A bishop is always a bishop of a place, even if it's gone

On Oct. 17, retired Bp. Aloysius Wycislo will mark an anniversary. On that date, in 1960, Blessed Pope John XXIII named him a bishop -- Bishop of Stadia.

Then-Msgr. Wycislo was serving in his home diocese of Chicago, under Card. Albert Meyer, when he was selected to become an auxiliary bishop of Chicago.

While the Chicago Archdiocese has had many auxiliary bishops -- and today has seven -- our Diocese of Green Bay has had three auxiliary bishops in its 134-year history:

• The late Bp. John Grellinger -- the first auxiliary named for Green Bay on May 16, 1949, by Pope Pius XII.

• Retired Bp. Mark Schmitt -- named for Green Bay on May 5, 1970, by Pope Paul VI and named as Bishop of Marquette in 1978.

• Bp. Robert Morneau -- named for Green Bay on Dec. 19, 1978, by Pope John Paul II.

An auxiliary bishop is named to a diocese to assist its governing bishop -- called the ordinary, or diocesan, bishop. (Ordinary is used in the sense of its root word, meaning "proper order," similar to "ordinary time.") According to canon law, the auxiliary bishop is appointed, at the request of a diocesan bishop, to assist "in the entire governance of the diocese, and takes his place when he is absent or impeded" (Can. 405:2). More than one auxiliary may be appointed. That is why Chicago has seven auxiliary bishops. Rome also has auxiliary bishops -- six -- to assist its bishop, Pope John Paul II.

According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, the first official mention of the position we now call "auxiliary bishop" appeared in the time of the Fifth Lateran Council (1517-1512) under Pope Leo X. However, the heads of local churches have often needed assistance in shepherding their sometimes far-flung flocks. And that help today often comes from an auxiliary bishop who assists in guiding the care of Christians in a particular geographic area.

An auxiliary bishop is a full bishop -- with power to ordain, to confirm, and to dedicate churches. The church calls these "full pontifical powers," which an auxiliary shares with all bishops, united with the pope. However, an auxiliary bishop does not have juridical powers; that power to govern a diocese is reserved to the diocesan bishop, in our case, Bp. Robert Banks. Auxiliaries receive all their diocesan authority through the authority of their local diocesan bishop.

In fact, when a resident bishop dies, his auxiliaries no longer retain episcopal powers in the diocese, since they were granted those powers through that now-deceased bishop. The auxiliaries do, however, remain bishops with full sacramental power. And since canon law states that auxiliaries are always to be appointed vicar generals in their dioceses, they retain a great deal of leadership authority, even during the time of a vacant see. (They can also be appointed as diocesan administrator during times of vacancy, as Bp. Morneau was when then-Bishop Adam Maida was appointed to Detroit in 1990.)

Since an auxiliary bishop, once named, is always a bishop -- and since a bishop must have a flock to lead -- auxiliaries are also named "titular bishops." This means they have title to a diocese. However, it is not a diocese where they serve. Rather, a titular bishop receives a see that technically no longer exists -- as in the case of Stadia.

Such a see is a place where the church once flourished -- often in Africa or the Holy Land -- but was abandoned or overrun by non-Christians. For example, Bp. Grellinger was named titular bishop of Syene -- a place that we now call Aswan, in Upper Egypt along the Nile River.

Such sees are officially called in partibus infidelium -- meaning "in the lands of non-believers." While this seems a harsh statement, since there are no doubt many believers in that area, it reflects history. What often happened in these areas was that the last resident bishop was thrown out, if not killed, when the see city was overrun by "non-believers."

In fact, Bp. Morneau, who is titular bishop of Massa Lubrense, a city along the Bay of Naples in Italy, says that -- at one time -- the bishop of Massa Lubrense was forbidden to go into the town. The see was founded in 1024 and is now part of the Diocese of Sorrento. (Card. Jaime Sin of Manila, in the Philippines, was titular Bishop of Massa Lubrense before Bp. Morneau.)

Bishops who were forcibly expelled from their dioceses by invaders fled to nearby friendly dioceses, where they lived as "suffragen bishops," a form of political refugee. Many assisted the local bishop, a custom that contributed to the rise of the official term "auxiliary bishop" in the 16th century.

Another form of auxiliary bishop, who is not a titular bishop, is the coadjutor bishop. Unlike a true auxiliary, a coadjutor bishop has the right of succession to the diocesan bishop. Such a bishop is usually only appointed when the current bishop is quite ill. A coadjutor bishop usually stays in the diocese where he is assigned, since he will become its governing bishop. Such is not always the case with auxiliary (titular) bishops.

When Bp. Wycislo was named an auxiliary bishop in Chicago, he was named a titular bishop and given the ancient see of Stadia -- which was another name for what we today call the Island of Rhodes, one of the Greek Isles. He was officially separated from that ancient see when he was appointed Bishop of Green Bay in 1968.