Catholic Church. Congregatio Negotiis et Consultationibus Episcoporum et Regularium Praeposita.

This congregation is generally known simply as Bishops and Regulars. Its origin can be traced to the cardinalatial commission set up by Pius V (1566-1572) under the apostolic visitor, Bartolomeo di Porcia in 1570, to examine relations with the patriarch of Aquileia. The commission continued to function even after its initial task had been accomplished. Gregory XIII (1572-1585), recognizing the usefulness of these visits, used it for other purposes from 1573 to 1576, particularly for problems arising between bishops and religious. With the increase of bishops having recourse to the commission, however, it began in 1576 to function as a permanent organization under the name Congregatio super Consultationibus Episcoporum.

Sixtus V (constitution Romanus Pontifex, 17 May 1586), created a new department called Congregatio super Consultationibus Regularium (ID VATV014-A) charged with caring for the many problems that were arising among religious of both sexes. His Immensa aeterni Dei (22 Jan 1588) included this and the above organization among the new congregations formally established by this constitution in the reorganization of the Roman Curia.

When these two congregations were united is not well documented, but it has been verified that during the pontificate of Clement VIII, from 1593 on, there are indications of a single combined congregation; from 1601 on, there is concrete evidence of a single congregation under title of Congregatio Negotiis et Consultationibus Episcoporum et Regularium Praeposita. For the sake of brevity, however, the entire new title was not always used in the compilation of the official acts of a case.

Invested with ordinary and extraordinary faculties delegated from time to time by the various popes, the functions of the Congregatio Episcoporum et Regularium (as the congregation came to be commonly called) were vast. Along with all the affairs relative to bishops and religious, it accumulated jurisdiction parallel to that of the Congregation of the Council with the sole difference that it did not have power as did the other to resolve proposed doubts authentice (in a legally valid way).

In the course of time three other congregations, whose functions were closely related, were united to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars: Congregatio super Statu Regularium (ID VATV465-A), erected by Innocent X with the constitution Inter cetera (17 Dec 1649) for the reform of regulars in Italy, but suppressed by Innocent XII's constitution Debitum pastoralis officii (4 Aug 1698); Congregatio super Disciplina Regulari (ID VATV138-A), instituted by Innocent XII (4 Aug 1698), for the reform of regulars throughout the world; and the Congregatio super Statu Regularium Ordinum (ID VATV137-A), established by Pius IX (decree, 7 Sep 1846). These last two were suppressed by Pius X's motu proprio Sacrae Congregationi (26 May 1906) and combined with the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars.

Pius VII (constitution, Post diuturnas, 30 Oct 1800) reserved exclusively to this congregation criminal cases of appeal from diocesan curias, and mandated that all such cases should be transferred to the Congregatio Episcoporum et Regularium from the curia of the Auditor General of the Apostolic Camera (see ID VATV715-A for the auditor and ID VATV681-A for the tribunal), whose tribunal had been of such importance at one time that it was sufficient to refer to it by initials only (A.C. = Auditor Camerae).

The name of this congregation indicated to a certain extent the scope of its functions. It was responsible for most matters relating to bishops and other prelates, to religious, and to relations between bishops and religious. It did not, however, treat matters of doctrine; nor was it allowed to handle formal interpretation of Tridentine decrees or to conduct marriage processes, both of which belonged to the Congregation of the Council. It did not concern itself with rites and ceremonies. But in all other ecclesiastical affairs it possessed jurisdiction to the extent that Urban VIII and later popes called it a universal congregation. Appeals of priests and laity against decisions of bishops also came to this congregation for judgment. Its authority was not legislative but primarily administrative and judicial.

With the publication of Pius X's constitution Sapienti consilio (29 Jun 1908) the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars as such ceased to exist on 3 Nov 1908. Those of its functions relating to bishops and the administration of dioceses were assigned to the Consistorial Congregation (ID VATV003-A); those referring to religious were given to the new congregation entitled, Congregatio Negotiis Religiosorum Sodalium Praeposita (ID VATV013-A).

With the publication of Pius X's constitution Sapienti consilio (June 29, 1908), the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars as such ceased to exist on November 3, 1908. Those of its functions relating to bishops and the administration of dioceses were assigned to the Consistorial Congregation; those referring to religious were given to the new congregation called Congregatio Negotiis Religiosorum Sodalium Praeposita.

The records of this congregation are just beginning to be discovered by scholars operating outside the boundaries of traditional ecclesiastical and diocesan history. Its various subseries are promising for art history, musicology, women's history (women as patrons and participants in religious communities), education (seminaries, schools, and catechetical instruction) and literacy, the study of early modern and modern parish life, confraternities, popular piety, preaching, confession, resistance to reform, the history of new and old religious orders and their churches, their cults, holy images, and relics. Records also supply glimpses into ceremonial life, including references to marriage and funeral practices.

In general, more of the quotidian nature of clerical and monastic life emerges from the records of this congregation than from the holdings of the Congregation of the Council and the Rota, whose administrative and judicial responsibilities complement and sometimes intertwine with the business of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. When the nun who served her convent as baker dies, the other sisters write this congregation to ask if they can accept another baker as a nun because they cannot afford to buy bread from the outside. This is the congregation to which a bishop writes when a cathedral canon confesses to pawning a chalice. A request for permission to alienate monastery property in order to renovate or buy a new organ would come here.

Note that throughout most of the subseries for this congregation, the term regolari is used generically, like mankind to refer to male and female religious of every stripe. Likewise, particularly during the first hundred years of the Positiones series, there may be files pertaining to male orders in a busta or series labeled monache and business concerning nuns under the classification regolari. Material dealing with confraternities, hospitals, and pilgrim's hospices may also be found in several subseries.

Permissions for the construction of chapels and for the pursuit of other religious projects turn up in all sezioni of the positiones series. Religious images are mentioned or described in the context of chapels, cult practices, and public processions. Occasionally the petitions to the Congregation touch directly on subjects of interest to art historians, for example, a request by religious communities or ecclesiastical figures to make changes in the fabric of a church or monastery. Sometimes these requests are accompanied by supporting documentation, which may include architectural descriptions, cost estimates from architects and even plans. In a related vein, when a nun of S. Giovanni Battista in Bologna needed to meet periodically with an architect to discuss plans for construction of a new church and monastery, she petitioned for permission to leave her convent to do so, supporting her request with a presentation of her architectural project. A separate case refers to the nuns of another Bolognese convent who burned their medieval altarpiece, after replacing it with a "modern" one. When the outraged bishop requested discipline for this action from the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, the nuns defended themselves by criticizing the style and condition of the old altarpiece and by pointing out how their new one conformed to the aesthetic prescriptions of Trent.

Note that some material from this congregation may be found in the Archivio della Congregazione per i Religiosi e gli Istituti Secolari. According to Ps̀ztor (1970), pp. 344-345, this archive houses mostly nineteenth-century material (address: Piazza Pio XII 3, 00193 Rome).

To see a general agency history for the Curia Romana, enter "FIN ID VATV214-A"