Question I

GRATIAN. Part I. That, while a bishop is living, another cannot be placed or ordained over him was determined by the council celebrated at Auvergne, in which it is read: “Let no other bishop be placed or ordained over a bishop while he is living, unless perhaps into the place of one whom a capital fault has cast down.”

Likewise from the Register of Pope Gregory, [book IX, letter 41], to Anatolius, Deacon of Constantinople. Your love wrote to me that I should command a bishop to succeed my most reverend brother John, bishop of Justiniana Prima, because of the sickness of the head from which he suffers, lest perhaps, while that city does not have the rights of a bishop—which God forbid—it perish at the hands of the enemy. But the canons nowhere command that a bishop succeed because of the sickness of a bishop, and therefore it is unjust that, if a bodily affliction has assailed him, the sick man be deprived of his honor. But it is to be proposed that, if anyone in governance is sick, such an administrator be sought for him who can conduct all his care and preserve his place in the governance of the Church, without his being deposed, so that neither is almighty God offended nor is the city found to have been neglected.

The same, [book II], in the letter [5] to Candidus. When a bodily blow threatens, whether it happens for purification or for vengeance, God's judgment in this matter is unknown; and therefore affliction ought not to be added by us to those scourged, lest the offense of their fault—which God forbid—look back upon us.

Likewise Gregory to Bishop Clementius, Primate of Byzacena. Although the text of the petition submitted to you explains the complaint of Adeodatus, bearer of the present letters, who says that he was improperly expelled from the place of his priesthood, nevertheless we have judged that it should be unfolded a little more openly. For he asserts that our brother and fellow bishop Quincianus granted him leave from his place in order to arrange certain affairs of his, and that because of sickness he was absent from his church for a period of two months; and he asserts that our aforesaid brother, seizing upon the occasion of this matter, ordained another priest there in his place. Therefore, we exhort your fraternity to investigate his case solicitously and rigorously; and if you find that he was absent from his church because of manifest sickness, as is said, permit no prejudice to be generated against him from the ordination of another priest, but cause him to be restored to his place without any doubt. And below: § 1. But we specially admonish your love that, if his representation was true and he has been restored to his order, you ought to be carefully and rigorously solicitous concerning the priest who was ordained in his place. And if indeed he came to that order without any payment, so that he could not have fallen into the simoniacal heresy, we wish him to be ordained to any other vacant church. But if anything of this kind—which may the Lord avert—has been found in him, let him be deprived even of the order of priesthood, which he is proved to have received not for the cause of fulfilling the necessity of the Church but from ambition alone.

Likewise Nicholas to Alwin, Archbishop of Salzburg. Pontiffs who are occupied by some infirmity or sickness are not to be cast aside, nor ought others to be consecrated in their place unless they have been taken from this light. But if they complain concerning the ministry conceded to them, let priests fulfill the things which are lawful. In those things, however, which it is not lawful for them to presume, let the assistance of neighboring bishops be substituted until health is recovered, and let them perform this with zealous caution, lest ambition arising from presumption sprout through the occasion of necessity. But bishops who undertake the care and solicitude of the Lord's flock ought not to withdraw from their administration, so that the beauty of the talent received may not be effaced, but may be beneficially increased and tripled through their striving.

Likewise from a letter of Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr. Cornelius was made bishop by the judgment of God and His Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clerics, by the vote of the people who were then present, and by the consent of ancient priests and good men, when no one had been made before him, when the place of Fabian—that is, the place of Peter and the grade of the priestly chair—was vacant. Once that place had been occupied and confirmed by God's will and by the agreement of us all, whoever should thereafter wish to be made a bishop must be made one outside, and one who does not hold the unity of the Church does not have ecclesiastical ordination. Whoever he may be, although greatly boasting of himself and claiming very much for himself, he is profane, he is an outsider, he is outside. And since there cannot be one after the first, whoever has been made after the one who alone ought to be bishop is now not the second, but no bishop at all.

Likewise from the same. Novatian is not a bishop: after Cornelius was made bishop in the Church by sixteen fellow bishops, Novatian strives through ambition to be made by deserters an adulterous and extraneous bishop. And although there is one Church from Christ throughout the whole world, divided into many members, and likewise one episcopate, diffused through the concordant multitude of many bishops, that man, after God's tradition and after the connected and everywhere joined unity of the Catholic Church, attempts to make a human church; and he sends his new apostles through very many cities so that he may establish certain recent foundations of his own institution. And although bishops have long since been ordained throughout all the provinces and individual cities, ancient in age, sound in faith, proved under pressure, and proscribed in persecution, that man dares to create other pseudo-bishops over them, as though he could either traverse the whole world by the obstinacy of a new attempt or tear apart the fabric of ecclesiastical order by the sowing of his discord, not knowing that schismatics always burn hot at their beginnings but cannot have growth or increase what they began unlawfully, but immediately fail together with their depraved rivalry. And below: § 1. Therefore, one who observes neither the unity of the Spirit nor the bond of peace, and separates himself from the bond of the Church and from the college of priests, can have neither the power nor the honor of a bishop, since he wished to have neither the unity nor the peace of the episcopate.

The same to Puppianus, [in the same book IV, letter 6]. You ought to know that the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishop, and that, if anyone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church; and that those who, not having peace with the priests of God, creep in and believe that they secretly communicate among certain persons flatter themselves in vain, since the Church, which is one and catholic, has not been torn or divided.

