Rites, Congregation Of
Rites, Congregation of
Created by Pope Sixtus V on 2 January 1588; its prefect is a cardinal. The officials peculiar to this Congregation are the Promotor of the Faith (popularly called the devil’s advocate), who raises objections against beatifications and canonizations, and the hymnographer, who prepares and corrects new offices. There are two groups of consultors: one for beatifications and canonizations, the other for sacred liturgy. This Congregation is charged with the direction of the liturgy of the Latin Church and therefore with supervising the performance of the rites prescribed for celebrating Mass and other ecclesiastical functions. It also grants all privileges relating to the rites and ceremonies of the Church. The inspection, correction, and condemnation of liturgical books, the approbation of new liturgical feasts and offices, and the solution of all doubts about liturgical matters pertain to it. To it also belongs the decision of causes of beatification and canonization of the faithful, and of the veneration of their relics.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Rites, Congregation Of
the name of a committee of cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, founded by pope Sixtus V. It was originally composed of six cardinals, with a number of secretaries and consulters. The reigning pope decides the number of members. In 1875 it comprised seventeen cardinals, twenty-five consulters, and eleven officials, including secretary, promoters of the faith, assessors, and masters of ceremonies. The matters of which it has cognizance are the liturgy, the rites of the administration of the sacraments, the rubrics of the missal and breviary, the ceremonial of the Church in all public functions, and the proceedings in the beatification and canonization of saints. The congregation meets once a month at the residence of the prefect, who is always the senior cardinal of the board. See Appletons’ New Amer. Cyclop. s.v.