Title VII: On Heretics

Latin source headnote: He is an unbeliever who does not have certainty of faith, and an unbeliever is not to be believed to the prejudice of another.

Pope Stephen, to all Bishops.

One doubtful in faith is an unbeliever, nor are those who are ignorant of the faith of truth to be believed at all, [and who do not lead a life of upright conduct, etc.]

Latin source headnote: He is convicted of erring in faith who, when he can, does not recall others who err from their error.

Pope Leo.

He who, when he can, does not recall others from error demonstrates that he himself errs. [Given on the twelfth day before the Kalends of August, Calepius and Ardabur being consuls, men of clarissimus rank, 447.]

Latin source headnote: A persevering heretic is eternally damned; neither baptism, almsgiving, martyrdom, nor any other good whatsoever profits him so far as attaining eternal life is concerned.

Augustine, On the Catholic Faith.

Hold most firmly and doubt in no way that every heretic or schismatic, although he gives many alms or even sheds blood for Christ, will share with the devil and his angels in the burning of eternal fire unless, before the end of this life, he shall have been incorporated into and reintegrated with the Catholic Church. (And a little afterward:) For indeed, to every man who does not hold the unity of the Catholic Church, neither baptism, nor almsgiving, however abundant, nor death undertaken for the name of Christ will be able to profit unto salvation.

Latin source headnote: When an author is condemned, his writings, books, and works are condemned.

Gregory, to Anastasius of Antioch.

Of your fraternity. (And below:) [Moreover, when your fraternity spoke concerning the preservation of the holy councils, it professed that it preserves the holy First Synod of Ephesus. But because, from the annotation of a heretical codex which was transmitted to me from the imperial city, I learned—through the fact that certain Catholic chapters had been censured together with heretical ones—that certain persons consider as the First Synod of Ephesus that which is related to have been composed formerly by heretics in the same city, it is altogether necessary that your charity seek the same synod at the holy churches of Alexandria and Antioch and discover how it is truly held; or, if it pleases you, we shall send from here what we have preserved from antiquity in the archives.] For that synod which was produced under the appearance of the First Synod of Ephesus asserts that certain chapters presented in it were approved, which are the teachings of Coelestius and Pelagius. And since Coelestius and Pelagius were condemned in the Synod of Ephesus, how will those chapters whose authors are condemned be able to be received?

Latin source headnote: A bishop who institutes as heir a heretical relative, a stranger, or a pagan is proclaimed excommunicated even after death. This it says according to the common and truer understanding; and, so that it pertains to the title, it can be understood that from this he is presumed to be a heretic.

From the African Council.

If any bishop shall institute as heirs persons outside his kinship, or shall prefer heretics, even relatives, or pagans, let anathema be pronounced against him at least after death, and let his name in no way be recited among the priests of God. [Nor can he be excused if he died intestate, etc.]

Latin source headnote: It speaks concerning the same matter as the preceding chapter, and what was said there concerning a bishop is extended to priests and other clerics.

From the same council.

To those who are not Catholic Christians, even if they are relatives, bishops or priests are to confer nothing through donations of their property. Finally, what has been said concerning bishops and priests ought to be understood concerning the remaining clerics also.

Latin source headnote: Christ was true God and true man; one holding the opposite is a heretic and excommunicated.

Alexander III, to the Archbishop of Reims.

Since Christ is perfect God and perfect man, it is astonishing with what rashness anyone dares to say that Christ is not something insofar as he is man. But lest so great an abuse be able to arise in the church of God or an error be introduced, we command [your fraternity] by apostolic writings that, the masters of Paris and Reims and of the other surrounding cities having been convoked, by our authority you forbid under anathema that anyone henceforth dare to say that Christ is not something insofar as he is man, because, just as Christ is true God, so he is true man, subsisting of a rational soul and human flesh. [Given at Vesta on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, 1177.]

Latin source headnote: Heretics, their receivers, and their supporters are excommunicated; and those dying in this sin ought not to be buried in the church cemetery, nor ought prayer to be made for them.

From the Lateran Council.

As blessed Leo says, although ecclesiastical discipline, content with priestly judgment, avoids bloody punishments, nevertheless it is aided by the constitutions of Catholic princes, so that men often seek a saving remedy when they have feared that corporal punishment will come upon them. For this reason, because in Gascony, Albi, and the regions of Toulouse and other places, the damnable perversity of the heretics whom some call Cathars, others Publicans, others Patarenes, and others by other names, has so gained strength that they now exercise their wickedness not in secret, as elsewhere, but publicly manifest their error and draw the simple and infirm to their assent, we decree that [and] they and their defenders and receivers are subject to anathema; and under anathema we prohibit anyone from presuming to keep or support them in his house or land, or to exercise commerce with them. But if anyone dies in this sin, neither under the cover of our privileges granted to whomsoever, nor under any other occasion, is [any] offering to be made for him, nor is he to receive burial among Christians. [Concerning the Brabanters, etc.]

