Question I

GRATIAN. PART I. That monks cannot celebrate offices for peoples is proved by many authorities, the first of which is that of the holy Synod of Nicaea, in which it is said:

It pleased all those sitting in the holy Synod of Nicaea that the manner of life and conduct of monks differ from all according to the etymology of the name. For monachus in Greek means “solitary” in Latin, whence it is fitting that a monk act solitarily in all things. Therefore we command all firmly and inviolably that no monk give penance to anyone except mutually, as is just; that he not bury a dead person unless a monk dwelling with him in the monastery, or unless by chance it should happen that one of the visiting brothers dies there.

Likewise Gregory to John, Archbishop of Ravenna, [book IV, letter 1]. No one can serve ecclesiastical duties and persist in an ordered manner in the monastic rule, so that the same person maintains the discipline of the monastery who is compelled daily to remain in an ecclesiastical monastery.

Likewise Innocent, [to Victricius, letter II, c. 10]. Concerning monks who, after remaining for a long time in monasteries, later attain the orders of the clerical state, we establish that they ought not to depart from their former purpose. GRATIAN. Therefore, if, as Innocent determines, they are not permitted to depart from their purpose, and, as Gregory testifies, they cannot both persist devotedly in the monastic rule and serve ecclesiastical duties, it is evident that monks cannot be placed over parochial churches.

Likewise Jerome to Riparius and Desiderius. A monk has the office not of a teacher but of one mourning, who mourns either himself or the world and awaits the advent of the Lord in fear.

The same to Paulinus, [On the Formation of a Monk, letter XIII]. If you desire to be what you are called—a monk, that is, alone—what are you doing in cities, which indeed are not habitations of solitary persons but of many? And below: § 1. Have the simplicity of a dove, lest you devise deceits against anyone, and the cunning of a serpent, lest you be supplanted by the snares of others. It does not differ greatly in vice either to be able to deceive or to be deceived. Regard a Christian whom you perceive to speak to you always or frequently about coins as a trader rather than a monk, excepting alms, which are open indiscriminately to all. Beyond food, clothing, and manifest necessities, bestow nothing upon anyone, lest dogs eat the bread of the children.

The same to Bishop Heliodorus. The case of a monk is one thing, that of a cleric another. Clerics feed the sheep; I am fed. They live from the altar; the axe is placed as though at the root of an unfruitful tree for me if I do not bring a gift to the altar. § 1. I am not permitted to sit before a priest. If I sin, he is permitted to hand me over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

The same to Rusticus. The church has a senate, the assembly of priests, without whose counsel monks are permitted to do nothing. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, lost the kingdom for this reason: because he was unwilling to hear his priests. The Romans also had a senate, by whose counsel they did all things; and we have our senate, the assembly of priests.

Likewise Pope Eugene. It pleased our common council that no monk presume with most wicked daring to depart from the monastery for earthly gain, nor give penance, nor receive a son from baptism, nor baptize, nor visit a sick person, nor bury a dead person, nor pass over to a secular church, nor entangle himself in transactions of any kind. Let him be content with his cloister, because, just as a fish lacks life without water, so does a monk without a monastery. Therefore let him sit solitary and be silent, because he is dead to the world but lives to God. § 1. Let him recognize his name, for monos in Greek is “one” in Latin; agos in Greek is “sad” in Latin. Hence he is called a monachus, that is, “one sad man.” Therefore let him sit sad and attend to his office.

Likewise Paschal II to Victor, Bishop of Bologna. It has reached us, concerning which we greatly wonder, that certain monks and abbots in your parish arrogantly claim for themselves episcopal rights and offices contrary to the decrees of the holy Fathers—namely, penance, remission of sins, reconciliation, tithes, and churches—when without the permission of their own bishop or the authority of the apostolic see they ought in no way to presume this, as provision concerning matters of this kind was made by the holy Fathers in the Council of Chalcedon and prohibited to all monks under the bond of anathema. Therefore we command your Dilection that you convene them and altogether prohibit them from presuming such things thereafter.

Likewise Pope Callistus [II]. We also interdict abbots and monks from giving public penances, visiting the sick, performing anointings, and singing public Masses. Let them receive chrism and oil, consecrations of altars, and ordinations of clerics from the bishops in whose parishes they remain.

Likewise Alexander II. According to the tenor of the excellent Council of Chalcedon, we command monks, although religious, to remain within the cloister according to the rule of Saint Benedict; we prohibit them from traversing villages, castles, and cities; we have judged that they are altogether to cease from preaching to peoples, unless perhaps someone, solicitous for the salvation of his soul, should wish to consult them within the cloister in order to assume their habit.

Likewise from the Council of Chalcedon, [c. 4]. Those who truly and purely choose the solitary life are worthy of suitable honor. § 1. But those who are in monasteries throughout the several cities or estates, it pleases us that they be subject to the bishop, devote themselves to quiet, and observe fasts and prayers, remaining in the places in which they once devoted themselves to God; and that they neither take part in ecclesiastical actions nor handle any secular actions, leaving their own monasteries, unless perhaps they are ordered by the bishop of that city on account of urgent necessities. And let no one’s slaves be received into a monastery so that one may be a monk with them except with the permission of his own lord. But we have decreed that one who transgresses these things be outside communion, lest the name of the Lord be blasphemed. § 2. But it is fitting that the bishop of the city furnish necessary care and solicitude to the monasteries. GRATIAN. To these matters reply is thus made: That authority of the Synod of Nicaea prohibits monks from leaving their monasteries and celebrating the burials of the dead throughout chapels, namely from assembling after the manner of clerics to celebrate the obsequies of anyone. But if anyone wishes to be buried at a monastery, he is not to be prohibited. Hence Gregory writes to John, Bishop of Civitavecchia, [book I, letter 12]:

Abbot Agapitus of the monastery of Saint George informed us that he sustains many burdens from your Holiness, because you prohibit Masses from being celebrated in the same monastery and also interdict the dead from being buried. We exhort you to refrain from this inhumanity and to permit the dead to be buried there and Masses to be celebrated without any further contradiction.

