Title IX: On Resignation

Latin source headnote: Permission to resign is not given to a bishop who wishes to resign because of old age if he is necessary or useful to his church.

Alexander III to the Archbishop of Lyon.

We recently received your letters, full of devotion and not devoid of sorrow, since they both intimated to us your most affectionate charity and sought a resignation from your archiepiscopal office—which we rejoice that you have faithfully discharged and still discharge—that is contrary to the interests of the Church. For you know, as a provident and prudent man, that the evil of the day is so great, and the pressure of persecution against the Church of God so grave and so prolonged, that it would by no means conduce to its advantage if your see should happen to suffer a failure.

But if, perhaps considering either your old age or your insufficiency, you petition to be released as one who has completed his service, know that we believe and hold for certain that it is safer at this time for the church committed to you to be governed under the shadow of your name than for its governance amid so great a crisis to be committed to another, new and unknown person—especially because the vigor of devotion and faith does not fail in you even as your body grows old; rather, as your bodily condition declines downward, the fervor of your spirit ascends toward higher things.

Therefore, lest the sting of this sorrow wound the living charity of our breast toward you, we admonish you not to make yourself troublesome by any importunity concerning this in these days, because it is proved altogether unfitting to unfasten the belt of military service before the adversity of battles yields to the victor. Press on, therefore, like a good soldier of Christ, and persevere in the office of your solicitude, lest, while you seek the desires of your own quiet, you suffer some loss of the talent entrusted to you.

You ought also to attend to this: if you have wings with which you strive to fly into the wilderness so that you may rest, they are nevertheless bound by the bonds of precepts which, as you know, so bind you by the institution of the sacred canons that you do not have free flight without our permission.

Moreover, brother, lest you complain that we burden you intolerably—you who can know the weakness both of your mind and of your body better than we can—we finally grant you this, if in the judgment of your conscience the matter altogether requires it: that, when an opportunity has been received, you be solicitous concerning the substitution of a person, both through yourself and through the prince of the land, or also through your letters and suitable messengers if you are unable or unwilling to exhibit your bodily presence there, and through other religious and industrious men of that kingdom; and that you strive to find such a successor as will neither degenerate from the brightness of the faith nor stray from the path of rectitude and honor. It is also fitting for you to discuss and deliberate with the same persons concerning those things which you consider should be reserved for your necessities, so that, when all these things have become known to us through both your assertion and theirs, we may be able to proceed in the matter so providently and securely that neither we nor you yourself ought afterward to repent of this work.

Textual notes:

1. The source prints Londonensi Episcopo, “to the Bishop of London,” although the body expressly calls the office archiepiscopal. The parallel reading Lugdunensi archiepiscopo, “to the Archbishop of Lyon,” is followed here.
2. The source’s incedens is the evident typographical error indecens, “unfitting.”

Latin source headnote: One who has abjured a benefice can lawfully obtain it if he is elected anew.

The same to the Abbot of Dol and the Prior of Artigia.

When a dispute had been conducted for a rather long time in our presence between P. Gaufridi and certain other canons of Saint I. concerning a spiritual benefice—namely, a stall in the choir and a place in the chapter—the business could not be concluded because the other party had not come sufficiently instructed. Therefore, committing the cause itself to your examination, we command you by apostolic writings to summon the parties before your presence and, after inquiring more fully into the truth of the matter, if you find that the aforesaid P. Gau. was invested by apostolic authority with the aforesaid benefice with the assent of the greater and sounder part of the chapter, you are, appeal being removed, to cause him peaceably to possess the benefice itself. For the oath which he is alleged to have taken that he would not seek it further does not appear to us to present an impediment, if the assent of the greater and sounder part of the canons of the church intervened.

Latin source headnote: One who has resigned his benefice cannot reclaim it.

The same to the Bishop of Veroli.

It was intimated to our ears from the transmitted report of the Abbot of Saint Nicholas of Ceprano that the cleric P. Rubeus, when formerly suffering from illness, petitioned at the monastery of the Holy Savior of Telese that the monastic habit be granted to him. After he later recovered his health, he approached that monastery for the purpose of fulfilling his vow and, remaining there for a little while, caused those things which he had conferred upon the aforesaid church of Saint N. to be restored to him. Now, however, having changed his mind, he labors through you and through your friends to be restored in the aforesaid church.

But since the said church is known to have been released from him from the time when, at his own will and petition, it restored to him those things which he had conferred upon it, we admonish and command your fraternity that, if the matter stands thus, you are on no account to compel the aforesaid abbot and his associates, against their will, to receive the aforesaid P., nor are you to permit them to be compelled by the people of Ceprano. You may nevertheless exhort and admonish them, if it matters so much to you, to receive him as an associate and brother, not as one of the church but as though he ought to enter anew.

Latin source headnote: A beneficed person cannot resign a benefice without the license of his prelate.

The same to the Bishop of Tournai.

The care of the governance we have undertaken admonishes us, and pontifical authority induces us, to be solicitous for the condition of churches and to attend with undiminished zeal to their progress and increase. Therefore, by apostolic writings we command your fraternity, by way of precept, to establish and ordain by our authority and yours that the ecclesiastical persons of your bishopric shall not dare to make any testament concerning those things which come to them from the goods of churches or which have accrued to them by reason of those churches, but that those goods shall pass to the churches themselves, as is just and canonical. If, however, any of those persons have died intestate, you shall likewise decree that the goods which accrued to them from the churches or by reason of them pass to those same churches. Indeed, concerning those goods which were acquired by right of patrimony or from elsewhere in favor of the person, they shall have free faculty to make a testament.