The same, [to Jubaianus]. Holy Scripture declares how dangerous it is in divine matters for anyone to yield his own right and power, since Esau thereby lost his rights of primacy and could not afterward receive what he had once yielded.

The same, [book I, letter 6 to Magnus]. Finally, divine Scripture in the books of Kings declares how inseparable is the sacrament of unity, and how those who make a schism and, after abandoning the bishop, establish another pseudo-bishop for themselves outside are without hope and acquire the greatest perdition for themselves from God's indignation. There the ten tribes were torn away from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and, after abandoning their own king, established another for themselves outside. “And the Lord,” it says, “was indignant with all the seed of Israel, and He destroyed them and gave them over to plunder until He cast them away from His face, because Israel was scattered from the house of David, and they established for themselves Jeroboam, son of Nebat, as king.” It said that God was indignant and that He gave them over to perdition because, scattered from unity, they had established another king for themselves. And so great was the Lord's indignation against those who made the schism that, even when a man of God had been sent to Jeroboam to reproach him with his sins and foretell the vengeance to come, he was forbidden to eat bread and drink water among them. When he did not observe this and dined contrary to the Lord's command, he was immediately struck by divine censure, so that, while returning thence, he was killed on the road by a lion's attack and bite. § 1. But still in His Gospel the Lord manifests a greater light of His meaning: those same persons who had then torn themselves away from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and, after abandoning Jerusalem, had withdrawn to Samaria were numbered among false prophets and gentiles. For when He first sent the disciples into the ministry of salvation, He commanded and said: “Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter into the cities of the Samaritans.” Sending them first to the Jews, He commands that the gentiles still be passed by. But by adding that the city of the Samaritans also ought to be omitted, where the schismatics were, He shows that schismatics are equated with gentiles. And a little later: § 2. But the fact that they are said to know the same whom we know as God the Father, the same Son, and the same Holy Spirit cannot assist such persons. For Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, together with Aaron the priest and Moses, knew the same God; living by an equal law and religion, they invoked the one and true God who was to be worshiped and invoked. Nevertheless, because they transgressed the ministry of their place and against Aaron the priest—who had received the lawful priesthood by God's favor and ordination—claimed for themselves license to sacrifice, when struck divinely they immediately paid penalties for their unlawful attempts; nor could the sacrifices irreligiously and unlawfully offered contrary to the law of divine disposition be valid and profitable. The censers themselves also, in which incense had been offered unlawfully, were melted by the Lord's command and purified by fire and drawn out into beaten plates and affixed to the altar, so that they might not thereafter be in use by the priests, but rather present to posterity a memory of divine indignation and vengeance for their correction, according to what divine Scripture says: “A memorial,” it says, “for the children of Israel, so that no stranger who is not of the seed of Aaron may approach to place incense before the Lord, lest he be like Korah.” And yet those men had not made a schism or, going outside, rebelliously risen in an impudent and hostile manner against the Lord's priests, which those who now tear apart the Church and rebel against the peace and unity of Christ attempt to do, establishing a chair for themselves, assuming primacy, and claiming the license to baptize and offer, etc.

Likewise Leo IV to Nomenoe, Duke of Brittany. You ought no longer, on account of the gifts of any reward, to defend the thief and robber that we perceive Gislard to be in the see of Nantes, who did not fear to usurp the place of a living man, which was not lawful.

Likewise Pope Evaristus, [letter II], to all Bishops. Just as a man ought not to commit adultery against his wife, so neither ought a bishop to commit adultery against his church, that is, by abandoning the one to which he was consecrated. And just as a wife is not permitted to abandon her husband so that, while he is living, she may join herself to another in marriage and thus commit adultery against him, although her husband has fornicated, but according to the Apostle she ought either to be reconciled to her husband or remain unmarried, so a church is not permitted to abandon her bishop or separate herself from him so that, while he is living, she may receive another; but let her either have him or remain unmarried, that is, let her not receive another bishop while her own is living, lest she incur the crime either of fornication or of adultery. But if she has committed adultery, that is, if she has joined herself to another, has brought another bishop over herself, or has caused or desired him to be bishop, let her either be reconciled to her own bishop through the most severe penance or remain unmarried. § 1. A bishop, however, ought in season and out of season, and without interruption, to teach his church and prudently to govern and love her, so that she may abstain from vices and be able to attain eternal salvation. And she ought to receive his teaching with such reverence and to love and cherish him as a legate of God and herald of truth. GRATIAN. Behold, by these authorities it is plainly shown that, while a bishop is living, another cannot be ordained over him, not even because of his sickness. But that statement of Gregory must be understood when the one who is sick does not ask for another to be substituted for him. Otherwise, when anyone weighed down by either old age or infirmity cannot administer the office undertaken, if he has asked for another to be substituted for him, it can reasonably be done. Hence it follows in the same chapter: “But if that same John has perhaps asked on account of his affliction that he ought to be released from the honor of bishop, it is to be granted when he submits the petition in writing; otherwise we are unable to do it.” Hence also blessed Augustine received the episcopal chair while his bishop was not yet dead but weighed down by old age. Hence it is read in the [sole] letter of Paulinus to Romanianus:

But we wrote that not only this was to be a cause for rejoicing, that Augustine had received the episcopate, but that by God's grace he had merited this care for the African Church, so that it might receive heavenly words through Augustine's mouth; for he was advanced to the greater grace of the Lord's gift in a new manner and was consecrated in such a way that he did not succeed the bishop in the chair, but acceded to him. For while Valerius, bishop of the church of Hippo, was still alive, Augustine was his fellow bishop. GRATIAN. This same thing is proved by the authority of blessed Gregory, who substituted another for the bishop of Rimini when he was suffering pain of the head, writing thus in his Register, [book VII, indiction 2, letter 49], chapter 238:

Your fraternity learned long ago how, because bodily affliction impeded the priest ordained by us, as is known, the church of Rimini has thus far been destitute of pastoral and priestly governance. Moved by the prayers of the inhabitants of that place, we have often exhorted him that, if he felt himself to have improved from that same affliction of the head by which he was detained, he should return to his church with God's aid. After intervals had been granted, he has been awaited during these four years. While we were exhorting him more insistently, both when clerics or citizens came here and when they pressed us with prayers, that, if he was able, he should return with them with the Lord's aid, he sought from us by a written petition that, because on account of the same affliction by which he is detained he was entirely unable to rise to the governance of that church or the office undertaken, we ought to ordain a bishop for Christ's Church. Hence, because the enjoined care and solicitude of all the churches constrains us lest pastoral custody be absent any longer from the flock of the faithful, compelled by their prayers and by this man's renunciation arising from his inability, it seemed to us that a bishop ought to be ordained for that same church of Rimini; and, after precepts had been given according to custom, we did not cease to admonish the clergy and people of that same church to come together with concordant providence to choose a bishop for themselves. Therefore, we exhort your fraternity to cause the man whom all have chosen with one consent to be summoned to you, as they themselves are known to have requested from us. Examine him by a careful examination in all respects; and if, with the Lord's aid, the things contained in the text of the Heptateuch have in no way been found in him, and if his life has also pleased you upon the report of faithful persons, send him to us with the document of your decree, with a letter of attestation also added, so that, with the Lord disposing, he may be consecrated by us as bishop of that same church.

Likewise from the same chapter 232, to Bishop Eleutherius. Although what we say is very grievous to us and reproves us through brotherly compassion rather than permits us to determine anything concerning what has been heard, nevertheless the solicitude of the governance undertaken strikes our heart with an urgent goad, so that with great care we may provide for the churches, lest any benefit of theirs be able to perish. It has therefore come to us, through the reports of certain persons, that a certain bishop has incurred so severe an affliction of the head that what he is accustomed to do with his mind deranged is to be heard with groaning and weeping. Therefore, lest, while the shepherd is languishing, the flock—which God forbid—be exposed to be torn by the teeth of the plotter, or the benefits of that church perish, it is necessary for us to deliberate with cautious provision. And therefore, because the necessity of infirmity, not a crime, withdraws the living bishop from his office, no reason permits another to be ordained in his place unless he refuses it; but if he is accustomed to have intervals in his illness, let him himself, upon giving a petition, confess that he is no longer able to rise to this ministry because infirmity overthrows him, and let him request that another be ordained in his place. When this has been done, by the solemn election of all let another who shall have been worthy be ordained bishop, yet in such a way that, for as long as life holds that bishop in this world, the support owed to him is supplied from the same church. But if at no time he returns to the functioning of a sound mind, a faithful person of approved life is to be chosen, one who can be suitable for the governance of the church, take thought for the benefit of souls, bind the restless under the bond of discipline, exercise care for ecclesiastical affairs, and show himself mature and effective in all things; and if he survives the bishop who is now ill, he ought to be consecrated in his place. PART II. GRATIAN. But lest, when priests are suddenly seized by afflictions of this kind, an office begun remain unfinished, it has been established that a priest, whether singing psalms or offering sacrifice, have others with him who, if a case of this kind intervenes, may be able to complete the mysteries begun. Hence in the Eleventh Council of Toledo, [c. 14]:

With each person keeping in mind that saying of the divine oracle in which it is written, “Woe to one who is alone, because, when he falls, he has no one to raise him up,” it must be most greatly feared and guarded against by us lest, at those hours and times in which psalms are sung or sacrifice is offered to the Lord, a dangerous affliction or any bodily malady befall anyone attending alone to the divine offices, one which either causes the body suddenly to collapse or confounds the mind by derangement or terror. Therefore, guarding against cases of this kind, we have thought it necessary to establish that, wherever an abundance of time, place, or clergy affords it, whoever is singing to God and offering sacrifice have behind him a helper from nearby as a solace, so that, if by some accident the one who approaches to complete the offices is disturbed or dashed to the ground, he may always have behind him one who will execute his function without fear.