The same to Venerius, Bishop of Cagliari, [book III, letter 9]. We wish to admonish you lest the pious wills of the deceased be annulled by your neglect—which God forbid.

Likewise Gelasius. Consideration of ecclesiastical utility demands this: that by a just dispensation the judgment of the testator is to be observed.

Likewise from the Council of Tribur, [c. 15]. Wherever resources and the suitability of the times suffice, etc. As is read above in the same chapter in the cause of those who passed from diocese to diocese. GRATIAN. Behold, from these authorities it is evident that, if anyone wishes to choose burial for himself at a monastery, he can freely be buried by the monks. Hence it is clearly gathered that that prohibition of the Synod of Nicaea was made because of the dishonesty of those wandering about. Hence it is said in the Council of Chalcedon, [c. 23]:

Certain monks who have had nothing enjoined upon them by their own bishop—and sometimes even those who had been excommunicated by him—come to the city of Constantinople, bring disturbances upon ecclesiastical tranquility there, and corrupt the houses of various persons. Therefore this holy synod has established that they first be admonished to depart from the imperial city; then that they be cast out unwilling and compelled through the defender to reach their own places.

Likewise Pope Pelagius to Paulinus the Solitary. We command John the Defender that he ought to detain Probinus of Sabaria, Milianus and Probianus, or other false monks, so that, if they desire to know any account of their contention, they ought to be presented to us to be instructed. Certainly, if they have been severed from the ecclesiastical body by obstinacy alone, we have judged that it is to be enjoined upon the aforesaid defender that they be exiled on the island of Rieti, as you requested.

Likewise Pope Leo, [to Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, letter LXI, otherwise LXIII]. We also add that which you commanded us by word through our vicars because of the dishonesty of certain monks of your religious body, specially establishing this: that no one except the priests of the Lord dare to preach, whether he be a monk or a layman who boasts in the name of any knowledge. GRATIAN. Behold, in this chapter both the vice is expressed and it is annulled by a general constitution. But the fact that a monk is prohibited from giving penance arises from this: that none of the priests is permitted to bind or loose the parishioner of another. But monks, even if at the dedication of their priesthood, just as the other priests, they rightly receive the power of preaching, baptizing, giving penance, remitting sins, and enjoying ecclesiastical benefices, so that they may do more fully and perfectly the things which are proved by the constitutions of the holy Fathers to belong to the priestly office, nevertheless do not have the exercise of their power unless they have been elected by the people and ordained by the bishop with the consent of the abbot. But they are prohibited from handling ecclesiastical and secular actions, so that they do not presume for themselves patronage of cases unless they have been admonished by the bishop, and are not occupied by secular cases so that they sit as cognitors for the deciding of disputes. Hence Pelagius writes to the patrician Antonina and Decia:

Concerning the bearer of the present letters, let there be no distress of mind to you because he was not made a defender, since I regard it as altogether exceedingly bitter that men be led from that purpose to an office in which the things promised to God by monks can in no way be fulfilled. For there is every kind of difference between that habit and this office. There are quiet, prayer, and labor of the hands; but here there are the cognizance of causes, summonses, legal proceedings, public litigations, and whatever ecclesiastical institutions or the necessity of petitioners demands. But may God bring it about that those who either are nurtured by us in that habit or grow in monasteries may be such that, at an advanced age and with a proven life, they may be able to be advanced not to offices of litigation but to the priesthood. GRATIAN. Nevertheless Gelasius, as is found in the tractate on the promotions of clerics, in that chapter “A novice monk, etc.,” permits them to be made defenders by dispensation. PART II. But that they possess the power of priestly offices Ambrose testifies, saying:

We commend by a moderate dispensation that learned and upright monks dedicated with the honor of the priesthood ought to preach, baptize, give penance, remit debts to the wretched, and enjoy a just portion of tithes, first fruits, and offerings of the living and the dead, so that, according to the Apostle, living from the altar which they serve, through service to the Lord’s people they may transform bread and wine by an immaculate blessing into the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Likewise Pope Innocent. If a monk is advanced to the clerical state, let benefices, provisions, and tithes be granted to him fully, without any diminution or delay, so that, as well as he can according to his ability, when necessity arises, he may furnish aid for ecclesiastical works and for restoring the church itself.

Likewise Gregory. By the governance of apostolic authority we decree that monks, if they have been dedicated with the honor of the priesthood, together with the power of binding and loosing may laudably claim for themselves, by a just canon and no less than other priests, a portion of tithes, first fruits, offerings, and donations which are made for the living and the deceased, for their own utility and that of their neighbors by the merit of a more perfect justice.

The same. By the authority of this decree, which has been established by us through apostolic governance and the office of piety, let priest-monks who bear the figure of the Apostles be permitted to preach, baptize, give communion, pray for sinners, impose penance, and loose sins.

Likewise from the decree of Pope Boniface. There are some persons supported by no teaching who assert most audaciously, inflamed by a zeal of bitterness rather than of charity, that monks, because they are dead to the world and live to God, are unworthy of the power of the priestly office and cannot grant either penance or Christianity or absolve through the power divinely enjoined upon them by the priestly office. But they err altogether. § 1. For neither was blessed Benedict, the beneficent teacher of monks, in any way a prohibitor of a matter of this kind; rather, he decreed only that they would be free of secular transactions. This indeed is greatly commanded by apostolic documents and the institutions of all the holy Fathers not only to monks but also to canons. “For no one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular transactions.” § 2. Therefore, instructed by the examples of so many Fathers, whom it is exceedingly dangerous to oppose, we believe that the office of binding and loosing is worthily administered by God working through priest-monks, if it should happen that they are worthily elevated to this ministry. § 3. Therefore, as for those striving to restrain priests of monastic profession from the office of priestly power, we command in every way that they be restrained from attempts of this kind hereafter, because the more elevated anyone is, the more powerful he will be in these matters. GRATIAN. By all these authorities it is plainly shown that monks can give penance, baptize, and lawfully administer the other priestly offices. But that they are able to exercise their power by election of the people, institution of the bishops, and consent of the abbot is proved by the authority of Jerome, Gelasius, and Gregory. For Jerome says to Rusticus the Monk, [letter IV]:

Live in the monastery in such a way that you may merit to be a cleric. § 1. Learn for a long time the things which you may afterward teach, and among good men always follow those who are better. But if the people or the bishop elects you as a cleric, do the things which belong to clerics.

