ECCLESIASTICAL DIGNITARY

An Ecclesiastical Dignitary is a member of a chapter, cathedral or collegiate, possessed not only of a foremost place, but also of a certain jurisdiction. Thesedignitates, as they are called, are usually the provost and the dean (see those articles), sometimes also thecustosand thescholasticus.Their nomination and canonical institution, to a great extent reserved to the pope, are governed partly by common ecclesiastical law, partly by special legislation (e. g. concordats) and custom. Thedignitatesof a chapter differ from thepersonatus, inasmuch as the latter officers have merely a fixed right of precedence, and again from theofficia(e. g. canon theologian, canon penitentiary), inasmuch as these places imply only an administrative charge or duty (see PERSON, ECCLESIASTICAL; CANON; CHAPTER).

WERNZ,Jus Decretalium,II, n. 780 sqq.; LAURENTITIS,Inst. Juris Eccl.(Freiburg, 1903), n. 255; SÄGMÜLLER,Kirchenrecht(Freiburg, 1902), s. v.Dignitas;HILGENREINER, in BUCHBERGER,Kirchl. Handlexikon(Munich, 1907), s. v.Domkapitel.

THOMAS J. SHAHAN.

Transcribed by Douglas J. PotterDedicated to the Immaculate Heart of theBlessed VirginMary