Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question V
[QUESTION V.]
GRATIAN. Such persons, even if they have the right of the territory, nevertheless do not have the power of governing the people and ministering spiritual things. This is also to be understood concerning a bishop. Hence Pope Nicholas says:
[QUESTIO V.]
GRATIANUS. Tales, etsi ius territorii habeant, tamen potestatem gubernandi populum, et spiritualia ministrandi non habent. Quod etiam de episcopo intelligendum est. Unde Nicolaus Papa ait:
Friedberg, col. 787/788
C. VIII. [I.] Let a bishop who builds a church in the diocese of another not dare to claim its consecration for himself.
If any of the bishops, for any convenience of his own people, arranges to build a church in the territory of another city, let him not presume to perform the dedication which belongs to him in whose territory the church arises. But let this favor be reserved to the bishop who is the builder: that those clerics whom he desires to be ordained on his property are to be ordained by him whose territory it is; or, if they have already been ordained, let him agree to have them; and all governance of that church will pertain to him in the territory of whose city the church shall have arisen.
C. VIII. [I.] Episcopus, qui in alterius diocesi ecclesiam edificat, eius consecrationem sibi uendicare non audeat.
Si quis episcoporum in alienae ciuitatis territorio pro quacumque suorum opportunitate ecclesiam edificare disponit, non presumat dedicationem, que illius est, in cuius territorio ecclesia assurgit. Edificatori uero episcopo hec gratia reseruetur, ut quos desiderat clericos in re sua ordinari, ipsos ordinet is, cuius territorium est, uel si ordinati iam sunt, ipsos habere adquiescat, et omnis ecclesiae ipsius gubernatio ad eum, in cuius ciuitatis territorio ecclesia surrexerit, pertinebit.
Friedberg, col. 787/788
C. IX. [II.] Newly founded basilicas pertain to the bishop whose judicial district they are known to be in.
Likewise from the Fourth Council of Toledo, [c. 34]. Possession of territory does not remove the judicial district, and therefore new basilicas which shall have been founded will without doubt pertain to that bishop whose judicial district they are known to be in.
C. IX. [II.] Basilicae nouiter conditae ad episcopum pertinent, cuius conuentus constiterit esse.
Item ex Concilio Tolletano IV. [c. 34.] Possessio territorii conuentum non adimit ideoque nouae basilicae, que conditae fuerint, ad eum proculdubio pertinebunt episcopum, cuius conuentus esse constiterit.
Friedberg, col. 787/788
C. X. [III.] A bishop who is the builder is not permitted to consecrate a church in the diocese of another.
Likewise Gregory, [book XI, letter 19, to John the Subdeacon]. John, the bearer of the present letters, our brother and fellow bishop, indicated to us that a certain Bishop Exsuperantius with rash daring constructed an oratory in his diocese and, contrary to custom, presumed to dedicate it without the authority of a precept, and did not fear to celebrate Masses there. It is fitting that you amend this matter with the greatest speed and severity and not permit any such thing to be attempted further. GRATIAN. This is to be understood concerning the right of ordaining, not of possessing. From these authorities it can easily be perceived that if either abbots or bishops shall build churches in their fortresses or villages, the judicial district is not thereby taken away from the bishop in whose diocese they shall be; and therefore priests, according to that statement of Urban and Nicholas, can be ordained in them only by the bishops, yet with the consent and election of the builders.
C. X. [III.] Edificatori episcopo in diocesi alterius ecclesiam consecrare non licet.
Item Gregorius. [lib XI. epist. 19. ad Iohannem Subdiaconum] Lator presentium Iohannes, frater et coepiscopus noster, indicauit nobis, quod quidam Exsuperantius episcopus ausu temerario in diocesi ipsius oratorium construxerit, eumque sine precepti auctoritate contra morem presumpserit dedicare, missasque illic celebrare non metuit. Quam rem cum summa te celeritate ac districtione conuenit emendare, nec ulterius tale aliquid attemptare permittere. Gratian. Quod de iure ordinandi, non possidendi intelligendum est. His auctoritatibus facile potest perpendi, quod siue abbates siue episcopi in suis castellis uel uillis ecclesias edificauerint, non ideo episcopo, in cuius diocesi fuerint, conuentus adimitur, et ideo sacerdotes, iuxta illud Urbani et Nicolai, in eis non nisi per episcopos, cum consensu tamen et electione edificantium, ordinari possunt.
Friedberg, col. 787/788