Likewise, on our behalf and yours, under strict prohibition you shall forbid all ecclesiastical persons of your bishopric to dare, without your assent, to enter or detain churches of your diocese that pertain to your appointment, or to relinquish them without consulting you. If anyone presumes to act contrary to your prohibition, relying upon our authority and yours you shall exercise canonical punishment against him.

Latin source headnote: Against one seeking a benefice, the exception of voluntary abjuration is admitted even when the cause of the resignation is not added. Against this the plaintiff will be able to reply that he did not resign voluntarily, and the one who proves his case better will prevail.

Clement III.

Concerning your inquiry whether, against persons reclaiming ecclesiastical benefices, an exception of voluntary abjuration is to be admitted without cognizance of the cause, and whether the proofs of the plaintiff that he did not resign voluntarily or those of the defendant concerning voluntary resignation ought to be admitted, we answer your experience thus: no reason renders it likely that anyone would easily and rashly resign voluntarily, without a weighty cause, a benefice acquired perhaps through many expenses and labors and by which he ought to be supported. Consequently, we do not believe it superfluous for the cause of the renunciation or resignation to be diligently investigated.

If the ordinary or delegated judge should find that cause to be a probable one—that is, one not extorted by force, fear, oppression, the intervention of money, or a promise—and especially if no oath intervened, which is scarcely believed to be made of one’s own will and is almost always from evil, he shall not postpone admitting the exception unless a canonical reply has been opposed.

Moreover, although by the nature of things there is no proof of a fact for one who denies it, nevertheless, in the case of one who denies a voluntary resignation, since by replying he implicitly and in a certain manner takes issue with the assertion, we believe that proofs are to be admitted, regard being had to his dignity and reputation.

Latin source headnote: One who voluntarily renounced an election made concerning him ought not thereafter to be heard concerning that election.

The same.

In our presence [our beloved son R., formerly Abbot of Thorney, appeared and set forth before us that, when you had once come to his monastery, which he himself had enlarged by an income of one hundred marks, and, having entered the chapter of the monks, had begun to make an inquiry against him, he, fearing that he would be aggrieved, appealed to the Apostolic See. You, however, not deferring to the appeal, suspended him from the office of administration; and, after an inquiry was afterwards made in his absence, you shamefully dragged him, unwilling though he was, after you as far as the monastery of Ramsey, and made him swear upon the cross that he would follow you as far as London. Therefore, upon coming to London, he solemnly renewed the appeal that he had previously interposed, and obtained letters of commission to be directed to our venerable brother the Bishop of Winchester and his co-judges, which he delivered to a certain merchant to be carried. You, however, caused him, as he was returning to England, to be seized at London and committed to prison in the monastery of Ely. On account of this, the merchant who was carrying the letters did not dare to come into England. At length, however, having been released from prison, he appealed to the Apostolic See. You, however, not deferring to his appeal, as before, pronounced against him the sentence of deposition itself and caused him, once deposed, to be thrust into prison.

But when he had been released from his bonds, he came into our presence and obtained letters to our venerable brother the Bishop of Durham and our beloved son Master John of London, that they should diligently inquire into the truth concerning the matters set forth, and, if the parties were willing, should terminate the cause itself harmoniously with the proper conclusion; otherwise, they should not delay in remitting the cause to us after it had been sufficiently instructed. The same abbot therefore maintained that all the aforesaid matters had been sufficiently proved before the same judges.

But our beloved son Master Honorius, Archdeacon of Richmond, your envoy, set forth on the other side that, when you once discharged the office of legation, you came to the monastery of Thorney in order to bestow upon it the favor of visitation; and, when you had inquired more diligently into the life of R. himself, his dilapidation, incontinence, and shameful conduct were established for you through the testimony of the monks. Therefore, having taken the counsel of prudent men, you suspended him from the office of administration, since, according to the canonical enactments, one suspected of dilapidation ought to be suspended from administration. Nor had the same abbot appealed at that time; nor, even if he had appealed, had he made known to you that he had appealed, since, as his witnesses assert, having left the chapter, he decided in a private conference that an appeal should be made. But when he afterwards appealed at London, you not only received the appeal interposed but also supplied expenses sufficient for its prosecution.

Then, when through your letters you had made known his enormities to our predecessor of good memory, Celestine, he admonished your fraternity that you should depose him from the office of the abbacy and, having committed him to prison, should detain him so long as his mandate did not again reach you. Therefore, fearing the sentence of deposition, he voluntarily renounced the abbacy in the presence of many bishops and other religious men; but, repenting a little afterwards, he entirely denied that he had renounced. Therefore, since you were his metropolitan, discharged the office of legation, and were specially delegated for this, following the form of the apostolic mandate you took care, because of the manifest character of the crimes, to impose perpetual silence upon him concerning the abbacy.

At length, when cognizance of your sentence had been delegated under the aforesaid form to the aforementioned Bishop of Durham and his co-judge, you proved before them by lawful witnesses that the same abbot had renounced the abbacy; that he suffered from the vice of incontinence; that he had alienated certain vessels of the monastery without the consent of the monks; that you had deferred to his appeal and supplied expenses to him as appellant; that, by the authority of the letters of our aforesaid predecessor, you had proceeded to his deposition because of the manifest character of the crimes and his voluntary cession; and that, by the special mandate of the same predecessor of ours, you had committed him to prison in the monastery of Gloucester, where he had formerly been a monk. Afterwards, however, when the judges themselves had reduced all the proceedings to writing and assigned a term to the parties, the same R. both withdrew from the suit in your hands and voluntarily renounced the abbacy, and you received his renunciation at the great insistence of certain religious men.

