Distinction XXV

GRATIAN. Part I. It has been briefly proved that no one is to be ordained without examination. Isidore, bishop of Seville, writes in a letter to Leudefredus what pertains to a bishop and what to each inferior, saying thus:

Having read through the letters of your holiness, I rejoiced that by their report I learned of your desired well-being. Concerning the things, however, that the discourse of your eloquence endeavored to intimate in what followed, I give thanks to God that you expend solicitude upon the pastoral office and inquire how ecclesiastical offices are ordered; and although all things are known to your prudence, nevertheless, because you consult me with brotherly affection, I shall explain to the degree I am able and speak concerning all the grades of the Church and what pertains to each. §1. To the ostiary belong the keys of the church, so that he may open and close the temple of God and guard all things that are within and without; receive the faithful and keep out the excommunicated and unbelievers. §2. To the exorcist belongs the memorization of the exorcisms and the imposition of hands upon possessed persons and catechumens in exorcizing them. §3. To the acolyte belongs the preparation of lights in the sacristy; he carries the candle, and he prepares the things supplied for the Eucharist of the chalice. §4. To the psalmist belongs the office of singing: to say blessings, praises, the sacrifice, responsories, and whatever pertains to skill in singing. §5. To the reader belongs the pronouncing of readings and the preaching to the peoples of the things that the prophets foretold. §6. To the subdeacon belongs the carrying of the chalice and paten to the altar of Christ and handing them to the Levites, and ministering to them; also holding the small pitcher, basin, and hand towel; and furnishing water to the bishop, priests, and Levites for washing their hands before the altar. §7. To the deacon belongs assisting the priests and ministering in all things that are conducted in the sacraments of Christ: namely in baptism, in chrism, in the paten and chalice; also bringing in the offerings and arranging them upon the altar; also preparing and clothing the table of the Lord; carrying the cross; and proclaiming the Gospel and the Apostle. For just as readers are commanded to proclaim the Old Testament, so deacons are commanded to proclaim the New. To him also belongs the office of prayers and the recitation of names; he admonishes the people to have their ears toward God; he exhorts them to cry out; he gives the peace; and he makes the announcements. §8. To the priest belongs confecting the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord upon the altar, saying prayers, and blessing the gifts of God. §9. To the bishop belongs the consecration of basilicas, the anointing of the altar, and the confection of chrism. He distributes the aforesaid offices and ecclesiastical orders; he blesses sacred virgins; and although each one precedes in individual matters, he is nevertheless the pre-ordainer in all. §10. These are the orders and ministries of clerics, which nevertheless by pontifical authority are divided under the care of the archdeacon and the solicitude of the primicerius and treasurer. §11. For the archdeacon commands subdeacons and Levites. To him belong these ministries: ordering the clothing of the altar by the Levites; care of the incense and the necessary solicitude for the sacrifice; determining which of the Levites is to read the Apostle and the Gospel, which is to say the prayers, or which is to sing the responsories on Sundays or solemnities. The solicitude and ordering of parishes and their disputes also pertain to his care. For the repair of diocesan basilicas he makes the proposal to the priest. At the bishop’s command he inspects the parishes and the ornaments or possessions of basilicas or parishes; the same man reports to the bishop the acts of ecclesiastical manumissions. He receives the money collected from the communion and carries it to the bishop; the same man distributes their own portions to the clerics. The transgressions of deacons are announced to the bishop by the archdeacon. In the sacristy he announces to the priest the days of fasts and solemnities, and this is proclaimed publicly in the church by the priest. But when the archdeacon is absent, the next deacon fulfills his office. §12. Let the archpriest, however, know that he is under the archdeacon and that he is to obey his precepts as those of his bishop; and, as pertains specially to his ministry, that he is to exercise care over all the priests placed in the order and stand continually in the church; and when the absence of his bishop occurs, he himself is to celebrate the solemn rites of the Mass in his place and say the collects, or the one to whom he himself enjoins it. §13. To the primicerius belong the acolytes, exorcists, psalmists, and readers; also the giving of the signal for the office of the clerics and for uprightness of life, and the careful singing and performance of the office; determining which cleric ought to say the readings, psalm, praises, offertory, and responsories; also the order and manner of singing psalms in choir according to the solemnity of the seasons; and also the ordering of the lights to be carried. If anything is also necessary for the repair of the basilicas that are in the city, he is to announce it to the priest. He is to direct the bishop’s letters concerning days of fasting to the parishioners through the ostiaries. He himself is to discipline clerics whom he knows to be offending; but when he cannot amend them, he is to carry their transgressions to the bishop’s knowledge. He is to appoint the guardians of the basilicas and arrange the registers. But when the primicerius is absent, the one who is nearest to him either by law or by learning is to attend to the things that have been stated. §14. To the treasurer belong the ordering of the ostiaries of the basilicas, the preparation of incense, care of confecting the chrism, care of ordering the baptistery, and the preparation of lights in the sacristy and at the sacrifices. Part II. GRATIAN. From this epistle it is clear what belongs to each office. There is also another distinction of bishops, priests, and deacons, which Clement made in his epistle, saying thus:

It is fitting to hear the bishop more attentively and to receive from him the doctrine of the faith; but to seek admonitions for life from priests, and from deacons the order of discipline. GRATIAN. A priest also surrounds both shoulders with the stole, but a deacon only the left, so that he may run about unencumbered for the ministry. Hence in the Fourth Council of Toledo, c. 40:

A Levite ought to wear one stole upon the left shoulder because he prays, that is, preaches; but he ought to have the right side free so that he may run about unencumbered for the priestly ministry. Part III. GRATIAN. Now, however, returning in order through the individual grades, let us consider briefly who can ascend from which orders into which grade; who can or cannot be restored after a fall; for which faults they deserve to be cast down from their own grade; by whose accusation and with which persons testifying they can be convicted; and by whose sentence they are to be absolved or condemned. §1. And first, beginning from the pontifical grade, let us diligently investigate what sort of man one who is to be ordained a bishop ought to be, following the rule of the Apostle that he writes to Timothy and Titus concerning a matter of this kind, saying: “A bishop ought to be irreproachable,” that is, not liable to reproof. This is to Timothy. To Titus, however: “A bishop ought to be without crime,” which, as Jerome writes to Oceanus, is the same thing. §2. By the name of crime, however, any sin is understood. Hence in the same epistle Jerome says: “It is a thing almost contrary to nature that anyone should be without sin; but let such a one be chosen that by comparison with him the others are called a flock.” In the epistle to Titus, however, a criminal sin or criminal infamy is called crime. Hence it is read there: “A crime is a complaint, that is, a sin worthy of accusation and condemnation.” §3. The command that one who is chosen as bishop be without crime is to be understood not of the time before baptism but of the time after baptism, namely so that from the time of baptism the consciousness of no crime should gnaw at his mind. §4. Elsewhere the designation “crime” extends broadly, embracing every sin that proceeds from deliberation. Hence Bede, upon the epistle of James: “He says and commands that sins committed from ignorance or human frailty be confessed one to another because they are easily forgiven; but whatever things are done from deliberation are not forgiven except through penance.” Hence Augustine also says: “No sin is so venial that it does not become criminal when it pleases.” Elsewhere, however, it signifies only those things that, once committed, suffice for condemnation. §5. For many things proceed from deliberation which, unless they have been repeated more often and brought into custom, although they burden a person after death, nevertheless do not destroy him eternally; because although by a certain reasoning they are called crimes, they nevertheless are not mortal and capital. Hence Augustine, in the homily On the Fire of Purgatory, expounding the words of the Apostle, “If anyone builds upon this foundation wood, hay, stubble”: “There are many who, understanding this reading badly, are deceived by false security, while they believe that if they build capital crimes upon the foundation of Christ, the sins themselves can be purged through a transitory fire and they can afterward reach eternal life. This understanding, most beloved brothers, is to be corrected, because those who flatter themselves thus deceive themselves. For by that transitory fire concerning which the Apostle says, ‘He himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire,’ not capital but minute sins are purged. Concerning these, although not all, at least some are to be recalled, lest anyone attempt vainly to excuse himself and say that he does not know which are minute sins and which are capital crimes. §6. And although the Apostle recalled many capital crimes, we nevertheless, lest we appear to cause despair, shall say briefly what they are: sacrilege, homicide, adultery, fornication, false testimony, robbery, theft, pride, envy, avarice; and, if it is held for a long time, wrath, and if it is continual, drunkenness, are counted in their number. For whoever recognizes that any one of these sins rules in him, unless he worthily amends it, and, if he has the time, performs penance for a long time, distributes abundant alms, and abstains from those sins, will not be able to be purged by that transitory fire concerning which the Apostle speaks, but the eternal flame will slaughter him without any remedy. §7. What the minute sins are, however, although they are known to all, nevertheless, because it is lengthy to rehearse them all, it is necessary that we name at least some of them. Whenever anyone takes more food or drink than is necessary, let him know that it pertains to the minute sins; whenever he speaks more than he ought or remains silent more than is expedient; whenever he exasperates a poor person who petitions importunately; whenever, although sound in body, he wishes to dine while others fast, or, given over to sleep, rises later for church; whenever he knows his wife apart from the desire for children; whenever he inquires too late after those placed in prison or visits the sick too late; if he neglects to recall those in discord to concord; if he exasperates either a neighbor, wife, son, or servant more than he ought; if he flatters more than he ought; if he wishes to flatter any person of higher station, either voluntarily or from necessity; if, while the poor go hungry, he prepares exceedingly delightful or costly banquets; if he occupies himself either in church or outside church with idle tales, for which an account is to be rendered on the day of judgment; if, while we swear incautiously and then cannot fulfill it because of some necessity, we assuredly perjure ourselves; and when with every readiness or rashness we curse, although it is written: ‘Nor shall those who curse possess the kingdom of God.’”

