Originally only vacant abbeys, or such as were temporarily without an actual superior, were given in commendam, in the latter case only until an actual superior was elected or appointed.
Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) on various occasions gave vacant abbeys
in commendam to bishops who had been driven from their episcopal sees by invading barbarians or whose own churches were too poor to furnish them a decent livelihood. Nonetheless, many did not and buildings fell into disrepair and new members could even be turned away on account of a simple lack of funds. After the eighth century various attempts were made by popes and councils to regulate the appointment of commendatory abbots. At the
Concordat of Worms in 1122, when the
Investiture Controversy was settled in favour of the church, the appointment of laymen as commendatory abbots was abolished. The practice again increased during the
Avignon Papacy (1309–1377) and especially during the
Papal Schism (1378–1417), when the papal claimants gave numerous abbeys
in commendam in order to increase the number of their adherents. Especially in France, they continued to flourish to the detriment of the monasteries; for example
Cluny Abbey. On the eve of the French Revolution of 1789, of the two-hundred-thirty-seven Cistercian institutions in France, only thirty-five were governed by regular Cistercian abbots. Finally the
French Revolution and the general secularization of monasteries in the beginning of the eighteenth century reduced the significance of commendatory abbots along with the significance of monasteries in general. Since that time commendatory abbots have become very rare, and the former abuses have been abolished by careful regulations. There are still a few commendatory abbots among the cardinals;
Pope Pius X himself was Commendatory Abbot of the Benedictine monastery at
Subiaco near Rome. ==Authority==