But, although the often-mentioned R. had at first denied that he had renounced the abbacy, at length he nevertheless confessed it in our presence, adding that, because he had renounced while despoiled, his renunciation was not valid. Furthermore, since you had promised suitably to provide for him but were unwilling to fulfill the promise, he was not bound to hold as ratified what he had done. Moreover, he had been induced to renunciation by fear, since you had threatened him that, if he came to us with the judges' report, you would obtain from us that we put him in a cage.

Against this, however, the said archdeacon replied that it could not and ought not benefit the same R. that he had renounced while despoiled, inasmuch as it was not an adversary but rather the judge who had despoiled him. Moreover, the fear that the opposing party had alleged could not excuse him, since it ought not to have fallen upon a steadfast man. For what steadfast man would presume that at your wish we would thrust anyone into prison and exercise tyranny against those who prosecute their causes before the Apostolic See? Therefore, the said R. ought not on any occasion to have presumed that we would wish to exercise cruelty of this kind. Moreover, that his presumption was frivolous appeared from what was done afterwards.]

Therefore, although a judge does not always apply his mind to one kind of proof, but forms the movement of his mind from confessions, depositions, allegations, and other matters that are set forth in his presence, and judicial authority is so great that it must always be presumed in its favor until something against it is lawfully proved—wherefore, even if you had proved absolutely nothing against the aforesaid R. before the Bishop of Durham and his co-judges, nevertheless the sentence would have had to stand unless the adversary showed that it ought to be annulled—yet, because in addition to these matters his voluntary renunciation was established through certain letters of bishops and his own confession, we, with the counsel of our brothers, have decided that silence should be imposed upon him concerning the same abbacy.

[We will, however, that, out of regard for divine mercy, you cause suitable provision to be made for him from the revenues of the monastery of Thorney in some religious place. Let no one therefore, etc. Given at the Lateran, on the second day before the Nones of June, 1202.]

Latin source headnote: One who has renounced beneficial letters is not for that reason deemed to have renounced an institution already made.

Celestine III.

Indeed, we remember that we enjoined, by our living voice and by letters, upon our beloved son I., cardinal-priest of the title of Saint Pudentiana, then legate of the Apostolic See, that, all contradiction and appeal being removed, he should take care to institute as a canon in the church of Poitiers our beloved son H., a subdeacon, who has served your church from the first flower of childhood; and he, obeying our mandates, instituted the aforementioned subdeacon as a canon there. You, however, showing reverence neither to us nor to the cardinal himself, did not take care to fulfill what the same cardinal enjoined upon you in his letters concerning the already-mentioned Hugh, nor even to observe his suspension in any respect. But afterwards the same H., led by the counsel of certain of you, returned his letters to you and subjected himself to your mercy.

But because he is compelled to sustain loss from that from which he ought to have obtained mercy, we command that, notwithstanding the fact that with his letters he subjected himself to your mercy, within twenty days after the reception of the present letters, all delay, contradiction, and appeal being removed, you admit him fully and completely as a brother and canon according to the custom of the church; and, assigning him a stall in choir and a place in chapter, you take care thereafter to treat him with fraternal charity.

Otherwise, know that we have strictly commanded our venerable brother the Archbishop and our beloved sons the Dean of Bordeaux and the Dean of Saintes that, relying upon our authority, all delay, contradiction, and appeal ceasing, they fully execute this, striking contradictors with ecclesiastical constraint, and that they not postpone sending them, suspended from office and benefice, to the Apostolic See to answer for their disobedience and for the aforesaid suspension in no way having been observed, so that there, with punishment as their teacher, they may learn how dangerous and unworthy it is to oppose apostolic mandates; notwithstanding any letters obtained from the Apostolic See with the tenor of these letters suppressed.

Latin source headnote: A resignation of a benefice made into the hands of a layman is not valid; nevertheless, the one resigning is to be despoiled of the benefice.

Innocent III to the Archbishop of Nidaros.

As to what in doubtful matters—(And below: [cf. c. 30, On the Sentence of Excommunication, V.39.]) Those, moreover, who, voluntarily resigning into a lay hand an ecclesiastical benefice conferred upon them, received it anew from the layman, are to be despoiled of the same benefice, although the resignation of such persons made to a layman obtains no force. [But the altar, etc. (cf. c. 3, On the Consecration of a Church, III.30.) Given near Civita Castellana, on the sixth day before the Ides of October, 1198.]

Latin source headnote: The Pope grants permission to resign to a bishop who cannot remain in his church without danger of death.

The same, to the Archbishop of York.

At the urgent supplication of our venerable brother the Archbishop of Ragusa, we have decided that he should be absolved from the care and solicitude by which he was bound to the church of Ragusa, namely because he could not remain there safely and, if he had access to it, danger of death threatened him. (And below:) But lest the same archbishop suffer a lack in temporal things to the reproach of our ministry, we earnestly admonish your fraternity and command [you] by apostolic writings that you preserve for his support the benefice that has been conferred upon him from royal liberality and your grant in the bishopric of Carlisle and in the church of Malebron. We have granted to him that he may exercise the episcopal office in that bishopric without the use of the pallium, while rendering reverence and obedience to you as metropolitan.

