§ 1. In the Church there are many names not only of dignities but also of offices. Just as in an army under an emperor there are legates, tribunes, chief centurions, centurions, adjutants, and commanders of tens, so also in this sacred army of the Church there are various orders and subordinate magistracies. Therefore it is also called an army drawn up in battle order.
§ 2. Provosts held the first place; yet of old they were of two kinds, either from the body of the clergy or secular. I understand chapter 50 of the statutes of the Council of Mainz under Archbishop Richolf in the year 813 to concern the secular kind:
We therefore command all Bishops, Abbots, and the whole clergy without exception to have good vicedomini, provosts, advocates, or defenders: not evil, cruel, covetous, perjured, or lovers of falsehood, but men who fear God and love justice in all things. Concerning judges, centenarii, tribunes, or vicars, however, we judge it fitting that, if they are found to be evil, they be cast out of their ministry.
§ 3. Since secular provosts were less faithful, zealous, prudent men, capable in action, were appointed from the clergy itself to care for the rights, possessions, and revenues of individuals and of all together; and in the monasteries themselves they were appointed from the religious. Thus it stands in the Council of Aachen under Stephen V and Louis I, chapter 139:
Although all who preside are, as it were, called provosts, usage nevertheless has prevailed that those are called provosts who exercise a certain care of a priorship under other Prelates. Yet the men who are called provosts according to this usage must be appointed by the Prelates as men of such character and energy that they are both of approved life and faithfully and humbly fulfill the things enjoined upon them. Because they are placed over others, let them by no means esteem canonical institutes lightly; rather, the more they are involved in the cares of the brethren, the more eagerly let them obey heavenly admonitions. Provosts, therefore, ought to be useful to the entire congregation and faithfully to benefit it by the ministry committed to them. Let them provide without delay, with charity and at the proper time, the things which they ought to give to the brethren, so that from the Lord they may acquire a good degree through faithful administration. Against men of this kind who offend and do not administer well the obedience committed to them, the measure set out above must be observed.
But when many provosts, both among the clergy and in monasteries, intent upon their own affairs and neglectful of common ones, appeared useless, complaints were forced forth; and indeed the provosts of monasteries were almost reduced to order. For the Lateran Council commands that those who lived apart be recalled to the cloisters, and admonishes the Bishops to compel the Abbots to do this.
The constitution of the Council of Cologne celebrated in the year 15[?]6, part 10, chapter 11, is praiseworthy:
Certain monasteries of nuns have costly provosts. Since the whole administration of the goods is under their power, they themselves live luxuriously from the monastic revenues; and those who ought to have been an example of monastic conduct turn back to the delights of the world, sometimes disdaining fine flour and honey, while the nuns themselves scarcely satisfy their growling stomachs with millet and coarse bread. There are also monasteries of virgins where there is no common food or table, but that practice is daily which Paul, writing to the Corinthians, condemned—although in a far more sacred banquet—namely, that each takes her own supper beforehand to eat, and one indeed is hungry while another is drunk. We judge it necessary to abolish these abuses: namely, that in place of those pampered provosts there be substituted upright stewards, to be approved by us, whose diet shall be like the monastic diet and who shall also be bound every year to render a complete account of receipts and expenditures.
Then the following Synod, held in 1549, reminds all provosts of their office:
It is a complaint that certain provosts of colleges, to whom, by an oath given, it belongs to guard and defend the rights and statutes of the Churches, do nothing less; rather, they merely receive ample fruits, while leaving undefended the Churches for whose sake they receive them, forgetful of their oath and of the fact that a benefice is given on account of an office. Hence we decree and establish that if provosts of this kind, when requested by their colleges to defend their goods, rights, and statutes at the expense of the chapters, in a time of necessity or when danger threatens, neglect to discharge their duty, and the College or Church consequently suffers loss, they shall incur a penalty to be assessed and moderated by the Bishop or superiors according to the magnitude of the loss received and the negligence of the provost.
