distinction — Decretum of Gratian
Distinction XXVII
GRATIAN. Part I. Since it is commanded that a bishop be chosen as the husband of one wife, it is asked whether this is to be understood of the time of ordination, so that during the time of his administration he can enjoy union with her whom, as his only wife and a virgin, he espoused to himself. Pope Martin prohibits this, saying:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. Quod autem unius uxoris uir episcopus iubetur eligi, queritur, an de tempore ordinationis hoc sit accipiendum, ut tempore suae administrationis eius copula possit fungi, quam unicam et uirginem sibi desponsauit. Hoc Martinus Papa prohibet dicens:
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C. I. A deacon is not to be ordained unless he has professed chastity.
If a deacon who is chosen has declared himself in favor of contracting marriage and has said that he cannot remain in chastity, let him not be ordained. But if he was silent at the ordination and was ordained, and afterward desired marriage, let him be excluded from the ministry and cease to belong to the clergy. GRATIAN. By this authority it is given to be understood that those who have wives or wish to take them can become neither deacons nor priests unless they profess continence. §1. But if a deacon wishes to cease from the ministry, after contracting marriage he can lawfully use it. For although at his ordination he offered a vow of chastity, nevertheless so great is the force in the sacrament of marriage that the marriage itself cannot be dissolved even because of the violation of a vow. Hence Augustine in the book On the Good of Marriage, to Julian [c. 10]:
C. I. Non ordinetur diaconus, nisi castitatem professus fuerit.
Diaconus qui eligitur, si contestatus fuerit pro accipiendo matrimonio, et se dixerit in castitate permanere non posse, hic non ordinetur. Quod si in ordinatione tacuerit et ordinatus fuerit, et postea matrimonium desiderauerit, alienus sit a ministerio et uacet a clero. Gratian. Hac auctoritate datur intelligi, quod illi, qui habent uxores uel accipere uolunt, nec diacones, nec sacerdotes fieri possunt, nisi continentiam profiteantur. §. 1. Si uero diaconus a ministerio cessare uoluerit, contracto matrimonio licite potest uti. Nam etsi in ordinatione sua castitatis uotum obtulerit, tamen tanta est uis in sacramento coniugii, quod nec ex uiolatione uoti potest dissolui coniugium ipsum. Unde Augustinus in libro de bono coniugali ad Iulianum: [cap. 10.]
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C. II. Those marrying after a vow are not to be separated from one another.
Part II. Certain persons assert that those marrying after a vow are adulterers. But I say that those who separate such persons sin gravely.
C. II. Nubentes post uotum non sunt abinuicem separandi.
II. Pars. Quidam nubentes post uotum adulteros asserunt. Ego autem dico, quod grauiter peccant qui tales diuidunt.
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C. III. On the same matter.
Likewise Theodore. If a man having a vow of virginity is joined to a wife, let him not afterward dismiss the wife, but let him do penance for three years. Jerome, however, writes to the contrary:
C. III. De eodem.
Item Theodorus. Si uir uotum uirginitatis habens adiungitur uxori, postea non dimittat uxorem, sed tribus annis peniteat. Ieronimus uero scribit econtra:
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C. IV. For those who make a vow, it is damnable to wish to marry.
For those vowing virginity, not only to marry but even to wish to marry is damnable.
C. IV. Dampnabile est uouentibus uelle nubere.
Vouentibus uirginitatem non solum nubere, sed etiam uelle dampnabile est.
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C. V. She who vowed virginity will have condemnation if she marries.
The same, Against Jovinian [Book I]. If a virgin marries, she does not sin—not that virgin who has dedicated herself to divine worship. For if any of these marries, she will have condemnation because she made her first faith void.
C. V. Dampnationem habebit, si nupserit, que uirginitatem uouit.
Idem contra Iouinianum. [lib. I.] Si nupserit uirgo, non peccat: non illa uirgo, que semet cultui diuino dedicauit. Harum enim si qua nupserit, habebit dampnationem, quia primam fidem irritam fecit.
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C. VI. She who pretends that she is a religious woman cannot marry.
Likewise Nicholas [Pope Nicholas I to Albinus, archbishop of the Church of Vienne]. As to what you asked concerning the woman who, after the death of her husband, placed the sacred veil upon her head and pretended under that veil that she was a religious woman, but afterward returned to marriage: it seems good to me, because she wished through hypocrisy to disturb the ecclesiastical rule and did not remain lawfully in her vow, that she do penance for the unspeakable mockery, return to that which she pledged, and remain in the sacred ministry that she began.