Latin source headnote: A heretic who believes or teaches wrongly concerning the sacraments of the Church is excommunicated; and, upon conviction, unless he corrects himself and abjures the error, if he is a cleric he is to be degraded and handed over to the secular court, by which a layperson also will be punished. The same penalty also applies to those suspected of heresy if they have not cleared themselves, and a hearing is entirely denied to those who relapse. Secular princes who are unwilling to swear to defend the Church against heretics are excommunicated, and their lands are placed under interdict; but their cities which resist are deprived of commerce with other cities and of episcopal dignity; and exempt persons are subject to the ordinaries in those things which are established against heretics.

Lucius III.

For abolishing the depravity of diverse heresies which in modern times has begun to spring forth in very many parts of the world, ecclesiastical vigor ought to be aroused, so that, with the power of imperial fortitude supporting it, both the insolence of heretics may be crushed in the very attempts of its falsehood and the simplicity of Catholic truth, shining in holy Church, may demonstrate it everywhere as cleansed from every abomination of false dogmas. Therefore we, supported alike by the presence and vigor of our dearest son Frederick, illustrious Emperor of the Romans and ever Augustus, by the common counsel of our brothers, and also of other patriarchs, archbishops, and many princes who assembled from diverse parts of the empire, rise against those heretics, upon whom the profession of diverse falsehoods has imposed diverse names, by the general sanction of the present decree, and by apostolic authority condemn every heresy, by whatever name it may be designated, through the series of this constitution. First, therefore, we decree that the Cathars and Patarenes, and those who falsely claim for themselves the name Humiliati or Poor Men of Lyons, the Passagines, Josephines, and Arnoldists, are perpetually subject to anathema. And since certain persons, denying the power of piety under its appearance, as the Apostle says, claim for themselves the authority of preaching—although the same Apostle says, “How shall they preach unless they are sent?”—all who, either prohibited or not sent, without authority received from the Apostolic See or from the bishop of the place, shall have presumed to preach publicly or privately, and all who do not fear to believe or teach otherwise concerning the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or concerning baptism, confession of sins, marriage, or the remaining ecclesiastical sacraments, than the sacrosanct Roman Church preaches and observes, and generally whomsoever the same Roman Church or the individual bishops throughout their dioceses, with the counsel of the clerics—or the clerics themselves while the see is vacant, with the counsel, if necessary, of neighboring bishops—shall have judged to be heretics, we bind with the same bond of perpetual anathema. We decree that their receivers and defenders, and all alike who shall have afforded any patronage or favor to the aforesaid heretics in order to foster in them the depravity of heresy, whether they are called Consoled, Believers, Perfects, or by any superstitious names whatsoever, are subject to the like sentence. But because, at the demand of sins, it sometimes happens that the severity of ecclesiastical discipline is contemned by those who do not understand its power, we nevertheless decree by the present ordinance that whoever shall manifestly have been detected in heresy, if he is a cleric or is disguised by the shadow of any religious state, is to be stripped of the prerogative of the entire ecclesiastical order and, thus despoiled alike of every ecclesiastical office and benefice, is to be left to the judgment of the secular authority to be punished by due censure, unless, immediately after detection of the error, he shall have spontaneously hastened back to the unity of the Catholic faith and consented publicly to abjure his error at the judgment of the bishop of the region and to render suitable satisfaction. But a layperson whom the notorious or private guilt of any of the aforesaid plagues shall have tainted, unless, as has been said, after abjuring the heresy and rendering satisfaction, he shall immediately have fled to the orthodox faith, is to be left to the judgment of the secular judge to receive due punishment according to the character of the crime. (And below:) But those who shall have been found notable by suspicion of the Church alone, unless at the judgment of the bishop, according to consideration of the suspicion and the character of the person, they shall have demonstrated their own innocence by suitable purgation, will be subject to the like sentence. We also decree that those who, after abjuration of the error, or after, as we have said, purging themselves by the examination of their own bishop, shall have been detected as having fallen back into the abjured heresy, are to be left to secular judgment without any hearing at all, the goods of condemned clerics being applied, according to the lawful sanctions, to the churches which they served. Indeed, we decree that the aforesaid sentence of excommunication, to which we command all heretics to be subject, is to be renewed by all patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops on the principal feast days and whenever they shall have solemnities or any occasion, for the glory of God and the censure of heretical depravity; establishing by apostolic authority that, if anyone of the order of bishops shall have been found negligent or indolent in these matters, he is to be held suspended from episcopal dignity and administration for the space of three years. In addition, by episcopal counsel and the suggestion of the imperial summit and its princes, we have added that every archbishop or bishop, by himself, by his archdeacon, or by other honorable and suitable persons, is to go around, twice or once in the year, his own parish in which it shall be reported that heretics dwell; and there he is to compel three or more men of good testimony—or even, if it shall appear expedient, the entire neighborhood—to swear that, if anyone there knows heretics or persons celebrating secret conventicles, or persons differing from the common association of the faithful in life and morals, he will take care to indicate them to the bishop or archdeacon. The bishop or archdeacon is then to summon the accused to his presence; unless they shall have purged themselves from the charge brought against them at their judgment according to the custom of the country, or if, after purgation has been rendered, they shall have fallen back into their former unbelief, they are to be punished by the judgment of the bishops. But if any of them, rejecting an oath because of a damnable superstition, should perhaps be unwilling to swear, by that very fact they are to be judged heretics and struck with the penalties which have been named above. We further establish that counts, barons, rectors, and consuls of cities and other places, according to the admonition of archbishops and bishops, are to promise by an oath physically rendered that, in all the aforesaid matters, when they have been requested concerning them, they will faithfully and effectively aid the Church against heretics and their accomplices and will strive in good faith, according to their office and power, to commit to execution both the ecclesiastical and imperial statutes concerning those things which we have stated. But if they are unwilling to observe this, let them be despoiled of the honor which they hold and in no way be assumed to others, while they are nevertheless to be bound by excommunication and their lands placed under interdict of the Church. But a city which shall have considered that these decretal enactments are to be resisted, or which, contrary to the admonition of the bishop, shall have neglected to punish those resisting, is to be deprived of commerce with other cities and is to know that it is to be deprived of episcopal dignity. We also decree that all supporters of heretics, as persons condemned to perpetual infamy, are to be repelled from advocacy, testimony, and other public offices. But if there are any who, exempt from the law of diocesan jurisdiction, are subject to the authority of the Apostolic See alone, nevertheless in those things which have been established above against heretics, let them undergo the judgment of archbishops or bishops and obey them in this matter as delegates of the Apostolic See, notwithstanding the privileges of their liberty. [Moreover, etc. (cf. c. 23, On the Right of Patronage, III. 38.)]