Likewise from the Eighth Council of Toledo, [c. 2]. Let nothing contrary to the statute of the order be presumed by an act of rashness, nor let those things which are held in the highest veneration be dissolved by any presumption, since they were commanded to be done for this purpose alone: that they may not be known to have been interrupted, lest through the occurrence of illness nature be deprived of the strength of salvation. Therefore, not only is provision made for human frailty, but care is also taken for the sacred ministries of God with solicitude. We have therefore judged it fitting that, when the holy mysteries are consecrated by priests during Masses, if an occurrence of any illness happens by which one cannot complete the ministry of consecration begun, it shall be permitted to another bishop or priest to carry out the consecration of the office begun. For nothing else is fitting for the completion of mysteries that have been initiated except that they be completed by the blessing either of the priest who began or of one who follows, because they cannot appear perfected unless they are completed according to the order of perfection. For since we are all one in Christ, difference forms nothing contrary where the unity of faith makes present the efficacy of prosperity. And let the clerics of every order not doubt that this provision is indivisible for them, but, as was stated before, let others gladly succeed those preceding them for the sake of completion. Nevertheless, let not what is provided because of the infirmity of nature be turned to the ruin of presumption: let no one celebrate Masses after taking food or any drink, however little; let no minister or priest, after he has begun, presume to leave the offices wholly incomplete without a manifest occurrence of illness. If anyone rashly presumes this, he shall sustain a sentence of excommunication. PART III. GRATIAN. Behold, it is plainly shown that, at the request of a bishop weighed down by infirmity, another may be substituted, also through the prayers of the people. But to one weighed down by old age there ought to be given not a successor but a coadjutor, who will succeed to his place of governance when he dies. Thus Augustine is said to have acceded to, not succeeded, the bishop of the people of Hippo. Hence Pope Zacharias also writes to Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz:

You requested that, with our counsel, because old age and bodily weakness have come upon you, if you can find another, you ought to place him in the same see over which you preside in place of your person. But, with God as helper, we offer this counsel to your holiness: that, for the salvation of rational souls, with Christ as patron, you in no way leave the see of the church of Mainz which you hold. But if the Lord, in accordance with your petition, shall give a perfect man who can have solicitude and care for the salvation of souls, you will ordain him bishop in place of your person, and he will be one who seeks out and strengthens the church of God in every place in the Gospel entrusted to you and in bearing the ministry of Christ. Likewise: § 1. If divine clemency wills him to survive after the day of your passing, if you know him to be suitable and it has been determined in your will, at that hour when you know that you are about to migrate from the present world, designate him your successor in the presence of all, so that he may come here to be ordained. We do not allow to any other the thing which, under the compulsion of charity, we have judged should be granted to you. Likewise: § 2. But concerning him whom you said you wished to establish as your successor, so that at your command he might be elected bishop in your place, we do not allow this under any reasoning, because it is shown to be contrary to every ecclesiastical rule and the institutions of the Fathers; but we wish him to minister to you and to be your helper in the Gospel of Christ. § 3. For it is manifest that it would be exceedingly blameworthy for us to substitute another for you while you are living; but we admonish this: that you not cease to pray that God grant you that successor who can be pleasing to Him and be able to govern the people irreproachably.

Likewise Pope Pelagius to the Clergy of Narni. Because our brother and fellow bishop John, persuaded by concern for ecclesiastical utility and, with praiseworthy consideration, by the simplicity of his nature, confesses himself by no means suitable for exercising the care of governing the patrimony or for preserving ecclesiastical discipline, he requested for this reason that the person of the priest Constitutus be applied to him for carrying these things out, so that, with what is necessary being arranged by competent solicitude, nothing indecent or useless may be permitted to be done. And therefore by the present command we instruct you that, with reverence first preserved toward the aforesaid bishop, which it befits us to show blamelessly, you offer competent obedience in all things pertaining to the service of divine worship or which care for ecclesiastical utility has urged should be performed, so that, resisting his arrangements in nothing with a contumacious spirit, but rather fulfilling with a competent effort of your vigilance those things which he has admonished should be done for ecclesiastical utility, with these matters thus arranged both your customary stipends may be supplied to you and whatever is necessary in the patrimony of the aforesaid church or in recovering the things pertaining to it may be completed. GRATIAN. But that statement of Cyprian is to be understood concerning heretics who strive to usurp the churches of Catholics for themselves. § 1. But that statement of Pope Evaristus is to be understood when neither an unavoidable necessity—of persecutors, namely—nor an apostolic or regular transfer, but ambition alone compels a bishop to pass from church to church. § 2. Hence, when at the beginning of his chapter he had said, “A bishop ought not to leave his church,” he afterward added: “Apart from unavoidable necessity or an apostolic or regular transfer, and to join himself to another through a desire for advancement.”

PART IV. § 3. For whoever, because of ambition, has despised the modest size of his own church and has wished to transfer to a greater church ought to be recalled to his own. But if he has despised returning, let him lack both the other and his own. Hence it is read in the Council of Nicaea, [c. 15]:

A bishop or the remaining orders ought not to migrate from city to city; let neither bishop, nor priest, nor deacon pass over. But if anyone after the determination of the holy and great council has attempted to do any such thing and has bound himself to an undertaking of this kind, let this deed be regarded as altogether void, and let him be restored to the church of which he was ordained bishop, priest, or deacon.

Likewise Gregory to the Subdeacon Anthemius, [book V, letter 23]. It has come to us that Pimenium, bishop of the city of Amalfi, is not content to reside in his church but wanders outside through various places. Therefore by this authority we instruct you that he not presume to do this henceforth but reside in his church in priestly fashion. If, after your threat, you find that he has not corrected himself, take care to assign him to a monastery and by every means report it to us, so that you may learn by another command from us what you ought to do.

Likewise from the Fifth Council of Carthage, [c. 100]. It was resolved that no one have the power, after leaving his principal chair, to betake himself to some church established in his diocese, or, by remaining on his own property longer than is fitting, to neglect the care or attendance of his own chair.

Likewise from the same, [Fifth Council of Carthage, c. 8]. It has been established that no interim administrator be permitted to retain the chair to which he was given as interim administrator through any popular zeal or seditions, but that he take care to provide them a bishop within a year. But if he has neglected this, after the year has elapsed let another interim administrator be assigned.

