LEGATE, the name of the ambassador or representative, whether 'temporary or per manent, sent by the pope to a particular church. In the ancient church we meet many examples of officials, called in Greek apocrisiarioi, and in Latin responsales, at the court of Constantinople; but Their commission was commonly temporary, and granted for some special object. lu the later constitution of the church, three classes of legates are distinguished. 1. Legati a Were, "legates dispatched from the side" of the pontiff, who are commonly cardinals; 2. Legati anssi, called also "apbstolic nuncios," and including a lower grade called "internuncios;" 3. Legati anti, "legates born," whose office is not personal, but is attached by ancient institution or usage to the see or other ecclesiastical dignity which they hold. Of the last class there were examples in most national chUrenes; thus, the bishop of Thessalonica was legate born for 111yricum, the bishop of Arles for Gaul, time bishop of Mainz for Germany, the bishop of Toledo (though his claim was often disputed) for Spain, time bishop of Canterbury for England, etc. This institution, however, has gone entirely into abeyance; and, indeed, the authority of legates is much modified in the modern church. In time medimval times, the legate elaimed full papal jurisdiction in the country assigned to him, even overruling the local jurisdiction of the bishops of the national church. This led to many disputes; to
refusals to receive legates, as in France, where the legate was obliged to wait at Lyons till his credentials should have been examined and approved at court; and to counter legislation, as in England, to the statute of 16 Richard II., commonly known as the statute of premunire; and the council of Trent removed the ground of contention by abolishing all such claims to local jurisdiction as trenched upon the authority of the bishops. The legate, in the modern church, is little other than the ambassador, mainly for spiritual purposes, of the pope. He is held as belonging to the diplomatic body, and by the usage of Catholic courts enjoys precedence of all other ambassadors. The legates at time second-rate courts have the title of internnneio. Legates are commonly bishops or archbishops, in partibus infideliurn. The establishment of a nunciature at Munich, in 1785, led to an animated controversy. In the pope's own states, as they existed before the late revolution, the governors of the legations (see ITALY, PAPAL STATES) were called legates.