Title XXXIII: On Superiority and Obedience

Latin source headnote: The one ordained first, other things being equal, is to be held first and greater.

Gregory, to Augustine, Bishop of the English.

Since it is certain [that ineffable rewards of the eternal kingdom are reserved for those laboring for almighty God, it is nevertheless necessary for us to bestow upon them benefits of good things, so that from remuneration they may be able to labor more abundantly in zeal for spiritual work. And because the new church of the English, by the Lord's bestowal and your labor, has been brought to the grace of almighty God, we grant you in it the use of the pallium solely for conducting the solemnities of Mass, in such a way that you ordain twelve bishops throughout the individual places, who are to be subject to your rule, so that hereafter the bishop of the city of London ought always to be consecrated by his own synod and receive the pallium of honor from this holy and apostolic see, in which, with God as author, I serve.

But we wish you to send to the city of York a bishop whom you yourself shall judge ought to be ordained, in such a way that, if that city together with the neighboring places receives the word of God, he also is to ordain twelve bishops, so that he may enjoy metropolitan honor; for, if life accompanies him, with the Lord's favor we also arrange to bestow the pallium upon him. We nevertheless wish him to lie under the disposition of your fraternity. But after your death, he is so to preside over the bishops whom he shall ordain that he is in no way subject to the rule of the Bishop of London.]

But hereafter let this be the distinction of honor between the bishops of the cities of London and York: that one is to be held first and greater who was first ordained by the counsel of the community and harmonious action. [But your, etc. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our lord the most pious Augustus Maurice Tiberius, the eighteenth year after the consulship of the same lord, the fourth indiction, 601.]

Latin source headnote: One who comes against the decree or constitution of a bishop ought to be excommunicated.

The same.

If anyone should come against a bishop's decree, let him be cast out from the Church. In the Book of Kings it is read: “He who does not obey the prince shall die by death.” And in the Council of Agde, that he is to be anathematized.

Latin source headnote: A cleric lacking administration is not bound to an oath of obedience or to make a writing concerning it.

Pope Leo.

It was [also] read in your letters, [which the same deacons brought,] that brother Atticus [had come to Thessalonica, and that he had also signified his consent by a written profession, so that nothing else could be understood by us concerning him than that what he came to do was of his own choice and spontaneous devotion, and that] he had composed a little charter concerning the pledge of obedience, in which a sign of injury was disclosed. For it had not been necessary that one be bound by writing who was already proving his obedience by the very duty of his voluntary coming. [Hence with lamentations, etc.]

Latin source headnote: Everyone from a diocese is to obey the bishop.

Pope Clement III.

Blessed Peter commanded all princes of the earth and other men to obey bishops, [to submit their heads, and to exist as their helpers,] [so that all, etc.]

Latin source headnote: One who does not obey canonical statutes incurs the mark of disobedience, that is, infamy.

Innocent III, to the Chapter of Würzburg.

That which the Lord in blessed Peter—(And below: [cf. c. 5, On an Excommunicated Cleric, V. 27.])—but he asserted that he had held the fortifications and fortified towns of the church of Würzburg for its utility, lest, if they had perhaps come into alien hands, there would afterwards be no one to liberate them. But since spiritual things are more worthy than temporal things, and obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken more than to offer the fat of rams, the Bishop of Hildesheim ought not, for the temporal advantage of the church of Würzburg, to have incurred the mark of disobedience and contradicted apostolic commands. [On the fifth day before the Ides of April, in the second year, 1200.]

Latin source headnote: The empire does not preside over the priesthood, but is subject to it and is bound to obey it. Or thus: a bishop ought not to be subject to princes, but to preside over them. This is what it says, and it is much capable of being alleged.

The same, to the Most Illustrious Emperor of Constantinople.

With the affection of accustomed kindness we received the letters that the imperial excellence sent to us through our beloved son the Archdeacon of Dyrrachium, a provident and faithful man. Through them we understood that the letters that we transmitted to you through our beloved son I., our chaplain and at that time legate of the Apostolic See, had been presented to your empire and read through.

