Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question II
GRATIAN. PART I. Concerning those who have received the tonsure or religious garment apart from their parents’ will, it is defined thus in the Tenth Council of Toledo, [c. 6]:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. De his uero, qui preter uoluntatem parentum tonsuram, uel religiosam uestem susceperint, sic diffinitur in concilio X. Tolletano: [c. 6.]
Friedberg, col. 847/848
C. I. A tonsure or religious garment received at a younger age can be rendered void by the parents.
If at any younger age either one parent or both shall perhaps have given their children of either sex the tonsure of religion or the garment owed to religion; or if, when the children assumed it while the parents were unwilling or unaware, the parents did not repudiate it immediately upon seeing it, but either before themselves or before the bishop and openly in an assembly permitted those children to have such things, the children themselves will thereafter never be permitted to return to secular dress; but, when they are convicted of having at any time had the tonsure or religious garment, let them immediately be recalled to the worship and habit of religion and compelled to serve under the strenuous strictness of this observance. § 1. Permission for parents to hand their children over to religion can indeed extend no further than the tenth year of their age; but afterward, whether with the will of the parents or if it is the individual vow of their own devotion, it will be lawful for the children to assume the worship of religion. § 2. But whoever shall be discovered to have reached transgression either by effacing the tonsure or by assuming secular dress is both to receive the censure of excommunication and always to adhere to religion.
C. I. Tonsura uel uestis religiosa in minori etate suscepta a parentibus irrita fieri potest.
Si in qualibet minori etate uel religionis tonsuram uel religioni debitam uestem, in utroque sexu filiis aut unus aut ambo parentes dederint forte, aut nolentibus uel nescientibus se susceptam non mox uisam in filiis abdicauerint, sed uel coram se, uel coram episcopo, palamque in conuentu eosdem filios talia habere permiserint, ad secularem reuerti habitum ipsis filiis quandoque penitus non licebit, sed conuicti, quod tonsuram aut religiosam uestem aliquando habuerint, mox ad religionis cultum habitumque reuocentur, et sub strenua districtione huiusce obseruantiae inseruire cogantur. §. 1. Parentibus sane filios suos religioni contradere non amplius quam usque ad decimum etatis eorum annum licentia poterit esse; postea uero, an cum uoluntate parentum, an si suae deuotionis sit solitarium uotum, erit filiis licitum religionis assumere cultum. §. 2. Quisquis autem uel abolitione tonsurae, uel secularis uestis assumptione detectus fuerit attigisse transgressionem, et excommunicationis censuram accipiat, et religioni semper inhereat.
Friedberg, col. 847/848
C. II. Until the age of twelve, let a girl be subject to the judgment of her father’s will.
Likewise from the Council of Tribur, [c. 24]. If before twelve years of age a girl of her own accord shall have assumed the sacred veil for herself, her parents or guardians can immediately render that deed void if they wish. But if by dissembling for a year and a day they shall have consented, neither they nor she will afterward be able to change it. § 1. But if at a more mature age a young woman or young man shall have chosen to serve God, the parents have no power to prohibit it. PART II. GRATIAN. But no nun is permitted to impose the veil upon another. Hence Pope Eutychian says:
C. II. Usque ad annos XII. paternae uoluntatis puella subiaceat arbitrio.
Item ex Concilio Triburiensi. [c. 24.] Puella, si ante XII. etatis annos sponte sua sacrum sibi assumpserit uelamen, possunt statim parentes eius uel tutores id factum irritum facere, si uoluerint. At si annum et diem dissimulando consenserint, ulterius nec ipsi, nec ipsa mutare poterunt. §. 1. Si uero in fortiori etate adolescentula uel adolescens seruire Deo elegerint, non est potestas parentibus prohibendi. II. Pars. Gratian. Velamen autem nulli sanctimonialium alteri inponere licet. Unde Eutycianus Papa ait:
Friedberg, col. 847/848
[C. III.]
We establish that if an abbess or any nun after this definition shall have burst forth into such audacity that she presumes to veil either a widow or a virgin girl, let her be subjected to canonical judgment until satisfaction. PART III. GRATIAN. By this authority it is taught that anyone in the years of childhood is bound by the aforesaid profession and that he is held by the purpose undertaken apart from his own will, unless the parents immediately repudiated the tonsure or religious garment upon seeing it. But when little children are offered, they are to be received only under the testimony of many. Hence it is read in the Ninth Synod:
[C. III.]
Statuimus, ut si abbatissa aut quelibet sanctimonialis post hanc diffinitionem in tantam audaciam proruperit, ut aut uiduam, aut puellam uirginem uelare presumat iudicio canonico usque ad satisfactionem subdatur. III. Pars. Gratian. Hac auctoritate predicta et paterna professione docetur astringi quilibet in puerilibus annis, et preter uoluntatem eorum proposito suscepto perhibetur teneri, nisi tonsuram uel religiosam uestem parentes mox uisam abdicauerint. Paruuli uero, dum offeruntur, nonnisi sub multorum testimonio suscipiendi sunt. Unde in nona Sinodo legitur:
Friedberg, col. 847/848
C. IV. Let infants offered by their parents be received under the testimony of many.
Infants offered with the will and consent of their parents—indeed, by the parents themselves—ought to be received under the testimony of many, so that every occasion for slander by the worst of men may be excluded.
C. IV. Infantes oblati a parentibus sub plurimorum testimonio suscipiantur.
Oportet infantes cum uoluntate et consensu parentum, imo ab ipsis parentibus oblatos, sub testimonio plurimorum suscipi, ut omnis occasio maledicti gratia excludatur hominum pessimorum.
Friedberg, col. 847/848