The same to the same, [in the same letter above]. If desire for the clerical state tickles you, learn what you can teach and offer a rational sacrifice to God, lest you be a soldier before a recruit, lest you be a master before a disciple. § 1. It does not belong to my humility or measure to judge concerning others and to say anything sinister concerning ministers of churches. Let them possess their own order and rank; if you hold it, the book published to Nepotian will be able to teach you how you must live in it. § 2. Now we discuss the cradle and conduct of a monk, and of that monk who, educated in the liberal studies, placed the yoke of Christ upon his neck in adolescence. And first it must be treated whether you ought to live alone or with others in a monastery. It pleases me that you have the companionship of holy men, that you do not teach yourself, and that you not enter without a teacher upon a way which you have never entered.

Likewise Pope Gelasius. If there shall be any monk who, by the merit of a venerable life, is foreseen to be worthy of the priesthood, and the abbot under whose command he serves Christ the King shall request that he be made a priest, he ought to be chosen by that abbot and ordained in the place where the abbot shall judge, providently and justly performing all things that pertain to the priestly office, whether by election of the people or of the bishop.

Likewise Pope Siricius, [to Himerius, letter I, c. 13]. We both desire and will that monks whom gravity of conduct and a holy formation of life and faith commend be joined to the offices of clerics, in such a way that those under thirty years of age who are worthy are promoted in the minor orders, advancing through the individual grades with the passage of time, and thus arrive at the insignia of the diaconate or priesthood through consecration at mature age; nor are they to ascend by a leap to the summit of the episcopate unless the same periods which we prescribed above for the individual dignities have been observed in their cases.

Likewise Augustine to Eudoxius, [letter LXXXI]. But we exhort you, brothers, in the Lord, to preserve your purpose and persevere to the end; and if mother church shall desire any works of yours, neither undertake them with greedy exaltation nor reject them through flattering idleness, but obey God with a meek heart, bearing with gentleness Him who rules you, who directs the meek in judgment, who teaches the gentle His ways. Nor prefer your leisure to the necessities of the church; for if no good persons wished to minister to her as she labors in childbirth, you would not find how you might be born.

Likewise Pope Pelagius to Bonus, Bishop of Sabina. We have learned that in your parish the office of priest is lacking at the basilica of Saint Lawrence, which was founded on the possession of our son and counselor, the magnificent man Theodore. And because our aforesaid son reported to us that he had found a certain monk Rufinus, long approved by him in life and conduct, and requests that this man be consecrated priest there—which we did not agree should be done suddenly without the prescribed observance—for that reason, when your belovedness has received these things, let it cause him to be made a deacon on the coming Saturday; and, if God wills and we live, we shall make him a priest in the middle of the week, so that, when the paschal solemnity arrives, the sacred mysteries may be fulfilled in the aforesaid basilica by a suitable person.

Likewise Gregory in the Register. If it happens that any persons come from the clerical state to the monastic way of life, if a monk shall be of such a life that the bishop whom he had previously served foresees him to be worthy of the priesthood, he can be chosen and ordained in the place where the bishop shall judge.

Likewise from the Council of Agde, [c. 27]. Wandering monks are not to be ordained to the clerical office, either in parishes or in cities, unless their abbot shall have given testimony for them. § 1. For if it shall be necessary that a cleric be ordained from among the monks, let the bishop presume to do so with the consent and will of the abbot.

Likewise from the Council of Lleida, [c. 3]. When, for the utility of the church, the bishop shall have approved that some of the monks ought to be promoted to clerical office, they ought to be ordained with the will of the abbot. But those things which are offered from resources under the right of the monastery are in no respect to be touched by the bishops under diocesan law.

Likewise from the Council of Tarragona, [c. 11]. We forbid monks going outside the monastery to presume to perform any ecclesiastical ministry, except perhaps at the abbot’s command. Likewise, let none of them—that is, of the monks—be an undertaker or executor of external business, except that which the utility of the monastery demands, with the abbot nevertheless commanding him.

Likewise Augustine to Aurelius, [letter LXXVI]. I read the letter of your kindness concerning Donatus and his brother, and for a long time I wavered over what I should answer. Yet, upon considering again and again what is useful for the salvation of those whom we serve by nourishing them in Christ, nothing else could occur to me except that a way is not to be given to servants of God by which they might think themselves more easily chosen for something better if they shall have become worse. For a fall becomes easier for them, and a most unworthy injury is done to the order of clerics, if deserters of monasteries are chosen for clerical service, since from those who remain in the monastery we are accustomed to take into the clergy only the more approved and better men—unless perhaps, just as common people say, “A bad flute-player is a good symphonist”; in the same way those same common people will jest about us, saying, “A bad monk is a good cleric.” It is exceedingly to be lamented if we raise monks up to such ruinous pride and deem clerics, among whose number we are, worthy of such grave insult, since sometimes even a good monk scarcely makes a good cleric if sufficient continence is present in him but necessary instruction or the integrity proper to his person is nevertheless lacking. But concerning these men, I believe your blessedness judged that they had departed from the monastery with our will, so that they might instead be useful to those of their own region. But this is false: they went away of their own accord, they deserted of their own accord, while we resisted as much as we could for the sake of their salvation. PART III. GRATIAN. By all these authorities it is shown that monks who have been elected by the people and ordained by the bishop with the consent of their abbot can lawfully exercise their power. But that statement of Gregory, “No one can serve ecclesiastical duties, etc.,” is to be understood of those who, having been ordained among the cardinals or bishops, contend that the administration of their monastery is to be reserved to themselves. Hence the same Gregory writes to Marinianus, Bishop of Ravenna, [book VI, letter 40]:

Lest monasteries perhaps sustain some burden because of the promotion of any monk or abbot, it must be our care that, if any of the monks from any monastery shall advance to a clerical office or sacred order, he is thereafter to have no power there.