§ 1. But the imperial sublimity marveled, as you conveyed to us through the same letters, that in our letters we endeavored to rebuke you somewhat, although we remember that what we wrote was written not with a mind to rebuke but rather with the affection of admonishing. But the occasion, not the cause, for this wonder of yours was furnished, as we gathered from the same letters, by your reading that blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, wrote thus: “Be subject to every human creature for God's sake, whether to the king as preeminent, or to governors as sent by him for the vengeance of malefactors, but the praise of the good.”

For the imperial loftiness, wishing through these and other things that it introduced to prefer the empire to the priesthood in dignity and power—concerning which we wonder more reasonably—wished to draw a threefold argument from the aforesaid authority: the first from what is read, “be subject”; the second from what follows, “to the king as preeminent”; the third from what is subsequently added, “for the vengeance of malefactors, but the praise of the good.” From the first it presumed that the priesthood is subject; from the second, that the empire is preeminent; from the third, that the emperor received jurisdiction over priests as well as laymen, or indeed even the power of the sword. For since certain priests are good and certain of them exist as malefactors, the one who, according to the Apostle, bears the sword for the vengeance of malefactors but the praise of the good can avenge presumed excesses against offending priests with the avenging sword, since the Apostle does not distinguish between priests and others.

§ 2. But if you had more diligently attended both to the person speaking, those to whom he spoke, and the force of the utterance, you would not thus have expressed the writer's meaning. For the Apostle was writing to his subjects and urging them to the merit of humility. For if, through what he said—“be subject”—he wished to impose the yoke of subjection upon priests and confer the authority of prelacy upon those to whom he admonished them to be subject, it would follow from this that any slave had also received command over priests, since it is said, “to every human creature.”

But what follows, “to the king as preeminent,” we do not deny that the emperor excels in temporal things only those who receive temporal things from him. But the Pontiff excels in spiritual things, which are more worthy than temporal things by as much as the soul is preferred to the body. Nor was it said simply, “be subject,” but “for God's sake” was added; nor was it written without qualification, “to the preeminent king,” but “as” was interposed, perhaps not without cause. But what follows, “for the vengeance of malefactors, but the praise of the good,” is not to be understood as meaning that the king or emperor received the power of the sword over all, both good and evil, but only over those who, using the sword, are committed to his jurisdiction, according to what the Truth says: “All who take the sword shall perish by the sword.” For no one can or ought to judge another's servant, since, according to the Apostle, a servant stands or falls to his own lord.

For this you also introduced that, although Moses and Aaron were brothers according to the flesh, nevertheless Moses, prince of the people, presided over Aaron by the power of the priesthood, and Jesus his successor received command over priests. King David also was preeminent over the pontiff Abiathar. But although Moses was leader of the people, he was also a priest: he anointed Aaron as priest, and the Prophet, recognizing the priesthood in him, says: “Moses and Aaron among his priests.” But what you wrote concerning Jesus—that is, Joshua—for commending his prelacy ought to be understood more according to the spirit than the letter, because, according to the Apostle, the letter kills but the spirit gives life, for the reason that he expressed the figure of the true Jesus, who led his people into the land of promise. David also, although he held the royal diadem, commanded the priest Abiathar not so much by royal dignity as by prophetic authority. But whatever may once have been the case in the Old Testament, now it is otherwise in the New, since Christ was made a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. He offered himself to God the Father as a victim upon the altar of the cross not as king but as priest, through which he redeemed the human race, especially with respect to the one who is successor of the Apostle Peter and vicar of Jesus Christ.

§ 3. But you could rather have understood the prerogative of the priesthood from what was said: not by anyone, but by God; not to a king, but to a priest; not to one descending from royal stock, but from priestly lineage—namely, concerning the priests who were in Anathoth: “Behold, I have established you over nations and kingdoms, that you may uproot and destroy, build and plant.” It was also said in the divine law: “You shall not disparage gods, and you shall not curse the prince of your people,” which law, placing priests before kings, called the former gods and the latter princes.