This decree of the Synod of Cologne pertains to all Churches, because the oath of all tends to the same end.
§ 4. No one can be elected dean unless mature in age and morals. In Distinction 60, Innovamus, the Lateran Council under Alexander III, chapter 3, decreed that no one should undertake a deanery unless he has attained his twenty-fifth year and is to be commended for learning and morals, and unless he is a presbyter; the same is in the same Distinction. If a deacon has been elected, he is deprived of the honor unless he is ordained presbyter; in the same place. In the same manner, the Lateran Council under Callistus II says: “Let no one be ordained Provost, Dean, or Archpriest unless a presbyter; let no one be ordained Archdeacon unless a deacon.” The same is in the Council of Poitiers in 1100 under Paschal II.
§ 5. It is necessary for a dean to reside in his Church. There is a golden canon of the Council of Cologne in 1549:
We see that, when Deans are absent or discharge their office sluggishly, the insolence of all the most worthless Canons and vicars generally prevails against the better men; piety and the zeal of good men are held in mockery; the divine offices are neglected and are performed neither duly nor by all, but only rushed through; integrity of life and morals is imperiled; discipline is entirely nonexistent—in brief, every wicked man may do whatever he pleases.
We therefore command and order that Deans reside personally at their Churches and energetically discharge their office through themselves, and that they chastise the excesses of their subjects whenever there is need, under penalty of deprivation of the fruits of the deanery in proportion to the time during which, after admonition, they have not resided without reasonable cause. These fruits are to be applied to the fabric of the Church or to the poor where another worthy penalty has not been decreed against nonresidents, unless perhaps it happens that necessity causes them to be absent. In that case let them commit their functions to some member of the chapter who can render an account of the office undertaken and whom inferiors will revere, unless the pecuniary statutes of the colleges designate such a vicar for the absent man.
In the same year the Synod of Mainz established an even more sacred rule and extended the most salutary law more broadly, chapter 71:
Since it is established that our ancestors instituted the offices of these dignities in Churches so that there might be men who, as inspectors and moderators, preserved ecclesiastical discipline, but we now see them occupied by men who merely bear the titles of dignities and enjoy their emoluments, yet are absent from their Churches and answer to nothing less than their appellations: therefore we establish that hereafter all who now shine forth in, or shall hereafter be appointed to, the dignities of Provosts, Deans, Scholastics, Custodians, or Cantors—insofar as these belong to our disposition or that of our comprovincials—shall be present at their Churches and furnish useful service worthy of the name. Let them not be absent and merely carry away the fruits; nor shall it be lawful for anyone absent to bear any one of these dignities. Rather, each man distinguished by such a title shall serve his Church, not absent and not by the hired labor of others, but himself residing and present.
§ 6. These duties of deans are prescribed by the Councils. The Council of Cologne in 1536, chapter 2:
Further, since collegiate Churches are secondary after cathedrals and are constituted in their likeness, so far as the orders of ministers and divine worship are concerned, in both places it shall be the care of the Deans to urge and bring back their clerics to the observance of pious rites; continually to exhort and compel them to lead a life worthy of clerics; to recall them from business and worldly tumults, lest they appear soldiers of the age rather than of Christ; to forbid banqueting, drunkenness, and all luxury; and finally to compel them to discharge their office.
The Synod of Augsburg in 1547, chapter 9:
Let the Dean keep the clerics and household of his College, each in his own duty; let him precede others by example; let him require integrity of life and morals in dress and discipline, and what is due in the performance and ceremonies of the divine offices. Let him rebuke drunkards, gamblers, brawlers, fornicators, and men forgetful of their office; drive them from sacred rites; and fine them by the right belonging to him.
Again Cologne, chapter 9:
In order, therefore, that the things we have spoken of may be cleansed and duly observed, together with all other things pertaining to the performance of the divine office and the discipline of the choir, the Dean shall keep diligent watch, looking about on every side lest anything be done disorderly.