[PALEA.
C. VI. Que sanctimonialem se esse fingit non ualet nubere.
Item Nicolaus. [Papa I. ad Albinum Viennens. ecclesiae Archiepiscopum.] Quod interrogasti de femina, que post obitum mariti sui sacrum uelamen super caput suum inposuit, et finxit se sub eodem uelamine sanctimonialem esse, postea uero ad nuptias rediit: bonum mihi uidetur, quia per ypocrisim ecclesiasticam regulam conturbare uoluit, et non legitime in uoto suo permansit, ut penitentiam agat de illusione nefanda, et reuertatur ad id, quod spopondit, et in sacro ministerio permaneat, quod inchoauit.
[PALEA.
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C. VII. The same in the same place.
For if we consent that anyone may pretend each of the ecclesiastical sacraments however he wishes and not perform it truly, the whole ecclesiastical order will be disturbed, neither will the laws of the Catholic faith stand, nor will the sacred canons be duly observed. For what did it profit Simon Magus to receive sacred baptism feignedly and to pretend that he would remain in Christianity, when, after his fraud was detected through the Apostle, what would befall him was foretold? For he says: “May your money be with you unto perdition, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore do penance for this wickedness of yours and ask God whether perhaps this thought of your heart may be forgiven you; for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.” Therefore we judge that such persons, unless they come to their senses, are to be struck with the spiritual sword. For it is not lawful to lie to the Holy Spirit, as Ananias and Sapphira lied and immediately perished.]
C. VII. Idem ibidem.
Nam si consenserimus, quod omnia sacramenta ecclesiastica quisque prout uult fingat et non uere faciat omnis ordo ecclesiasticus turbabitur, nec catholicae fidei iura consistunt, nec canones sacri rite obseruantur. Quid enim profuit Simoni Mago baptismum sacrum ficte suscipere, et in Christianitate permansurum se finxisse, cum per Apostolum, fraude eius detecta, quod sibi futurum esset prenunciatum fuit? Ait enim: "Pecunia tua tecum sit in perditionem: cor enim tuum non est rectum coram Deo. Penitentiam itaque age ab hac nequitia tua, et roga
Deum, si forte remittatur tibi hec cogitatio cordis tui: in felle enim amaritudinis et obligatione iniquitatis uideo te esse." Ideo tales, nisi resipiscant, spirituali gladio percutere censemus. Non enim fas est Spiritui sancto mentiri, sicut Ananias et Saphira mentiti sunt, et statim perierunt. ]
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C. VIII. Those established in sacred orders are not to take wives; and if they take them, they are to be separated.
Likewise Pope Callixtus [II]. We utterly forbid priests, deacons, subdeacons, and monks to have concubines or to contract marriage; we also judge, according to the definition of the sacred canons, that marriages contracted by persons of this kind ought to be dissolved and the persons brought back to penance. GRATIAN. A distinction must be made here: among those who make vows, some make vows simply, concerning whom Augustine and Theodore spoke; others are those for whom, after the vow, there follows the blessing of consecration or the profession of religious life, concerning whom Jerome, Nicholas, and Callixtus wrote. Hence Jerome, writing against the same Jovinian [Book I], says:
C. VIII. In sacris ordinibus constituti, non ducant uxores: et si duxerint, separentur.
Item Calixtus Papa. [II.] Presbiteris diaconibus, subdiaconibus et monachis concubinas habere, seu matrimonium contrahere penitus interdicimus; contracta quoque matrimonia ab huiusmodi personis disiungi, et personas ad penitentiam debere redigi, iuxta sacrorum canonum diffinitionem iudicamus. Gratian. Hic distinguendum est, quod uouentium alii sunt simpliciter uouentes, de quibus Augustinus et Theodorus locuti sunt, alii sunt, quibus post uotum accedit benedictio consecrationis, uel propositum religionis, de quibus Ieronimus et Nicolaus et Calixtus scripserunt. Unde contra eundem Iouinianum Ieronimus [lib. I.] scribens, ait:
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C. IX. Virgins who marry after consecration are incestuous.
Virgins who marry after consecration are not so much adulterous as incestuous.
C. IX. Incestae sunt uirgines, que post consecrationem nubunt.
Virgines, que post consecrationem nupserint, non tam adulterae sunt, quam incestae.
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