Likewise from the same. But if any, acting without regard for God, not having the fear of God before their eyes and not observing the ecclesiastical statutes, have withdrawn from their church, whether a priest or a deacon, or those placed in any ecclesiastical order whatsoever, they ought not to be received in another church, but must by every necessity be compelled to return to their own church. But if they persist, they ought to be excommunicated.

Likewise from the Council of Antioch, [c. 3]. If any priest, deacon, or any cleric, after deserting his own church, has believed that he should pass to another, and there, to which he has migrated, gradually attempts to remain permanently, he ought not to minister any longer, especially if he has been exhorted by his own bishop to return. But if after the summons of his bishop he has not obeyed but has persevered in disobedience, he ought by every means to be deposed from his office and never afterward to have hope of restoration. But if another bishop receives one deposed for this fault, he too will merit the penalty of rebuke from the common synod as one dissolving ecclesiastical laws.

Likewise from the same, [Council of Antioch, c. 21]. A bishop ought not to pass from diocese to diocese, neither if he has thrust himself in, nor if he has been violently drawn by the people, nor even if this is advised to him by the bishops; but he ought to remain in the church of God which he obtained from the beginning and not migrate from it elsewhere, in accordance with the rule long ago established on this matter by the Fathers.

Likewise from the Council of Chalcedon, [c. 5]. On account of those bishops or clerics who pass from city to city, it was resolved that the determinations given by the holy Fathers possess their proper force.

Likewise from the Third Council of Carthage, [c. 20]. It was resolved that the congregations of another be usurped by no bishop, nor let any bishop overstep into the diocese of his colleague.

Likewise Anacletus. A bishop ought not to intrude into another's diocese to ordain another's clerics or consecrate altars. But if he has done so, those whom he ordained being removed and only the consecration of the altar remaining, the transgressor of the canons shall cease from the celebration of Masses for a year.

Likewise from the Council of Agde, [c. 64]. If anyone established among the clergy has been absent from his church on solemn days—that is, on the Nativity of the Lord, Epiphany, Easter, or Pentecost—because he applies himself to secular gains rather than obeying the service of God, it is fitting that he be suspended from communion for three years. § 1. Likewise, if a deacon or priest has been absent from his church for three weeks, let them be subject to this condemnation.

Likewise Pope Hilary, [to the Bishops of Tarragona, c. 3]. Once Bishop Irenaeus has been removed from the church of Barcelona and sent back to his own, and the inclinations which through ignorance of ecclesiastical laws desire to obtain what is not permitted have been calmed by priestly moderation, let a bishop of such a kind be ordained immediately for the people of Barcelona from their own clergy as it especially befits you, brother Ascanio, to elect and becomes you to consecrate; lest, if perhaps it is done otherwise, our command, especially with the rebuke of your name, strike down what we shall have learned was committed to the injury of God, from whom in particular comes the grace of priestly dignities.

Likewise Leo, Bishop of the city of Rome, to Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, [letter LXXXII, otherwise LXXXIV, c. 8]. If any bishop, having despised the modest size of his own city, has aspired to the administration of a more celebrated place and by any reasoning has transferred himself to a greater people, let him indeed be driven from the chair of another, and he shall also lack his own, so that he preside neither over those whom he coveted through avarice nor over those whom he despised through pride. Therefore let each be content with his own boundaries and not desire to be enlarged beyond the measures of his right.

Likewise from the Council of Meaux, [c. 30]. If anyone of the priestly order, out of contempt for a lesser church, has ambitiously and wickedly aspired to a more powerful one, let the canonical determination be observed toward him, namely, that he lack both. GRATIAN. But one who has entered a vacant church for a price is to be deposed from his office, as is read in the Council of Rouen:

It has been decreed and prohibited by every means that, if any priest is found to give or to have given gifts to any cleric or layman, or to bestow other money so that, through cupidity, rapine, or presumption, he might buy at a price the vacant church of another priest for the sake of shameful gain, he is to be cast down from the clergy and shall be foreign to the rule. PART V. GRATIAN. But Pope Anterus demonstrates that transfers of bishops can be made by common counsel and for the benefit of others, and that, while they are living, others can be substituted in the churches from which they have withdrawn, writing [letter VII] to all the Bishops:

Know that transfers of bishops are permitted to be made for common utility and necessity, but not by anyone's own will or domination. Saint Peter, our teacher and prince of the apostles, was transferred from the city of Antioch to Rome for the sake of utility, so that he might be able to profit more there. Eusebius also was transferred by apostolic authority from a certain small city to Alexandria. Likewise Felix, from the city in which he had been ordained, through the election of the citizens because of the teaching and good life which he possessed, was transferred to Ephesus by authority of this holy see and the common counsel of the bishops, the remaining priests, and the peoples. For one does not pass from city to city, nor is one transferred from a lesser to a greater, who does this neither from a desire for advancement nor by his own will, but who, either driven by force from his own see, or compelled by necessity, or for the utility of the place or people, has been transferred by others not proudly but humbly. § 1. For just as bishops have the power regularly to ordain bishops and the remaining priests, so, whenever utility or necessity requires it, they have power both to transfer in the aforesaid manner and to enthrone, yet not without the authority and permission of the sacrosanct Roman see. § 2. For the cause of utility is one thing; that of avarice, presumption, and one's own will is another.