And chapter 25 describes his office together with its power thus:
If the Dean perceives any men to be rebellious, negligent of divine worship and of their office, quarrelsome, litigious, brawlers, gamblers, keepers of harlots, or entangled in other public crimes, and they refuse to hear fraternal correction, let him do in these chapters what Paul commands: “Rebuke sinners before all.” Then, if they refuse to come to their senses, let him keep them from sacred rites and forbid them to share in the fruits until they return to a better fruit of life; yet in such a way that this Apostolic rule is observed here: “Rebuke the restless, console the fainthearted, be patient toward all,” and that neither anger, hatred, nor rancor claim any part for itself. For that solicitude of Provosts is useful, that caution is praiseworthy, in which reason does everything and fury claims nothing for itself. For anger often brings even the innocent into guilt. For while we are angry beyond what is just and wish to restrain another’s sins, we commit graver ones. Nevertheless, through these provisions we prejudice nothing in the privileges and legitimate customs of ourselves and of the Churches of our province, and especially in the practice and custom which exists in some Churches—namely, that causes of discipline are adjudged by the Deacons—provided that the Deacons diligently and energetically apply themselves to, and discharge, their office. But if the Dean and chapter are negligent or entangled in the same crimes, it will be necessary to return to the disposition of the common law.
The province of Deans is therefore most weighty, since the discipline, morals, and ordering of divine worship of the whole College pertain to them. For unless the Dean is pious, prudent, vigilant, strong, and fearless in admonishing, and if he dissembles vices and abuses, the blood of all souls will be required from his hand. He rushes through the psalms in the mouth of all; he chatters with the tongues of all. For what he is bound by office and able by authority to correct, he is judged to do if he neglects it.
§ 7. Parish priests in villages, districts, and towns also have their deans or presidents, whom they call rural. The Synod of Trier in 1548 explains their duties:
The Archpriests, who are also called rural Deans, since they have been admitted to the assembly of the Synod, are commanded to render to our Most Reverend Lord an account both of the office of the pastors and of their own. For it belongs to them to rebuke the public offenses of their subjects, provide for the cure of souls, feed all with the pure doctrine of the word of God, sustain the wretched and afflicted by consoling them, preside well over the Church in all things, and finally exhibit themselves as sound examples of living in word and deed. The Apostle judges those who do this worthy of double honor. For even the pagan judges it most shameful to commit what you teach others ought not to be committed. They must therefore answer to His Most Reverend Grace concerning these matters, as also concerning other cares worthy of a priest, so that he may know their integrity in administering their offices. On this account, indeed, he will command that favor and praise be rendered to the good and those willing to obey; but that the evil and reprobate, of whatever condition they may be, hereafter be afflicted with disgrace and punishment by force of ecclesiastical censure.
Those who are now called deans appear formerly to have been Archpriests, for each is the chief man of his college. Principal men are also commonly called decani, and the number ten is honored, to such an extent that great things are called decumana. Yet now the Archpriest and the dean have different functions: by ordinary law the Archpriest is subject in government to the Archdeacon, while the dean is not. The Archpriest generally performs the functions of an absent Bishop. See the last constitution of Leo, On the Office of the Archpriest.
§ 8. The office of the Scholastic is either to educate the young or to take care that they are educated. He presides over those whom they call domicellarii. Unless these are educated with every care and exercised in the divine offices, the hope of good ecclesiastics is cut down in the blade. General oversight of schools, however, is judged to have been committed to the metropolitan Scholastic.
Another office is also joined to that dignity, namely, examining those to be ordained; for the Scholastic of the cathedral Church presides over the examination.
