distinction — Decretum of Gratian
Distinction LXXI
GRATIAN. Concerning clerics not to be ordained by a bishop of another city, it was enacted in the Council of Sardica, [cc. 18 and 19], where Bishop Januarius is read to have said:
GRATIANUS. De clericis uero non ordinandis ab episcopo alterius ciuitatis, in Sardicensi Concilio [c. 18. et 19.] statutum est, in quo Ianuarius Episcopus legitur dixisse:
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. I. Clerics are not to be ordained by a bishop of another city.
Let your holiness also enact this: that no bishop be permitted to solicit an ecclesiastic of another city and ordain him as a cleric in his own diocese. For discords are accustomed to arise from these contentions; and therefore let the judgment of all prohibit anyone from daring to do this. § 1. Bishop Hosius said: And we all enact this also: that whoever wishes to ordain a minister belonging to another parish without the consent and will of that minister’s bishop, his ordination is not to be valid.
C. I. Clerici ab episcopo alterius ciuitatis non ordinentur.
Illud quoque sanctitas uestra statuat, ut nulli episcopo liceat alterius ciuitatis ecclesiasticum sollicitare et in sua diocesi clericum ordinare. Quia ex his contentionibus solent nasci discordiae, et ideo prohibeat omnium sentencia, ne quis hoc facere audeat. §. 1. Osius episcopus dixit: Et hoc uniuersi constituimus, ut quicumque ex alia parrochia uoluerit alienum ministrum sine consensu ipsius et sine uoluntate ordinare, non sit rata eius ordinatio.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. II. On the same.
Likewise Innocent, [to Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, epistle II, c. 7]. Let no one presume to ordain a cleric from another church unless that cleric’s bishop, having been entreated by prayers, is willing to grant him.
C. II. De eodem.
Item Innocentius. [ad Victricium Rothomagensem Episcopum, epist. II. c. 7.] De aliena ecclesia ordinare clericum nullus presumat nisi eius episcopus precibus exoratus concedere uoluerit.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. III. If one is ordained without the consent of his own bishop, let his ordination be void.
Likewise from the Council of Nicaea, [c. 16, at the end]. If anyone shall dare to ordain in a church someone who belongs to another, when he does not have the consent of the bishop from whom the cleric withdrew, let such an ordination be void.
C. III. Qui sine episcopi sui consensu ordinatur, irrita sit eius ordinatio.
Item ex Niceno Concilio. [c. 16. in fin.] Si quis ausus fuerit aliquem, qui ad alterum pertinet, in ecclesia ordinare, cum non habeat consensum illius episcopi, a quo recessit clericus, irrita sit huiusmodi ordinatio.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. IV. A cleric of one church is not to be ordained in another.
Likewise from the Council of Chalcedon, [c. 20]. It is not permissible for clerics established in individual churches, as we have already defined, to be ordained in the churches of another city; rather, let them remain in the one in which they first earned the right to minister, excepting those who have lost their own cities and by necessity have migrated to other churches. But if any bishop, after this definition, receives a cleric belonging to another bishop, it has pleased the holy synod that both the one who received and the one received are to remain excommunicated until the cleric himself returns to his own church.
C. IV. Clericus unius ecclesiae in alia non ordinetur.
Item ex Concilio Calcedonensi. [c. 20.] Clericos in singulis ecclesiis constitutos non liceat, sicut iam diffiniuimus, in alterius ciuitatis ecclesiis ordinari; sed quiescant in ea, in qua ab initio ministrare meruerunt, exceptis illis, qui proprias ciuitates perdiderunt, et ex necessitate ad alias ecclesias migrauerunt. Si uero quicumque episcopus post diffinitionem istam ad alium episcopum pertinentem clericum susceperit, placuit sanctae sinodo, et hunc, qui suscepit, et eum, qui susceptus est, tamdiu excommunicatos manere, quamdiu ipse clericus reuertatur ad propriam ecclesiam.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. V. With apostolic permission, a cleric of one church can be ordained in another.