Latin source headnote: The goods of heretics are confiscated and, in the lands of the Church, are applied to the treasury of the Church, and in the lands of the empire to the treasury of the secular judge; and this applies even if they have Catholic sons.

Innocent III.

The corruption of the world declining into old age is savored not only by the corrupted elements, but is also attested by the most worthy of creatures, created in the image and likeness of the Creator and preferred by the privilege of dignity to the birds of heaven and beasts of the whole earth; and not only does it now decline as the world itself, as it were, fails, but it both infects and is infected with the rough rust of old age. For at the end most wretched man sins; he who could not persevere in paradise at the creation of himself and the world degenerates near the dissolution of himself and the globe; and, forgetful near the end of the ages of the price of his redemption, while he inserts himself into the diverse and vain knots of questions, he entangles himself in the snares of his own fraud and falls into the pit which he prepared. For behold, while the enemy man sows wicked seed over the Lord's harvest, the crops spring forth as tares, or rather are polluted; the wheat withers and vanishes into chaff; the moth in the flower and the foxes in the fruit strive to demolish the vineyard of the Lord. Indeed, under the New Testament a new offspring of Achan steals from the spoils of Jericho the golden tongue and the mantle, [and] the detestable offspring of Abiram, Dathan, and Korah wish with new censers to burn leavened incense upon new altars, while night declares knowledge to night, while the blind offers leadership to the blind, while heresies spring forth, and the heretic establishes as heir of his own heresy and damnation one whom he renders excluded from the divine inheritance. These are the tavern keepers who mix water with wine and offer the venom of the dragon in the golden cup of Babylon, having, according to the Apostle, an appearance of piety but utterly denying its power. Although diverse enactments have issued in the times of our predecessors against little foxes of this kind, indeed having diverse appearances but tails tied to one another because they agree in the same vanity, nevertheless the death-bearing plague could not yet be deadened to such a degree that, like a cancer, it did not creep further in secret and now pour forth openly the venom of its wickedness, while, cloaked by an appearance of religion, it both deceives many simple persons and seduces certain astute ones; he who was not a disciple of truth having become a master of error. Therefore, lest we, who, although around the eleventh hour, have been deputed by the evangelical householder among the laborers—indeed, more truly, over the laborers—of the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, and to whom the sheep of Christ are committed by pastoral office, appear neither to capture the foxes demolishing the vineyard of the Lord nor to ward off the wolves from the sheep, and on this account may deservedly be called mute dogs unable to bark, and perish with the wicked husbandmen and be compared to the hireling, we considered that something more severe should be established against the defenders, receivers, supporters, and believers of heretics, so that those who cannot by themselves be recalled to the way of rectitude may nevertheless be confounded in their defenders, receivers, supporters, and even believers, and, when they see themselves avoided by all, may desire to be reconciled to the unity of all. Therefore, by the common counsel of our brothers and with the assent of the archbishops and bishops present at the Apostolic See, we most strictly prohibit anyone from presuming in any manner to receive or defend heretics, or in any way to favor or believe them, firmly establishing by the present decree that, if anyone shall have presumed to do any of these things, unless, admonished a first or second time, he takes care to cease from his presumption concerning this, he is made infamous by the law itself and is to be admitted neither to public offices or councils of cities, nor to electing others to such offices, nor to testimony. Let him also be incapable of making a will and not come to the succession of an inheritance. Moreover, no one is to be compelled to answer him concerning any business whatsoever. But if perhaps he is a judge, let his sentence obtain no force, nor are any causes to be brought to his hearing. If he is an advocate, let his patronage in no way be admitted. If a notary, let the instruments prepared by him be of no effect at all, but be condemned with their condemned author. We command the same to be observed in similar matters. But if he is a cleric, let him be deposed from every office and benefice, so that, where the guilt is greater, the vengeance exercised may be graver. But if anyone shall have contemned to avoid such persons after they have been denounced by the Church, let him know that he has incurred a sentence of anathema. But in lands subject to our temporal jurisdiction we establish that the goods of heretics are to be made public property, and in other lands we command the same to be done by secular authorities and princes, whom, if perhaps they shall have been negligent, we will and command to be compelled to execute this by ecclesiastical censure, with appeal removed. Nor are their goods thereafter to revert to them unless, when they return to their heart and renounce association with heretics, someone shall have wished to show mercy to them, so that at least temporal punishment may correct one whom spiritual discipline does not correct. For since, according to lawful sanctions, when those guilty of injured majesty are punished capitally their goods are confiscated, with life alone preserved to their sons from mercy, how much more ought those who, erring in the faith of the Lord, offend Jesus Christ the Son of God to be cut off by ecclesiastical severity from our head, which is Christ, and despoiled of temporal goods, since it is far more grave to injure eternal than temporal majesty? Nor ought even the disinheritance of the orthodox sons in any way to impede the censure of severity of this kind under the pretext, as it were, of a certain compassion, since in many cases, even according to divine judgment, sons are punished temporally for their fathers, and according to the canonical sanctions vengeance is sometimes borne not only against the authors of crimes but also against the progeny of the condemned. [We therefore decree, etc. Given at the Lateran on the eighth day before the Kalends of April, in the second year of our pontificate, 1199.]