The same to Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse, [book III, letter 11]. Do not permit priests, deacons, and others of any order who serve churches in any manner to be abbots in monasteries; but either, having undertaken clerical service, let them not be promoted to monastic ranks, or, if they have resolved to remain in the place of an abbot, let them by no means be permitted to have clerical service. For it is sufficiently incongruous if, when someone cannot diligently fulfill one of these because of its magnitude, he is considered suitable for both. GRATIAN. This can be understood to have been said either generally or by a special privilege, just as this is also read concerning a certain monastery in the Register of Gregory:

Hence it is also that, desiring to free from the perversity of evil persons a hospice or monastery established in the same kingdom of the Franks, because it was being managed uncanonically through the ambitions and contentions of certain persons, he commanded that no abbot ever be introduced there by any surreption without royal provision and the election of the monks. He also commanded that the abbot of the same monastery should never be chosen for the episcopate, lest perhaps the abbey suffer some detriment by occasion of the episcopate. This privilege belongs to that church in such a way that it can by no means give a common law to kings or abbots. For what is conceded individually to one does not immediately befit all. GRATIAN. By the preceding authority abbots are not forbidden to be made priests, since blessed Benedict commands the abbot to give a blessing to brothers departing and returning, which belongs to priests alone. He likewise assigns to the abbot the reading of the Gospel lesson, and to read it with the prayer that follows is similarly an act of the priestly office. But he forbids such men to be made priests or deacons as are compelled to remain continually in ecclesiastical service. § 1. Likewise, those statements of Jerome to Riparius and Desiderius, “A monk has the office not of teaching but of mourning”; and to Heliodorus, “The condition of a monk is one thing, that of a cleric another”; and to Rusticus, “Without the counsel of priests monks are permitted to do nothing,” are not to be understood so generally that no monk is permitted to undertake the office of teaching, lest we be compelled to deny that blessed Gregory, or Augustine, bishop of the English, or also blessed Martin, and innumerable others whom Scripture testifies were promoted from the monastic way of life to the highest grade of the priesthood, possessed the office of teaching; or lest we assert that on the day of their consecration they departed from their former purpose, which, as Innocent testifies, no one is permitted to do. Therefore Jerome wished to distinguish between the person of a monk and of a cleric, showing what befits each from his proper office. § 2. For one thing befits each insofar as he is a monk, another insofar as he is a cleric. Insofar as he is a monk, he has the office of lamenting his own sins and those of others; insofar as he is a cleric, of teaching and feeding the people. § 3. But ecclesiastical history testifies that until the time of Eusebius, Zosimus, and Siricius, monks were simply monks and not clerics. Jerome himself also relates that the monks of Scythia came together as one in order that they might find a priest for themselves who would celebrate for them the solemnities of the Masses.

Likewise Emperor Leo, [book I of the Code, title On Bishops and Clerics, law 51]. We decree generally that all most reverend bishops, as well as priests or deacons and subdeacons, and especially monks, although they are not clerics, have by the law itself immunity from every guardianship, whether testamentary, statutory, or assigned; and that they are not only exempt from guardianship but also from curatorship, not only of wards and minors but of a madman, a mute, a deaf person, and other persons to whom guardians or curators are given by the ancient laws. § 1. Nevertheless, we decree that those clerics and monks have a benefit of this kind who remain attached to the sacrosanct churches or monasteries, neither wandering nor idle concerning the divine ministries, since we grant them this benefit for this very reason: that, having abandoned all other things, they may cleave to the ministries of almighty God. § 2. And we decree that this shall obtain not only in old Rome or in this royal city, but in every land wherever the Christian name is worshiped. GRATIAN. § 3. They also received immunity from new assessments and base public burdens. Hence Constantine writes to all clerics, [in the same title, the first law]: “According to the enactment which you are said to have merited long ago, no one shall bind your lands and slaves to new assessments, but you shall enjoy exemption.” Likewise Emperors Honorius and Theodosius, [in the same book, title On the Sacrosanct Churches, law: § 4]: “It pleases us, after the tenor of a reasonable counsel has been weighed, to prescribe by strict moderation from which necessities especially the churches of the individual cities are to be held immune. First, indeed, the insult of that usurpation must be repelled, lest estates dedicated to the uses of the heavenly mysteries be vexed with the dregs of base public burdens; henceforth let nothing extraordinary or additionally imposed be demanded, let no obligation of transport be assigned, and finally let nothing be ascribed to their public obligations beyond the canonical payment, except what a sudden burden of an unforeseen necessity shall have demanded. If anyone contravenes this, after the severity of the penalty due—which is lawfully to be brought forth against the sacrilegious—let him be consumed by exile in perpetual deportation.” [GRATIAN.] The same is given to be understood from the words of blessed Sylvester, who, assigning the obedience of inferiors toward superiors, says: “Let the abbot be subject to the doorkeeper, the monk to the abbot,” above in the tract on those to be ordained. Jerome therefore shows that monks simply as such are permitted to do nothing without the counsel of priests. Nor are they permitted to assume the office of teaching for themselves without the authority of clerics, except perhaps when inwardly admonished by divine grace, as blessed Gregory relates in the dialogue concerning blessed Benedict, who brought the people of Monte Cassino to the faith and overthrew the altar of Apollo which had been erected there; and concerning a certain Equitius, to whom an angel appeared in dreams and sent him to preach; and when he complained of a defect of his tongue, the angel touched his tongue with a lancet and cured that entire defect. § 1. But Jerome’s numbering himself among such persons is like that statement of the Apostle to the Philippians, “As many of us as are imperfect, let us think this,” numbering himself among the imperfect. Hence the same Jerome says elsewhere, “Born in a poor house and rustic hut.” And below: “We, laden with gold,” numbering himself, who was hungry, among those who disdain honey, and himself, who was poor, among the rich, above where clerics who do not wish to relinquish their own property are treated, in the chapter “The glory of a bishop.” § 2. Behold, it has been sufficiently shown that monks adorned with the honor of the priesthood, elected by the people, and instituted by the bishop are permitted the same things as other priests. This is also proved from the similarity of consecration. For one thing is not said in their consecration and another in the consecration of others. For the bishop earnestly asks that a blessing be poured out by the Lord upon both in common. And when he consecrates, he says individually to all priests: “May these hands be consecrated and sanctified, O Lord, so that whatever they shall consecrate may be consecrated, and whatever they shall bless may be blessed.” Behold, the blessing is common. Whence, then, the separation between them? Therefore, just as in the blessing both obtain a common power, so in institution they commonly attain the exercise of that power. § 3. But without the permission of bishops, the exercise of power is forbidden not only to monks but also generally to all clerics. Hence Clement, [letter III]:

It must be attended to by all the faithful and especially by all priests and deacons and the other clerics that they do nothing without the permission of their own bishop; certainly let no priest celebrate Masses in his parish without his command, nor baptize, nor do anything without his permission. PART IV. GRATIAN. But concerning those who remain within the cloisters of a monastery, to whom a people is not committed to be governed, it is asked whether they ought to give or receive tithes. In their case this distinction is to be observed: that from fields and vineyards which are cultivated for their own maintenance they retain the tithes for themselves. For if tithes were rendered by the people to the sons of Levi for the ministry by which they served the Lord in the tabernacle, offering sacrifices and burnt offerings for the people, it is evident that monks are no more compelled to pay tithes from their own estates than are other priests. § 1. But it is said that the estates of monks, whether bought for a price or offered for the salvation of souls, used to pay first fruits and tithes to baptismal churches or to any other churches before they came under the monks’ right, and those churches cannot be deprived of their right. Hence it is found to have been enacted at the Council of Mainz:

If any layman or cleric, or person of either sex, shall have assigned places or property belonging to him to anyone, he is to have no power to withdraw from that property the revenue from tithes lawfully assigned to the former church. But if he shall attempt to do this, let such a conveyance be deemed wholly void, and let him be constrained to amendment by ecclesiastical censure.

Likewise from the Council of Chalon. Churches established in ancient times are not to be deprived of either tithes or any possession, so that they are given to new oratories.

Likewise from the Council of Worms. Whoever shall wish to build a church on his own property, and shall have the consent and will of the bishop in whose parish it is, is permitted to do so. Nevertheless, the bishop must take care in every way that other, older churches do not lose their right or tithe because of new ones, but that these are always paid to the older churches. GRATIAN. But Leo IV affirms that tithes are to be paid to baptismal churches, saying:

Concerning tithes, it seemed justly not only to us but also to our predecessors that they ought to be given only to the parishes where sacrosanct baptisms are administered. GRATIAN. Therefore, if no one is permitted to withdraw the revenue from tithes from the former church to which it had been assigned; if the right of an older church is not to be given to new ones; if tithes are to be given only to baptismal churches: it is evident that monks are compelled to give tithes from their own estates. But that authority of the Council of Mainz speaks of a seller or donor, determining that he who sells or gives cannot take the revenue from tithes away from the church to which it had previously been lawfully assigned. Monks, however, retain tithes and first fruits not by the authority of the seller or donor but by the authority of the same council and Pope Paschal, by whom it was determined that monks do not pay tithes from their own estates. For thus it was enacted at the Council of Mainz:

Moreover, certain brothers complained that there were some bishops and abbots who did not permit tithes to be given to the church where their tenants hear Mass. Accordingly, this sacred assembly decreed that bishops and abbots are to cause tithes from the fields and vineyards which they have for the maintenance of themselves and their brothers to be brought to their own churches, but that their households are to give their tithes where their infants are baptized and where they hear Masses throughout the whole course of the year.

Likewise Paschal II. The authority of divine law decreed that tithes are to be rendered by the people to priests and Levites. But no reason permits soldiers, bishops, or any persons whatsoever to extort tithes from monks or clerics living in common out of their own labors or sustenance. Hence blessed Gregory says thus: “For those living a common life, what will there be for us to say now concerning the making of portions, or the furnishing of hospitality, and the fulfilling of mercy?” since everything that remains is to be expended on pious and religious causes, as the Lord says: “Give what remains as alms, and behold, all things are clean for you.” PART V. GRATIAN. But the statement that older churches are to be deprived neither of tithes nor of any possession because of new ones is not to be understood in such a way that it is believed in no way permissible for a bishop to grant for a time some part of the possessions or tithes of one church to another. For just as the Pope can unite two episcopates into one, so one episcopate can, with the consent of its own bishop, be divided into two; or even any church can, against the will of the metropolitan, be exempted from his jurisdiction by apostolic authority. Hence Pope Gregory writes to Bishop Benenatus, chapter XXV:

Both the quality of the time and the proximity of the places invite us to unite the churches of Cumae and Misenum, since they are not separated from one another by a long interval of journey, nor—because of sins—is there so great a multitude of people that they ought to have two bishops, as formerly they did. Therefore, because the bishop of the fortress of Cumae has completed the course of this life, know that by the page of the present authority we have united both churches and committed them to you, and know also that you are the proper pontiff of both churches. And therefore, whatever things concerning either their patrimony or the ordination or promotion of the clergy you shall see fit to order and dispose according to the statutes of the canons, you shall have free license to do, as truly their proper bishop, by the consent and permission of our authority. Reside where you shall perceive it to be more convenient and useful, yet in such a way that you dispose with solicitous and provident care of the other church where you are not bodily present, so that the divine mysteries may be solemnly performed there with the Lord’s aid.

