Distinction LXXXII

GRATIAN. Part I. A bishop is also generally to provide necessities for the poor and for those who cannot labor with their own hands. Hence it reads in the First Council of Orléans, [c. 18]:

Let a bishop bestow food and clothing—as far as it is possible for him—upon the poor or infirm who, because of weakness, cannot labor with their own hands.

Likewise Innocent to Exsuperius, Bishop of Toledo, [epistle III, c. 1]. Part II. You have proposed what ought to be observed concerning those placed in the ministry of the diaconate or the office of the presbyterate whom children begotten by them have disclosed to be or to have been incontinent. Concerning these men also the discipline of the divine laws is manifest, and the evident admonitions of Bishop Siricius of blessed memory have circulated: that incontinent men placed in such offices are to be deprived of every ecclesiastical honor and not admitted to such a ministry, which ought to be fulfilled by continence alone. For the authority of the sacred law is very ancient and has been guarded from the beginning: priests were commanded to dwell in the temple during the year of their turn, so that, serving the sacred oblations, they might claim the divine mysteries for themselves while pure and cleansed from every stain, and so that it might not be lawful to admit to sacred offices those who exercise carnal intercourse even with a wife, because it is written: “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The use of marriage had assuredly been relaxed for them for the succession of offspring because no one from another tribe had been commanded to approach the priesthood. How much more ought the priests or Levites themselves to preserve chastity from the day of their ordination, for whom the priesthood or ministry is without succession, and no day passes on which they are free either from divine sacrifices or from the office of baptism? For if Paul writes to the Corinthians, saying, “Abstain for a time, so that you may be free for prayer,” and assuredly commanded this to laymen, how much more, therefore, will priests, whose continual office is both sacrificing and praying, always be obliged to abstain from intercourse of this kind? If a priest has been contaminated by carnal concupiscence, by what merit does he believe that he can be heard, when it has been said: “All things are clean to the clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean; rather, their mind or conscience is defiled”? But perhaps he believes this is permitted to him because it is written: “The husband of one wife.” He did not say this so that the man might remain in the concupiscence of begetting, but because of future incontinence. He declares this more openly, saying: “But those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit.” Yet that judgment is clearly unequal and different. For if the form of ecclesiastical life and discipline which circulated from Bishop Siricius to all the provinces is not proved to have reached some persons, pardon will not be denied to those who were ignorant, on condition that henceforth they begin wholly to abstain and retain their grades in which they were found, in such a way that it is not permissible for them to ascend to higher ones. It ought to be counted as a benefice for them that they do not lose this very place which they retain. § 1. But if any are disclosed to have known the form of living sent by Siricius and not immediately to have cast away the desires of lust, those men are to be removed in every way who, after the admonition had become known, judged that pleasure was to be preferred.

Likewise Pope Siricius, [to Himerius, Bishop of Tarragona, epistle I, c. 7]. We have learned that very many priests of Christ and Levites, after long periods of their consecration, have begotten offspring both from their own wives and from shameful intercourse, and defend their crime by this prescription: that in the Old Testament the faculty of begetting is read to have been attributed to priests and ministers. Let whoever he is who follows lusts and teaches vices now tell me: if he thinks that in the law of Moses the reins of luxury were indiscriminately loosened by our God for the sacred orders, why does he admonish those to whom the holy of holies were entrusted, saying, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy”? Why also were priests commanded to dwell in the temple far from their own homes during the year of their turn? Clearly for this reason: lest they be able to exercise carnal intercourse even with their wives, so that, shining with integrity of conscience, they might offer a gift acceptable to God. When the time of their service had been completed, use of a wife had been relaxed for them solely for the sake of succession, because no one except from the tribe of Levi had been commanded to be admitted to God’s ministry.

Likewise. Because certain of those concerning whom we speak, as your holiness reported, lament that they fell through ignorance, we say that mercy is not to be denied to them on this condition: that, without any increase of honor, they persevere as long as they live in this office into which they were reduced, provided nevertheless that after this they take care to show themselves continent. But those who rely upon the excuse of an unlawful privilege and assert that this was granted to them in the old law are to know that by authority of the apostolic see they have been cast down from every ecclesiastical honor which they used unworthily and can never handle the venerable mysteries from which they deprived themselves while panting after obscene desires. And because present examples admonish us to take caution for the future, if any bishop, priest, or deacon—which we do not desire—is hereafter found to be such, let him understand now that every approach to indulgence has been closed to him through us, because wounds which have not felt the medicine of poultices must be cut away with iron. Part III. GRATIAN. But one who is commanded to be deposed because of sin will be able, after worthy penance, to be restored in his order. Hence it reads in the Council of Gangra:

If a priest commits fornication, although according to the canons of the Apostles he ought to be deposed, nevertheless, according to the authority of Blessed Pope Sylvester, if he has not persisted in the vice, if, having confessed of his own accord, he has applied himself to rise again, let him do penance for ten years in this manner: for three continuous months, removed from the others, let him use bread and water from evening to evening, but on Lord’s days and principal feasts let him be refreshed by a little wine, small fish, and legumes, without meat and lard, eggs, and cheese; clothed in sackcloth, let him remain upon the ground and continually implore the mercy of almighty God by day and night. When the three continuous months have been completed, let him come out, yet let him not proceed in public, lest the faithful flock suffer scandal in him; for a priest ought not to do public penance as a layman does. Afterward, when his strength has been recovered for a time, let him complete one year and a half on bread and water, excepting Lord’s days and principal festivities, on which he will be able to use wine and lard, eggs, and cheese according to the canonical measure. When the first year and a half have been completed, lest he become hardened, let him become a participant in the Lord’s body and blood and come to the peace; let him sing psalms with the brothers as the last in the choir; let him not approach the horn of the altar; according to the voice of Blessed Clement, let him perform the lesser offices. Thereafter, until the completion of the seventh year, at every time except the paschal days, let him fast on the three lawful weekdays in each week on bread and water. When the circuit of the seventh year has been completed, if the brothers among whom he did penance have praised his worthy penance, the bishop will be able to recall him to his former honor according to the authority of Blessed Pope Callistus. Certainly, it is to be known that he will be able to redeem Monday by singing one psalter or, if need exists, by giving one denarius to the poor. When seven years have been completed, thereafter until the end of the tenth year let him observe Friday on bread and water, with no redemption intervening. § 1. The same penance will also belong to a priest for all other sins and crimes which lead him to deposition. Nor let this seem burdensome to anyone, if a priest, after a fall, worthily doing penance as was said above, returns to his former honors.