distinction — Decretum of Gratian
Distinction LXX
GRATIAN. A cleric cannot be ordained by bishops of another city, nor even is he to be ordained absolutely by his own bishop. Absolute ordination is prohibited by the Council of Chalcedon and is commanded to have a void imposition of hands; there it was enacted as follows, [canon 6]:
GRATIANUS. Ab episcopis alterius ciuitatis clericus ordinari non poterit, nec etiam a proprio absolute ordinandus est: absoluta autem ordinatio Calcedonensi Concilio prohibetur et uacuam habere manus inpositionem precipitur; in quo sic statutum est: [can. 6.]
Friedberg, col. 255/256
C. I. No one is to be ordained absolutely.
We command that no one be ordained absolutely as priest or deacon, nor anyone constituted in an ecclesiastical order, unless the one who is ordained manifestly earns the designation of a public appointment in a church of a city or an estate, or at a martyr’s shrine, or in a monastery. Concerning those who are ordained absolutely, however, the holy synod has decreed that they have a void imposition of hands and that no such act has validity, to the injury of the very man who ordained him.
C. I. Nullus est absolute ordinandus.
Neminem absolute ordinari presbiterum iubemus, uel diaconum, nec quemlibet in ecclesiastica ordinatione constitutum, nisi manifeste in ecclesia ciuitatis, siue possessionis, aut in martirio, aut in monasterio, hic, qui ordinatur, mereatur ordinationis publicae uocabulum. Eorum autem, qui absolute ordinantur, decreuit sancta sinodus uacuam habere manus inpositionem, et nullum tale factum ualere ad iniuriam ipsius, qui eum ordinauit.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. II. An ordination made without a title is to be void.
Likewise from the synod of Urban [II] held at Piacenza, [c. 15]. Enacting things consonant with the statutes of the holy canons, we decree that an ordination made without a title is to be regarded as void, and that in whatever church a man is given a title, he is to persevere in it perpetually. § 1. It is altogether impermissible, however, for anyone to be given a title in two churches, but let each man be regarded as a canon only in the church in which he is enrolled. For although by a bishop’s arrangement one person can preside over diverse churches, he nevertheless ought not to be a prebendary canon except of the one church in which he is enrolled. § 1. If, however, there are chapels that cannot support clerics from their own revenues, let the care and arrangement of them fall to the provost of the greater church to which the chapels appear to be subject, and let him provide both for the possessions and for the ecclesiastical offices of the chapels. GRATIAN. At the same council a tenth preface was also added to the ancient nine, which reads thus: “It is right and salutary, she who conceived your only-begotten Son by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, and, the glory of virginity remaining, poured forth the eternal light upon the world, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
C. II. Irrita sit ordinatio sine titulo facta.
Item ex sinodo Urbani [II.] habita Placentiae. [c. 15.] Sanctorum canonum statutis consona sanctientes decernimus, ut sine titulo facta ordinatio irrita habeatur, et in qua ecclesia quilibet titulatus est, in ea perpetuo perseueret. §. 1. Omnino autem in duabus aliquem titulari non liceat, sed unusquisque, in qua titulatus est, in ea tantum canonicus habeatur. Licet enim episcopi dispositione unus diuersis preesse possit ecclesiis, canonicus tamen prebendarius, nisi unius ecclesiae, in qua conscriptus est, esse non debet. §. 1. Si que tamen capellae sunt, que suis redditibus clericos sustentare non possunt, ea cura ac dispositio preposito maioris ecclesiae, cui capellae subditae esse uidentur, inmineat, et tam de possessionibus quam de ecclesiasticis capellarum offitiis ipse prouideat. Gratian. In eodem etiam concilio antiquis nouem prefationibus decima addita est, que ita se habet: "Equum et salutare, que et unigenitum tuum S. Spiritus obumbratione concepit, et uirginitatis gloria permanente lumen eternum mundo effudit, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum."
Friedberg, col. 257/258