Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question III
GRATIAN. PART I. It is now asked: if before the time of their ordination they appeared to possess nothing, what ought to be done concerning the things which they are known to have acquired after their ordination? Concerning these things it was established thus in the Third Council of Carthage, [c. 49]:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. Nunc queritur, si ante tempus suae ordinationis nichil habere uidebantur, quid de his fieri debeat, que post ordinationem suam inuenisse noscuntur. De his ita statutum est in Concilio Cartaginensi III.: [c. 49]
Friedberg, col. 713/714
C. I. Concerning those who, possessing nothing at first, acquire something during the time of their administration.
It was resolved that bishops, priests, deacons, or any clerics who are ordained while possessing nothing and during the time of their episcopate or clericate purchase fields or any estates in their own name shall be held as though by the crime of invasion of the Lord’s goods, unless after being admonished they confer those same things upon the church. But if something has come to them personally through someone’s liberality or succession by kinship, let them do with it what accords with their purpose. But if they have strayed backward from their purpose, let them be judged unworthy of ecclesiastical honor as reprobates.
C. I. De his qui, primum nichil habentes, tempore suae administrationis aliqua adquirunt.
Placuit, ut episcopi, presbiteri, diaconi, uel quicumque clerici, qui nichil habentes ordinantur, et tempore episcopatus uel clericatus sui agros uel quecumque predia suo nomine conparant, tamquam rerum dominicarum inuasionis crimine teneantur, nisi ammoniti ecclesiae eadem contulerint. Si autem ipsis proprie aliquid liberalitate alicuius uel successione cognationis euenerit, faciant inde quod eorum proposito congruit. Quod si a suo proposito retrorsum exorbitauerint, honore ecclesiastico indigni tanquam reprobi iudicentur.
Friedberg, col. 713/714
C. II. Concerning ministers who acquire something for their own utility and through no occasion belonging to the church.
Likewise from the Eleventh Council of Toledo. Whatever any of the priests or ministers have merited to receive from anyone in any manner, or through the sequence of a document, for their own utility and friendship, cannot be numbered among the goods of the church; rather, what they wish to do with it will be subject to the judgment of their own will. But if this should perhaps remain unordered after their death, the church over which he presided or of which he was a minister will claim it for itself in perpetuity. GRATIAN. Behold, he can give to whomever he wishes those things which he gained not from ecclesiastical office but from some furnishing of his own utility. PART II. § 1. But it is asked concerning those things which are offered to him jointly with the church or separately for the remedy of a soul, or concerning the third part which he receives as owed to him from the goods of parish churches, whether he can leave them to whomever he wishes. Concerning these matters it is determined thus in the Council of Agde, [c. 6]:
C. II. De ministris, qui nulla ecclesiae occasione, sed utilitate sui aliqua adquirunt.
Item ex Concilio Tolletano XI. Quicumque de sacerdotibus uel ministris pro sui utilitate atque amicitia, quocumque modo, aut per scripturae seriem aliquid meruerint ab aliquo percipere, in rebus ecclesiae non poterit numerari, sed quod exinde uoluerint facere ipsorum uoluntatis arbitrio subiacebit. Quod si hoc post eorum mortem inordinatum fortasse remanserit, ecclesia, cui prefuit uel minister extitit, hoc sibi in perpetuum uendicabit. Gratian. Ecce quod illa, que non ex offitio ecclesiastico, sed ex aliqua prestatione suae utilitatis lucratus est, potest dare quibus uoluerit. II. Pars. §. 1. Sed queritur de his, que sibi communiter cum ecclesia uel sequestratim pro remedio animae offeruntur, uel de tertia parte, quam de rebus parrochialium ecclesiarum sibi debitam accipit, si ea potuerit dimittere quibus uoluerit. De his ita diffinitur in Concilio Agatensi: [c. 6.]
Friedberg, col. 713/714
C. III. Concerning pontiffs to whom something is left or given by outsiders, either together with the church or separately.
Pontiffs to whom, while they are established in the highest priesthood, something is left or given by outsiders either together with the church or separately—because the person who gives it is proved to offer it for the redemption of his soul, not for the advantage of the priest—shall reckon it among the resources of the church, not as their own property but as something left to the church, because it is just that, just as the priest possesses what is left to the church, so the church also possesses what is left to the priest. § 1. Certainly, whatever is perhaps left through a trust either to the priest or to the church, afterward to benefit any other person, the church will not be able to reckon or retain among its own resources.
C. III. De pontificibus, quibus ab extraneis uel cum ecclesia, uel sequestratim aliquid dimittitur.
Pontifices, quibus in summo sacerdotio constitutis aliquid ab extraneis aut cum ecclesia, aut sequestratim dimittitur, aut donatur, (quia hoc ille, qui donat, pro redemptione animae suae, non pro commodo sacerdotis offerre probatur), non quasi suum proprium, sed quasi dimissum ecclesiae inter facultates ecclesiae conputabunt, quia iustum est, ut sicut sacerdos habet quod ecclesiae dimissum est, ita et ecclesia habeat quod relinquitur sacerdoti. §. 1. Sane quicquid per fidei commissum aut sacerdoti, aut ecclesiae fortasse dimittitur, cuicumque alii postmodum profuturum, id inter facultates suas ecclesia conputare aut retinere non poterit.
Friedberg, col. 713/714
C. IV. A bishop will be able to leave to the church the third part owed to him.
Likewise from the Ninth Council of Toledo, [c. 6]. If a bishop has decreed to confer the third part which he knows to be owed to him from the goods of parish churches upon the church whose property it will be manifestly shown to be, or upon another church, let it remain lawful, and let his sentence possess irrevocable force.
C. IV. Episcopus tertiam partem sibi debitam ecclesiae relinquere poterit.
Item ex Concilio Tolletano. [IX., c. 6.] Episcopus, si tertiam partem, quam de rebus parrochialium ecclesiarum sibi debitam nouit, ecclesiae, cuius res esse patebit, aut alteri ecclesiae, conferre decreuerit, licitum maneat, et inreuocabile robur eius sententia ferat.
Friedberg, col. 713/714