Title XXXIV: On a Vow and the Redemption of a Vow

Latin source headnote: Vows can be redeemed by alms or commuted into something else, with the authority of a superior intervening and a just cause for redeeming or changing them.

Alexander III, to the Bishop of Exeter.

Concerning vows of pilgrimage also, whether they can be redeemed by alms or commuted into something else on account of necessity, we answer you that it depends upon the judgment of the one who presides, so that he may consider more diligently and attend to the quality of the person and the cause of the commutation—namely, whether this happens from infirmity or an abundance of riches, whether the pilgrimage rests upon another probable cause, or whether a recompense would be better and more acceptable to God—and according to this he ought to dispense concerning it.

Latin source headnote: The Pope commutes a vow to go overseas, especially in the case of those who vowed at a boyish age.

The same, to the Bishop of Norwich.

We learned from the account of R., the cleric coming to us, that, when he had been constituted at a boyish age, he resolved to proceed to Jerusalem. He also gave his pledge to a certain companion of his, who had likewise proposed to visit the Lord's sepulchre, and received that man's pledge from him, that they would stand by one another on the way as faithful companions and preserve good fellowship. He, indeed, turning the matter over with a solicitous mind, approached us so that we might disclose our counsel to him concerning it. But we, understanding that he labors under grave infirmity, as he asserts, and attending more diligently to the fact that his coming would confer little utility in the regions of the East, especially since it is not lawful for a cleric constituted within sacred orders to take up arms or devote himself to the shedding of blood, absolve him from the vow that at a tender age he promised from facility rather than from the judgment of discretion, and send him back absolved to his own place, yet in such a way that he redeem the same vow with alms and, according to our counsel, throughout the whole time of his life ought to provide for one of Christ's poor, both in food and in clothing, provided his means suffice for this.

Latin source headnote: From the conception alone of a good to be carried out, no one is bound to execute the good conceived.

The same, to Master A. of Mandeforde.

We have long since known your learning and prudence through the report of fame, and we wish and ought to consult your salvation the more attentively, the more, in consideration of your honorable conduct and life, we embrace your person with the arms of more fervent charity. It was reported to our ears on your part that, when you had been terrified by excessive fear of death as a result of a certain bloodletting, you uttered these words to yourself: “I shall not remain here long,” proposing in your mind that at some time you would assume the religious habit. But on account of frequent infirmities, which very greatly impede the strictness of religious life, and because you exhibit hospitality to travelers and furnish many salutary things, you have not yet fulfilled in deed what you once conceived in mind, and through this you doubt whether you ought to be called to account in the strict examination for the broken faith of a vow. Therefore, although we do not believe that what the canons establish in matters of this kind is hidden from your prudence, in response to your consultation we answer briefly what we think, commanding by the signification of the present letters that, if no further progress was made in the vow than we have said above, you cannot be judged a transgressor even if you do not fulfill what you said. We admonish your prudence more attentively, however, and exhort you to do that which you know will conduce more to your salvation and, remaining mindful of your condition, to hold firmly in memory that Lot, when he feared the ascent of the mountain, sought and received the little city of Zoar.

Latin source headnote: Every vow can be changed into a vow of religion.

The same.

It is declared by the testimony of sacred scripture that a spiritual man does not change his purpose when he meditates upon something more useful for the salvation of his soul. Hence it is that, inclining to your just petitions, we have granted you that, if anyone has proposed to visit the Lord's sepulchre or other shrines of the saints and, upon the occurrence of infirmity or another reasonable cause, wishes to assume the religious habit among you and serve God, you may be able freely to receive such persons. One who is known to change temporal service into perpetual observance of religion is in no way held guilty of a broken vow.

Latin source headnote: Execution of a vow to go overseas can for cause be deferred by authority of the Pope.

Innocent III, to the Archbishop of Esztergom.

