Studia Koszalińsko-Kołobrzeskie (Jan 2020)

Geneza i historia urzędu dziekana

  • Piotr Łowicki

DOI
https://doi.org/10.18276/skk.2020.27-31
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27

Abstract

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The Dean’s Office takes its beginning in the Apostolic era, where the Apostles’ assistants were deacons. Through a choreopioscope, Archdeacon and Archpriest, the predecessor of the present Dean, the office changed its character from charitable to charity to typical judicial-control activities. Over the centuries, the Bishops responded to the human weaknesses of the office, reducing their rights and responsibilities. On the other hand, the development of the Church forced the bishop to seek new ways of waking up and performing pastoral care over the faithful, so the dean had more tasks added. A Breakthrough was the Council of Trent, who abolished his independence and made him dependent on the diocesan bishop. The Code of Canon Law of 1917 again returned to the function of the dean, giving it a pastoral character, which was even more emphasised in the Codex John Paul II of 1983 and the documents of the second Vatican Council.

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