Likewise Gregory to Fortunatus, Bishop of Naples, [book V, epistle 11]. We recall that your fraternity requested of us that we grant Gratian, deacon of the church of Enafrenum, to be ordained for your church. And since his own church has no bishop whom he ought to obey—the enemy, namely, preventing him from rendering his ministry where he ought—we did not foresee that your petition should be deferred. Therefore, by these present writings we have thought it necessary to grant him to you, so that, with our authority intervening, you will have license, with God’s favor, to establish that deacon as a cardinal cleric of your church.
C. V. Apostolica permissione unius ecclesiae clericus in altera ualet ordinari.
Item Gregorius Fortunato Episcopo Neapolitano. [lib. V. epist. 11.] Fraternitatem tuam a nobis petisse recolimus, ut Gratianum ecclesiae Enafrenae diaconem tuae concederemus ecclesiae ordinandum. Et quoniam nec episcopum, cui obsecundare debeat, propria habet ecclesia, hoste scilicet prohibente, quo suum debeat ministerium exhibere, peticionem tuam non preuidimus differendam. Idcirco scriptis tibi presentibus eum necessario duximus concedendum, habiturus licentiam illum diaconum nostra interueniente auctoritate ecclesiae tuae, Deo propitio, constituere cardinalem.
Friedberg, col. 257/258
C. VI. A cleric is not to be received in any church without letters from his bishop.
Likewise from the Council of Carthage, [c. 5]. Primatus, Bishop of Begesela, said: I suggest to your holiness that you enact that it is not permissible for another’s cleric to be received by anyone without letters from his bishop, or to be retained with him, or for a layman to usurp for himself someone from another people so that he may possess him without the knowledge of the bishop from whose people he is. Bishop Gratus said: This observance guards peace; for I remember that it was similarly enacted at the most holy Council of Sardica that no one usurp a man of another people; but if perchance he is needed, let him request the man from his colleague and have him through the consent of his bishop.
C. VI. Sine litteris sui episcopi in aliqua ecclesia clericus non suscipiatur.
Item ex Concilio Cartaginensi. [c. 5.] Primatus episcopus Begeselitanus dixit: Suggero sanctitati uestrae, ut statuatis, non licere clericum alienum ab aliquo suscipi sine litteris episcopi sui, neque apud se retinere, nec laicum usurpare sibi de plebe aliena, ut eum obtineat sine conscientia eius episcopi, de cuius plebe est. Gratus episcopus dixit: Hec obseruantia pacem custodit; nam et memini in sanctissimo concilio Sardicensi similiter statutum, ut nemo alterius plebis hominem usurpet: sed si forte erit necessarius, petat a collega suo, et per consensum sui episcopi habeat.
Friedberg, col. 259/260
C. VII. A cleric is not to minister outside his own church without commendatory letters.
Likewise from the Council of Chalcedon, [c. 13]. It is wholly impermissible for a foreign cleric or reader to minister anywhere outside his own city without commendatory letters from his own bishop.
C. VII. Sine litteris commendaticiis extra suam ecclesiam clericus non ministret.
Item ex Concilio Calcedonensi. [c. 13.] Extraneo clerico et lectori extra suam ciuitatem sine commendaticiis litteris proprii episcopi nusquam penitus liceat ministrare.
Friedberg, col. 259/260
C. VIII. On the same.
Likewise from a sermon of Saint Augustine to the people. We exhort your Christian devotion that, according to the institutes of the holy canons, a priest coming from elsewhere not be received in churches founded by you unless he was consecrated by the bishop of your church or is received by him through commendatory letters.
C. VIII. De eodem.
Item ex sermone S. Augustini ad populum. Hortamur Christianitatem uestram, ut iuxta sanctorum canonum instituta, in ecclesiis a uobis fundatis aliunde ueniens presbiter non suscipiatur, nisi a uestrae fuerit ecclesiae episcopo consecratus, aut ab eo per commendaticias litteras suscipiatur.
Friedberg, col. 259/260
C. IX. Pilgrim clerics are not to be received without a canonical letter.
Likewise from the Council of Antioch, [c. 7]. No one ought to receive pilgrim clerics without a formata, which the Greeks call an epistle.
C. IX. Absque formata clerici peregrini non suscipiantur.
Item ex Concilio Antioceno. [c. 7.] Nullum absque formata, quam Greci epistolam dicunt, suscipi peregrinorum clericorum oportet.
Friedberg, col. 259/260