One is not to be called a transgressor of a vow who, by authority of the Apostolic See, yet for a just cause, deferred fulfilling what he vowed. Indeed, our dearest son in Christ Henry, the illustrious King of Hungary, signified to us that, since he has perceived that your counsel and aid have until now profited him amid the disturbance of the kingdom, it would derogate not a little from his utility if you were to proceed to Jerusalem, as you are bound by vow, while the kingdom remains unpacified. Since, therefore, it is incumbent upon us to think solicitously about the honor of the king himself and the condition of the Kingdom of Hungary, by apostolic writings we command your fraternity that you not begin the journey to Jerusalem before the kingdom itself has, by the Lord's agency, been restored to its former tranquility, or you have received a mandate concerning this from the Apostolic See. [Given at the Lateran. 1198.]

Latin source headnote: The church compels a lay heir, through excommunication and deprivation of goods, to execute a vow to go overseas to which he obligated himself on behalf of the deceased.

The same, to Duke Andrew.

Although all have free choice in vowing, and necessity has no place in vows, but will does, nevertheless fulfillment after a vow is necessary to such a degree that no one may withdraw from those things that he spontaneously and solemnly promised without loss to his own salvation. Indeed, we learned that, when B. of illustrious memory, formerly King of Hungary, your father, acting in his last moments, entrusted to your fidelity, under threat of a paternal curse, the execution of the vow that he had vowed to the Lord—to visit the province of Jerusalem with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, yet with a humble heart and humbled spirit—you, having understood the pious will of your parent, assumed the sign of the cross and promised that you would fulfill it without any delay. But, after your same father was removed from your midst, although you feigned that you were beginning the journey to Jerusalem, forgetful of the pilgrimage undertaken, you turned against your brother and the Kingdom of Hungary the battle line that you ought to have directed against the enemies of the cross, and, employing the counsel of evil men, committed many things against the royal serenity. But we, whom in these days the Lord, though undeserving, has called to the pontifical office, wishing to consult both the peace of the Kingdom of Hungary and your salvation, ask, admonish, and exhort your nobility in the Lord, and by apostolic writings directing you, we command that, laying aside other concerns, no later than the next approaching feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, discharging the debt of the cross you received, you begin the proposed journey and humbly pursue it, lest, if on any occasion you refuse the burden enjoined upon you by your father and spontaneously undertaken by you, you render yourself unworthy of the paternal succession and be deprived of the advantage of the inheritance whose burdens you refused to support; knowing that from then you will lie under the bond of anathema and are to be deprived of the right that, if the said king were to die without offspring, belonged to you in the Kingdom of Hungary by order of birth, and that the kingdom itself, appeal being set aside, is to devolve upon your younger brother. [Given at the Lateran, on the fourth day before the Kalends of February. 1198.]

Latin source headnote: The Pope commutes a vow to go overseas into vigils, prayers, and fasts, especially when the cause that induced the vowing has ceased; in such a way also that the expenses to be incurred in going, remaining, and returning are sent in full for the aid of the Holy Land.

The same, to the Bishop of Troyes.

We believe it to be [a judgment of great devotion and a proof of your sincere faith in Christ that, so that you might consecrate your last years to the Lord, neither the inconveniences of old age already approaching, nor the dangers of the way, nor the doubtful faith and constant inconstancy of the sea terrified you from resolving, for the salvation of your soul, the liberty of the church of Troyes, and devotion to the land of the Lord's nativity, to visit the province of Jerusalem.]

For when the church of Troyes, as we learned from your account, was burdened contrary to ecclesiastical liberty by undue straits and oppressions, and you believed that the same church could not easily be aided through anyone other than H., formerly Count of Champagne, then constituted in the regions overseas, trusting in the liberality of him who, if you approached him, you believed would humbly provide for you concerning the necessities of your church, contrary to the counsel of your dear ones you proposed to approach him, and as a sign of pilgrimage and devotion to the eastern land you assumed the Lord's cross. [Moreover, although, so that you might not appear empty in the sight of the Lord but carry with exultation some sheaves with you into the Lord's threshing floor, you delivered a sermon to the people so that some, having assumed the sign of the cross with you, would undergo the burden of the journey, scarcely one among all appeared who would receive and fulfill the word with you. But you, so that you might close your laudable purpose with a better end, began the way and, when you had reached Piacenza, received sad reports concerning the death of the same count. Nevertheless, concealing your fear on account of your household, you advanced into Tuscany and encountered certain familiars of yours who wished to recall you from the journey even against your will, asserting that your journey was expedient neither for you nor for the regions overseas, since, with all the French returning from there, that land had remained in the hands of the Germans to be defended.]