§ 4. Furthermore, you ought to have known that God made two great lights in the firmament of heaven: the greater light to preside over the day and the lesser light to preside over the night; each great, but one greater. For by the name of heaven the Church is designated, according to what the Truth says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was the father of a household, who in the early morning hired workers into his vineyard.” But by day the spiritual is understood and by night the carnal, according to the prophetic testimony: “Day pours out the word to day, and night announces knowledge to night.” Therefore, for the firmament of heaven—that is, of the universal Church—God made two great lights, that is, he instituted two great dignities, which are pontifical authority and royal power. But the one that presides over days, that is, spiritual things, is greater; the one that presides over [nights, that is,] carnal things is lesser, so that the difference between pontiffs and kings may be known to be as great as that between the sun and moon.

But if the imperial loftiness prudently attended to these things, it would not cause or permit our venerable brother the Patriarch of Constantinople—a great and honorable member of the Church—to sit at the footstool of its feet on the left side, when other kings and princes, as they ought, reverently rise for their archbishops and bishops and assign them an honorable seat beside themselves. For we believe that your discretion is not ignorant of how much honor the most pious Constantine showed to priests.

§ 5. But although we wrote not by way of rebuke, we could nevertheless reasonably have rebuked, since blessed Paul the Apostle, instructing a bishop, is read to have written to Timothy: “Preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.” For our mouth ought not to be bound, but ought to be open to all, lest according to the prophetic word we be mute dogs unable to bark. Hence our correction ought not to have been troublesome to you, but rather acceptable, because a father corrects the son whom he loves, and God reproves and chastises those whom he loves. Therefore, we execute the debt of the pastoral office when we entreat, reprove, and rebuke, and endeavor to induce not only others but emperors and kings, in season and out of season, to those things that are pleasing to the divine will.

§ 6. But the sheep of Christ are committed to us in blessed Peter, the Lord saying, “Feed my sheep,” not distinguishing between these sheep and others, so that he showed that one who did not recognize Peter and his successors as teachers and shepherds was alien to his sheepfold. Let us omit as most well known that which the Lord said to Peter, and in Peter said to his successors: “Whatever you bind upon earth shall be bound also in the heavens, etc.,” excepting nothing, since he said, “whatever.”

But we are unwilling to dwell longer upon these things, lest we appear either to contend or to delight in matters of this kind, since, if it is expedient to glory, one ought to glory not in honor but in burden, not in greatness but rather in solicitude, since the Apostle also glories in infirmities. We know that it is written: “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted”; and again: “The greater you are, humble yourself in all things”; and elsewhere: “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” On this account we place our exaltation in humility and reckon our humility our greatest exaltation. Hence we also write and confess that we are servants not only of God but also of the servants of God, and according to the Apostle we are debtors to the wise as well as the unwise.

§ 7. But whether we decided through our letters to invite the imperial excellence to what is good and useful, whether we suggested to you just and honorable things, let your solicitude discern, since we remember inviting you only to aid directed to the utility of the Church and land of Jerusalem. [Therefore may he inspire, etc.]

Latin source headnote: One ordained by the Pope is not thereby exempted from the jurisdiction of his bishop.

The same, to the Bishop of Florence.

Through your letters you intimated to us that, when certain subdeacons of the Roman Church obtain prelacies in your diocese for which they are bound to show you obedience, if at any time justice requiring, it should happen that you exercise ecclesiastical discipline against them, alleging the privilege of the subdiaconate they assert that they are not bound by it, as though through an office of the subdiaconate of this kind they were exempted from the obedience that they owe you by reason of the benefice obtained. Concerning this you sought to be taught through the oracle of the Apostolic See whether anyone, through the order of subdiaconate received from the Roman Pontiff, is withdrawn from the reverence due to you. To this we answer you briefly that, although it is fitting that among the others subject to you [special] deference be shown by you, insofar as is appropriate, to those whom apostolic kindness has honored by conferral of that order, nevertheless, through it they are by no means absolved from the obedience that they otherwise owe you. [Given at Rome at Saint Peter's, on the seventh day before the Ides of April, in the ninth year, 1206.]