The same to Bishop John, [of Velletri, book II, letter 35]. After hostile impiety—because of sins—so desolated the churches of different cities that, with the people lacking, no hope of repairing them remained, we are constrained by very great care lest, when their bishops have died, the remnants of the people, with no governance of a pastor ruling them, be snatched away through the trackless places of faith by the snares of the crafty enemy—which may it not be. Therefore, often admonished by solicitude for this matter, this counsel settled in our heart: that we should entrust them to neighboring pontiffs to be governed. And therefore we have foreseen that the care and government of the church of Tres Tabernae is to be committed to your fraternity, which it is necessary to aggregate and unite to your church, so that, with Christ’s aid, you can properly be bishop of both churches and have free license by our present permission, as their proper pontiff, to dispose with vigilant and canonical care whatever things concerning its patrimony or the ordination or promotion of the clergy shall seem fit to you.

Likewise from the Second Council of Carthage, [c. 5]. Felix, Bishop of Selemsela, said: If this also pleases you, I intimate to your holiness that dioceses which never had bishops are not to have them, and that a diocese which once had one is to have its own. According to this exposition, it belongs to your holiness to judge what ought to be done. It was said by all: It pleases us.

Likewise from the Third African Council. It has been enacted in many councils by the assembly of priests that communities which are retained in dioceses by bishops and which have never had bishops are not to receive their own rulers except with the will of that bishop by whom they are held.

Likewise Gregory to John, Bishop of Larissa, [book II, indiction 11, letter 7]. Our brother Adrian, bishop of the city of Thebes, coming to the city of Rome, lamentably complained that he had been unjustly condemned by your fraternity, as well as by John, prelate of the city of Prima Justiniana, on certain charges. § 1. But with the Lord’s aid we shall treat elsewhere of his most wicked judgment and its condemnation. We found, however, that Bishop Adrian had suffered both from your hatred contrary to priestly conduct and from having been condemned without any right by the sentence of your fraternity in pecuniary cases. § 2. Therefore, because he could not be deprived of the grade of his honor by being deposed contrary to law and the canons by the aforesaid John, bishop of Prima Justiniana, we decreed that he be restored in his church and recalled to the rank of his proper dignity. And although it would have been fitting that you be deprived of communion in the Lord’s body because, after the removal effected by my predecessor of holy memory—by which he exempted Adrian and his church from the jurisdiction of your power—you presumed again to reserve some jurisdiction over them for yourself, nevertheless, deciding more humanely and preserving for you in the meantime the sacrament of communion, we decree that your fraternity abstain from every power of its former jurisdiction over him and his church; and, in accordance with the writings of our predecessor, if any case of faith, crime, or money can arise against our aforesaid fellow bishop Adrian, let it be examined through those who are or shall be our representatives in the royal city, if the question is of moderate importance, or let it be brought here to the apostolic see, if it is difficult, so that it may be determined by the sentence of our hearing.

But if at any time, by any occasion or surreption, you shall attempt to act against these things which we have established, we decree that you are deprived of sacred communion and that you are not to receive it, except at the final time of your life, unless permission of the Roman Pontiff has been granted. § 3. Moreover, let your fraternity restore to him without any delay the sacred or other movable and immovable property of his church which you are said to retain until now, a list of which, presented to us, we append to the present letters. If any question concerning these things arises between you, we will that it be ventilated before our representative in the royal city. GRATIAN. But if those places have not yet been assigned in the diocese of any bishop, let them receive their own bishop by the authority of the apostolic see. Hence Gregory the Younger writes to Boniface, [Bishop, final letter]:

We command that, according to the statutes of the canons, where the multitude of the faithful has increased, you ought by the authority of the apostolic see to ordain bishops, yet with pious consideration, so that the dignity of the episcopate may not become cheap. GRATIAN. Just as two episcopates can be united into one in the manner written above, and one can be divided into two, so also a bishop can do this with baptismal and parochial churches, with the consent of his clerics. When this has been done, that part of the people which is subjected to the new churches is released from the right of the former church. If this could not be done, the multitude of churches would be reduced to fewness. But he cannot make several baptismal churches within one boundary. Hence it is read in the Council of Toledo:

Several baptismal churches cannot exist within one boundary, but only one with its chapels. And if there shall be a contention concerning the boundary of two mother churches, let the communities of both determine it; and if they do not agree, let the dispute be determined by the judgment of God. PART VI. GRATIAN. Therefore the right of churches is to be interpreted in such a way that, unless it shall have been assigned to other churches by the bishop’s disposition, they suffer no diminution of their former revenues. Hence Pope Anastasius:

We establish that if anyone shall contend for the offerings of a church or the tithes which the people ought to give, or shall wish to give them outside the baptismal church, without the knowledge of the bishop or of him to whom offices of this kind have been committed, and shall not wish to act with their counsel, let him pay our ban and be deprived of communion. GRATIAN. When he adds, “without the knowledge of the bishop,” he leaves it to be understood that with the bishop’s consent they can be given to other churches.

Likewise. It is prescribed in the sacred canons that tithes are to be distributed according to the bishop’s disposition. But certain laymen who have basilicas of their own, either as their property or as benefices, disregard the bishop’s disposition and give their tithes not to the churches where they receive baptism, preaching, the imposition of hands, and the other sacraments of Christ, but bestow them according to their own pleasure either upon their own basilicas or upon other churches; this is known to be contrary in every way to divine law and the sacred canons. Hence we call upon your power to correct them. GRATIAN. But when they are reproved because they do this in disregard of the bishop’s disposition, it is understood that, if they shall do this at the bishop’s disposition, they will be found irreproachable.

