apriest,bishop, orarchbishop at least 35 years old.[2] 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 themetropolitan archbishop or, if the metropolitan see is vacant, to the senior by appointment of thesuffragan bishops of theecclesiastical province.[3]
If a diocese has acoadjutor 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 anapostolic administrator.
Before the election of the administrator of a vacant see, the governance of the see is entrusted, with the powers of avicar general, to theauxiliary 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 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.[4] 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 isinstalled into office ending the sede vacante period or until he presents his resignation to the college of consultors.[5]
Some bishops ruled more than one bishopric for long periods. In any see beside their primary bishopric, they would have to be called anadministrator. Nevertheless, in local tradition often they are called bishops in all their bishoprics.
Anepiscopal conference can transfer the functions of the consultors to thecathedral chapter.[6] In those countries in which the episcopal conference has transferred the functions, the cathedral chapter, and not the consultors, elect the administrator.[7] Capitular election was the default rule before the adoption of the1983 Code of Canon Law;[8] this old default rule is reflected in the term for the equivalent of an administrator in the 1917 code:vicar capitular.
Since theInvestiture Controversy in 11th and 12th centuries thecathedral chapters used to elect the Catholic bishops in theHoly Roman Empire.Prince-bishoprics wereelective monarchies ofimperial 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 princelyregalia, 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 lackedcanon law prerequisites or papal confirmation, would officially only hold the title diocesan or archdiocesanadministrator (but nevertheless colloquially be referred to as prince-bishop). This was the case with Catholic candidates, who were elected for anepiscopal see with its revenues as a mereappanage and with all Protestant candidates, who all lacked either the necessary vocational training or the papal confirmation.
With many capitulars converting toLutheranism orCalvinism during theReformation, 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 theschism 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-calledliege 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 ofimperially immediate abbeys with their prince-abbots and princess-abbesses.
Unconfirmed incumbents of the sees were calledElected Bishops orElected Archbishops. The information that Protestant clerical rulers would generally have been called administrators, as written in several encyclopedias, does not fit historically documented practice.[9] 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 thediets of the Empire or of theimperial circles (German:Reichstag, or Kreistag, respectively). This restriction was abandoned by thePeace of Westphalia in 1648, when the emperor accepted Protestant administrators as fully empowered rulers. However, the Peace alsosecularised many of the prior Protestant prince-bishoprics and transformed them intohereditary monarchies.
Prince-bishoprics which were ruled by Protestants, were the following:
