Titular church

A titular church or titulus (English: title) is a church in Rome assigned or assignable to one of the Cardinals, or more specifically to a Cardinal priest.

Originally, these were basilicas in Rome under the direction of a permanently appointed presbyter and corresponding to what would now be called parish churches. They were known as tituli or tituli presbyterales, distinguished from one another by the name of the founder or proprietor who held the property in custody for the Church. For instance, the Titulus Aemilianae, now the church of the Santi Quattro Coronati, drew its name from its foundress, who doubtless owned the extensive suburban Roman villa whose foundations remain under the church and whose audience hall became the ecclesiastical basilica. The most ancient reference to such a Roman church is in the Apology against the Arians of Athanasius in the fourth century, which speaks of a council of bishops assembled "in the place where the Presbyter Vito held his congregation".

By the end of the 5th century they numbered 25, as is confirmed by the Liber Pontificalis. The same number, though with different identities, is given in the reports of councils held in Rome in 499 and 595. In 1120, the number is given as 28. Many more have received the status of titular churches in modern times, other were abandoned, or assigned to another order of cardinals (from deaconry to priestly title or vice versa, permanently or pro hac vice), just for the duration of one incumbent's cardinalate.

In 1059, the right of electing the pope was reserved to the bishops of the seven suburbicarian sees, the priests in charge of the titular churches, and the clergy in charge of the deaconries. These were known collectively as the cardinals.

Accordingly, as ecclesiastics from outside Rome came to be appointed cardinals, they were assigned theoretical responsibility for certain Roman parish churches, a legal fiction establishing their position within the Pope's diocese, the see of Rome. They had no obligation to reside in Rome, and so were not personally responsible for the pastoral care of the titular churches assigned to them, a practice still in force today.

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