Latin source headnote: When obedience or subjection is at issue, nothing ought to be attempted to the prejudice of the defendant or a possessor who was not cited.

The same, to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Among the four living creatures that are described in the midst of the throne and around it, the face of an eagle is mentioned by Ezekiel above the four of them, because among the four patriarchal churches—Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Constantinople—which are signified by the aforesaid living creatures and which the Apostolic See, having them in its midst, embraces as special daughters, while they are around it like obedient handmaids, Constantinople itself is preeminent after the Apostolic See in excellence of dignity. We aspire to its exaltation the more gladly insofar as, embracing it more closely as a more honorable member of the sacrosanct Roman Church, we know in these times that it needs its aid more greatly, and we arrange more gladly to advance your petitions, since by the Lord's disposition you are known to preside over it, when honorableness does not oppose them and prejudice is not generated against others. For an action of injuries ought not to arise from us, from whom rights are derived to others as from a fountain.

Therefore, although we wish, insofar as we can with God, to defer to your honor and commit your prayers to effect, we nevertheless were unable to hear that petition by which you sought from us that we deign by apostolic authority to annul grants of churches and benefices made by our beloved son P., cardinal-priest of the title of Saint Marcellus and legate of the Apostolic See, when you were present and entirely unconsulted, since he conferred an excessive multitude of churches and delivered them to be possessed by perpetual right without your consent and that of the chapter of the greater church, etc.

Therefore, although on account of the foregoing we were unable to hear your petition according to your desire, nevertheless, wishing to defer to your honor insofar as we can with our honorableness, we have decided to grant your fraternity that those who possess those churches or benefices show you due and devoted obedience, unless perhaps any of those churches had been lawfully exempted from the patriarch's jurisdiction before the capture of the royal city.

But for a twofold reason we decided not to admit the subsequent petition concerning the churches that you sought to be subjected to you, which did not answer to the Patriarch of Constantinople before the city of Constantinople was captured. For the rationale of law demands that we ordain nothing concerning them to the prejudice of those to whom the same churches are subject, since they have been neither cited nor convicted, nor absent themselves through contumacy. [Providence also dissuaded this from being done at present, lest the Pisans, Venetians, and very many others who have churches of this kind at Constantinople be provoked against the empire at this time, since they are rather to be enticed by blandishments until it is strengthened with immovable solidity. But if you should decide to pursue your right against them at an opportune time, with the Lord as author, we shall cause the fullness of justice concerning them to be furnished to you.]

But concerning the obedience that you similarly sought us to cause to be furnished to you by the archbishop and bishops of the kingdom of Cyprus, we decided to answer you nearly the same as in the preceding petition, since they too had been exempted before your promotion—namely, when the church of Constantinople was disobedient and rebellious—and we ought not to have changed anything concerning their condition in their absence. Nevertheless, we shall not deny you justice when you should decide to seek it. [On your part, etc. Given at Ferentino, on the fourth day before the Nones of August, in the ninth year, 1206.]

Latin source headnote: Abbots and priests who are diocesan subjects of a bishop can be compelled by ecclesiastical censure to come to his synod and obey him.

The same.

As to what concerning these things—(And below: cf. c. 5, On Consanguinity and Affinity, IV. 14.)—likewise, you are to compel by ecclesiastical censures the abbots and priests subject to you by diocesan law, who disdain [when summoned] to come to your synod, to come to that synod and show you due obedience and reverence, provided that in the synod itself you do not decide that anything should be established that might oppose canonical statutes. [To the chaplains, etc. Given at the Lateran, on the second day before the Kalends of January, 1199.]

Latin source headnote: Regular canons disobedient to their prior can be excommunicated by him and, if they are incorrigible, ought to be expelled from the fellowship of the brothers.

