Cathedraticum

Cathedraticum (a Latin word from cathedra, episcopal seat or throne) is a specified sum of money to be paid annually toward a bishop. It is a mark of honour and a sign of subjection to the cathedral church, from which its name is derived.

In Early Christianity, financing the bishop was tendered rather through custom than by canon law. The earliest legislation on the subject seems to be a canon of the Second Council of Braga (572); according to its decree, only parish churches and chapters were obliged to pay the cathedraticum (Can. Placuit, 10, qu. 3), because at the time of the Council of Braga the sacraments were administered to the faithful in parochial churches only.

When in the course of time, many other ecclesiastical edifices were built and endowed, it was judged proper that these also should pay the cathedraticum. Hence Pope Honorius III made a universal law (cap. Conquerente, de Off. Ordin.) that not only chapters and parish churches, but also endowed chapels and benefices should be subject to the same tax (Rota coram Tan. decis, 228), which was to be paid to the bishop on the occasion of his annual visitation of his diocese. The amount of the cathedraticum was fixed in ancient times at two solidi (coins; a solidus was one seventy-second part of a pound of gold). According to canonists, this remains the obligatory amount of the tax, unless custom establishes a different sum. If a smaller amount than the original tax becomes customary in a diocese, the bishop must be content with this reduced pension, nor can he command a return to the higher sum (S. C. C. in Amalph., 1705). In general it is presumed that the quantity of the cathedraticum will be determined by reasonable custom according to the exigencies of various dioceses and countries. Where custom has not fixed the sum, the S. Congregation of the Council declared that either the amount paid by a neighbouring diocese or the equivalent of the original two solidi must be taken as the proper tax (In Albin., 1644).

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