Temporalities (bona temporalia, fromLatintempus, "time", plural:Temporalia orTemporalien, "temporal goods") are the secular properties and possessions of theCatholic Church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (aStift in German orsticht in Dutch) that were used to support abishop or other religious person or establishment. Its opposite arespiritualities.[1]
In theMiddle Ages, the temporalities were usually those lands that were held by a bishop and used to support him. The distinction between "temporals" and "spirituals" emerged during theInvestiture Crisis, as a way to resolve conflicts over ecclesiastical authority. This separation of secular and spiritual responsibilities within church offices was formalized in theConcordat of Worms. According to its conditions, the temporalities of a diocese were granted to the bishop by the secular ruler after the bishop was consecrated.[2]
If a bishop within theHoly Roman Empire had gained secular overlordship to his temporalities imperially recognised as animperial state, then the temporalities were usually called aHochstift, or anErzstift (for an archbishop). Sometimes, this granting of the temporalities could take some time. Other times, a bishop-elect gained his temporalities even before or without his papal confirmation by animperial act called "liege indult" (Lehnsindult). The temporalities were often confiscated by secular rulers to punish bishops.
Temporalities that involved sovereign or governmental authority were effectively abolished during Germany'ssecularization. What remained was largely converted into state-funded benefits, with their scope defined byconcordats and circumscription bulls.
In the context of the Catholic Church'sdisputes with the Spanish government during the nineteenth century,Pope Gregory XIV reiterated the Church's "innate right to acquire and possess temporal goods" (nativo diritto la facoltà di acquistare e possedere beni temporali) in an address to theconsistory in 1841.[3]