Latin source headnote: The weak, the ignorant, one conscious of guilt, the irregular, one whom an evil people hates, and one giving scandals may resign.

The same, to the Bishop of Cagliari.

Unless, when some time ago you entered the pastoral office for divine service, we believed that you had prepared your soul for temptation, and had prudently foreseen that it lies by no means within human frailty to be able to sustain, without the great assistance of God, the various afflictions of anguish that you knew you would suffer in that office, we would certainly fear that afterwards you had neglected to dash your little ones against the rock, and had allowed them to grow so strong against you that you are now scarcely able to resist their insistence as they suggest to you the resignation of the ministry you have undertaken. But because, as we believe, when you knew that you would fight against spiritual wickedness, admonished by the Apostle you put on the armor of God by which you might stand against the snares of the tempter, and, though inexperienced, you were not ignorant of the anguishes of pastoral solicitude, which, now perhaps experienced, you abhor, we do not know why you so insistently wish uselessly to abandon the governance you have undertaken, which you ought not altogether to have avoided undertaking usefully. For if in a resignation of this kind you promise yourself the fruit of a better life, you ought to know that you are not holier than the one sanctified in the womb; and therefore you ought not to desert the ministry of preaching already undertaken, since he at length received the word of God to be preached, whose bearer he had [before] refused to become.

§ 1. But if perhaps for the sake of humility you seek to descend from the pontifical summit, and strive, contrary to the decision of the heavenly will, to abandon through that humility the prelacy given to you, by that very fact you seem wrongly to raise the head of humility, because you show yourself too obstinate in the purpose of resigning. For then you will preserve true humility in yourself, when through it you both flee an exalted place and through obedience do not relinquish it. Therefore, our venerable brother in Christ, we will you to consider that these are the grounds through which a bishop may seek permission to resign the pastoral office: consciousness of crime, weakness of body, defect of knowledge, malice of the people, grave scandal, and irregularity of the person. But in all these discretion must be employed and caution observed.

§ 2. For because of consciousness of a crime, permission to resign the pastoral office may be sought, and perhaps not because of just any crime, but only because of one on account of which the execution of that office is impeded even after penance has been performed. For since the Lord declares that, at whatever hour a sinner shall have been converted, he will not remember any of his iniquities, and sacred scripture testifies that no one is without sin, it appears that no one ought to resign the pastoral office because of consciousness of just any crime; for if all whom consciousness of any fault accuses were to resign, perhaps few or none would remain in that ministry. For in many things we all offend, and, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, because he mercifully excuses the one who wretchedly accuses himself.

§ 3. Another ground is weakness of body, on account of which someone may seek to be absolved from the burden of pastoral solicitude, a weakness that proceeds either from infirmity or from old age; yet not every such weakness, but only that by which he is rendered unable to execute the pastoral office. For if the office of an undertaken service could be abandoned because of any bodily weakness, the Apostle would in vain declare that he glories in his infirmities. And someone burdened with old age ought not altogether to excuse himself from the care of pastoral governance, since sometimes the weakness of old age no more exhorts someone to resign than the moral maturity that is accustomed to exist in the elderly counsels him to remain in his office. For on behalf of such persons the Apostle says of himself, “When I am weak, then I am stronger,” because sometimes infirmity of body increases strength of heart.

§ 4. Because of a defect of knowledge also, someone can very often seek resignation from the pastoral office. For, since knowledge is especially necessary concerning the administration of spiritual things and useful concerning the care of temporal things, the prelate, who ought to govern in both respects the church committed to him, beneficially renounces it if he is ignorant of the knowledge by which he may govern it. For, since he has to teach his subjects what they ought to do and what to avoid, he will neither teach them well what he himself has not learned to flee, nor practice what he has not learned. “For you,” says the Lord, “have rejected knowledge, and I will reject you, that you may not discharge the priesthood for me.” Although eminent knowledge is to be desired in a pastor, nevertheless competent knowledge is to be tolerated in him, because according to the Apostle, “knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up”; and therefore the perfection of charity can supply the imperfection of knowledge.

§ 5. Moreover, because of the malice of the people a prelate is sometimes compelled to withdraw from their governance, [and] this when the people are so stiff-necked and are found so obstinate in their rebellion that he is unable to make progress among them, but, because of their hardness, the more he strives [to make progress], the more by a just judgment he is permitted to fail, the Lord saying through the Prophet: “I will cause your tongue to cleave to your palate, because it is a provoking house”; and the Apostles are read to have said to the Jews: “Behold, we turn to the gentiles, because you have made yourselves unworthy of the word of God.” Nevertheless, a pastor ought not to desert his flock for just any fault, lest perhaps he be compared to the hireling who sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees; but with the permission of his superior he can at last not so much flee timidly as withdraw providently, when the sheep are turned into wolves and those who ought humbly to have obeyed now irrevocably contradict. Although such persons are to be punished severely for their crime, nevertheless they are usefully to be tolerated for a time, because he draws blood who presses the nose too hard.

§ 6. To avoid a grave scandal also, when it cannot be quieted otherwise, a bishop is permitted to seek resignation, lest he seem to affect temporal honor more than eternal salvation, mindful of what the Apostle says: “If food scandalizes my brother, I will not eat flesh forever,” lest I scandalize my brother. But one must distinguish subtly between scandal and scandal, as the Lord himself distinguished. When the Apostles had said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees are scandalized upon hearing this word?” he answered: “Let them alone; they are blind and leaders of the blind.” Elsewhere, however, he said: “Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in me, it is expedient for him that an ass's millstone be suspended from his neck and that he be submerged in the depth of the sea.” For although it is necessary that scandals come, nevertheless woe to him through whom scandal comes.