Likewise Symmachus, Bishop of the Catholic Church of the city of Rome, said, [in the Sixth Roman Synod]. In the canons established with apostolic authority in the church of Gangra, it is written concerning offerings of fruits which are owed to the ministers of the church and concerning those things which are conferred for the uses of the poor: “If anyone shall wish to receive or give offerings of the church without the knowledge of the bishop or of him to whom offices of this kind have been committed, and shall not wish to act with his counsel, let him be anathema.” And again in the same Council of Gangra: “If anyone shall give or receive things offered to God apart from the bishop or the consent of him who was appointed by the bishop to dispense mercy to the poor, let both the giver and the receiver be anathema.” § 1. Therefore it is exceedingly iniquitous and an enormous sacrilege for anything that each person shall have conferred or indeed left to a venerable church, either for the remedy of sins or for the salvation or repose of souls, to be transferred or converted to another use by those by whom it is especially fitting that it be preserved—that is, by Christians and God-fearing persons, and above all by princes and the foremost persons of regions. And below:

§ 2. But in general, whoever shall presume by his perilous harassment to confiscate, claim, or seize the property of a church, [§ 3.] and likewise those who shall retain the property of a church by the command or largesse of princes or certain powerful persons, or by some invasion or tyrannical power, and shall leave it to their sons or heirs as though hereditary—as we have heard has already been done by certain persons—unless, when admonished by the pontiff and the truth acknowledged, they quickly restore the property of God, let them be struck with perpetual anathema. For we judge it iniquitous that we should be regarded as custodians of charters rather than defenders of property entrusted to us, as was commanded. And below: § 4. For wounds which do not feel soothing applications must be cut away with iron. § 5. Likewise, those who are not corrected by priestly admonition ought also to be made exiles from the church, as the Lord says: “Remove the evil from among you.” The entire synod, rising, acclaimed: We ask that it be done thus. This was said eight times. Hear us, O Christ; life to Pope Symmachus. This was said twelve times.

The same. Likewise, by the exhortation and judgment of you all, we decree that this also shall come to the knowledge of all churches and be firmly maintained by all: because the property of bishops is not doubted to belong to the church, if an assault shall have been made upon their resources with like cruelty, let the plunderers of the aforesaid property be struck by the aforesaid severity of the canons, so that those who are corrected neither by their own conduct nor by any chastisement of conscience may at least be pierced by the goads of ecclesiastical and canonical vengeance.

Likewise from the book of Capitularies of the Emperors Charles and Louis, [c. 83]. Because, according to the tradition of the holy Fathers, we know that the property of the church is the vows of the faithful, the prices of sins, and the patrimonies of the poor, we endeavor not only to preserve for each what is possessed but also, with God’s aid, to add to it. But so that we may remove entirely the suspicion long conceived by ecclesiastics concerning the division of ecclesiastical property, we establish that neither in our times, nor those of our sons, nor, by God’s dispensation, those of our successors, shall it suffer any division or loss at all.

GRATIAN. Therefore, since anyone is forbidden to distribute the offerings of the church without the knowledge of the bishop or of him to whom offices of this kind have been committed, it plainly appears that with the bishop’s consent they can be distributed to any churches. § 1. That authority of the Council of Toledo, [IV, c. 32], appears contrary to this interpretation.

It was established by the present council that bishops are to govern their dioceses in such a way that they presume to take nothing from their right, but, according to the authority of earlier councils, receive a third part both of offerings and of tributes and fruits. But if anything more than this shall have been presumed by them, let it be restored through the council, with the founders themselves appealing, or certainly their relatives, if the founders have already departed from this world.

Likewise Pope Symmachus, [to his brother Caesarius, c. 1]. We do not permit possessions which anyone gave or left to a church by his own judgment to be alienated under any titles and conveyances or under any pretext, unless perhaps to clerics of good merit, to monasteries in consideration of religion, or certainly to pilgrims, if necessity shall counsel that they be bestowed; yet in such a way that these persons enjoy the same possessions not perpetually but temporarily. GRATIAN. But that statement of the Council of Toledo is to be understood in such a way that bishops touch nothing beyond the fourth or third part which is owed to them according to the diversity of places. Hence it was enacted in a council of Pope Leo IV, [c. 26]:

Let none of the bishops be permitted to exact contributions beyond the statutes of the Fathers from a subject priest or any other cleric and from pious places, or to impose additional compulsory services. But since he ought to be an excellent overseer, let him oversee in such a way that all the sheep committed to him are especially nourished by him and aided in their necessities, not oppressed by illicit exactions, because the Lord taught us to feed and teach and to minister to all, not to delight in earthly gains and avarice.

Likewise Gregory to Leo, Bishop of Catania, [book VII, letter 8]. The gradation of places and the order of reason distinguished and established that there should be judgments for this purpose: so that superiors may not be able to occupy themselves fruitlessly in oppressing those subject to them, nor, in turn, may there be an unbridled license for subjects to rebel against their superiors. § 1. Therefore we will that, from whatever shall perhaps accrue to your church from revenue or any other title, you ought to set aside a fourth portion without any diminution and distribute it discreetly, as shall seem fit to you, among the priests, deacons, and clergy according to the fear of God.