Although, upon hearing of the death of the same count, you conceived immeasurable sadness and perceived that your principal intention was now frustrated, you were nevertheless unwilling to return to your own place without the counsel of the Apostolic See, which by the Lord's disposition is the mother and teacher of all the faithful. But, afterward entering the City and constituted in our presence, you humbly explained to us the purpose of your intention and the condition of the church of Troyes, seeking with devotion our counsel and that of our brothers. Our venerable brother the Archbishop of Sens, your metropolitan, also intimated to us once and again through his letters the condition of the church of Troyes and the loss that it could incur from your absence. On account of this we resolved to deliberate with our brothers whether we should show mercy to the same church of Troyes by sending you back to exercise solicitude for it, or whether, as you were bound by vow, we should permit you to complete the journey begun, and which of these two would be more expedient both for your salvation and for the eastern land.

And indeed we thought that three things principally ought to be attended to in this business: what is lawful, what is fitting, and what is expedient—what is lawful according to equity, what is fitting according to honor, and what is expedient according to utility. Indeed, it did not appear lawful for you to have come contrary to the vow and so laudable a purpose, since the prophetic voice cries: “Vow and render to the Lord your God,” so that the first is referred to counsel and the second to command; and in the Gospel: “Render to God the things that are God's.” For it is not doubtful that this vow belongs to God, to whom you had obligated yourself by vowing. Nor did it appear fitting in any way, since it is written in the Gospel: “No one putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God”; and in Genesis the wife of Lot, who looked back, is read to have been turned into a statue of salt; and in the Acts of the Apostles Ananias and Sapphira, who went backward lying to the Holy Spirit, are written to have been successively carried dead from the sight of the prince of the Apostles.

Moreover, it did not appear in any way expedient, since from your absolution, if it were made, scandal could be generated in the minds of laypersons, saying, “Where is the God of the clerics?” and believing by this example that they were not bound to observance of a vow that they saw laid aside by the rulers of churches with the authority of the Apostolic See, through which it would happen that grave loss came to the eastern land. For what is done by prelates is easily drawn into an example by subjects, according to what the Lord says to Moses in Leviticus: “If the priest who is anointed sins, he will cause the people to transgress.”

But the failing and gray hair of a life growing old, which can scarcely tolerate their own labors and pains even at rest, alleged the contrary, as did the sighs of the church of Troyes, to which you are bound by the bond of pastoral solicitude and without whose assent you perhaps ought not to have emitted the vow of pilgrimage; and the insistence of your said metropolitan, who solicitously invited us to have mercy upon the church of Troyes, induced us not a little toward the contrary part. The vow itself also, which in its form was holy and honorable, appeared less lawful from the person of the one vowing, because, although it has wings with which it strives to fly away, they are nevertheless so bound by the bonds of the one presiding that they do not have free flight without his permission. For since, according to canonical institutes, a cleric ought not make pilgrimage without the license of his bishop, and a bishop is no less—indeed, rather more—bound to the Apostolic See, it could deservedly appear that without its general or special license you ought not to have emitted a vow of pilgrimage by which you would be absent for so long.