Irregularity of the person, moreover—as, for example, if someone is a bigamist or the husband of a widow—is a ground on account of which someone can seek permission to resign the pontifical dignity, the Apostle attesting when he says: “A bishop ought to be the husband of one wife.” Nevertheless, permission to resign ought not to be granted because of every personal irregularity to one who has ministered regularly, as, for example, if he was not born of a lawful marriage. For, although he could not have kept silent about an irregularity of this kind, nevertheless, if both the fault and its cause lie hidden, a dispensation can be granted to one who has laudably fulfilled his office, after a suitable penance has been enjoined upon him, no less usefully than mercifully. “I am,” he says, “a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation in those who hate me,” that is, in those who imitate the paternal hatred against me. From this it is clear that, for those who do not follow their fathers' vices, their own virtues can assist them in such matters, with this moderating exercise of discretion employed: that a distinction be made among nothi and manzeres, natural children and spurii.

But because vices very often falsely represent themselves as virtues to a mind insufficiently provident, you ought subtly to consider whether the purpose of resigning that you appear to carry so fervently in your breast is worthy of God's hatred or love. For if you were seeking to resign for any of the foregoing grounds, we would grieve equally over both the ground and its effect. But lest detestable impiety drive you to resignation beneath the covering of undiscerning piety, we will you to consider that there are also other grounds on account of which someone badly seeks, and still worse desires, to resign an office of this kind.

For if from pusillanimity—perhaps so that he may lay aside labor or escape persecution—or, far be it, from vanity—so that he may more fully have leisure for idleness or indulge in pleasures more freely—someone wishes to desert pastoral care, he does not merit to be absolved from it, although through vanity of this kind, as one who sins mortally, he renders himself unworthy of it; rather, he ought to take pains that, after vanity has been laid aside, he make satisfaction for the sin.

Indeed, we believe another ground for resignation to be utterly detestable: namely, if someone wishes to depart from the pontifical dignity so that he may capture human glory, as though he were choosing to be abject in the house of the Lord rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners; or so that he may not lose the worldly honor that he acquired through hypocrisy, whether because his pretense is now beginning to be revealed, or because his fervor grows lukewarm from any cause and he does not wish it to appear either that he was evil or that he is becoming so, and therefore beneath the pretext of religion he wishes to cover his depravity, so that, as though deserting Martha, he may embrace Mary and, disdaining Leah's weak eyes, may desire Rachel's beauty.

But what if he wishes to resign for this reason: that in a time of prosperity, while fortune smiled, he appeared to minister laudably because all things were succeeding prosperously for him, but when a time of adversity threatens, he fears that, if adverse things occur by any chance, they will be imputed to his negligence? Plainly, if for this reason he seeks to resign, he can be compared to an improvident sailor who, when the sea lay calm, worked the rudder of the ship without much labor, but, when a storm arises, abandons it and allows it to go down into the deep.

We also utterly detest that ground of resignation if perhaps a bishop wishes to resign so that another may succeed him, whether with a view to a price or from carnal affection, or so that, when one worse than himself has succeeded him, he himself may be exalted as though the best. Moreover, we reject and condemn as an impiety the claim that a bishop, because of worldly occupations and secular solicitudes, cannot exercise the pontifical office without crime, since the Church venerates many saints who administered spiritual and temporal things together. Nevertheless, the left hand ought to be under the head and the right hand in the embrace.

But we also will you diligently to consider lest perhaps through this purpose of your disposition you wish to become one of those concerning whom it is said through the Prophet: “The sons of Ephraim, bending the bow and shooting arrows, turned back on the day of battle,” when instead you ought to set yourself as a wall for the house of Israel against those ascending from the opposite side, because according to the pronouncement of Truth it is not the one who has begun, but the one who has persevered, who will be saved. Take more diligent care lest you place a stain upon your glory, not only before men but also before God, because beneath this cloak you will not be able to conceal yourself—not merely before God, who searches the reins and hearts, but not even before men, who suspect such things from probable conjectures. And prudently consider that, according to the pronouncement of the wise man, the spirit of discipline will flee the fictitious and will take itself away from thoughts that stand without understanding.

If, however, you fear to incur the burden of difficulty in protecting the liberty of the Church, you ought not on that account to desert the honor of the prelacy. Consider diligently lest perhaps by a just judgment you are being tempted by him who is the tempter to evils, so that it may be proved whether you are willing to make satisfaction in that matter in which perhaps you transgressed. But one who scorns or neglects to make satisfaction for a transgression stores up wrath for himself on the day of wrath, when God will reveal the hidden things of darkness. Behold, indeed, we have brought a mirror before you, that you may contemplate yourself in it and, having searched your conscience, may recognize from what ground you importunately seek permission to resign. For we—as the Most High knows—are ignorant why you persist in the purpose of resigning, since neither infirmity of body, nor length of age, nor defect of knowledge, nor malice of the people, nor irregularity of person renders you unfit, nor do you confess that you have consciousness of a grievous crime.