Likewise Pope Pelagius [II] to Archbishop Benignus, [letter II]. Know, most beloved brother, that the cause of necessity and utility is one thing, and that of presumption and one's own will is another. Therefore one who does not change his mind does not change his see—that is, one who migrates from city to city not for the sake of avarice, domination, his own will, or his own preference, but is transferred for the sake of necessity and utility. For the utility of many is also to be preferred to the utility or will of one. For it is one thing to transfer, and another to be transferred. § 1. For it is one thing to pass voluntarily, and another to come by compulsion or necessity. Hence these do not change a city, but are changed, because they do this not voluntarily but by compulsion. § 2. Therefore those who deny that this can be done for the sake of utility or necessity, whenever common necessity or utility has persuaded it, do not understand the ecclesiastical rules well.

The same to the same. Everyone who groaned and who was troubled by Saul fled and came to David. If the most pious and just king David had known that it was a sin to receive those fleeing persecution and passing from place to place and from city to city, he would by no means have received such persons, nor kept them with himself, nor placed them in other cities. For those who persecute the Lord's bishops and compel them to pass from cities to cities persecute not so much them as our Lord Jesus Christ, whose embassy they discharge. Nor do the bishops themselves sin in this, since they do it not voluntarily but by compulsion; rather, those who persecute them sin, nor can this be imputed to the bishops themselves, but to those who compel them to do it. § 1. But those who deny that mercy is to be shown to fugitives and to those suffering necessity deny Christ Himself, who is mercy and truth. § 2. Those who refuse, for the sake of utility and necessity, to transfer from another city—even if it is lesser—to a city that does not have a bishop a more learned or more useful bishop, not passing voluntarily but through the exhortation of superiors, by better counsel, for peoples who need divine ministries and do not have their own bishop to instruct them, or refuse to enthrone a bishop who has been expelled and is suffering persecution for the sake of utility or necessity, deny mercy to those suffering necessity.

Likewise from the Fourth Council of Carthage, [c. 27]. Let a bishop not pass through ambition from an obscure place to a renowned one, nor any cleric of a lower order. Certainly, if the utility of the church demands it, with a decree on his behalf by clergy and laity presented to the bishops, let him be transferred in the presence of the synod, with another bishop nevertheless substituted in his place. Priests of lower rank or other clerics can migrate to other churches with the permission of their own bishops.

Likewise from the same, [Fourth Council of Carthage, c. 33]. If bishops or priests have come for the sake of visiting to the church of another bishop, let them be received in their own rank and be invited both to give the word and to consecrate the offering.

Likewise Pope Callistus to all the Bishops, [letter II, c. 3]. Just as the wife of another is not permitted to be violated by anyone, or judged or administered except by her own husband while he is living, so neither is the wife of a bishop—which is understood without doubt to be his church or parish—while he is living, permitted to another to judge or administer without his counsel and will, or to enjoy intercourse with her, that is, ordination. Hence the Apostle says: “A wife is bound to the law of her husband for as long as her husband lives, but when he is dead she is released from the law of her husband.” Likewise the bride of a bishop—because the church is called his bride and wife—is bound to him while he is living and released when he is dead. “And let her marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord,” that is, regularly. For if, while he is living, she has married another, she will be judged an adulteress. Likewise he also, if he has voluntarily taken another bride, will be regarded as an adulterer and will be deprived of communion. But if he has been persecuted in his own church, he must flee to another and be joined to it, the Lord saying: “If they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” But if he is to be transferred for the sake of utility, let him not do this by himself, but let him do it when invited by his brothers, with the authority of this holy see; not, however, for the sake of a desire for advancement, but for utility or necessity, as has been said. PART VI. GRATIAN. This is to be understood not only concerning bishops but also concerning any ministers of the church, namely, lest another creep into the place of one living. Hence blessed Gregory writes to the Bishop of Salona concerning one who had consented to be promoted to another's archdiaconate, [book II, indiction 10, letters XIV and XVI]:

We depose from the honor of that archdiaconate the one who, contrary to the rule of justice, consented to be advanced into another's archdiaconate. If he presumes afterward to minister in the same place, let him know that he is deprived of participation in holy communion.

The same to the Monk Rusticus, [letter IV]. Among bees there is one prince; cranes follow one in lettered order; there is one emperor, one judge of a province. Rome, when founded, could not have two brothers as kings at the same time and is dedicated by parricide. In Rebecca's womb Esau and Jacob waged wars; individual bishops of churches, individual archbishops, individual archdeacons, and every ecclesiastical order rests upon its own rulers. PART VII. GRATIAN. Behold the cases in which another can be substituted for a bishop while he is living, although according to the truth of the matter such a person is proved to succeed a bishop who is not living. For one transferred from one city to another ceases to be bishop of that city from which he is transferred, and therefore one who succeeds him is proved to be substituted not for a living bishop but for one who, in a certain manner, is dead. But between one who is transferred by the necessity of enemy attack and one who is transferred for the sake of utility there is this difference: one who passes to another place through fear of enemy attack ought to return to his former place if it happens at some time to be freed from the enemy. Hence Pope Gregory writes to James, Bishop of Squillace, chapter 25:

The care of the pastoral office admonishes us to establish proper priests for destitute churches who ought to govern the Lord's flock with pastoral solicitude. For this reason we have thought it necessary to establish you, John, bishop of the city of Lesina, captured by enemies, as cardinal priest in the church of Squillace, so that with regard for future recompense you may fulfill the care of souls once undertaken. And although you have been driven from your own place by the imminence of the enemy, you ought to govern another church which lacks a shepherd, yet in such a way that, if it happens that that city is made free from enemies and, with the Lord protecting it, restored to its former state, you return to the church in which you were first ordained; but if the aforesaid city is oppressed by the calamity of continuing captivity, you ought to remain in this church in which you have been incardinated by us. GRATIAN. But one who is transferred for the sake of utility is by no means compelled to return to the former church. There is also another case in which a bishop is substituted while a bishop is living. For when anyone, after leaving his former chair, has passed to another by his own authority, if another has been substituted for him, although the former does not cease to be bishop of his former church, nevertheless the substituted one will possess the episcopate. Hence Damasus, Bishop of the city of Rome, writes to all the bishops:

We have held those priests who have migrated from churches to churches foreign to communion until they return to those cities in which they were established. But if, when one has migrated elsewhere, another has been ordained in the place of the living man, let the one who deserted his own city lack priestly dignity for as long as his successor rests in the Lord. GRATIAN. Transfers of episcopal sees are also sometimes accustomed to be made when fear of enemy attack intervenes.

Hence Gregory writes to John, Bishop of Velletri, [book II, letter 11]:

The character of the time admonishes us to transfer the sees of bishops, established in antiquity in certain cities, to other places in the same diocese which we consider safer, so that the inhabitants may both be able to live securely and more easily avoid barbarian danger. For this reason we instruct you, John, our brother and fellow bishop of the city of Velletri, to transfer your see to the place once called Arenata, at Saint Andrew the Apostle, so that you may be able to exist more freely from the incursion of enemy attack and there arrange the custom of solemnities festively. PART VIII. GRATIAN. Likewise, when anyone for the sake of humility, by apostolic concession, has descended from an episcopal see to monastic subjection, another can be substituted in his place; but he will by no means be able to rise again to the pontificate. Hence in the fifth action of the Synod of Constantinople of 383 Fathers, under Pope John VIII, over which Peter, cardinal priest, Paul, Bishop of Ancona, and Eugenius, Bishop of Ostia, legates of the Pope, presided, they said:

It is by no means held among us that anyone who has descended from the pontifical order to the life of monks can afterward return to the pontificate. Likewise: § 1. The holy synod commanded that whoever has descended from pontifical dignity to the life of monks and a place of penance shall by no means rise again to the pontificate. For the life of monks possesses the character of subjection and discipleship, not of teaching, presiding, or feeding others. GRATIAN. This is granted to certain persons for doing penance, not for preserving repose. Hence Pope Liberius writes to all the Bishops, [letter II]:

It has been suggested to us that, because of past labors and harassments, some of you leave the congregations assigned to themselves and committed to them by God, and that in the future more wish to leave the churches which they ought to protect, neglect to labor for the sheep committed to them, hasten to consign themselves to the repose of monasteries, choose release from the labors of the episcopate, and desire rather to lead a life in silence and leisure than to persevere in those things committed to them, although the Lord says: “Blessed is he who has persevered to the end.” For whence is blessed perseverance except from the virtue of patience? Since, according to the apostolic preaching, “all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution.” Therefore, dearest brothers, let not the bitterness of afflictions compel you to withdraw from the pious purpose of your mind. Consider how much our creator, lord, and redeemer endured for our absolution and liberation, and to what insults He handed Himself over to be subjected, so that He might free us from the bonds of diabolical power. Attend, therefore, to yourselves and to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit established you as bishops to govern the church of God, which He acquired with His own blood, so that there may be no one to deceive or seduce you by subtlety of speech, causing you to leave the congregations committed to you and to surrender yourselves to some repose because of the reproach of evil men, so that you save only yourselves and leave your children orphans.

Likewise Nicholas to Unifred, Bishop of the church of Moriana. You ask, therefore, through the priest Galdagar, whether, when you are driven from your bishopric by the Normans, you ought henceforth to live in a monastery. In this matter know, dearest brother, that, if it is dangerous for a helmsman to desert a ship in calm weather, how much more in the waves? Here we do not say that we should not flee the plots of persecutors—and especially of pagans—when they rage for a time and, because of the multitude of our transgressions, are divinely permitted the power to do harm, particularly since we ought not to advance against them voluntarily, and it is clearer than light that many prophets and apostles, and the Lord Himself, fled persecutors of this kind; rather, we say that it certainly befits especially us, who like rams provide leadership to the flocks—indeed, who are also their shepherds—with God as author to persevere with them in dangers according to our strength, and when tranquility has been restored by divine mercy and the harassment of those raging has been quieted, immediately to seek the flock, gather it into one, and raise up its spirits by preaching the peace and especially the security of the heavenly homeland. And it is fitting for us to be solicitous for their protection so long that, if perhaps by God's judgment they lose the advantages of the present times, they may hope without doubt to receive the eternal joys of the future life.