The vow itself also appeared less expedient for the eastern land, which in the necessity of the pressing crisis requires the aid of fighters more than the ministry of clerics, whom both office and lack of practice render unwarlike. For although that land vehemently needs your prayers and those of others, nevertheless, since the word of God who says, “The hour comes, and now is, when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you adore the Father,” has now been fulfilled, and below, “God is spirit, and those who adore him must adore in spirit and truth,” it could appear that by pious prayers before God you would profit no less in your church than in the eastern land in those things that you would justly and humbly petition for its liberation. And would that you could ascend the mountain with Moses, so that, while you prayed with hands extended, Joshua, fighting in the wilderness, might overcome the Amalekites by the edge of the sword. It was also believed that it would profit the eastern land more if what you would have spent on procurations for yourself and your clerics were transferred, according to the judgment of some religious man, to the aid of the fighters.

Since, therefore, in the old law, in which the precept of the Lord bound no less than a vow binds today in the church, of the firstborn that were commanded to be offered to the Lord some were rendered to the Lord, as the firstborn of the Levites; some were redeemed, as those of the other tribes; and some were commuted into another thing, as the firstborn of an ass, which was commuted for a sheep—attending from this to the fact that a vow can also be commuted into another work of piety, especially since our predecessor Pope Alexander of good memory, when asked, answered that a vow of pilgrimage can also be redeemed or commuted into another thing, not caring that the mouth of those speaking iniquities should speak, provided that we do not withdraw from the path of truth, since according to the Apostle our glory is the testimony of our conscience, and not caring for scandal, especially because we proceed not in darkness but in light, secure in the authority of him who, when he heard from the disciples, “Do you not know that the Pharisees, having heard this word, were scandalized?” answered, “Let them alone; they are blind and leaders of the blind”; and according to the Apostle, “If I pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ”—we grant you, for yourself and six of your servants, by the common counsel of our brothers and of the archbishops, bishops, and other prudent men whom by the mercy of God we had many present with us, license to commute the vow of pilgrimage in such a way that you entrust to some religious man all the expenses that you would have incurred in going, remaining, and returning, to be transferred without any diminution to the necessary uses of that land. For thus you will profit the eastern province, which in the crisis of pressing necessity needs your goods more than you, by your assistance, and we provide more usefully for the church of Troyes by your presence and governance, and through this your soul will be consulted more salutarily.

You shall also recompense labor with labors, insisting more solicitously upon vigils, devoting yourself more devoutly to prayers, and exercising yourself more strongly in fasts, and watching over your flock with pastoral solicitude. Moreover, this specially induced us to make this indulgence for you from the benignity of the Apostolic See: that your journey now did not appear fruitful to the province overseas, from which almost all the French had returned; and, since you had principally emitted the vow of pilgrimage for the salvation of your soul and the liberty of the church of Troyes to be obtained through the said count, after he was removed from your midst, because the causes ceased, the effect could also cease more easily. [Therefore let no one, etc. Given at the Lateran, on the Ides of March. 1198.]

Latin source headnote: To one temporarily impeded from executing a vow to go overseas a delay is granted; but upon one perpetually impeded a redemption is enjoined in that which is more expedient for the Holy Land.

The same, to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Because you resolved to consult the Apostolic See concerning those matters whose execution pertains to the pastoral office, we commend your fraternity in the Lord, hoping that, instructed through our response, you will execute them more diligently. You asked indeed what is to be done by you concerning those who, having assumed the sign of the cross for the succor of the Holy Land, cannot usefully fulfill the vow of pilgrimage on account of infirmity, poverty, or another just cause, since through apostolic writings you received a mandate without distinction to compel, through ecclesiastical censure with appeal removed, those who cast aside the sign of the cross they had assumed to resume it and execute the vow, notwithstanding any indulgence, if perhaps one had been obtained by surreption from our predecessor.