§ 7. But if you desire resignation for other grounds, favor is not to be shown to you as you seek it in this matter, since a request of this kind appears not to be discreet. For, to omit as very well known the fact that idleness and pleasure are the weapons of the ancient enemy for capturing wretched souls, you ought not to desert your bride because of the anguishes of labor or assaults of persecution, to whom, by striking your hand with a stranger, you joined yourself by an intervening pledge, knowing that “blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice,” because, when they have been proved, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

§ 8. But you will say that “the spirit breathes where it wills, and you do not know whence it comes or where it goes,” and therefore there is no one who can search out the paths of that spirit; and those who are led by the Spirit of God are not under the law, because where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty. Therefore, if permission to resign has not been given to you by man, nevertheless you will resign, because liberty to resign has been given to you by God. Certainly you are foolish if you think thus. For how is one led by the Spirit of God who acts against the Spirit of God? For if the matters we have set forth above are true—indeed, because they are indubitably true—without doubt one who attempts any of these matters against the truth acts against the Spirit of God, because he is the Spirit of truth.

§ 9. But if you say that perhaps there is another hidden ground on account of which the will to resign is inspired in you from heaven, we answer in turn: how do you know that such inspiration is heavenly? Do you not remember what that glorious pontiff said when he began suddenly to be deprived of the strength of his body? “Lord,” he said, “if I am still necessary to your people, I do not refuse the labor; let your will be done!” He followed the example of the one who said: “I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, but to remain in the flesh is necessary for you.”

Therefore, because we have distinguished for you diverse grounds in this matter and are ignorant for which of them you desire to resign, we have decided to commit you to yourself, so that, judging yourself from the tribunal of your own mind, you may see whether you can satisfy the desire of resigning in such a way that you may withdraw without fault from the care of the flock committed to you. For if by resigning you desire to benefit yourself alone, without doubt you subtract as much from your own benefit as you fail to expend upon others what you could expend, because then you would acquire greater gains for your soul when, without your own salvation, you procured the salvation of many. For it is of greater merit for someone to gain very many for God together with himself than to seek his own salvation without those whose salvation is known to pertain to his care.

§ 10. Indeed, however great the flower of virtues with which you shine, if you do not have charity in yourself, you are proved to have nothing. Under what pretext of virtue, then, do you seek to lay aside the burden of pastoral solicitude, which can scarcely be deserted without loss of charity? “For there can be no greater charity than that someone lay down his life for his friends.” And since because of this charity it befits you to lay down your life for your subjects, on no occasion, provided that you can benefit them—even if not all, nevertheless many—does it befit you to excuse yourself from their governance. For if you put forward labor as the ground, the Apostle's example will sustain you. He counsels you not to flee labor of this kind when he asserts that he labored more than the rest for the common salvation; for although the result does not always follow the labor, nevertheless the labor itself is meritorious before God, according to what is written: “God will render the reward of the labors of his saints.”

But grant that you have labored greatly until now and, with the same Apostle, can say that you have fought the good fight: nevertheless, in order that thereafter the crown of justice may be laid up for you, it befits you to complete the course of a perfect work. For however much, amid the labors of the anguishes that accompany the pastoral office, you number for yourself laborious nights and, like a wearied stag, desire the shade of rest; however much, distressed amid the squalors of the road, you are drawn by love of the homeland and, like a hired laborer who has completed his service, anxiously await the end of your work; nevertheless, it is expedient for you to perfect virtue in infirmity and crown your struggle with perseverance. And, knowing that you struck your hand with a stranger when you received the souls of the flock committed to you into your own soul, you ought not so to desire for yourself the harbor of repose that you allow the children who have sailed with you until now to be tossed, without the aid of an oarsman, upon this great and spacious sea in fear of shipwreck.

§ 11. Nor should you think that Martha chose an evil part, she who was busy about many things, because Mary chose the best part, which will not be taken away from her. For, although the latter is safer, the former is nevertheless more fruitful; and, although the latter is sweeter, the former is nevertheless more useful, since, in fruitfulness of offspring, Leah's weak eyes are preferred to Rachel's beauty. Yet you can be both contemplative and active together at once, after the example of the lawgiver, who at one time ascended the mountain so that there he might see the glory of the Lord with greater freedom, but at another descended into the camp so that he might provide for the necessities of the people with greater usefulness. Therefore, it is more easily permitted that a monk ascend to the prelacy than that a prelate descend to the monastic life.

§ 12. We therefore admonish you that, abhorring that expression of Davidic imprecation and fearing lest it be applied to you through the effect of your deed—the imprecation that the days of the impious man become few, that another may receive his bishopric—you not refuse the labor of pastoral governance. And, casting your thought upon the Lord, determine nothing concerning yourself against the will of the Most High, who, when he sees that you are necessary to his people, perhaps would bear it grievously if it should happen that he himself was neglected by you; lest perhaps he should scorn to receive you with Mary at his feet, when you had scorned solicitously to minister with Martha to him when he turned aside to lodge with you.

This also ought to establish you more firmly in the purpose of ministering: since you have until now ministered laudably in the church committed to you, if—which God forbid—when you resign, another less useful should be assumed to it, assuredly you would be disturbed not a little in the very repose that you desire, when, where you had exercised your ministry well, you would see not without sorrow the failure of a useless minister. And it would happen that you would recognize that as much had been lost to you in the citadel of contemplation as you would see, not without your confusion, had through you been withdrawn from the church over which you preside.

