Question — Decretum of Gratian
Question II
GRATIAN. PART I. But one who wishes to pass to another church after leaving his own is by no means to be received without dismissory letters from his bishop. Hence it is read in the Seventh Synod, [c. 17]:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. Qui uero relicta sua ecclesia ad aliam transire uoluerit nequaquam sine dimissoriis litteris sui episcopi suscipiatur. Unde in septima Sinodo [c. 17.] legitur:
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C. I. Let no cleric be ordained in another’s church without dismissory letters.
Because clerics of diverse churches, leaving their own churches in which they were ordained, run to other bishops and, without their own bishop’s knowledge, are established in other churches, where it happens that they remain without examination of themselves, we command from now on that absolutely no cleric, in whatever grade he may be, have license to be established in another church without dismissory letters from his bishop. But whoever shall not observe this from now on is to be deposed, to the reproach of the one who ordained him—both he himself and the one who received him without reason.
C. I. Sine dimissoriis litteris in aliena ecclesia clericus non ordinetur.
Quoniam diuersarum ecclesiarum clerici suas, in quibus ordinati sunt, ecclesias relinquentes, ad alios concurrunt episcopos, et ignorante proprio episcopo in alienis constituuntur ecclesiis, ubi contingit eos sine sui examinatione permanere, precipimus amodo, ut nullus omnino clericorum, in quocumque gradu sit, licentiam habeat sine dimissoriis litteris sui episcopi in altera constitui ecclesia. Qui uero hoc amodo non obseruauerit, ad obprobrium eius, qui ordinauerit eum, deponatur tam ipse, quam qui eum sine ratione suscepit.
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C. II. A cleric is not permitted to pass to another church if his own has been left destitute of its ministers.
Likewise from the Second Council of Seville, [c. 3]. It pleased us that if any cleric, when his own church has been left destitute of ministers, shall have made passage to another, he is to return to the church which he previously inhabited when compelled by the bishop to whom he fled. But let the one who received him and did not choose immediately, without any effort at objection, to send him back to his own church know that he is deprived of communion until he restores him. Moreover, it is fitting that a deserting cleric, stripped of the belt of his honor and order, be bound for a time to a monastery and then afterward recalled to the ministry of the ecclesiastical order. For license to wander about in such persons will not be able to be abolished unless correction shall have followed in them through the correction of discipline. GRATIAN. But that statement of the Council of Chalcedon is objected, [c. 10]:
C. II. Ad aliam ecclesiam clerico transire non licet, si propriis ministris sua fuerit destituta.
Item ex Concilio Spalensi. [II. c. 3.] Placuit, ut si quis clericus ministris ecclesiae propriae destitutis ad aliam transitum fecerit, conpellente, ad quem confugerit, sacerdote, ad ecclesiam, quam prius incoluerat, reuertatur. Qui uero eum susceperit, nec statim sine ullo nisu exceptionis ad propriam ecclesiam remittendum elegerit, quamdiu eum restituat, communione se priuatum cognoscat. Desertorem autem clericum cingulo honoris atque ordinis sui exutum aliquo tempore monasterio religari conuenit, sicque postea in ministerio ecclesiastici ordinis reuocari. Nam non poterit in talibus peruagationis aboleri licentia, nisi fuerit in eis per correctionem disciplinae subsecuta correctio. Gratian. Obicitur autem illud Calcedonensis Concilii: [c. 10.]
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C. III. Let one who is transferred from one church to another have nothing in common with the former.
PART II. If anyone has already been transferred from one church to another, let him have nothing in common with the former, whether with the shrines of martyrs established under the church, poorhouses, hospices, or their affairs. But those who shall have dared after the ordinance of this great and universal synod to do the things which are prohibited, the holy synod established are to fall from their own grade. GRATIAN. But it is one thing to be transferred, and another to pass by one’s own rashness. The former may be done by apostolic authority, but the latter is forbidden in every way. PART III. § 1. But just as one person ought not to be placed over two churches, so one church cannot be divided among several persons. Hence it is read in the Council of Reims:
C. III. Nichil commune habeat cum priori qui ab una in aliam transfertur.
II. Pars. Si quis iam translatus est ab una ecclesia in aliam, nichil habeat commune cum priori siue sub ecclesia constitutis martiribus, siue in ptochiis, uel xenodochiis, aut eorum negociis. Eos uero, qui ausi fuerint post ordinationem huius magnae et uniuersalis sinodi agere que prohibita sunt statuit sancta sinodus cadere de proprio gradu. Gratian. Sed aliud est transferri, atque aliud propria temeritate transire. Illud apostolica auctoritate fieri licet, hoc uero omnibus modis prohibetur. III. Pars. §. 1. Sicut autem duabus ecclesiis unus preponi non debet, ita nec una ecclesia inter plures diuidi ualet. Unde in Remensi Concilio legitur:
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C. IV. One church cannot be divided between two priests.
Just as there ought to be one priest in each church, so that church, which is called his bride or wife, cannot be divided among several priests, but will have only one priest who governs her chastely and sincerely. Hence we forbid anyone to presume to divide a church between two or more persons, because the church of Christ ought to be a wife and bride, not a prostitute, as Pope Callixtus testifies. PART IV. GRATIAN. A church also ought not to be committed to hired priests. Hence Innocent II, [in the Roman Synod, c. 10]:
C. IV. Una ecclesia duobus sacerdotibus diuidi non potest.
Sicut in unaquaque ecclesia unus presbiter debet esse, ita ipsa, que sponsa uel uxor eius dicitur, non potest diuidi inter plures presbiteros, sed unum tantummodo habebit sacerdotem, qui eam caste et sinceriter regat. Unde interdicimus, ut nullus presumat ecclesiam inter duos uel plures diuidere quia ecclesia Christi uxor et sponsa debet esse, non scortum, sicut Papa Calixtus testatur. IV. Pars. Gratian. Conductitiis quoque presbiteris ecclesia conmitti non debet. Unde Innocentius II.: [in Sinodo Romana, c. 10.]
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C. V. Let churches not be committed to hired priests.
We also command that churches not be committed to hired priests and that each church which has sufficient resources have its own priest.
C. V. Conductitiis presbiteris ecclesiae non conmittantur.
Precipimus etiam, ne conductitiis presbiteris ecclesiae conmittantur, et unaqueque ecclesia, cui facultas suppetit, proprium habeat sacerdotem.
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