Title — Liber Sextus
Title VIII: On Supplying the Negligence of Prelates
Chapter I
The jurisdiction of an excommunicated suffragan does not devolve upon the metropolitan. John Andrew.
Innocent IV. The Roman Church—(And below:) We wholly revoke the edict published throughout the province of Reims, that the subjects of the bishops of that province may proceed freely to the curia of Reims for their causes to be heard and terminated, because even if those bishops were held bound by the bond of excommunication for their faults, nevertheless their jurisdiction would not devolve from those faults upon the Archbishop of Reims, since this is not found granted by law. But perhaps another canonical penalty could be inflicted upon them for those faults.
DE SUPPLENDA NEGLIGENTIA PRAELATORUM.
Iurisdictio suffraganei excommunicati ad metropolitanum non devolvitur, Ioann. Andr.
Innocentius lV.
Romana ecclesia (Et infra:) Edictum vero per Remensem provinciam publicatum, ut a subditis episcoporum ipsius provinciae pro audiendis et terminandis eorum causis libere ad Remensem curiam accedatur, penitus revocamus, quia, etiamsi tenerentur iidem episcopi pro suis culpis vinculo excommunicationis adstricti, non tamen ex culpis ipsis, quum id non inveniatur a iure concessum, ad Remensem archiepiscopum iurisdictio devolveretur eorum. Sed alia forte pro illis poena ipsis canonica posset infligi.
Chapter II
If the person who presides is negligent and remiss, the superior ought to give him a suitable coadjutor. This is what it says. John Andrew.
The same, to the Barons and Counts of the Kingdom of Portugal. Not undeservedly with great … (And below:) We command that, when our beloved son the noble man, the Count of Boulogne, brother of the aforesaid King of Portugal, comes to you, you take care to receive him with all his people in the cities, castles, towns, and fortifications of the aforesaid kingdom, and that, each and all universally and individually, you attend in all respects and in all things, without any difficulty, to his disposition, ordering, and commands. He is commended in many ways for devotion, probity, and circumspection; he would by right succeed the same king in the kingdom if the king should die without a legitimate son; and, with the magnanimity and power that greatly support him and with the affection of tested love by which he pursues you and the aforesaid kingdom, it is firmly believed that he will reform the kingdom itself more maturely. This is especially so since, as we trust in the Lord, he has been salutarily assumed to the general and free care and administration of the same kingdom—both for the utility of the often-mentioned king and of the kingdom itself, if the matter is providently considered—and to the defense of the churches, monasteries, and other pious places of the aforesaid kingdom, and of ecclesiastical persons, religious as well as secular, and also of widows, orphans, and the others dwelling there, and to the recovery of the things lost there.
No fidelity, homage, oath, or pact by which you are perhaps bound to the aforesaid king or to any other person, nor even a prohibition of the king himself, is to stand in the way, provided that you faithfully preserve his person and life, and those of his legitimate son if he happens to have one, showing them the honor due. You are to furnish him counsel, aid, and favor against any persons resisting and also against violent persons, and to account to him fully, without any diminution, for the revenues, proceeds, and all rights of the aforesaid kingdom, so that from them he may be able to provide for the said king as befits his excellence, for himself and his people, and for the needs of the aforesaid kingdom according to the time and the character of the business arising.
Otherwise, by our letters we give command to our venerable brothers the Archbishop of Braga and the Bishop of Coimbra that, after admonition has first been given, they compel you to this by ecclesiastical censure, without appeal. By this, however, we do not intend to take the aforesaid kingdom away from the said king or from his legitimate son, if he has one, but rather, through the solicitude and providence of the aforesaid count, to counsel him and that kingdom, which is exposed to destruction, and you yourselves, during the lifetime of that king.
Si ille, qui praeest, est negligens et remissus, debet superior illi dare idoneum coadiutorem. H. d. Ioann. Andr.
Idem Baronibus et Comitibus* regni Portugalliae.
