distinction — Decretum of Gratian
Distinction XCII
GRATIAN. Part I. But when they come to church, let them remember that one is to sing to God more with the heart than with the voice. Hence Jerome, in the epistle to the Ephesians:
GRATIANUS. I. Pars. Cum autem ad ecclesiam uenerint, corde magis quam uoce Deo cantandum meminerint. Unde Ieronimus in epistola ad Ephesios:
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. I. We ought to praise God with the heart, not with the voice.
“Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” Let the young men hear these things; let those whose office in the church is to chant psalms hear them: one is to sing to God not with the voice but with the heart, nor are the throat and jaws to be smeared with medicine after the manner of tragedies, so that theatrical melodies and songs are heard in the church. GRATIAN. Deacons, however, are found to be excepted from the office of singing and chanting psalms, lest, while they devote themselves to the modulation of the voice, they neglect the ministries of the altar. Hence Gregory, [book IV, epistle 44, and book XII after the end of the epistles, in a Council held by him]:
C. I. Corde, non uoce Deum laudare debemus.
"Cantantes et psallentes in cordibus uestris Domino." Audiant hec adolescentuli, audiant hi, quibus in ecclesia est psallendi offitium: Deo non uoce, sed corde cantandum, nec in tragediarum modum guttur et fauces medicamine liniendae sunt, ut in ecclesia teatrales moduli audiantur et cantica. Gratian. Ab offitio autem cantandi et psallendi diaconi inueniuntur excepti, ne, dum uocis modulationi student altaris ministeria negligant. Unde Gregorius: [lib. IV. epist. 44. et I. XII. post finem epistolarum, in Concilio ab ipso habito]
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. II. Let deacons not usurp the office of singing for themselves.
In the holy Roman Church there arose some time ago a custom exceedingly deserving of censure, that certain singers are chosen for the ministry of the sacred altar and, constituted in the order of the diaconate, devote themselves to modulation of the voice, though it was fitting for them to be at leisure for the office of preaching and the pursuit of almsgiving. Hence it frequently happens that in the sacred ministry, while a pleasing voice is sought, a fitting life is neglected, and the singer who is a minister provokes God by his conduct while he delights the people with his voice. For this reason, by the present decree I establish that in this see the ministers of the sacred altar ought not to sing, but are to discharge only the office of the Gospel reading during the solemnities of the masses; but I decree that the psalms and the other readings are to be provided through subdeacons or, if necessity demands, through the lesser orders. But if anyone attempts to go against this decree of mine, let him be anathema. Part II. GRATIAN. It has been shown briefly from what things those to be ordained ought to be immune. But from whose hands they ought to receive their orders is readily evident. For a priest and all constituted below him ought to be ordained by bishops. Hence it reads in the Council of Pope Martin:
C. II. Cantandi offitium sibi diacones non usurpent.
In sancta ecclesia Romana dudum consuetudo est ualde reprehensibilis exorta, ut quidam ad sacri altaris ministerium cantores eligantur, et in diaconatus ordine constituti modulationi uocis inseruiant, quos ad predicationis offitium et elemosinarum studium uacare congruebat. Unde fit plerumque ut in sacro ministerio, dum blanda uox queritur, congrua uita negligatur, et cantor minister Deum moribus stimulet, cum populum uocibus delectet. Qua de re presenti decreto constituo, ut in sede hac sacri altaris ministri cantare non debeant, solumque euangelicae lectionis offitium inter missarum solempnia exsoluant; psalmos uero ac reliquas lectiones censeo per subdiaconos uel, si necessitas exigit, per minores ordines exhiberi. Si quis autem contra hoc decretum meum uenire temptauerit, anathema sit. II. Pars. Gratian. A quibus ordinandos oporteat esse inmunes, breuiter monstratum est. De quorum uero manibus suos ordines suscipere debeant, facile patet. Sacerdos enim et cuncti infra ipsum constituti ab episcopis debent ordinari. Unde in Concilio Martini Papae legitur:
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. III. Those who are not ordained by a bishop are not to chant psalms or read in the pulpit.
It is not permitted to chant psalms or read in the pulpit unless they are readers ordained by a bishop. GRATIAN. Concerning the bishops by whom, or in what places, they ought to be ordained, it was determined above. Part III. § 1. But now it is asked concerning those who, after being ordained, are not received by their own parish, or for some cause are unwilling to go to it, whether they can celebrate episcopal office in the parish of another. Concerning these it is found to have been established thus in the Council of Pope Martin:
C. III. Qui ab episcopo non ordinantur, in pulpito non psallant uel legant.
Non liceat in pulpito psallere aut legere, nisi qui ab episcopo ordinati sunt lectores. Gratian. De episcopis autem, a quibus uel in quibus locis ordinari debeant, supra diffinitum est. III. Pars. §. 1. Nunc autem queritur de his, qui ordinati a parrochia sua non recipiuntur, uel pro aliqua causa eas adire noluerint, an in alterius parrochia episcopale possint offitium celebrare? De his in Concilio Martini Papae sic statutum inuenitur:
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. IV. Let a bishop whom his parish does not receive exercise only the office of a priest.
If any ordained bishop, because of the contempt of the people or for some reason, and not through his own fault, does not go into the parish which had been given to him, it is fitting that he attain only the honor of the priesthood, so that he presume nothing concerning the property of the church into which he comes, but await what the holy council wills to judge concerning him.
C. IV. Sacerdotis tantum offitium gerat episcopus, quem sua parrochia non recipit.
Si quis ordinatus episcopus pro contemptione populi aut pro aliqua ratione, non pro sua culpa, in parrochiam, que ei fuerit data, non ierit, hunc oportet honorem sacerdotii tantummodo contingere, ita ut de rebus ecclesiae, in quam conuenit nichil presumat, sustineat autem, quid de eo sanctum concilium iudicare uoluerit.
