as the episcopal elections were concerned, was governed by
the rules laid down by Justinian. ¹ The following is the
substance of what the imperial legislation prescribed. When
a bishop died, the clergy and chief men of the city, after an
interval of six months, were obliged to prepare a list of three
candidates, and to present a report of the selection to the
consecrator--this consecrator was a patriarch--who was to
choose the most worthy of the three candidates. If the
electors were six months without presenting their candidates,
the consecrator, that is the patriarch, appointed a bishop,
and conferred on him the episcopate. Italy did not recognize
the institution of the patriarchate, but possessed the four
metropolitans of Rome, Milan, Aquileia, and Ravenna. Let
us notice how the rules of Justinian were applied.

The vast correspondence of Pope Gregory informs us ex-
actly of the manner in which things occurred in the jurisdic-
tion of the Roman metropolitan ² (central and southern Italy,
and the adjacent islands). When a bishop died, Gregory com-
manded a "visitor"--sometimes a bishop, sometimes a priest
--to administer the vacant church, and to preside at the
elections of a successor. At the same time by letter he
ordered the church in question to proceed to the election as
soon as possible. He addressed his letter to the whole
electoral body, which included the clergy, the nobility, and
the people. He then explained to them that the bishop-elect
should cause a report of his election to be made, and signed
by all the electors. Furnished with this document, he was
to proceed to Rome to receive consecration. At times the
electoral corps of the vacant church neglected to hold the
election; in such a case, Gregory himself appointed the
bishop. It was in this way that he placed Martin at the
head of a Corsican church which had been for a long time
without a bishop; and while waiting for Martin to occupy
his see, he appointed the bishop Leo as visitor of the church. ³
At other times the electoral body did not succeed in agreeing
on a candidate. Gregory then authorized what was subse-
quently called the compromise. He summoned to Rome

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