Episcopal Installation

[Guest trfr415]

Does Canon law stipulate that a bishop must be installed within a certain time frame from the date of his appointment? Please provide an answer for ones in need of episcopal ordination as well. Does the "months" have to be exact to the date or to the month limit? Meaning, if a bishop was appointed today, must he take possession by the 18th of the stipulated month or just by the stipulated month?

I have referenced Canon Law and have seen a few frames mentioned in Canon 382 SS 2.

Christopher

[cappie]

In General:

TITLE XI: THE RECKONING OF TIME (Cann. 200 - 203)

Can. 200 Unless the law provides otherwise, time is to be reckoned in accordance with the following canons.

Can. 201 §1 Continuous time means unbroken time.

§2 Canonical time is time which a person can so use to exercise or to pursue a right that it does not run when one is unaware, or when one is unable to act.

Can. 202 §1 In law, a day is understood to be a space of twenty-four hours, to be reckoned continuously and, unless expressly provided otherwise, it begins at midnight; a week is a space of seven days - a [b]month is a space of thirty days, [/b]and a year a space of three hundred and sixty-five days, unless it is stated that the month and the year are to be taken as in the calendar.

[b]§2 If time is continuous, the month and the year are always to be taken as in the calendar.

Can. 203 §1 The first day is not to be counted in the total, unless its beginning coincides with the beginning of the day, or unless the law expressly provides otherwise.

§2 Unless the contrary is prescribed, the final day is to be reckoned within the total; if the total time is one or more months, one or more years, one or more weeks, it finishes on completion of the last day bearing the same number or, if the month does not have the same number, on the completion of the last day of that month.
[/b]
Can. 379 Unless prevented by a lawful reason, one who is promoted to the episcopate must receive episcopal consecration [b]within three months of receiving the apostolic letters,[/b] and in fact before he takes possession of his office.

§2 Unless he is lawfully impeded, one who is not already consecrated a Bishop and is now promoted to the office of diocesan Bishop, must take canonical possession of his diocese within four months of receiving the apostolic letters. If he is already consecrated, he must take possession within two months of receiving the apostolic letters.

The period of time within which the newly appointed Bishop is to take canonical possession of his diocese is dependent on whether or not the bishop-elect has already received episcopal consecration. Thus if he is not already a bishop, he must receive consecration [b]within three months of the receotion of the Apostolic [/b]letters and take posession [b]within four months of that same date[/b] if he is [b]already[/b] in episcopal orders the law gives him[b] two months from the reception of the Apostolic letters [/b]to take possession of his diocese

Edited October 18, 2006 by cappie