Title — Decretals of Gregory IX
Title XVIII: On Slaves Not to Be Ordained and Their Manumission
Chapter I
Latin source headnote: A slave ought not to be ordained before full manumission.
From the Council of Toledo.
Laymen are furthermore to be instructed so that they know that they can in no way manumit in another place their own slaves whom they have decided are to be gathered into the Lord's camp, except in the sacrosanct church according to the order indicated above. For how can clerics obtain liberty outside the church, who are strangers to worldly law and who are forbidden to proceed to secular judgment? How are they absolved from the yoke of servitude by secular judgment?
But perhaps someone will say: one is not permitted to become a cleric unless, before clerical status, he obtains the dignity of free birth. He says what is truly true. And therefore, what can be invalidated or disparaged ought to be guarded against. Moreover, not only those who are to be promoted to clerical order are to be manumitted in the church, but also those whom anyone wishes to emancipate for the remedy of his soul, because it is so written in the pact of the Franks.
DE SERVIS NON ORDINANDIS ET EORUM MANUMISSIONE.
Servus ante plenam manumissionem ordinari non debet.
Ex concilio Toletano.
Instruendi sunt praeterea laici, ut sciant, quod nullatenus alio loco manumittere proprios possunt servos, quos dominicis castris adgregari decreverunt, nisi in sacrosancta ecclesia ordine supra notato. Quomodo enim clerici extra ecclesiam libertatem consequi possunt, qui a lege mundana extranei sunt, et quibus interdicitur, ne ad saeculare iudicium procedant, quomodo saeculari iudicio a iugo servitutis absolvuntur? Sed Forte dicet, aliquis: clericus fieri non permittitur, nisi ante clericatum ingenuitatis dignitate potiatur. Revera verum dicit. Et ideo quod infirmari vel vituperari potest praecaveri debet. Non solum autem qui ad clericatus ordinem promovendi sunt in ecclesia manumittendi sunt, verum etiam ii, quos quisque pro remedio animae suae emancipari vult, quia sic scriptum est in pacto Francorum.
Chapter II
Latin source headnote: A slave ordained without his master's permission is deposed and restored to his master.
From the same council.
Concerning the ordination of slaves, who everywhere are indiscriminately promoted to ecclesiastical grades, it pleased everyone that agreement with the sacred canons [ought to be made, and] it was established that henceforth no bishop should presume to promote them to sacred orders unless they first obtain liberty from their own masters. And if any slave, fleeing his master or lying hidden, or employing witnesses hired by payment or corrupted, or through any cunning or fraud, reaches ecclesiastical grades, it is decreed that he be deposed and his master receive him.
But if a grandfather or father, migrating from one country to another, begets a son in the same province, and that son is reared there and promoted to ecclesiastical grades while ignorant whether he is a slave, and his master, afterwards coming, acquires him by the laws, it is enacted that, if his master wills to give him liberty, he shall remain in his grade. But if his master wills to draw him away from the Lord's camp by the chain of servitude, he shall lose his grade, because according to the sacred canons a person remaining of lowly condition cannot discharge the dignity of the priesthood.
Servus sine licentia domini ordinatus deponitur, et domino restituitur.
Ex eodem.
De servorum ordinatione, qui passim ad gradus ecclesiasticos indiscrete promoventur, placuit omnibus cum sacris canonibus concordare [debere, et] Statutum est, ut nullus episcoporum deinceps ad sacros ordines eos promovere praesumat, nisi prius a dominis propriis libertatem fuerint consecuti. Et si quilibet servus fugiens dominum suum, aut latitans, aut adhibitis testibus munere conductis vel corruptis, aut qualibet calliditate vel fraude ad gradus pervenerit ecclesiasticos, decretum est, ut deponatur, et eius dominus eum recipiat. Si vero avus vel pater ab alia patria in aliam migrans, in eadem provincia filium genuerit, et ipse filius ibidem educatus et ad gradus ecclesiasticos promotus fuerit, et utrum servus sit ignoraverit, et postea veniens dominus illius legibus eum acquisierit, sancitum est, ut si dominus eius illi libertatem dare voluerit, in gradu suo permaneat. Si vero eum catena servitutis a castris dominis abstrahere voluerit, gradum amittat, quia iuxta sacros canones vilis persona manens sacerdotii dignitate fungi non potest.
Chapter III
Latin source headnote: A slave manumitted by the church can be ordained, and what he acquires after his death will belong to the church that manumitted him; if he accuses it or testifies against it, he is deprived of liberty and order.
From the same council.
It shall be permitted to constitute servants of the church as priests and deacons throughout the parishes, [provided nevertheless that rectitude of life and probity of morals commend them], in such a way that they first receive through manumission the status of liberty, [and thereafter succeed to ecclesiastical honors. For it is irreligious for those who receive the dignity of sacred order to remain bound by servitude.]
§ 1. But whatever shall have been granted to such persons through liberty, or become due by succession, or been conferred [by] anyone [in any] manner, it shall not be permitted to them to transmit anything from it to outside persons; rather, after their death all things ought to pertain to the right of the church by which they were manumitted.