Likewise Gregory [Dialogues, Book IV, c. 9]. As each one departs from here, so he is presented at judgment; but nevertheless it is to be believed that for certain faults there is a fire of purgation before judgment, because Truth says: “If anyone has spoken blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it shall be forgiven him neither in this age nor in the future.” In this sentence it is given to be understood that certain faults can be remitted in this age and certain ones in the future. For when this is denied concerning one, it is evident from the consequent meaning that it is conceded concerning certain others. But nevertheless, as I said before, it is to be believed that this can be done concerning small and very minute sins, such as continual idle speech, immoderate laughter, or the sin of household care—which is scarcely conducted without fault even by those who know how they ought to avoid fault—which also burden persons after death if they were by no means remitted while they were still placed in life.

[PALEA.

Likewise Augustine in the book On True and False Penance, c. 18. One who has deferred the fruit of conversion to another age will first be purged by the fire of purgation. Although this fire is not eternal, it is nevertheless grievous in a marvelous manner. For it surpasses every punishment that anyone has ever suffered in this life or can suffer.] GRATIAN. Elsewhere, however, it signifies only those offenses for which there is perpetual infamy. Hence that saying of Jerome: “First, therefore, without crime,” etc. Hence Jerome writes in the same epistle to Titus [c. 1]:

First, therefore, a bishop is commanded to be without crime, which in another word I think is named “irreproachable” to Timothy: not that only at that time at which he is to be ordained he is without any crime and has washed away former stains by a new manner of life, but that from that time at which he was reborn in Christ he is gnawed by no consciousness of sin. For how can a ruler of the Church take evil away from its midst when he himself has fallen into a similar offense? Or with what freedom can he reprove one who sins, when the latter silently answers him that he himself committed the same things that he reproves? GRATIAN. Behold: one to be ordained as bishop ought to be immune from crime not only at the time of his ordination, but also throughout all the time after baptism.