Latin source headnote: Advocates or notaries who favor heretics or their defenders, or give patronage to those litigating under them and write instruments for them, are infamous and suspended from that office.

The same.

If the earth were to rise against us [and the stars of heaven were to reveal your iniquities and manifest your crimes to the whole world, so that not only men but even the elements themselves conspired for your destruction and ruin and blotted you from the face of the earth, sparing neither sex nor age, so that you were an everlasting reproach to all nations, no sufficient or worthy vengeance could be taken upon you. For you neither fear God nor dread man, nor distinguish between profane and holy, but set light as darkness and darkness as light, and call evil good and good evil. You contemn the acquisition of a good reputation, which fattens the bones, and a good name, which is preferred to many riches, and care nothing for infamy, since you are of a worn forehead and have assumed the shameless forehead of a harlot. For you have rotted in sins like beasts in their dung, so that the smoke and dung of your corruption has now infected nearly all the surrounding regions and, as we believe, provoked the Lord himself to nausea. Indeed, in sins you surpass all, having become more unbelieving than Jews and more cruel than pagans. For the Jews once fastened the Lord to the gibbet of the cross; but you, continually crucifying the same one in his members, lacerate him with reproaches and insults. And although they believe, albeit under the blindness of sin, that God the Father founded all visible and invisible things, very many of you believe that visible things were founded and created by Lucifer. Pagans raged in destroying and slaughtering the bodies of Christians, but you intend to kill the whole man, secretly stealing the souls of the faithful from Christ and destroying both men alike. But neither these nor those knew the Lord's Christ, on account of which they appear to have some excuse in their sins; but you, like the sons of Ephraim drawing the bow, were signed with the character of Christ and still wish to be reckoned publicly by Christian profession, yet, departing backward in heart and receding from the faith, you have been turned into a crooked bow, entangled in the snares of heretics and deformed by their depraved dogmas. Whence the prophetic word has truly been fulfilled in you: “The lamias have bared their breasts; they have suckled their young.” For you have been made drunk not with the wine of compunction but with the gall of the dragon offered to you by heretics in the golden cup of Babylon. For now the waters have overflowed, and sins, submerged in the abyss of vices, have covered your heads. Now the deep has swallowed you, and the mouth of the infernal pit presses upon you. Indeed, you have fallen into the lake of desperation, since you contemn to rise from the deep. Whence we deservedly fear lest the wrath of God come upon the sons of distrust, and he now sharpen his sword like lightning and cause the judgment of his hand to act concerning you, and on the day of fury not be mindful of his mercy. But we, having compassion upon your miseries, wish to meet your impending ruin and, if we can, to close the open way of your destruction, knocking upon God with prayers and imitating the footsteps of Abraham, who, when the Lord wished to overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah, obtained by multiplied intercessions that he would not destroy all for the sake of ten just men. Indeed, we wish to discover whether some faithful persons remain among you who have not taken care to bend their knees before Baal and who, prostrated in sackcloth and ashes after the example of the Ninevites, may soften the wrath and fury of the Lord, so that many may be spared for the sake of a few and all may not perish together. Therefore, if anyone is of God, let him join himself to us, for we wish to bear the sword of Phinehas, to imitate the censure of Moses, and with Mattathias to punish those sacrificing to demons, so that, with the Lord's aid, the unbelieving and unworthy may be eliminated from the temple and the leaven of heretical depravity be savingly purged from the mass of the Lord's dough. Therefore, by apostolic writings we command and strictly enjoin you that, since certain of your fellow citizens, sons of Belial, in hatred of Christ and contempt of the Apostolic See and of us, after the prohibition made by us, attempted to elect as consuls certain believers of the Patarenes, and did not fear to appoint as chamberlain even the heresiarch himself, namely I. Tiniosus, a son of perdition, who, at the demand of his iniquities, already long ago was bound by the bond of excommunication at our command and still persists in his contumacy, you rise manfully against the electors themselves and those elected, and likewise their accomplices, resisting them magnanimously and powerfully, sharply assailing them, and laboring to frustrate and blunt their first attempts so that they cannot be rooted with a firm root. But so that the trunk may wither and dry up completely when the roots have been torn out, under threat of anathema we most strictly prohibit anyone from presuming to swear to them as consuls or rectors or in any other manner. But those who are bound to them by any oath, or who presumed to swear to them after an election of this kind, since there ought to be no participation of Christ with Belial or of light with darkness, and a faithful man is in no way bound to keep faith with an apostate who rashly violated the faith of the Creator, since this is laid down in the canons, we have considered that they are to be absolved from such an oath.] Although many things have been issued and established by us and our predecessors against heretics, and you have no excuse in your sins as though you had forgotten ancient mandates, because what is specifically enjoined is customarily feared more than what is generally commanded, we firmly prohibit you advocates and scriniaries from furnishing the aforesaid heretics, while they remain in their contumacy and error—Patarenes or believers, their supporters or defenders, at any time with aid, counsel, or favor in anything; nor are you to furnish your patronage to them in causes or acts, or to any litigating under their examination, and in no way are you to attempt to prepare public instruments or make any writings for them. But if perhaps you shall have presumed to act contrary to this, we decree that, suspended from your office, you are subject to perpetual infamy. Moreover, lest the judges and scriniaries who consented to be associated with the aforesaid electors in a rash presumption of this kind glory in their wickedness, since he who abuses the power permitted to him deserves to lose his privilege, we judge them to be suspended from their office, decreeing as invalid and void whatever shall have been done or established by them and by the aforesaid electors. [But the sentences, etc. Given, etc., 1205.]