§ 2. To these persons, as [also] to the other freedmen of the church, access to accusing or testifying against the church shall be closed. If they aspire to do this, let them lack not only the benefit of liberty but also [also] the grade of honor that they merited not by dignity of nature but by necessity of the time.
Servus ab ecclesia manumissus ordinari potest, et quod acquirit post suum obitum erit ecclesiae manumittentis; quam si accusat, vel contra eam testificatur libertate et ordine privetur.
Ex eodem.
De famulis ecclesiae constituere presbyteros et diaconos per parochias liceat, [quos tamen vitae rectitudo et probitas morum commendat,] ita tamen, ut antea manumissi statum recipiant libertatis, [et denuo ad ecclesiasticos honores succedant. Irreligiosum est enim, obligatos exsistere servitute, qui sacri ordinis suscipiunt dignitatem.] § 1. Quicquid autem talibus aut per libertatem concessum, aut successione exstiterit debitum, aut [a] quolibet [quoquo] modo collatum, eis quippiam inde in personas extraneas transmittere non licebit, sed omnia ad ius ecclesiae, a qua manumissi sunt, post eorum obitum debeant pertinere. § 2. Quibus, sicut [et] ceteris ecclesiae libertis, accusandi vel testificandi adversus ecclesiam aditus praecludatur, ad quod si adspiraverint non solum libertatis beneficio careant, sed etiam [et] honoris gradu, quem non dignitate naturae, sed necessitate temporis meruerunt.
Chapter IV
Latin source headnote: A master can retain spiritual services in a slave whom he manumits.
From the Council at Alichi.
Let no cleric be promoted to the grade of priesthood except as is contained in the canons. For if, from love of God, anyone has chosen one of his slaves, taught him letters, endowed him with liberty, and through intercession with the bishop caused him to be ordained priest, [and according to the Apostles gave him food and clothing], but that man afterwards, raised up into pride, refuses to observe the canonical hours and sing psalms for his master and to obey him justly, saying that he is free, and is unwilling to do so and as though free becomes the man of whomever he wishes, this holy synod anathematizes him and judges that he is to be barred from holy communion until he comes to his senses and obeys his master according to the canonical precepts.
But if with an obstinate mind he also scorns this, having been accused before the bishop who ordained him, let him be degraded and become the slave of that man—that is, of his own master—as he was born. But whoever keeps such a man with himself and, after he has heard the aforesaid matter concerning him, does not return him to his master or cast him away from himself, whether bishop, count, cleric, or layman, bound by fellowship in his anathema, shall undergo the penalty of excommunication.
Dominus in servo, quem manumittit, potest spirituales operas retinere.
Ex concilio apud Alichi.
Nullus clericus ad gradum presbyterii promoveatur, nisi ut scriptum in canonibus habetur. Si enim propter Dei dilectionem quis de servis suis quemquam elegerit, et docuerit literas, et donaverit libertati, et per intercessionem erga episcopum ipsum in presbyterum fecerit ordinari, [et secundum Apostolos victum et vestitum ei donaverit,] ille autem postea in superbiam elatus, domino suo canonicas horas observare et psallere renuerit, et eis iuste obedire, dicens, se liberum esse, noluerit, et quasi libere cuius vult homo fiat: hoc sancta synodus anathematizat, et illum a sancta communione arceri iudicat, donec resipiscat, et domino suo obediat secundum canonica praecepta. Sin autem obstinato animo et hoc contempserit, accusatus apud episcopum, qui ordinaverit eum, degradetur, et fiat servus illius, id est domini sui, sicut natus fuerit. Quisquis vero talem secum habuerit, et postquam rem illius praedictam audierit, et domino suo non reddiderit, vel a se non proiecerit, sive episcopus, sive comes, sive clericus, sive laicus, anathematis illius societate innodatus poenam excommunicationis ducet.
Chapter V
Latin source headnote: Spurious sons or slaves ought not to be ordained.
Alexander III, to the Archbishop of Tours.
Your fraternity consulted us whether it is permitted to you to promote spurious sons and slaves to orders. Concerning this, indeed, we respond thus to your consultation: you ought to ordain neither spurious sons nor slaves; and, if you remember, it was said to you at your consecration: “See that you do not presume to promote anyone of servile condition to orders.”
Spurii vel servi ordinari non debent.
Alexander III. Archiepiscopo Turonensi.
Consuluit nos tua fraternitas, utrum tibi liceat spurios et servos ad ordines promovere; super quo utique Consultationi tuae taliter respondemus, quod neque spurios, neque servos ordinare debes, et, si memor es, in consecratione tibi dictum fuit: "Vide, ne quemlibet servilis conditionis ad ordines promovere praesumas."
Chapter VI
Latin source headnote: One manumitted by a church so that he may become a cleric and perpetually serve that church in divine things cannot transfer himself to another church; it is otherwise if he was manumitted purely. Or thus: it is otherwise if he was manumitted so that he might serve. Johannes Andreae.
