Question III

GRATIAN. PART I. But regular canons are forbidden by many authorities to pass to a monastery. Hence it is read in the Council of Autun assembled under Gregory VII:

Let no abbot or monk dare to recall regular canons from the purpose of canonical profession and, drawing them to the monastic habit, receive them so that they become monks, so long as they shall have been able to find a church of their order in which, by living canonically, they can serve God and save their souls. But if they shall attempt to do this with rash daring, let them be bound by the bond of anathema.

Likewise Pope Urban II. We command and universally forbid any canon who has professed according to the rule to become a monk unless—which may it not be—he shall have fallen publicly. But if, presuming to act contrary to our decree, he shall attempt to do so, we command that he return to the canonical order, thereafter wear a memorial cowl, and remain last in the choir. GRATIAN. But it is to be understood: unless he assumes the purpose of religion with his father’s permission. Hence Urban II writes to the Abbot of Saint-Ruf:

We establish that no one of canonical profession, after in God’s place he has placed a man over his own head, is to dare, at the prompting of any levity or under the pretext of a stricter religion, to depart from that cloister without the permission of his father and the whole congregation. But let no abbot, bishop, or monk receive one departing without a common guarantee of letters. PART II. GRATIAN. It is asked whether monasteries which have once been dedicated can pass into dwellings of clerics or secular persons. This is forbidden in every way in the Council of Chalcedon, c. 24:

Let places once dedicated as monasteries by the counsel of bishops remain monasteries perpetually, and the property pertaining to them ought to be reserved for the monasteries; nor can they afterward become secular dwellings. But those who shall have permitted this to be done are to be subject to those condemnations which have been established by the canons.

Likewise in the Seventh Synod, c. 13. Because certain venerable houses, both episcopal residences and monasteries, are surreptitiously taken away by certain men and have been made common lodging houses, if those who retain them are willing to restore them so that they may be restored according to their ancient state, it is well and excellent; otherwise, if they are from the sacred catalogue, we command them to be deposed, but if they are monks or laymen, to be excommunicated. For it is evident that they have been condemned by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and are assigned to where their worm will not die and the fire will not be extinguished, because they oppose God, who says: “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” PART III. GRATIAN. It is asked concerning those who come to conversion at what time they ought to be tonsured. Concerning them Pope Gregory writes thus to Fortunatus, Bishop of Naples, [book VIII, letter 23]:

Let your fraternity more strictly forbid all monasteries to dare in any way to tonsure those whom they shall have received for conversion before they have completed two years in this way of life. But during this period let their life and morals be carefully proved, lest any of them either not be content with what he desired or not hold as ratified what he chose. For since it is grave to associate untested men with services to men, who could say how much graver it is to apply the wicked to God’s service? But if a soldier wishes to be converted, before he is reported to us let no one presume for any reason to receive him without our consent. PART IV. GRATIAN. It is asked whether license to make a testament is left any longer to those who have entered a monastery. Gregory forbids this, writing thus to Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari, [book VII, indiction 2, letter 7]:

Because those entering a monastery for the sake of conversion are thereafter to have no license to make a testament, but their property is to belong to that monastery, this has been decreed by an express definition of law.

Likewise Gregory to Cyprian the Deacon, [book III, letter 6]. It has been reported to us that a woman named Petronilla, born in the province of Lucania, was converted through the exhortation of Bishop Agnellus and specially conferred by title of gift upon that same monastery which she entered all her property which she could possess, although it could have belonged to her by right. GRATIAN. To the contrary Paul, the first hermit, left his colobium in his testament to Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, but his tunic to blessed Antony. But it is one thing concerning those who, after entering a monastery, handed over themselves and their property; another concerning those who, leading a solitary life, handed themselves over to no church. The former cannot give to anyone the things once handed over; the latter can freely make a testament concerning things offered to no one.

“If any woman or man shall have chosen the monastic life and entered a monastery, with no children existing, we command that his or her property belong to the monastery which they enter. § 1. But if a person who has children enters a monastery before disposing of his or her property among them, let it afterward be lawful to divide it among them, with the lawful portion of none diminished, and what shall not have been given to them will belong to the monastery. § 2. But if the person shall wish to divide the whole substance among the children, let that person, counted among the children, retain a share for himself or herself which ought to belong to the monastery. § 3. But if the person shall die after entry before dividing it among them, let the children receive their lawful portion, with the remaining substance belonging to the monastery.” Constitution 5 in collection 1. § 4. “But now, since by becoming a monk he is regarded by that very act as having offered all his property, if he did not make a testament beforehand, the law thereafter disposes of it when his judgment has ceased, so that if he has children upon whom by any title of gift he conferred either nothing or less than their lawful portion, so much is to be deducted from the substance destined for the monastery that nothing unjust occurs concerning the children.”

Likewise from Novel [CXXIII]. “It is not lawful for parents to exclude children who have become monks from their inheritance, or for children to exclude their parents, although while they were laypersons they fell into a cause of ingratitude.” Likewise: § 1. “It is not lawful for parents to drag from a monastery their children who have passed to the solitary life.”