Commendatory Abbot
An ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey
in commendam,
that is, who draws its revenues and, if an ecclesiastic,
may also have some jurisdiction, but does not exercise any
authority over its inner monastic discipline. Originally only
vacant abbeys, or such as were temporarily without an actual
superior, were given in commendam, in the latter case only until an
actual superior was elected or appointed. An abbey is held in
commendam, i.e. provisorily, in distinction to one held in
titulum, which is a permanent benefice.
As early as the time of
Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) vacant abbeys were given in
commendam to bishops who had been driven from their episcopal sees
by the invading barbarians. The practice began to be seriously
abused in the eighth century when the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kings
assumed the right to set commendatory abbots over monasteries that
were occupied by religious communities. Often these commendatory
abbots were laymen, vassals of the kings, or others who were
authorized to draw the revenues and manage the temporal affairs of
the monasteries in reward for military services. While the
notorious Marozia was influential in Rome and Italy, and during the
reigns of Henry IV of Germany, Philip I of France,
William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I and II of England, the abuse
reached its climax. The most worthless persons were often made
commendatory abbots, who in many cases brought about the temporal
and spiritual ruin of the monasteries. When in 1122 the dispute
concerning investiture was settled in favour of the church, the
appointment of laymen as commendatory abbots and many other abuses
were abolished. The abuses again increased while the popes resided
at Avignon (1309-1377) and especially during the schism (1378-1417),
when the popes, as well as the antipopes, gave numerous abbeys in
commendam in order to increase the number of their adherents.
After the eighth century various attempts were made by popes and
councils to regulate the appointment of commendatory abbots. Still,
the abuses continued. Boniface VIII (1294-1303) decreed that a
benefice with the cure of souls attached should be granted in
commendam only in great necessity or when evident advantage would
accrue to the Church, but never for more than six months (c. 15,
VI, De elect., 1, 6). Clement V (1305-14) revoked benefices which
had been granted by him in commendam at an earlier date (Extr.
comm., c. 2, De praeb., 3, 2). The Council of Trent (Sess. XXV,
cap. xxi, de Regularibus) determined that vacant monasteries should
be bestowed only on pious and virtuous regulars, and that the
principal or motherhouse of an order and the abbeys and priories
founded immediately therefrom should no longer be granted in
commendam. The succeeding Bull "Superna" of Gregory XIII, and the
Constitution "Pastoralis" of Innocent X greatly checked the abuses,
but did not abolish them entirely. Especially in France they
continued to flourish to the detriment of the monasteries. Finally,
the French Revolution and the general secularization of monasteries
in the beginning of the eighteenth century destroyed the evil with
the good. Since that time commendatory abbots have become very
rare, and the former abuses have been abolished by wise
regulations. There are still a few commendatory abbots among the
cardinals; Pope Pius X himself was Commendatory Abbot of the Benedictine
monastery at Subiaco near Rome.
The powers of a Commendatory Abbot
are as follows: If the monastery is occupied by a religious
community where there is a separate mensa abbatialis, i.e. where
the abbot and the convent have each a separate income, the
Commendatory Abbot, who must then be an ecclesiastic, has
jurisdiction in foro externo over the members of the community and
enjoys all the rights and privileges of an actual abbot, and if, as
is generally the case, the monastery has a special superior, he is
subject to the Commendatory Abbot as a claustral prior is subject
to his actual abbot. If there is no separate mensa abbatialis, the
power of the Commendatory Abbot extends only over the temporal
affairs of the monastery. In case of vacant monasteries the
Commendatory Abbot generally has all the rights and privileges of
an actual abbot.
MICHAEL OTT
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia