Disputation — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V · from Schola Thomistica
Disputation II: On the State of the Bishop
This is the more sublime state of the Church; therefore Bishops are compared to the Dominations by the Seraphic Doctor, inasmuch as they truly rule themselves and others; therefore the perfection toward which others aspire by laboring, they inspire in others by calmly presiding. For otherwise, says the Saintly Doctor, part. 2. de eccl. Hierar. cap. 1., can the rulers of men be truly esteemed who are the slaves of vices; wherefore at the beginning of the world it was said, Genes. 3., thou shalt have appetite under thee, and thou shalt rule over him; likewise from the beginning of the Church it was said by Peter, Not as ruling the clergy, but, etc. Significantly and aptly he says: not as ruling, doubtless because, although they are lords, they must exhibit not the lord's power, but the Father's tenderness toward their subjects, as toward sons; wherefore of the Bishop Zechariah foretold, cap. 6., He shall sit, and rule, and shall be a priest on his throne, and counsel of peace shall be between them both, and crowns shall be memorial in the temple of the Lord, thus notes S. Bonaventure, loco cit., whose luminous testimonies concerning this state of perfection I shall relate in order.
De Statu Episcopi.
Hic est sublimior Ecclesiae Status, ideo Dominationibus a Seraphico comparantur Episcopi, quippe qui vere sibi, et aliis dominantur, ideo perfectionem, ad quam alii laborando aspirant, illi ipsis placide praesidendo inspirant; nec enim aliter, ait S. Doctor part. 2. de eccl. Hierar. cap. 1. possint hominum dominatores vere reputari, qui vitiorum sunt servi; quare initio nascentis mundi, Genes. 3. dictum est, sub te erit appetitus eius, et tu dominaberis illius : item a principio Ecclesiae dictum est a Petro; Non ut dominantes in clero, sed, etc. signanter autem, et apposite ait : non ut dominantes, nimirum quia, licet domini sint, non potestatem tamen domini, sed Patris pietatem, in subditos, tanquam in filios, exhibere debent; quare de Episcopo praedixit Zacharias, cap. 6. Sedebit, et dominabitur, et erit sacerdos in solio suo, et erit consilium pacis inter eos, et erunt coronae memoriales in templo domini, ita notat S. Bonaventura loco cit. cuius luculenta testimonia de hoc perfectionis statu, ut ordine referam, sit.
Within this disputation
- Question I: Whether a bishop is in the state of perfection
- Question II: What kind of man he must be who is raised to the episcopate
- Question III: Whether it is lawful to seek or to refuse the episcopate
- Question IV: Whether residence is necessary for bishops, and by what law
- Question V: Whether the Church, and bishops, have dominion over certain temporal things
- Question VI: Whether bishops, and other ecclesiastics, have dominion over revenues that are superfluous to their state
- Question VII: Whether those bishops who were formerly religious are bound to regular observance