Latin source headnote: Laypersons are not to preach, hold secret conventicles, or censure priests.

The same, to all the faithful of Christ established both in the city of Metz and in its diocese.

Since from the office of the apostolate enjoined upon us we have been made, according to the Apostle, debtors to the wise and the unwise, it is fitting for us to be solicitous for the salvation of all, so that we may both draw the wicked back from vices and foster the good in virtues. But there is need for greater discretion when vices secretly enter under the appearance of virtues and the angel of Satan feigns and transforms himself into an angel of light. Indeed, our venerable brother, the Bishop of Metz, signified to us through his letters that, both in the diocese and in the city of Metz, a multitude of laymen and women, drawn in a certain manner by no slight desire for the scriptures, caused the Gospels, the epistles of Paul, the Psalter, the Moralia, Job, and several other books to be translated for themselves into the Gallic tongue, applying themselves to a translation of this kind so willingly—would that also prudently—that in secret discussions laymen and women presume to belch forth such things among themselves and to preach to one another. They also spurn the company of those who do not involve themselves in like things and consider as strangers to themselves those who do not apply their ears and minds to such things. When certain of the parish priests wished to correct them concerning these things, they [resisted them] to their face, attempting to introduce arguments from the scriptures that they ought not in any way to be prohibited from these things. Certain of them also disdain the simplicity of their priests and, when the word of salvation is proposed to them by those priests, murmur secretly that they have it better in their booklets and can express it more prudently themselves. Although the desire to understand the divine scriptures, and the pursuit of exhorting according to them, is not to be censured but rather commended, nevertheless certain laypersons appear deservedly to be reproved in that they celebrate such secret conventicles of their own, usurp for themselves the office of preaching Christ, mock the simplicity of priests, and spurn the company of those who do not adhere to such things.