But because, both personally and through your envoys and letters, you have already insisted too much before us in seeking permission to resign, behold, we have decided to leave you to yourself. The grounds on account of which one ought to resign or not to resign having been distinguished for you, if you persevere in a purpose of this kind because of some useful and honorable ground, you may resign with our permission—although you should know that this is exceedingly grievous and troublesome to us. Otherwise, you should know that permission to resign is altogether forbidden to you by apostolic authority, because, even if you have wings by which you strive to fly away into solitude, they are nevertheless so bound by the chains of the commandments that you do not have free flight without our permission. But if, finally, your will should drive you to fly, we will and command that you cause our letters to be recited in the hearing of your chapter. [Etc. Given at Rome, at Saint Peter's, on the Kalends of March, in the ninth year of our pontificate, 1206.]

Textual note: In section 9 the source prints sine tua salute (“without your own salvation”), a reading also present in the Friedberg-derived reference text but difficult in context; the following sentence instead speaks of gaining many for God “together with oneself.” The translation retains the printed reading rather than silently emending it.

Latin source headnote: A bishop who resigned his bishopric because of a crime and passed into the religious life cannot be reassumed to a bishopric; it is otherwise if he resigned because of persecution, infirmity, defect of knowledge, simony committed without his knowledge, or another similar ground.

The same, to the Bishop of Faenza, elected Archbishop of Ravenna.

After your translation to the church of Ravenna, when our beloved sons the provost and canons, the abbots and primicerii of Faenza, and the entire clergy of the city, as we have learned through their letters, had unanimously conferred upon our beloved son I., a priest and their fellow canon, free authority to elect, he, after the grace of the Holy Spirit had been invoked, chose our beloved son I., a canon of Saint Fridianus of Lucca and formerly Bishop of Sarno, to be postulated as Bishop of Faenza. Through his circumspect solicitude—he who first as canon and afterwards as provost conducted himself laudably in the church of Faenza—it is hoped that benefits will come to the same church in many ways. Moreover, after the prior of Saint Fridianus, our beloved son, had been consulted concerning this and his consent obtained, the provost and the others named above humbly sought that the same postulation be approved by us.

But at first sight a chapter of the Council of Constantinople seemed to oppose a postulation of this kind. In it, it was established that whoever descends from the pontifical dignity to the life of monks and a place of penance shall by no means rise again thereafter to the pontificate. Therefore, contrary to the said council, since it is one of the four principal councils that the catholic Church venerates as the four Gospels, their postulation seemed in no way admissible.

§ 1. But certain special cases are found in which, notwithstanding the aforesaid council, one who has chosen the monastic life can lawfully be assumed to a bishopric again. For if anyone, while the fury of persecution rages or bodily ill health impedes him, when he cannot make progress in pastoral governance, descends with the authority of his superior to the monastic life, he will be able, when the impediment of persecution or sickness ceases, to rise again to the episcopal dignity.

§ 2. Likewise, if anyone, because of a defect of learning, lest as a blind man he offer guidance to a blind man, has abandoned the place of governance by apostolic authority and betaken himself to monastic leisure, and through the exercise of reading has found the pearl of knowledge, without doubt he will be able, when called anew by the Lord, to ascend again to the pastoral chair.

§ 3. Again, if anyone, through the cupidity of his relatives but entirely without his knowledge, has obtained a bishopric, and, once this is discovered, relinquishing the bishopric itself with his superior's permission, has chosen regular observance, although he cannot afterwards return to the same bishopric according to the canonical enactments, nevertheless he can lawfully be reassumed to another.

§ 4. Although in these and similar cases one who, having relinquished a bishopric, chose the monastic life can rise again to the pastoral office, nevertheless nothing in these cases is understood to be attempted contrary to the aforesaid council, which speaks in the case in which someone, abandoning a bishopric because of some crime, descends to the monastic life for the sake of penance. Hence certain persons have said that the chapter named above speaks in the case in which someone, because of a crime of which he had been convicted or which he had confessed, was deposed from the episcopal dignity and shut up in a monastery to perform penance, or when someone, because of a grave crime for which he could not worthily perform penance while retaining the bishopric, obtained permission to resign and chose the monastic life. Others assert that the aforesaid chapter is to be understood so that he cannot rise again by his own action—that is, reclaim as though it were owed what he relinquished in such a manner—although he can be elected, especially if he resigned only the place and not the order.

§ 5. Therefore, since it could not be fully established for us for what ground the aforesaid I. once resigned the bishopric—for in our letters transmitted concerning this, only this was expressed to him: that we, having received his letters concerning his resignation and commending in the Lord his purpose, because he preferred the salvation of his soul to temporal honor, absolved him from the burden of pastoral solicitude—although it was suggested to us very recently by a certain canon of Saint Fridianus that the said Joachim sought permission to resign for this reason: that it had come to his knowledge that certain relatives of his, so that he would be elected bishop, had given certain things, though few, we command your fraternity by the authority of the present letters that, after the truth concerning these matters has been most diligently investigated, if it should be established for you that the same I. resigned the aforementioned bishopric because of one of the grounds set forth above or grounds similar to them, you, by our authority and with the obstacle of any contradiction and appeal removed, provided that necessity or utility requires it, grant him permission to ascend to the governance of the church of Faenza.

