Question II

GRATIAN. PART I. That a bishop or any of his superiors ought not to ordain the clerics of another without proper letters, Pope Callistus writes, [letter II to the Bishops of Gaul], saying:

Let no one usurp the boundaries of another, nor presume to judge, ordain, or excommunicate the parishioner of another, because such a judgment, ordination, excommunication, or condemnation will neither be valid nor possess any force, since no one will be bound or condemned by the sentence of another judge, but only by that of his own. Hence the Lord also speaks in the Gospel, saying: “Do not transgress the ancient boundaries which your fathers established.”

Hence Pope Urban: It was resolved that henceforth no priest be permitted to receive for penance anyone committed to another priest without the consent of the one to whom he first committed himself, except through the ignorance of the one to whom the penitent first confessed. But one who has presumed to act contrary to these statutes will lie under danger to his rank.]

The same, [Callistus, letter II]. Let no primate, no metropolitan, and none of the remaining bishops approach another's city or enter a possession which does not pertain to him, and, over the parish of another bishop, arrange, ordain, or judge anything there unless summoned by him to whose right it is known to belong, if he wishes to possess the honor of his rank. But if he has presumed otherwise, he will be condemned, and not only he but those cooperating with and consenting to him, because just as ordination, so also judgment and the administration of other matters are prohibited to them. For one who will not be able to ordain, how will he judge? Without doubt he will by no means judge or be able to judge.

[PALEA.

Likewise from the Council of Nantes, c. 1. On Sundays or feast days, before priests celebrate Masses, let them ask the congregation whether there is a parishioner of another in the church who, having despised his own priest, wishes to hear Mass there. If they find him, let them immediately cast him out of the church and compel him to return to his own parish.]

[PALEA.

Likewise from the same Council of Nantes, c. 2. Let no priest or deacon dare to receive at Mass one belonging to another congregation, unless he is on a journey or has an appointed proceeding there.]

Likewise from the Council of Antioch, [c. 13]. No bishop ought to dare to make passage from one province to another and ordain any persons in churches or bring them forward to sacred ministry. Nor shall a bishop be drawn there by others unless perhaps he goes after being requested by letters not only from the metropolitan but from all the bishops of that province who are with him. But if, with no one inviting him, he arrives inordinately and presumes either to ordain any persons or attempts to usurp any persons belonging to that church who do not pertain to him, all that he has done will indeed be void and empty, while he himself shall pay worthy penalties for this undisciplined act and irrational undertaking, as one deposed by the holy synod and already condemned for presumption of this kind.

Likewise from the same, [c. 22]. A bishop ought not to intrude into another city which is proved not to be subject to him, nor into a region which is known by no means to pertain to his care, to ordain anything or establish priests or deacons pertaining to other bishops, except perhaps with the will and testimony of the bishop of the proper region. But if anyone of these has wished to do such a thing, an ordination of this kind will indeed be void, and let the things which he wickedly usurped be reproved by the synod. For if he could not ordain, let him by no means presume to judge one belonging to others.

Likewise from the Synod of Constantinople, [I, c. 2]. Let bishops who are outside a diocese not approach churches which are outside their boundaries, nor confound and intermingle the churches. According to the established rules, let the bishops of Alexandria govern only the things which are in Egypt; but let the bishops of the East exercise care only for the East, with the honors of the primacy of the church of Antioch, which are contained in the rules of the Nicene Synod, preserved. And let the bishops of the Asian diocese govern the things which are in Asia and which pertain only to the Asian diocese. But let the bishops of Pontus have care only for the Pontic diocese, and those of Thrace only for Thrace itself.

Likewise. Bishops who have not been invited ought not to pass beyond a diocese for the ordaining of any persons or the administration of any ecclesiastical cases, with the rule written above concerning each diocese preserved. For it is manifest that throughout each individual province the provincial synod ought to administer and govern all things, according to those things which were determined in the Nicene Synod. PART II. GRATIAN. By these authorities all bishops are prohibited from ordaining the clerics of another. But it is asked: if it happens that they distribute sacred orders to any persons, can those ordained be received by their own bishops in their proper orders? Concerning these matters Pope Urban writes thus to Hugh, Archbishop of Lyon:

Your religious prudence can receive with the honor of their ranks the clerics of the parish of Lyon whom, as you showed by the information in your letters, bishops of another parish ordained contrary to the statutes of the canons, if it shall be established that otherwise they were ordained canonically and without any depravity, provided that you perceive their approved life to merit this indulgence. For we read that Saint Epiphanius, a bishop, ordained certain clerics from the diocese of Saint John Chrysostom, which the holy man would by no means have done if he had weighed that harm would come to them. Therefore, after recognizing the penance imposed as a satisfaction because of the church which they offended, those whom your moderation has judged should be received you shall receive, from regard for compassion, each in his own honor, with the discipline of the holy canons preserved in all things.