Concerning all these things the Synod of Cologne, chapter 3, speaks almost in one word:
In these Churches there are different ranks of ministers, namely, Provosts, Deans, Archdeacons, Scholastics, Cantors—who are also Bishops of the Choir—Treasurers—who are also Sacristans or Custodians—Canons and Vicars, and other men of this kind. Let each interpret his own designation and take care to be what he is called, according to the ancient institution and rule of the Fathers. By this alone they will have brought it about that they appear in great part to have answered both our expectation and that of all the pious.
§ 9. A Primicerius is whoever is πρώτης τῆς τάξεως, first in rank, or more dignified than the others, πρωτόκηρος, “first on the wax.” It was customary to write on wax. Pliny, book 2 of the Letters: “Nearby there was no hunting spear or lance, but a stylus and writing-tablet; I meditated upon and noted certain things, so that, even if I brought back empty hands, I might nevertheless bring back full wax tablets.” A Primicerius, moreover, was the man who was written on the first wax, that is, first in the choir among the cantors; in Suetonius the man on the lowest wax is one among the last. His office is described in book 1 of the Decretals, title 25, chapter 1:
Let the Primicerius know that he is under the Archdeacon, just as is the Archpriest; that it pertains especially to his care that he preside in teaching the Deacons or the remaining men placed in the ecclesiastical ranks; and that he himself apply himself to their discipline and guardianship, since he will have to render an account before God for their souls. Let him himself give the Deacons the lessons which pertain to the nocturnal offices of clerics; and let him have care for each, so that, in whatever matter he has an understanding capable of it, he may apply himself without any negligence, or that they may be instructed by the man whom he himself shall command.
And Distinction 25, chapter 1:
To the Primicerius belong the acolytes, exorcists, psalmists, and lectors; also the signal for the office of the clerics; and, with respect to integrity of life and the careful study and performance of the office, which of the clerics ought to say the lessons, blessings, psalm, praises, offertory, and responsories. To him also belong the order and manner of singing psalms in choir according to the solemnity of the seasons, and also the arrangement for carrying the lights. If anything is necessary for the repair of the basilicas which are in the city, he reports it to the priest. He shall send the Bishop’s letters concerning fast days to the parishioners through the doorkeepers. He shall himself constrain clerics whom he knows to offend; but he shall bring the excesses of those whom he is unable to correct to the Bishop’s knowledge. He shall himself appoint the basilicani and arrange the matricula. When the Primicerius is absent, however, the man who is nearest to him either by law or by learning shall investigate the things aforesaid. To the Treasurer belong the ordering of the basilicas and the doorkeeper, the preparation of incense, care for making the chrism, care for arranging the baptistery, and the preparation of lights in the sacristy and at the sacrifices.
The primiceriate was a benefice and dignity. Therefore, since the Primicerius did not perform the office, the Canons of Toul abolished this office, as appears in a rescript of Innocent III.
§ 10. There are also other kinds of offices and dignities. At Toulouse and elsewhere the highest dignity after the Provost is that of the Academic Chancellor, who is himself also a Canon. At Cologne the metropolitan Provost himself is Chancellor; at Mainz the Custodian appoints the Chancellor. See concerning these matters book 5 of the Decretals, On Masters, chapter Quamvis.
Officials and Vicars of Bishops exercise jurisdiction in place of the Bishop. In Nova, 16, question 7.
The Treasurer is κειμηλιάρχης, one who guards precious things; elsewhere he is also called the Custodian.
The Sacristan has care of the sacred furnishings and the lights; book 2 of the Decretals, 26.
The Custodian is the minister of the Sacristan; in the same place, chapter 1.
The Steward is the man who administers the property of the Church, the dispenser for the poor.
The man called Vicedominus in a Bishopric is called Steward in particular Churches.
The Syndic is the man who prosecutes suits and defends the disputed rights of the Church.
The Cellarer is the man to whom the distribution of wine, and often of grain and other things, is committed.
There are also Parish Priests, Vicars, Chaplains, Pensionaries, and Orphanotrophs, all of whom ought to be appointed according to the necessity and utility of the Church. But these must be treated specifically, as must the Canons.