For God, the true light which illuminates every man coming into this world, so hates the works of darkness that, when he was about to send his Apostles into the whole world to preach the gospel to every creature, he commanded them, saying openly: “What I say to you in darkness, say in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops,” manifestly announcing through this that evangelical preaching is not to be proposed in secret conventicles, as heretics do, but publicly in churches according to Catholic custom. For, according to the testimony of Truth, everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be reproved. But he who does the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be manifested, because they were done in God. On account of this, when the high priest had questioned Jesus concerning his disciples and his doctrine, he responded: “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, in which all the Jews come together; and in secret I have spoken nothing.” Moreover, if anyone objects that, according to the Lord's precept, what is holy is not to be given to dogs, nor are pearls to be cast before swine, since Christ himself said, not to all but to the Apostles alone, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables,” let him understand that the dogs and swine are not those who gratefully receive what is holy and willingly accept pearls, but those who tear apart what is holy and contemn pearls—such as those who do not venerate evangelical words and ecclesiastical sacraments as Catholics, but rather abominate them as heretics, always barking against them and blaspheming, whom Paul the Apostle teaches are to be avoided after a first and second admonition. But the secret mysteries of the faith are not to be expounded indiscriminately to all, since they cannot be understood indiscriminately by all, but only to those who can grasp them with a faithful understanding. On account of this the Apostle says to the more simple: “As to little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat”; for solid food belongs to the mature, as he himself said to others: “We speak wisdom among the perfect, but among you I judged myself to know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” For the profundity of divine scripture is so great that not only simple and unlettered persons but even the prudent and learned are not fully sufficient to investigate its understanding. On account of this scripture says, “Because many have failed while searching the scrutiny.” Whence it was rightly established long ago in the divine law that the beast which touched the mountain was to be stoned, namely lest any simple and unlearned person presume to reach the sublimity of sacred scripture or even to preach to others. For it is written: “You shall not seek things higher than yourself.” On account of this the Apostle says: “Not to be more wise than it is fitting to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety.” For just as there are many members of the body but all members do not have the same function, so there are many orders in the Church, but not all have the same office, because, according to the Apostle, “the Lord gave some as apostles, others as prophets, and others as teachers, etc.” Therefore, since the order of teachers is, as it were, principal in the Church, no one ought indiscriminately to usurp for himself the office of preaching. For according to the Apostle, “How shall they preach unless they are sent?” and Truth itself commanded the Apostles: “Ask the Lord of the harvest that he send laborers into his harvest.” But if perhaps someone astutely responds that such persons are invisibly sent by God, even if they are not visibly sent by man, since an invisible mission is much more worthy than a visible one and a divine mission far better than a human one—whence John the Baptist is not read to have been sent by man but by God, as the Evangelist testifies: “There was a man sent by God whose name was John”—it can and certainly ought reasonably to be answered that, since that interior mission is hidden, it does not suffice for anyone merely to assert that he himself is sent by God, since every heretic makes this assertion; rather, he must establish that invisible mission through the working of a miracle or through a special testimony of scripture. Whence, when the Lord wished to send Moses into Egypt to the children of Israel so that they would believe that he was sent by him, he gave him a sign: that he would turn his rod into a serpent and again reform the serpent into a rod. John the Baptist also brought forth from scripture a special testimony of his mission, saying to the priests and Levites who had been sent to ask who he was and why he had assumed the office of baptizing: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the Prophet said.” Therefore, one who says that he is sent by God, when he has not been sent by man, is not to be believed unless he brings forth concerning himself a special testimony from the scriptures or works an evident miracle. For concerning those who are read to have been sent by God, the Evangelist also testifies that they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord cooperating and confirming the word by the signs which followed.

Although knowledge is very necessary to priests for teaching, because, according to the prophetic word, “the lips of the priest guard knowledge, and they seek the law from his mouth,” nevertheless even simple priests are not to be disparaged by learned men, since the priestly office ought to be honored in them; on account of which the Lord commanded in the law: “You shall not disparage the gods,” understanding by this the priests, who on account of the excellence of their order and the dignity of their office are designated by the name of gods. According to which he says elsewhere concerning a servant wishing to remain with his master that the master is to offer him to the gods. For since, according to the word of the Apostle, a servant stands or falls to his own master, certainly a priest ought to be chastised in the spirit of meekness by the bishop to whose correction he is subject, but not to be reproved in the spirit of pride by the people over whose correction he is placed, since, according to the Lord's precept, father and mother ought not to be cursed but rather honored. This ought to be understood much more strongly concerning a spiritual father than a carnal one. Nor should anyone defend the audacity of his presumption by that example in which an ass is read to have reproved the Prophet, or because the Lord says: “Which of you shall reprove me of sin? And if I have spoken badly, bear witness concerning the evil”; since it is one thing secretly to correct a brother sinning against oneself, which certainly everyone is bound to do according to the evangelical rule—in which case, indeed, it can be understood that Balaam was corrected by the ass—and it is another thing openly to reprove one's father even when he is at fault, and especially to call him a fool for being simple, which is certainly permitted to no one according to evangelical Truth: “For he who even says to his brother, ‘Fool,’ shall be guilty of the fire of Gehenna.” Again, it is one thing for a prelate, confident of his own innocence, voluntarily to submit himself to the accusation of his subjects, in which case the aforesaid word of the Lord ought to be understood; and it is another for a subject to rise rashly against a prelate, not so much with the intention of reproving as of disparaging him, when the necessity of obeying rather lies upon him. But if perhaps necessity should demand that a priest, as useless and unworthy, ought to be removed from the care of the flock, action is to be taken in an orderly manner before the bishop, to whose office both the institution and destitution of priests are known to pertain. But that is to be spurned by all as proceeding from the arrogance of the Pharisees: that, as though they alone were just, they spurn the rest, since until now, from the beginning of the nascent Church, there have been many holy men who are read neither to have been such nor to have adhered to such persons, while persons of this kind are read to have newly arisen. Unless they are content to be taught rather than to teach, they will perhaps pertain to those to whom the Lord says: “Do not become many masters.” Therefore, children, because we love you with paternal affection, lest under the pretext of truth you fall into the pit of error and under the appearance of virtues into the snare of vices, we earnestly ask, admonish, and exhort your whole body in the Lord, enjoining upon you for the remission of your sins that you recall your tongue and mind from those things which we have marked above as reprehensible, observing the Catholic faith and ecclesiastical rule, lest it happen that you are circumvented by fallacious words or even circumvent others. For unless you humbly and devoutly receive our correction and paternal admonition, after the oil we shall pour in the wine, applying ecclesiastical severity, so that those unwilling to obey voluntarily may learn to acquiesce even unwillingly. [Given at the Lateran, 1199.]

