To become a corporation sole, the bishop shall present to the Secretary of State of Alabama an application signed by the bishop which shall set forth:

1. (1) The name, official designation, and place of residence of the applicant, the name of the church of which the individual is a bishop, a copy in English of the commission, instrument, or document, if any, evidencing the right to the office, the date and place of the consecration and induction into office and that the bishop desires to become a corporation sole under this article;
2. (2) The name and territorial limits of the diocese, the date of its creation, a brief designation of the authority by which the diocese was created, that by which it may be modified and that by which its bishopric is filled, the terms of its bishop’s office and the instrument or document, if any, by which the bishop’s right to the office is evidenced, and the place where, and the official by whom, the original records thereof are kept;
3. (3) The name proposed for the corporation;
4. (4) The location of the principal office of the proposed corporation; and

5. (5) Any other matter relating to the incorporation which the applicant may choose to insert, not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of Alabama.

   The application shall be subscribed and sworn to by the bishop before an officer authorized by the laws of Alabama to take and certify oaths, who shall certify upon the application that he or she personally knows the applicant and believes the applicant to be the bishop as asserted in the application and that the applicant subscribed and swore thereto in the officer’s presence. The Secretary of State shall examine the application, and if he or she finds that the name proposed for the corporation is not identical with that of a person or of any other corporation in this state, or so nearly similar thereto as to lead to confusion and uncertainty, the Secretary of State shall receive and file it and shall record it in an appropriate book of record in his or her office.

(Acts 1911, No. 429, p. 452; Code 1923, §7113; Code 1940, T. 10, §116; §10-4-2; amended and renumbered by Act 2009-513, p. 967, §324.)