Likewise Gregory, [book VII, letter 126, to King Reccared]. Adversity which is placed in the way of good desires is a trial of virtue, not a judgment of reprobation. For who does not know how prosperous it was that the blessed apostle Paul was coming to Italy to preach, and yet in coming he suffered shipwreck? But nevertheless the ship of his heart stood intact amid the waves of the sea. PART IX. GRATIAN. This is understood to be observed when among the subjects there are found some whom the life of the prelates benefits, when the prelate is not sought personally and the safety of the church cannot be secure through others, lest, if he begins to desert those whom he can benefit, it be said of him: “But the hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.” But when he is sought personally, let him flee after the example of Christ, who fled from the face of Herod into Egypt; let him flee after the example of Paul, who was lowered by the brothers through the wall in a basket. Hence Augustine says: “Let the minister of Christ flee, as Christ fled into Egypt; let one who is sought personally flee, provided that the safety of the church is secured through others.” Hence He also says to the disciples: “If they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” Hence He also hid Himself and went out from the temple when the Jews took up stones to cast at Him. Hence Augustine also says concerning the same in Psalm 54: “Behold, I have gone far off in flight; this touches upon the fact that He avoided His persecutors, so that He might remove the occasion of anger, and remained in deserted places praying, in which He taught us to rest in the secrecy of conscience when we are oppressed by evil persons.” But when not only the safety of the prelates but that of the whole church is sought, and the faith is attacked, it is necessary that they ascend against the adversary and in the day of battle set themselves as a wall for the house of the Lord, laying down their souls for their sheep, so that by the example of their own suffering they may kindle those whom they cannot confirm any longer by the word of teaching. And this concerning manifest persecutions. § 1. There is also another kind of persecution under which the Apostle labored, saying: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn? etc.” Hence Augustine also says in Psalm 101: “The bones, that is, the strong, whose frying pan is those who are scandalized; the good person is fried to the extent that he loves.” Hence the same in Psalm 30: “The just man is angry at the sins of the chaff, yet he does not hate, in which the eye would be extinguished; and the belly stands for the inner things, which are disturbed when the impious cannot even be corrected. He does not cry out to them, because his life has failed in sorrow, when he sees that what he preaches does not profit.” § 2. Hence the same in Psalm 69, distinguishing both kinds of persecution: “The voice of those suffering tribulation with Christ, that is, of the martyrs, endangered amid sufferings but presuming upon the head. With them is the voice of every just person for whom, out of abounding charity, the iniquity of Christians is a suffering, just as Lot endured bodily persecution from no one in Sodom, but suffered from the evils of those with whom he dwelt. There is therefore persecution of the just either from a lion in assault or from a dragon in plots, whence let all cry out: O God, attend unto my help.” § 3. But when a prelate is afflicted by the vices of his subjects, sometimes there is one incurable obstinacy of all, and sometimes the evil are found mingled with the good. When the good dwell together with the evil, the good are not to be deserted because of the evil, lest, by perversely avoiding the evil, we surpass those whom we flee in going to hell; rather, let the evil be tolerated because of the good. Hence Gregory: “One refuses to be Abel whom the malice of Cain does not exercise”; for the iron of our mind cannot come to the sharpness of truth unless the file of another's depravity has scraped it. Hence also Augustine: “You who are good, tolerate the evil, etc.,” below, concerning the toleration of the evil, in the first cause of heretics. Hence the same says: “We commit a greater evil in the separation of the good than we flee in the association of the evil. § 4. God does not impute to such a person his own sins, because he did not commit them; those of others, because he did not approve them; negligence, because he was not silent; pride, because he remained in unity.” Hence the same in Psalm 54: “Who will give me wings like a dove? Not like a raven. The dove seeks to fly away from troubles, but does not lose love and always groans. Thus a good person wishes to separate himself in body, not in love, from those whom he cannot benefit. § 5. But sometimes he is bound not by the birdlime of cupidity but by care and office, so that he cannot desert them. Then let him say: ‘I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ; but to remain is necessary on account of you’; and thus there is merit from desire. § 6. ‘Behold, I have gone far off in flight,’ not in place, lest the charity of the good be broken, lest he lose the exercise afforded by the evil, whom God mingles in, as He mingled Judas with the apostles,” whom, although He knew him to be a thief, He nevertheless sent to preach and gave him the Eucharist, teaching that the evil are to be tolerated in the church and that association with the evil does not harm the good. But when there is an obstinate malice of all the subjects and the presence of the prelates does not benefit them, then it is permitted even bodily to withdraw from them, lest both their wickedness always advance for the worse and the prelates lose the fruit which they could find from the advancement of others. Thus the blessed Benedict is read to have deserted those whom he had seen conspire with one mind for his death. Hence also blessed Gregory, when Peter the Deacon asked whether it is permitted for a prelate to desert a flock once undertaken, responded in book II of the Dialogues, c. 3, saying:

The evil are to be borne with equanimity together in a place where some good persons are found who may be helped. For where fruit from the good is entirely lacking, labor upon the evil sometimes becomes superfluous, especially if nearby causes are available which may be able to bear better fruit for God. § 1. Something often occurs in the mind of the perfect which ought not to be passed over in silence, because, when they consider their labor to be without fruit, they migrate to labor with fruit in another place. Hence that distinguished preacher also, who desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for whom to live is Christ and to die is gain, who not only himself sought the contests of sufferings but also kindled others to endure them—when he suffered persecution at Damascus, so that he might be able to escape, sought a wall, a rope, and a basket and wished himself to be lowered secretly. Surely we do not say that Paul feared death, which he himself testifies that he seeks for the love of Jesus? But when he perceived that less fruit was available to him in the same place, he preserved himself for grievous labor with fruit elsewhere; for the strong warrior of God refused to be held within enclosures and sought the field of contest. GRATIAN. From the authorities of many it appears when others can be substituted while bishops are living, and when they cannot.