Latin source headnote: All heretics, by whatever names they are named, are excommunicated. This it says as far as § But those condemned. — § 1. Those condemned for heresy are punished by the secular judge, and the goods of lay heretics are confiscated, while the goods of clerics are applied to the churches in which they were beneficed. This it says as far as § But those who. The Sicilian Abbot. — § 2. If one suspected of heresy does not purge himself, he is excommunicated at the judgment of the superior, and, remaining in excommunication for a year, is condemned as a heretic. This it says as far as § But let them be admonished. The Sicilian Abbot. — § 3. Secular authorities, perpetual or temporary, are bound to swear that to the extent of their powers they will exterminate all heretics condemned by the Church; and a temporal lord who does not purge his land of heretics is excommunicated. And if he persists in excommunication for a year, this is announced to the Pope, who will absolve his faithful from their oath and expose his land to the faithful, preserving the right of the principal lord unless he too is at fault. This it says as far as § But Catholics. The Sicilian Abbot. — § 4. Those signed with the cross for the extermination of heretics enjoy the privilege granted to those signed with the cross for the aid of the Holy Land. This it says as far as § Believers. The Abbot. — § 5. There the penalty for believers in, receivers of, and defenders of heretics is set down, first for laypersons and secondly for clerics, as far as § Because. The Abbot. — § 6. No one ought to assume for himself the office of preaching unless a license concerning this is granted to him by law, the Apostolic See, or the diocesan bishop; otherwise he is excommunicated, and, unless he comes to his senses, another penalty is imposed. This it says as far as § We add. The Abbot. — § 7. Archbishops and bishops who regard the provinces and dioceses of their inferiors as suspected of heresy are to visit them, at least once a year, by themselves or through other suitable persons. They also ought, if this appears expedient, to exact an oath from those of the neighborhood to reveal heretics and those celebrating secret conventicles; once revealed, relapsed persons are to be punished canonically, and those resisting the oath are to be condemned as heretics. This it says as far as § We will. The Abbot. — § 8. A bishop negligent in pursuing heresy is to be removed from episcopal dignity and another suitable person substituted. This it says as far as the end. The Sicilian Abbot.

The same, in the general council.

We therefore excommunicate and anathematize every heresy raising itself against this holy, orthodox, and Catholic faith which we have expounded above, condemning all heretics, by whatever names they may be designated, indeed having diverse faces but tails tied to one another, because they agree in the same vanity.

§ 1. But those condemned are to be left to the secular authorities present or to their bailiffs, to be punished by due censure, clerics first having been degraded from their orders, so that the goods of those thus condemned, if they are laypersons, are confiscated; but if they are clerics, they are to be applied to the churches from which they received their stipends.

§ 2. But those who shall have been found notable by suspicion alone, unless, according to consideration of the suspicion and the character of the person, they shall have demonstrated their own innocence by suitable purgation, are to be struck with the sword of anathema and avoided by all until condign satisfaction, so that, if they shall have persisted in excommunication for a year, from then on they are to be condemned as heretics.

§ 3. But secular authorities, whatever offices they exercise, are to be admonished and induced—and, if necessary, compelled by ecclesiastical censure—so that, just as they desire to be reputed and held faithful, they publicly furnish an oath for the defense of the faith that from lands subject to their jurisdiction they will in good faith strive, to the extent of their powers, to exterminate all heretics denounced by the Church, so that henceforth, whenever anyone shall have been assumed into an authority, whether perpetual or temporary, he is bound to confirm this chapter by oath. But if a temporal lord, requested and admonished by the Church, shall have neglected to purge his land from [this] heretical foulness, let him be bound by the bond of excommunication by the metropolitan and the other bishops of the province; and, if he shall have contemned to make satisfaction, let this be signified within a year to the Supreme Pontiff, so that from then on he may declare the lord's vassals absolved from their fidelity to him and expose the land to occupation by Catholics, who, the heretics having been exterminated, may possess it without any contradiction and preserve it in purity of faith, saving the right of the principal lord, provided that he himself furnishes no obstacle concerning this and opposes no impediment, the same law nevertheless being observed concerning those who do not have principal lords.