The same, to the Abbots of Saint Stephen and Saint Proculus of Bologna.

When in the churches of Saint Victor and Saint John of the Mount—(And below:)—we, therefore, attending with diligent solicitude to the reformation of those churches, which, as their sins require, have both been diminished in temporal things and manifoldly collapsed in spiritual things, gave all the canons a firm mandate that they obey their prior in those things that pertain to him. And when all, with only four excepted, harmoniously answered that they wished to obey his admonitions and precepts, the aforesaid four, raising themselves in pride against the prior, although they had corporally furnished an oath concerning the obedience to be shown to their prior, nevertheless, forgetful of the oath furnished and the strict precept, resisted their prior in all things. And when for their contumacy they could not be recalled to due obedience, with justice dictating, the said prior promulgated a sentence of excommunication against them.

Therefore, when the aforesaid canons approached the Apostolic See, having been made more certain of their contumacy through authentic writings from the testimony of many prelates, after receiving from them corporally an oath according to the form of the Church, we caused the benefit of absolution to be imparted to them, commanding them under debt of the oath that, returning to their cloister from which they had departed, they devotedly and humbly obey their prior according to God.

Therefore, being unwilling that the same canons hereafter wander with such unbridled liberty, by apostolic writings we command your discretion that, relying upon our authority and with the subterfuge of any appeal removed, by ecclesiastical censures you compel the aforesaid canons to return to obedience to their prior; and, lest they be able to glory in their contumacy or malice, compel them, if you see it expedient, humbly to take care to furnish the oath concerning obedience to the prior's mandates that, when seeking the benefit of absolution, they had proudly refused. Otherwise, you are entirely to exclude them from the fellowship of their brothers.

Latin source headnote: The priests and clerics of chapels subject to a cardinalitial title owe the cardinal obedience and the other things discussed here. And, when the title is vacant, the chapter of that church succeeds, unless something is excepted for the good of peace.

Honorius III, to G., Cardinal-Priest, and the Chapter of Saint Lawrence in Damaso.

Having diligently heard the matters proposed before us for the church of Saint Lawrence in Damaso on one side and the chapels subject to it on the other concerning scrutiny, baptism, manual obedience, correction, interdict, excommunication, and other articles, by sentence we decreed that the priests and clerics of those chapels are to show manual obedience, reverence, and every honor to the cardinal who is now in that church and to those who shall be there over time; are to convene at that church at the customary times for celebrating scrutiny, baptism, and chapter; are humbly to receive correction from the cardinal himself; and are inviolably to observe sentences of excommunication, interdict, or suspension that he renders against them and their churches. But when that church is vacant of a cardinal, the aforementioned chaplains and clerics are nevertheless reverently to show all the aforesaid things to that church, with only that excepted which, for the good of peace, we reserve to our providence concerning their correction, excommunication, and suspension.

Latin source headnote: Although an abbess cannot excommunicate subjects, they are nevertheless bound to obey her.

The same, to the Abbot of Saint Michael in the Diocese of Abradensis.

Our beloved daughter in Christ, the Abbess of Bubrigen., showed by a petition transmitted to us that, when she often suspends her canonesses and the clerics subject to her jurisdiction from office and benefice on account of their disobedience and faults, the same persons, relying upon the fact that the abbess cannot excommunicate them, do not observe a suspension of this kind, on account of which their excesses remain uncorrected. Therefore, we command your discretion that, after prior admonition, by ecclesiastical censure and with appeal removed, you compel the said canonesses and clerics to show the aforesaid abbess due obedience and reverence and to observe her salutary admonitions and mandates. [Given at Alatri, on the second day of the month of June, in the sixth year of our pontificate, 1222.]

Latin source headnote: If a metropolitan exacts an oath from a suffragan beyond the form established by the canon, the suffragan is not bound with respect to what is beyond it.

Gregory IX, to the Patriarch of Grado.

