Elect
Elekt (from Latin electus "elected") was the name for the elected holder of a clerical or secular office until he officially took over this office through ordination or coronation .
In the Catholic Church , an elect (also called a bishop's elect ) was a holder of a bishop's chair who had been elected bishop , but had not received the spiritual ordinations actually necessary for it, so that auxiliary bishops were assigned to him for consecration acts to be performed. If he was in front of a prince-bishopric , he was called a prince-elect . Elekten were mostly the younger sons of influential nobles who wanted to keep the possibility of a secular career open. Some of them also tried to convert the bishoprics entrusted to them into secular dominions, which they mostly did not succeed. The citizens of the diocese of Liège rose against their elector John of Bavaria at the beginning of the 15th century when he wanted to make it a secular principality, and could only be defeated with the help of the neighboring duchies of Burgundy and Straubing-Holland ; Johann then dropped his plan.
Elected but not yet crowned popes were called pope electors . In the absence of a higher authority that could confirm the choice, no distinction was made between choice (electio) and confirmation (confirmatio) . In the papal election decree of Nicholas II of 1059 it was stipulated that the election already conferred power to rule and to make dispositions (auctoritas regendi et disponendi) . The papal elect had to submit to various ceremonies, including the adoption of a new name, immantation , proclamation , lauds and finally the enthronement and coronation , which were particularly important in schismatic elections. Between the election and the coronation, the papal elect (e.g. Hadrian V , who was neither ordained a priest nor a bishop) also carried the papal title “Elected Servant of the Servants of God” (electus servus servorum Dei ) . But the name side of the bull of elections was blank, on the back the heads of the apostles Peter and Paul were embossed. Although he could appoint and remove or punish subordinates and exercise full papal authority, he was not allowed to perform ordinations.
literature
- Robert L. Benson : The Bishop Elect. A Study in Medieval Ecclesiastical Office . Princeton University Press, Princeton 1968.
- Peter Johanek : Vescovo, clero e laici in Germania prima della Riforma . In: Peter Johanek, Paolo Prodi (ed.): Strutture ecclesiastiche in Italia e in Germania prima della Riforma (= Annali dell'Istituto storico italiano-germanico di Trento ). tape 16 . Il Mulino, Bologna 1984, ISBN 88-15-00616-8 , p. 87-134 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Carl Gerold Fürst : "Statim ordinetur episcopus" or The Papal Documents "sub bulla dimidia". Innocent III. and the beginning of papal power . In: Festschrift Willibald M. Plöchl . Innsbruck 1977, p. 45-65 .