Grandi non immerito (Et infra:) Mandamus, quatenus dilectum filium nobilem virum, comitem Boloniensem, praefati regis Portugalliae fratrem, de devotione, probitate ac circumspectione multipliciter commendatum, qui eidem regi, si absque legitimo decederet filio, iure regni succederet, quique examinatae dilectionis affectu, quo vos et praedictum regnum prosequitur, magnanimitate ac potentia sibi plurimum suffragantibus, regnum ipsum maturius reformaturus firma credulitate speratur, praesertim quum ad curam et administrationem generalem et liberam regni eiusdem, tam* pros saepe dicti regis quam ipsius regni utilitate, si provide attendatur, ac ad defensionem ecclesiarum, monasteriorum aliorumque piorum locorum regni praefati, et personarum ecclesiasticarum tam religiosarum quam saecularium, nec non viduarum, orphanorum et ceterorum ibidem degentium, ac deperditorum inibi recuperationem salubriter, ut in Domino confidimus, sit assumptus: quum ad vos accesserit, (fidelitate, homagio, iuramento seu pacto, si aliquibus forte praefato regi vel cuicunque alii personae tenemini, aut etiam ipsius regis prohibitione, dummodo personam eius et vitam, ac legitimi sui filii, si aliquem ipsum habere contigerit, fideliter conservetis debitum eis exhibentes honorem, nequaquam obstantibus,) in civitatibus, castris, villis et munitionibus regni praedicti cum omnibus suis recipere, ac eius dispositioni, ordinationi et mandatis universaliter singuli et singulariter universi per omnia et in omnibus intendere absque difficultate qualibet procuretis, impendentes sibi contra quoslibet repugnantes ac etiam violentos consilium, auxilium et favorem, de reditibus, proventibus omnibusque praefatiregni iuribus sine diminutione aliqua plenarie respondendo, ut de illis dicto regi, secundum quod suam decet excellentiam, sibi ac suis et praefati regni necessitatibus pro tempore ac negotiorum emergentium qualitate valeat providere. Alioquin venerabilibus fratribus nostris Bracharensi archiepiscopo et episcopo Colimbriensi damus nostris literis in praeceptis, ut vos ad id monitione praemissap per censuram ecclesiasticam appellatione remota compellant. Per hoc autem non intendimus memorato regi vel ipsius legitimo filio, si quem habuerit, praedictum regnum adimere; sed potius sibi et eidem regno destructioni exposito, ac vobis ipsis in vita ipsius* regis per sollicitudinem et providentiam comitis consulere supra dicti.
Chapter III
When a bishop has been captured by pagans or schismatics, not the archbishop but the chapter administers, unless the Pope—who is to be consulted concerning this by the chapter as soon as it can be done—should order otherwise. John Andrew.
Boniface VIII. If a bishop is captured by pagans or schismatics, not the archbishop but the chapter, just as though his see were vacant through death, ought to administer in spiritual and temporal matters until it happens that he is restored to liberty or something else is ordered concerning this by the Apostolic See—which is responsible for providing for the necessities of churches and is to be consulted by the chapter itself as soon as it conveniently can be.
Episcopo a paganis vel a schismaticis capto, non archiepiscopus, sed capitulum administrat, nisi Papa, quam cito hoc fieri poterit, super hoc per capitulum consulendus, aliter ordinaret. Ioann. Andr.
Bonifacius VIII.
Si episcopus a paganis aut schismaticis capiatur, non archiepiscopus, sed capitulum, ac si sedes per mortem vacaret illius, in spiritualibus et temporalibus ministrare debebit, donec eum libertati restitui, vel per sedem apostolicam, (cuius interest ecclesiarum providere necessitatibus,) super hoc per ipsum capitulum quam cito commode poterit consulendam, aliud contigerit ordinari.
Chapter IV
While a cathedral church is vacant, only the Pope appoints a visitor, unless the archbishop should appoint one because of the chapter’s negligence or fraudulent administration, after cognizance of the cause. Dominicus says this. — § 1. A visitor of a vacant church appointed by someone inferior to the Pope administers temporal and spiritual matters, except the collation of benefices pertaining to the bishop. This is what it says. Dominicus.
The same. A visitor cannot be appointed to a vacant cathedral church by anyone other than the Roman Pontiff, unless perhaps the chapter administers negligently or perversely in spiritual and temporal matters. For then the archbishop, on account of the negligence or malice of the chapter, after it has been summoned and cognizance of the cause concerning this has first been had, can lawfully appoint a visitor or administrator to that church.
§ 1. Although a visitor of this kind is judged to have lawful administration of spiritual and temporal matters, nevertheless, if he was appointed by someone other than the Roman Pontiff, he cannot confer benefices whose collation pertains to the bishop.
Ecclesia cathedrali vacante solus Papa visitatorem deputat, nisi archiepiscopus propter negligentiam vel dolosam capituli administrationem cum causae cognitione deputaret. Hoc dicit Dominicus. — §. 1. Visitator ecclesiae vacantis, ab inferiore a Papa deputatus, temporalia et spiritualia administrat, excepta beneficiorum collatione ad episcopum pertinente.
H. d. Dominicus.
Idem.
Ecclesiae cathedrali vacanti visitator ab alio quam a Romano Pontifice deputari non potest, nisi forte capitulum in spiritualibus et temporalibus negligenter aut perperam administret. Tunc enim archiepiscopus ob negligentiam vel malitiam capituli, eo vocato, causaeque super hoc cognitione praemissa, visitatorem seu administratorem eidem ecclesiae licite poterit deputare. §. i. Huiusmodi quoque visitator, quanquam spiritualium et temporalium administrationem legitimam censeatur habere, beneficia tamen, quae ad collationem pertinent episcopi, conferre non potest, si ab alio quam a Romano Pontifice fuerit deputatus.