We answer your inquiry in this manner: the weak and the poor approach that place more to its deficiency than to its advantage, since the former cannot fight and the latter are compelled to beg, unless perhaps they are nobles and magnates who bring fighters with them at their own expense, or craftsmen and farmers who can acquire necessities for themselves by their labors and minister aid to the land—although not many such persons are useful there on account of the smallness of the possessions and the fewness of the inhabitants. Hence we believe a distinction must be made between those who are believed to have a temporary cause of impediment and those who have a perpetual one: delay is to be granted to the former, but redemption is to be enjoined upon the latter; and, after the extent of their resources has been weighed, let them transmit for the aid of the Holy Land the expenses that they can make or would have made, the labor of the persons also having been compensated, executing through others what they cannot fulfill through themselves.

Again, between those who emit a vow of pilgrimage for the defense of the Holy Land and those upon whom a journey of pilgrimage is enjoined in satisfaction for their crimes, we believe a distinction must be made: concerning the former, the succor of the Holy Land, and concerning the latter, the labor of the journey, ought to be attended to more according to the intention of the one vowing or doing penance. Hence, if one vowing in this manner is useless for fighting, although fit for going, it is better to redeem the vow than to consume the expenses. This can properly be understood also of a penitent who on account of weakness cannot fulfill the journey of pilgrimage enjoined; but not of one who, although powerless to fight, is nevertheless able to go. Moreover, diligent discretion is to be applied concerning these matters, lest anything through entreaty or payment, love or hatred, or any occasion whatever be attempted in any way against the salvation of the soul or the utility of the land. Hence we wish that a dispensation of this kind be provided through religious and provident men.

Concerning women, moreover, we believe this is to be observed: that those who are unwilling to remain should follow their husbands as they go; but the others, unless perhaps they are rich women who can take fighters with them at their own expense, should redeem the vow that they vowed, the others having each been diligently induced according to their own means to aid the Holy Land.

Latin source headnote: A vow to go overseas can in certain cases be redeemed and commuted, yet not by anyone other than the Pope or one acting with his special mandate. This it says as far as § “Secondly, you asked.” — (Secondly, etc.:) Those fit for going but unfit for fighting, if they are vigorous in counsel or can take fighting knights with them, do not redeem a vow to go overseas. This it says, the Sicilian Abbot. — (But as for, etc.:) Wives can follow their husbands overseas if they wish, but they are not bound unless they themselves also vowed. This it says, the Abbot. — (In so great, etc.:) Husbands can emit a vow to go overseas without the consent of their wives. This it says, the Sicilian Abbot. — (Concerning clerics, etc.:) Clerics, as being unfit to fight, redeem a vow to go overseas except in certain cases. This it says, the Sicilian Abbot.

The same, to the same.

We believe that it proceeds from the great providence of your solicitude that, although we have answered what we think to your many and frequent consultations, you elicit new questions from our response. Indeed, from the consultation that we formerly issued in answer to your inquiry concerning the business of those signed with the cross, you found a way to other questions and solicitously asked whether what is said in it establishes a general law, so that it is lawful indiscriminately for any prelates to absolve according to the expressed form those who are committed to their jurisdiction. Therefore we answer your inquiry briefly that in our consultation a common law is issued, and, although it in no way explains to what sort of persons, and specifically to whom, its execution pertains, nevertheless execution of this law is incumbent only upon those who have received from the Apostolic See our special mandate concerning it.

Thus, therefore, answer is made to the inquiry by which your fraternity consequently asked of which religious this was to be understood, which was contained around the middle of our consultation in these words: “We wish a dispensation of this kind to be provided through religious and provident men”—namely, whether there only those who have assumed the religious habit are called religious, many of whom are unlearned and ignorant of law, although in your consultation it is said, “through religious and provident men”, or bishops, who, just as they excel in dignity, so ought to excel others in religion. For execution of that law pertains to neither unless it is specially delegated to them by the Apostolic See.

