Mercoledì delle Ceneri

-Feria IV Cinerum-

Memento , homo, quia pulvis es,
et in pulverem reverteris.

Our Great Primate

S.E.R. Carmelo Enrico Carfora, Arcivescovo di Chicago e II Primate della Chiesa Vetero-Cattolica Romana del Nord America

Apostolic Succession of Archbishop Arnold H. Mathew

1541 March 16th + Scipione, Cardinal Rebiba. Auxillary Bishop, Chieti 
1566 March 12th + Giulio Antonio, Cardinal Santoro, Archbishop, Santa Severina
1586 September 7th + Girolamo, Cardinal Berneri OP, Bishop, Albano
1604 April 4th + Galeazzo Santivale, Archbishop, Bari
1621 May 2nd + Ludovico, Carindal Ludovisi, Camerlengo
1622 June 12th + Luigi Cardinal Caetani, Tit. Patriarch of Antioch
1630 October 6th + Giovanni Battista Scannarolo, Bishop, Tyre and Sidon
1665 October 24th + Antonio, Cardinal Barberini, Archbishop, Reims
1668 November 12th + Charles Maurice Le Tellier, Archbishop, Reims
1670 September 21st + Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, Bishop, Meaux
1693 October 24th + Jacques Goyon de Matignon, Bishop, Condom
1719 February 12th + Dominique Marie Varlet, Bishop, Ascalon
1739 October 17th + Petrus Johannes Meindaarts, Archbishop, Utrecht
1745 July 11th + Johannes van Stiphout, Bishop, Haarlem
1763 February 7th + Gualtherus van Niewenhuisen, Abp., Utrecht
1778 June 21st + Johannes Adrian Broekman, Bishop, Haarlem
1797 July 5th + Johannes Jacobus van Rhijn, Archbishop, Utrecht
1805 November 7th + Gilbertus Cornelius de Jong, Bishop, Deventer
1814 April 24th + Willibrordus van Os, Archbishop, Utrecht
1819 April 12th + Johannes Bon, Bishop, Haarlem
1825 June 14th + Johannes van Santen, Archbishop, Utrecht
1853 July 17th + Hermanus Heijkamp, Bishop, Deventer
1873 August 11th + Gaspard Johannes Rinkel, Bishop, Haarlem
1892 May 11th + Gerardus Gul, Archbishop, Utrecht
1908 April 28th + Arnold Harris Mathew, Archbishop, London

Episcopus Catholicus

In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching doctrine, governing Catholics in his jurisdiction, and sanctifying the world and for representing the Church. Catholics trace the origins of the office of bishop to the apostles, who were endowed with a special charism by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Catholics believe this special charism has been transmitted through an unbroken succession of bishops by the laying on of hands in the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Diocesan bishops — known as eparchs in the Eastern Catholic Churches — are assigned to govern local regions within the Church known as dioceses in the Latin Church and eparchies in the Eastern Rites. Bishops are collectively known as the College of Bishops and can hold such additional titles as archbishop, metropolitan or primate.

Two classes of bishops must be distinguished, not with regard to the power of order, for all bishops receive the fullness of the priesthood but with regard to the power of jurisdiction: the diocesan bishop and the titular bishop or, as he was called before 1882 the episcopus in partibus infedelium. The former is here considered. Those belonging to the second class cannot perform any episcopal function without the authorization of the diocesan bishop; for as titular bishops they have no ordinary jurisdiction. They can; however, act as auxiliary bishops, i.e. they may be appointed to assist a diocesan bishop in the exercise of duties arising from the episcopal order but entailing no power of jurisdiction. (See AUXILIARY BISHOP.) Such a bishop is also called vicarius in pontificalibus, i.e. a representative in certain ceremonial acts proper to the diocesan bishop, sometimes suffragan bishop, episcopus suffraganeus. In the proper sense of the term, however, the suffragan bishop is the diocesan bishop in his relations with the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province to which he belongs, while the bishop who is independent of any metropolitan is called an exempt bishop, episcopus exemptus. The titular bishop may also be coadjutor bishop when he is appointed to assist an ordinary bishop in the administration of the diocese. Sometimes he is incorrectly called auxiliary bishop. He possesses some powers of jurisdiction determined by the letters Apostolic appointing him. Often also, notably in missionary countries, the coadjutor bishop is named cum jure successionis, i.e. with the right of succession; on the death of the diocesan bishop he enters on the ordinary administration of the diocese.

The Council of Trent determined the conditions to be fulfilled by candidates for the episcopate, of which the following are the principal: birth in lawful wedlock, freedom from censure and irregularity or any defect in mind, purity of personal morals, and good reputation. The candidate must also be fully thirty years of age and have been not less than six months in Holy orders. He ought also to have the theological degree of Doctor or at least be a licentiate in theology or canon law or else have the testimony of a public academy or seat of learning (or, if he be a religious, of the highest authority of his order) that he is fit to teach others (c. vii, De electione et electi potestate, X.I. vi; Friedberg, II, 51. Council of Trent. Sess. XXII, De ref., ch. ii).