Our beloved sons the Archdeacon and Chapter of Castello brought their complaint to us that, when you exacted from the Bishop of Castello an oath beyond the canonical form that other suffragans have been accustomed to furnish to their metropolitans, they, perceiving that prejudice was generated against their church from this, appealed to the Apostolic See. (And below:) Therefore, since it is not fitting that you do to another what you would not wish to be done to you by another, we command that, being content with the canonical form that we receive from our fellow bishops immediately subject to us, under pretext of the oath furnished you exact nothing more from the Bishop of Castello on the ground of any custom, knowing that we have absolved the same bishop from an oath of this kind with respect to the other articles, or rather declared that he is not bound.

Latin source headnote: When a bishopric is vacant, the chapter confirms and invalidates elections.

The same, to the Prior of the Friars Preachers and the Archdeacon of Reggio.

When formerly the cause—(And below:)—therefore, we command that, although the convent of the monastery of Saint Savior of Messina is by law deprived on this occasion of the power of electing, nevertheless by grace you are to give them by our authority free faculty to elect or postulate, commanding the same persons that, because the church of Messina is presently vacant, they present their election to the Chapter of Messina to be confirmed as shall be lawful, or even invalidated.

Latin source headnote: One who is greater in order, although received later in the church, is preferred in place and portion. This is what it says according to the true reading.

The same, to the Archpriest of Saint Mary Major in the City.

We establish that priests obtain the first place, deacons the second, subdeacons the third, and so on with the rest in order, even if they are admitted later. And we wish one who is greater in order, even if received afterwards, to be superior in receiving a portion, and those of lesser orders to perform the customary services.

Latin source headnote: If a church situated within some archdeaconry is erected as a cathedral, it is exempted from the jurisdiction of the archdeaconry.

The same, to the Archbishop of Kalocsa.

Since an inferior cannot absolve or bind a superior, but a superior regularly binds and absolves an inferior, and it appears sufficiently [unworthy and] discordant that [the greater be subject to the lesser and] a son have power over a parent, we marvel [not a little and are moved] that, when you erected the monastery of Cheur, situated in the archdeaconry of Firmiensis in your diocese, as a cathedral church, [consecrating our venerable brother the Bishop of Sirmium as bishop to the title of that church], the Archdeacon of Firmiensis broke out into such great audacity of temerity that he presumes to exercise jurisdiction over the bishop consecrated there and his church. [Therefore, the same bishop humbly entreated us that, since, while the same archdeacon exercises jurisdiction of this kind over him and the said church, he in a certain manner does not exist as bishop in that church, we deign beneficially to provide for him concerning this. We, therefore, compassionating the same bishop and church with paternal affection and entirely exempting them, with all their rights and appurtenances, from the jurisdiction of that archdeacon,] command that you take care strictly to prohibit the aforesaid archdeacon [on our behalf from presuming hereafter to exercise any jurisdiction over them], from whose jurisdiction we declare the said bishop exempted. You are to take care strictly to prohibit this, provided [prudently] that, if the rights of the Archdeacon of Firmiensis are harmed by this, you make suitable recompense to him within your diocese, where you see it expedient, without prejudice to another's right. [Contradictors, etc. Given at Rieti, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, in the fifth year, 1232.]

Textual note: The Latin Library transcription's provisio has been corrected to proviso, as required by the sentence's construction.

Latin source headnote: A single person whose interest is involved will be able to impede a settlement concerning the right of primacy.

The same, to the Archdeacon of Limoges and the Prior of Saint Radegund of Poitiers.

The humble teacher of doctrine—(And below:)—we command that you seek the assent of the prelates of the province of Bordeaux present in it, of its cathedral chapters, and also of the Chapter of Bourges concerning the provision that we decided should be made between the Archbishops of Bourges and Bordeaux in the cause of primacy. When this has been obtained, you are solemnly to publish our provision. But if any should be unwilling to furnish consent, suspending the aforesaid publication, you are strictly to command them, if they are prelates, to present themselves personally to our sight, or, if others, through suitable proctors, to prosecute before us the right, if any, that they contend they have, and to make satisfaction to the other party in expenses if they succumb.