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. V. Concerning an ordained bishop whom his parish does not receive.
Likewise from the Council of Antioch, [c. 18]. If any bishop after being ordained does not go to the parish for which he was elected—not through his own fault, but because either the people prohibit him, or for another cause not perpetrated through his fault—let him be a participant both in honor and in ministry, provided that he prove troublesome in nothing to the property of the church where he is known to minister. It is also fitting that he observe whatever the synod of the full province decrees by its judgment.
C. V. De episcopo ordinato, quem sua parrochia non recipit.
Item ex Concilio Antioceno. [c. 18.] Si quis episcopus ordinatus ad parrochiam, cuius est electus, minime accesserit, non suo uitio, sed quod eum aut populus uetet, aut propter aliam causam, non tamen eius uitio perpetratam, hic et honoris sit et ministerii particeps, dummodo rebus ecclesiae, ubi ministrare cognoscitur, in nullo molestus existat. Quem etiam obseruare conuenit, quicquid sinodus perfecte prouinciae iudicando decreuerit.
Friedberg, col. 317/318
C. VI. Those not received by their own parish are not to inflict trouble upon others.
Likewise from the Council of Ancyra, [c. 28]. If any bishops have been ordained and not received by the parish in which they had been designated, and should wish to occupy other parishes and inflict violence upon their prelates by stirring up seditions against them, it pleased the council that they be cast out. But if they wish to reside as priests in the order of the priesthood where they had been before, they are not to be cast out from their own dignity. If, however, they stir up seditions against the bishops established there, let the honor of the priesthood also be taken away from such persons, and let them be marked by condemnation.
C. VI. A sua parrochia non recepti aliis molestiam non inferant.
Item ex Concilio Ancirano. [c. 28.] Si qui episcopi ordinati sunt, nec recepti ab illa parrochia, in qua fuerant denominati, uoluerintque alias occupare parrochias, et uim presulibus earum inferre, seditiones aduersus eos excitando, eos abici placuit. Quod si uoluerint in presbiterii ordine, ubi prius fuerant, ut presbiteri residere, non abiciantur a propria dignitate. Si autem seditiones commouerint ibidem constitutis episcopis, presbiterii quoque honor talibus auferatur, fiantque dampnatione notabiles.
Friedberg, col. 319/320
C. VII. Let a bishop who has neglected to go to the church committed to him be deprived of communion.
Likewise from the Council of Antioch, [c. 17]. If any bishop receives the episcopate through the imposition of hands and neglects to undertake the ministry committed to him, and does not consent to go to the church committed to him, it is fitting that he be deprived of communion until, under compulsion, he undertakes the office, or certainly until the synod of the priests of the same province fully decrees something concerning him.
C. VII. Communione priuetur episcopus, qui ecclesiam sibi commissam adire neglexerit.
Item ex Concilio Antioceno. [c. 17.] Si quis episcopus per manus inpositionem episcopatum acceperit, et sibi commissum ministerium subire neglexerit, nec acquieuerit ire ad ecclesiam sibi commissam, hunc oportet communione priuari, donec susceperit coactus offitium, aut certe de eo aliquid integre decreuerit eiusdem prouinciae sinodus sacerdotum.
Friedberg, col. 319/320
C. VIII. Without the counsel of a full order, let a bishop not approach a vacant church.
Likewise from the same, [c. 16]. If any bishop who is without a see rushes into a church which has no bishop, surreptitiously winning over the people, without the counsel of the full order, it is fitting that he be alien to the Church, even if the people whom he led astray desire him. But we call that council full and perfect in which the metropolitan bishop has participated. Part IV. GRATIAN. But what was commanded above, that clerics withdrawing themselves from vigils are to be excommunicated, is to be understood concerning those who, frequently admonished by the bishop, scorn to correct their negligence. Hence it reads in the Council of Pope Martin:
C. VIII. Sine consilio integri ordinis uacantem ecclesiam episcopus non adeat.
Item ex eodem. [c. 16.] Si quis episcopus uacans in ecclesiam non habentem episcopum, subripiens populos, sine consilio integri ordinis irruerit, etiamsi populus, quem seduxit, desideret illum, alienum eum ab ecclesia esse oportet. Integrum autem et perfectum concilium dicimus illud, cui metropolitanus episcopus interfuerit. IV. Pars. Gratian. Quod autem supra clerici se uigiliis subtrahentes excommunicari iubentur, de his intelligendum est, qui ab episcopo frequenter admoniti, negligentiam suam corrigere contempnunt. Unde in Concilio Martini Papae legitur:
Friedberg, col. 319/320
C. IX. Let a cleric who, after being admonished by the bishop, neglects to be present at the morning or evening hours be excommunicated.
If any priest or deacon, or any cleric deputed to a church, is in any place in which there is a church and does not come to the church for the daily office of chanting psalms at the morning or evening hours, let him be deposed from the clergy, provided that, after being chastised, he has been unwilling to merit pardon from the bishop through satisfaction.
C. IX. Excommunicetur clericus, qui ab episcopo commonitus matutinis uel uespertinis horis adesse neglexerit.
Si quis presbiter aut diaconus uel quilibet clericus ecclesiae deputatus, si in quolibet loco fuerit, in quo ecclesia est, et ad cottidianum psallendi offitium matutinis uel uespertinis horis ad ecclesiam non conuenit, deponatur a clero, si tamen castigatus ueniam ab episcopo per satisfactionem noluerit promereri.
Friedberg, col. 319/320