Secondly, you asked whether what is said—“If any of those vowing is useless for fighting, although fit for going, it is better that he redeem the vow than consume the expenses”—ought to be taken generally, so as to include also nobles and magnates who are vigorous in counsel and can bring many fighters with them, or whether a general expression of this kind comprehends only lesser persons. But, if you extend the eye of your consideration for a little while to what precedes, you will find that question solved in the course of our consultation, where it is said that the weak and the poor approach more to the deficiency of the Holy Land than to its advantage, since the former cannot fight and the latter must beg, unless perhaps they are nobles and magnates who bring fighters with them at their own expense; and the other things that follow. For those who are called weak here are below called useless for fighting. Hence an equal exception ought to be understood in each place, although it can be answered otherwise that those who, even if they cannot fight through themselves, can nevertheless assist those fighting by maturity of counsel and relieve their personal deficiency through others, are not useless for fighting.

In the third place also your fraternity asked how what is subjoined concerning women ought to be understood: that those who are unwilling to remain should follow their husbands as they go; but the others, unless they are rich women who can take fighters with them at their own expense, should redeem the vow that they vowed. For what is said in the final place appears to have been said only of those vowing. But what is placed above—“women who are unwilling to remain, etc.”—appears to be understood of those who bound themselves to the purpose of pilgrimage by no bond of a vow, which was not doubtful to be so. From the same expression you also say that it appears to certain persons that husbands are permitted in this article to be able to vow without the assent of their wives and to accomplish what they vowed. To this we say that, in so great a necessity of the Christian people, lest aid to the Holy Land be utterly impeded or deferred longer, husbands, without the assent of their wives, so that they may fight for the King of kings, can freely vow the purpose of this pilgrimage and freely fulfill what they vowed. But the wives are to be admonished more attentively to consent.

Concerning clerics, moreover, we thought that your inquiry should be answered in this manner: since the office of the clergy renders them unfit for fighting, unless they are either vigorous in counsel or instructed in the office of preaching, or deputed to the service of magnates, or rich and powerful to such a degree that they can take some fighters with them at their own expense, it is more expedient to receive redemption from them than to compel them to pursue the vow, if necessity requires or utility persuades. We say these things, however, of those vowing, not of those upon whom the labor of pilgrimage was enjoined as penance.

Latin source headnote: One who vowed to enter religion, if, with the vow complete, he becomes a bishop, ought to resign and fulfill the vow. Thus it is commonly summarized.

The same.

Through your letters you intimated to us that you had solemnly emitted a vow of receiving the regular habit in the church of Grenoble, and afterward promised in the hands of the prelate of the same church that within two months after you had returned from the Apostolic See, to which you were then approaching, you would fulfill the vow that you had emitted. And when, after the term itself had passed, you took no care to fulfill what you had vowed, at length, existing as a transgressor of the vow, you were called to the governance of the church of Geneva, concerning which you petition us to provide for your salvation. We therefore, answering briefly, counsel your discretion that, if you desire wholly to heal your conscience, you resign the governance of the aforesaid church and render your vows to the Most High, showing you grace in this: that, if the chapter of the same church of Geneva should afterward think that you ought canonically to be elected, you will be able to receive the election thus made of you. [Given at Segni, on the sixth day before the Ides of August, in the sixteenth year of our pontificate. 1213.]

Latin source headnote: A prelate, even one professed, can emit a vow to go overseas and convert the twentieth of the revenues of the church to his own uses.

Honorius III, to the Provosts of Haresben and Bengad.

You ask us whether it is lawful for you, professed in a regular order, one of whom is signed with the cross and the other desires to be marked with the character of the cross, to carry with you the twentieth of the revenues of your churches deputed to the succor of the Holy Land, so that through you it may advance the succor of that land, since you are prepared to expose your persons to the service of Jesus Christ; especially since many, provoked by an example of laudable emulation, are manfully girded to run after you, intending to fight the battle of the Lord against the nations. But because we aspire with all our strength to the liberation of that land, we answer your discretion in this manner: if your churches are not otherwise injured enormously through your absence, and you will be useful to the Holy Land alike by word and example—which we have thought ought to be left to your consciences—after suitable procurators have been left in your churches, you can and are bound to fulfill the vow of pilgrimage, and thus the twentieth of your churches deputed to the aid of the Holy Land can pass to your uses.