Innocent III, to the Bishop of Varia.
The more willingly [we respond to your inquiries, the more devoutly you venerate the Apostolic See]. (And below:) You added another question: whether the sons of those who are held to a church in servile condition, delivered by their parents to the clerical military service with the acquiescence of their masters so that they ought to serve God in the same church to which they belong, obtaining liberty on that account, can after a time leave it and transfer themselves to another.
On this point we believe that a distinction must be made: whether they were manumitted under this tenor and bound to the clerical order, that for as long as they lived they ought to furnish service to the church that manumitted them in the services of divine things, in which case permission to transfer themselves to another is to be denied to them; or whether they were manumitted absolutely and thus possess liberty to pass to another. [Given at Viterbo, on the fifth day before the Ides of June, in the year 1207.]
Manumissus ab ecclesia, ut fiat clericus, et ipsi ecclesiae perpetuo serviat in divinis, ad aliam ecclesiam se transferre non potest; secus si pure fuerit manumissus. Vel sic: secus si fuerit manumissus, ut serviat. Io. Andr.
Innocentius III. Variensi Episcopo.
Eo libentius [tuis inquisitionibus respondemus, quo devotius sedem apostolicam veneraris] (Et infra:) Adiecisti aliam quaestionem, an illorum filii, qui ecclesiae servili conditione tenentur, traditi a parentibus militiae clericali cum suorum conniventia dominorum, ut Deo in eadem cuius sunt, ecclesia debeant deservire, assequentes propterea libertatem, post tempus, ea relicta, possint ad aliam se transferre? In quo capitulo credimus distinguendum, utrum eo tenore fuerint manumissi et obligati ordini clericali, quod manumittenti ecclesiae, dum vixerint, deberent impendere famulatum in obsequiis divinorum, et tunc transferendi se ad aliam est eis licentia deneganda; vel manumissi exstiterint absolute, sicque libertatem habeant ad aliam transeundi. [Datum Viterbii V. Id. Iun. Ao. 1207.]
Chapter VII
Latin source headnote: The law concerning a slave made a deacon ought also to be understood concerning a subdeacon.
The same.
We wonder not a little [at your prudence that, although the consultation directed by you to us, if you take pains to inspect the canons and laws, is thought to contain almost no doubt, you took care to consult our apostolate concerning what is certain], since it is certain in the constitutions of the ancients when slaves ordained to ecclesiastical grades ought or ought not to be recalled into servitude. [Hence, because we believe that you are not ignorant of the decrees, we will your fraternity to do nothing else on this point except what is found in their enactments.]
Concerning the order of subdeacon, [nevertheless], because no express mention of it is made in the statutes of the Fathers, it seems to us that it too enjoys the same privilege as the grade of deacon. For although it was not regarded as a sacred order in the primitive Church, nevertheless, from the constitution of Gregory and Urban II, it is by no means doubted in modern times to be a sacred grade. [Given at the Lateran in the same year.]
Ius, quod est de servo facto diacono, etiam de subdiacono debet intelligi.
Idem.
Miramur non modicum [de tua prudentia, quod, quum ad nos tua consultatio destinata, si canones et leges studeas intueri, nihil fere dubitationis continere putetur, super hoc, quod certum est, apostolatum nostrum consulere curasti,] quum certum sit in constitutionibus antiquorum, quando servi in gradus ecclesiasticos ordinati debeant in servitutem vel non debeant revocari. [Unde, quia te credimus non ignorare decreta, nil aliud fraternitatem tuam in hoc articulo facere volumus, nisi quod in eorum sanctionibus invenitur.] De subdiaconali [tamen] ordine, quia de eo non fit mentio in Patrum statutis expresse, videtur nobis, quod et is cum diaconali gradu privilegio gaudet eodem. Nam licet sacer ordo non reputaretur in ecclesia primitiva, tamen a constitutione Gregorii atque Urbani secundum moderna tempora sacer gradus esse minime dubitatur. [Datum Laterani in eodem anno.]
Chapter VIII
Latin source headnote: One born of a father who is a slave and a free mother is free and is lawfully promoted.
Gregory IX, to the Archbishop of Naples.
Our beloved son G., a deacon, set forth that I., a knight, on the occasion that he asserts the deacon's father to be his man, presumes to impede him from being promoted as priest, although his mother, whose condition he ought to follow, is known to be free. Wherefore we command that, if the foregoing is established for you, you restrain the same knight from continuing an impediment of this kind.
Natus ex patre servo et libera matre liber est, et licite promovetur.
Gregorius IX. Archiepiscopo Neapolitano.
Dilectus filius G. diaconus proposuit, quod I. miles ea occasione, quod patrem ipsius hominem suum esse proponit, licet mater sua, cuius debet imitari conditionem, libera esse noscatur, ne promoveatur in presbyterum, impedire praesumit. Quocirca mandamus, quatenus, si tibi constiterit de praemissis, eundem militem ab huiusmodi impedimento cessare compescas.