This is especially so if what both the aforesaid provost and canons of Faenza and the prior and chapter of Saint Fridianus expressed to us in their letters is supported by truth: namely, that the said I. resigned only the aforementioned place and not the order, or even the dignity. For then it would have to be very strongly presumed that he migrated to the regular life not because of any crime committed by him, but for the sake of performing penance, especially since, after the resignation, the Apostolic See would have permitted him, if entangled in such a crime, much less than before to minister in the pontifical order. Otherwise, since it would be exceedingly harsh to admit a postulation of this kind contrary to so solemn a council, you shall enjoin upon the aforesaid provost and canons that they elect another suitable person as their pastor. [Given at the Lateran, on the fourth day before the Ides of February, in the eleventh year of our pontificate, 1208.]

Latin source headnote: One who sought permission to resign is compelled to resign once he has obtained it.

The same, in the General Council.

Certain persons, insistently seeking permission to resign, omit to resign once it has been obtained. But since in seeking resignation of this kind they seemed to have regarded either the advantages of the churches over which they preside or their own salvation, and we do not will that either of these be impeded by the persuasions of certain persons who seek the things that are their own, or even by any fickleness, we decree that they are to be compelled to resign.

Latin source headnote: One who submits himself to the grace of his adversary does not renounce his right.

Honorius III, to the Dean of the cathedral church and Master R., Cantor of Saint Denis of Liège.

Coming to the Apostolic See, I., a poor subdeacon, appeared and set forth in our presence that, when Pope I. of good memory, our predecessor, had by his letters given a mandate to our beloved son the Abbot of Emenco in the diocese of Trier and to the cantors of the cathedral church and of Saint Paul at Trier that, if nothing canonical stood in the way, they should, with the obstacle of appeal removed, assign to the same I. a prebend in the church of Saint Florentin at Koblenz, which James, dean of that church, had resigned into his hands through his letters, the same John showed the letters themselves to the aforesaid dean and the others, but the same dean, perhaps repenting of the resignation, concealed the abovementioned letters. At length, after the aforesaid letters had been restored to the same John, he presented them to the named judges so that they would execute the apostolic mandate.

And when those judges wished to fulfill the apostolic mandate, certain canons of the aforementioned church opposed them, saying that the aforesaid subdeacon had renounced his right that belonged to him from those letters. Therefore, when the said subdeacon denied this, the already-mentioned canons produced certain witnesses to prove it. Since through them it seemed to have been proved that he had committed himself to the grace of the chapter, two of the aforesaid judges—namely, the cantors of Trier—decreed by sentence that the same John could no longer use the abovementioned letters, because the same I. had thus committed himself to the grace of his adversary, through which he seemed to have renounced the right belonging to him from those letters.

The same I., appealing from that sentence, although he had also appealed previously, fixed the most recently past vigil of Epiphany as the term of his appeal. When the same I. had come on that date and narrated to us the sequence of the fact as expressed above, we granted him as auditor concerning this our beloved son Peter of Colle Medio, our chaplain. But when his adversary had not come, though awaited for two months and more, nor did any sufficient authorized respondent appear for him, at length someone having letters to contradict and impetrate appeared before the same auditor. When he was believed in law to be insufficient to conduct the cause, we gave a mandate to the aforesaid auditor, who reported all these matters to us, that he consult some of the brothers concerning this and proceed in the cause according to their counsel. The same auditor, having taken the counsel of our beloved son T., cardinal-priest of the title of Sabina, and also of others, as justice required annulled by sentence the sentence of the aforesaid judges.

We therefore hold as ratified and firm the sentence of the aforementioned chaplain, and command you by apostolic writings that, revoking as void whatever you find was attempted after the appeal interposed to us, notwithstanding the sentence of the judges of Trier, you, by apostolic authority and with the obstacle of appeal removed, confer the aforesaid prebend upon the same subdeacon, unless some other canonical objection has been made and proved why this ought not to be fulfilled.

Latin source headnote: If a prelate absolves his subjects from obedience, he does not for this reason renounce the prelacy.

The same, to the Archbishop of Trier.

The letters of your fraternity read before us contained that the Abbot of Saint Peter of Toul, whom you commend for uprightness of conduct and life, humbly confessed to you that, when he was laboring under so grave an illness that his life was despaired of, on the counsel of a certain rival of his—in whom he trusted, since he did not believe him to be a rival—in the presence of certain of his monks, after revoking any sentence of excommunication that he had pronounced against any one of them, he absolved his monks from the obedience in which they were bound to him, and summoned the diocesan bishop so that he might resign the abbey into his hands. Nevertheless, having employed sounder counsel, he did not do this; and, although the same abbot was afterwards restored to health, all and each of the convent, when required by him in chapter, promised obedience and reverence.

Nevertheless, doubting about the fact that he had acted thus, he sought from you that you should counsel his salvation concerning this. On account of this, since, after counsel of those skilled in law had been taken concerning it, different persons thought differently, you sought our counsel as to whether the same abbot had resigned by this act. But we do not see that by such an act alone the same abbot resigned his governance.

Latin source headnote: An exempt abbot cannot resign without the Pope's permission.

Gregory IX, to the Bishops of Agde and Uzès.

Our beloved sons, the convent of the monastery of Saint G. of the Deserts, belonging immediately to the Roman Church, have made known to us by their letters that their abbot, feeling himself insufficient for the burden of governing the abbey, resigned into their hands. They also canonically elected as abbot our beloved son G., a monk of Saint Victor of Marseille, supplicating that, sparing their labors and expenses, we cause their election to be confirmed in those regions.

Therefore, since the said abbot could not resign without our permission, we, decreeing both the aforesaid election and resignation to be void and empty, command your discretion by apostolic writings that you cause the abbot himself to be restored to his place and, after he has been restored fully, receive his resignation in our stead.