Likewise from the Seventh Synod, [c. 4]. The divine Apostle Paul, preacher of the church, as though laying down a canon for the priests of the Ephesians—indeed, for every consecrated multitude and fullness—testified thus confidently: “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or garment. I showed you all things, because by laboring thus it is necessary to support the weak, judging it more blessed to give than to receive.” For this reason we also, taught by him, determine that a bishop shall by no means, for the sake of shameful gain, devise excuses to excuse sins and demand gold or silver or another kind of property from the priests or clerics or monks who are under him. For the Apostle says: “Children ought not to lay up treasure for parents, but parents for children.” And the Apostle Peter: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, not under compulsion but willingly according to God, not for the sake of shameful gain, nor as lording it over the clergy, but having been made an example to the flock. And when the prince of shepherds shall appear, you shall receive the unfading crown of glory.” GRATIAN. But that which is placed at the end of the chapter of Symmachus, “Let these persons enjoy the same possessions not perpetually but temporarily,” is to be referred only to personal possessions—namely, those of clerics and the poor—not to monastic possessions. PART VII. § 1. But how grave it is before God not to pay tithes, offerings, and first fruits to priests appears from the authority of Jerome and Augustine. For Jerome says on Malachi:

“Return to me, and I shall return to you, says the Lord of hosts; and you have said, In what shall we return? Will a man defraud God? For you defraud me; and you have said, In what do we defraud you? In tithes and first fruits. And you are accursed in want, and the whole nation defrauds me.” Now let us follow the order of the prophet: “Because you have not rendered tithes and first fruits to me, therefore you are accursed with hunger and want, and you have supplanted or defrauded me.” Behold, the year is completed, and you have carried nothing into my treasuries, but into your own barns; and in exchange for the tithes and first fruits, which were small things to be given by you, you have lost the abundance of your possessions and the entire plenty of your crops. But so that you may know that this was accomplished while I was angry because you defrauded me of my portion, I exhort and admonish you to bring tithes into the barns—that is, into the treasuries of the temple—and let the priests and Levites who minister to me have food; and test me, whether I shall not pour out such rains that the floodgates of heaven may be believed to have been opened, “and I shall pour out a blessing for you even unto abundance.” The word “pouring out” indicates the designation of largesse. But it is possible that, when rains irrigate the fields, there may indeed be fertility, yet either the locust will come, or the caterpillar, or blight, or the cankerworm, and they will devastate the labors of men. Therefore he adds and says: “And I shall rebuke the devourers for your sake,” namely the locust and the other things we have mentioned, “and they shall not corrupt the fruit of your land.” § 1. Whenever famine, want, and a scarcity of all things oppress the world, let us know that this descends from the anger of God, who says that He is defrauded in the poor if they do not receive alms; and we can interpret His possessions as tithes and first fruits. § 2. If anyone learned and instructed in the law of the Lord can instruct others, he ought not to assign to his own prudence and talent what he possesses, but let him give thanks first to the Lord, who bestows all things, and then to His priests and ministers by whom he was taught. For if he shall not give thanks but shall claim knowledge for himself, he shall be accursed in want.

But if, understanding God to be the giver and giving thanks to those through whom he was instructed by God, he shall humble himself and bring food into God’s barn—that is, shall minister the nourishment of Scripture to the peoples in the church—the floodgates of heaven shall immediately be opened over him, spiritual rain shall be poured out, and He shall command His clouds to rain a shower over him, and he shall enjoy an abundance of all things.

Likewise Augustine, [sermon CCXIX, On Time]. Tithes are the tribute of needy souls. But if you shall give a tithe, you will not only receive an abundance of fruits but also obtain health of body. Therefore the Lord God does not demand a reward but honor. For our God, who deigned to give the whole, deigned to receive a tithe from us, doubtless to profit not Himself but us. But if it is a sin to give late, how much worse a sin is it not to have given? Render tithes from military service, from business, and from craftsmanship. For since by giving tithes you can merit both earthly and heavenly rewards, why through avarice do you defraud yourself of a double blessing? For this is the Lord’s most just custom: that if you shall not give Him a tithe, you shall be reduced to a tenth. You will give to an impious soldier what you are unwilling to give to a priest. God is always prepared to do good, but He is hindered by the wickedness of men. For tithes are demanded as a debt, and those who are unwilling to give them seize the property of others. And however many poor persons shall have died of hunger in the places where he dwells because he did not give tithes, he shall appear guilty of that many homicides before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, because he reserved for his own uses property assigned by the Lord to the poor. Therefore, let one who desires either to procure a reward for himself or to merit forgiveness of sins render the tithe; and let him also endeavor to give alms to the poor from the nine parts.

Likewise Jerome, [in the commentary at the end of chapter 3 of the Epistle to Titus]. To be unwilling to contribute to apostolic men and evangelists of Christ for their necessary uses is to condemn oneself. But that tithes may lawfully be bestowed on monks with the consent of bishops, blessed Jerome writes to Pope Damasus, saying:

Because whatever clerics have belongs to the poor, and their houses ought to be common to all, they ought to devote attention to receiving pilgrims and guests; they must take special care to expend from tithes and offerings upon monasteries and hospices whatever support they wish and are able to provide. For it is free to grant to monks and spiritual men who fear and worship God tithes and offerings and all means of relief, and to transfer them from their own right into the ownership and use of those men, and to regard in the poor not so much poverty as religion. § 1. But as to what your blessedness asked, whether the use of tithes and offerings can accrue to secular persons, your holiness knows that this is by no means permissible, as all the divine authorities of the paternal canons attest. Wherefore, if at any time things which are known to belong to divine right shall have been wrongfully detained by these persons, and shall have passed into the use of monks and servants of God, with the bishop of that place nevertheless giving consent, all things shall remain with them, supported by perpetual firmness and stability. § 2. But it is fitting that those clerics be sustained by stipends of the church whom no parents or relatives support. Those, however, who can be sustained by the goods and resources of their parents, if they receive what belongs to the poor, plainly incur and commit sacrilege, and through the misuse of such things eat and drink judgment upon themselves. GRATIAN. But concerning estates which are cultivated by their tenants, it was determined thus at the Council of Mainz: “Moreover, certain persons complained, etc.”