§ 4. But Catholics who, having assumed the sign of the cross, shall have girded themselves for the extermination of heretics are to enjoy that indulgence and be fortified by that holy privilege which are granted to those proceeding to the aid of the Holy Land.

§ 5. Moreover, we decree that believers in, receivers of, defenders of, and supporters of heretics are subject to excommunication, firmly establishing that, after anyone of this kind shall have been marked by excommunication, if he shall have contemned to make satisfaction within a year, from then on he is made infamous by the law itself and is to be admitted neither to public offices or councils, nor to electing others to such offices, nor to testimony. Let him also be incapable of making a will, so that he neither has the free faculty of making a testament nor comes to the succession of an inheritance. Moreover, no one is to be compelled to answer him concerning any business whatsoever, but he is to be compelled to answer others. But if perhaps he is a judge, let his sentence obtain no force, nor are any causes to be brought to his hearing. If he is an advocate, let his patronage in no way be admitted. If a notary, let the instruments prepared by him be of no effect, but be condemned with their condemned author. And we command the same to be observed in similar matters. But if he is a cleric, let him be deposed from every office and benefice, so that, where the guilt is greater, the vengeance exercised may be graver. But if any shall have contemned to avoid such persons after they have been denounced by the Church, let them be struck by a sentence of excommunication until suitable satisfaction. Indeed, clerics are not to exhibit ecclesiastical sacraments to pestilent persons of this kind, nor presume to deliver them to Christian burial, nor receive their alms or offerings; otherwise, let them be deprived of their office, to which they are never to be restored without a special indult of the Apostolic See. Similarly, any regulars whatsoever, upon whom this also is to be inflicted: that their privileges are not to be observed in that diocese in which they presumed to perpetrate such excesses.

§ 6. But because certain persons, denying the power of piety under its appearance, as the Apostle says, claim for themselves the authority of preaching, although the same Apostle says, “How shall they preach unless they are sent?”, all who, either prohibited or not sent, without authority received from the Apostolic See or the Catholic bishop of the place, shall have presumed publicly or privately to usurp the office of preaching, are to be bound by the bond of excommunication and, unless they come to their senses as quickly as possible, struck with another suitable penalty.

§ 7. We add moreover that every archbishop or bishop, by himself, by his archdeacon, or by other honorable and suitable persons, is to go around, twice or at least once in the year, his own parish in which it shall be reported that heretics dwell; and there he is to compel three or more men of good testimony—or even, if it shall appear expedient, the entire neighborhood—to swear that, if anyone there knows any heretics, or persons celebrating secret conventicles, or persons differing from the common association of the faithful in life and morals, he will take care to indicate them to the bishop. But the bishop himself is to summon the accused to his presence; unless they shall have purged themselves from the charge brought against them, or if, after purgation has been rendered, they shall have fallen back into their former unbelief, they are to be punished canonically. But if any of them, rejecting the religious obligation of an oath with damnable obstinacy, should perhaps be unwilling to swear, by that very fact let them be reputed heretics.

§ 8. We therefore will and command, and strictly enjoin in virtue of obedience, that bishops diligently keep watch throughout their dioceses for the effective execution of these things if they wish to escape canonical punishment. For if any bishop shall have been negligent or remiss in purging from his diocese the leaven of heretical depravity, when this shall appear from certain indications, let him be deposed from the episcopal office and another suitable person, who wills and is able to confound heretical depravity, be substituted in his place.

Latin source headnote: Laypersons, of whatever profession they may be, ought not to preach.

Gregory IX, to the Archbishop of Milan.

Just as in one body. (And below:) Therefore, since certain laypersons presume to preach and it is greatly to be feared lest vices secretly enter under the appearance of virtues, we, considering that the order of teachers is, as it were, principal in the church of God, command that, since the Lord gave some as apostles, others as prophets, and still others as teachers, you forbid all laypersons, of whatever order they may be designated, to usurp the office of preaching.

Latin source headnote: This chapter, as far as § But if any, is contained in chapter We excommunicate, above in the same title, at the beginning; whence summarize and explain it as was stated there. — § 1. If those detected in heresy are unwilling to return to the faith, they are to be confined in perpetual prison to perform penance; and those believing the errors of heretics are heretics. This it says.

The same.

We excommunicate and anathematize all heretics—the Cathars, Patarenes, Poor Men of Lyons, Passagines, Josephines, Arnoldists, Speronists, and others, by whatever names they may be designated—indeed having diverse faces but tails tied to one another, because they agree in the same vanity. But those condemned by the Church are to be left to secular judgment to be punished by due censure, clerics first having been degraded from their orders.

§ 1. But if any of the aforesaid, after they shall have been detected, are unwilling to return to perform condign penance, let them be confined in perpetual prison; and we likewise judge those believing their errors to be heretics.

Latin source headnote: Those who were bound to heretics are freed from every obligation.

The same.

Let all who were bound by any compact, fortified by any firmness whatsoever, to persons manifestly fallen into heresy know themselves absolved from the debt of fidelity, homage, and every service.