Canon Law & Easter Computus 3 part 1/11

To the reader. To this new edition of the Collection of Ecclesiastical Canons of Dionysius Exiguus, lest anything should seem to be wanting to the ancient canonical jurisprudence, we have appended the letter of the same Dionysius Exiguus to Julian, presbyter of the title of Saint Anastasia, which was prefixed, by way of preface, to his collection of the Decrees of the Roman pontiffs. This letter, now for the first time restored to its author from an ancient manuscript codex of that man of the highest learning, Jacques Sirmond, a presbyter of the Society of Jesus—to whom credit for it is due—we give to you with only the index of the chapters, the full chapters of the Decrees being omitted, since these may easily be sought by anyone from the old codex of the Canons of the Roman Church, which was first printed at Mainz in the year 1523, and afterwards at Paris in the year

1619 it was printed at Paris—so that anyone may easily recover it. This Julian is indeed the presbyter who subscribed to the synods held at Rome under Pope Felix, in the consulship of Dynamius and Siphidius, that is, in the year of Christ 488, and under Symmachus, after the consulship of Paulinus, that is, in the year 499. Which argues that this Dionysian collection was made about these times, after the translation of the Greek canons. Now it contains the decretal letters of Siricius, Innocent, Zosimus, Boniface, Celestine, Leo, Gelasius, and Anastasius, namely from the year 385 to the year 486, which Cresconius also reviews in his Canonical Breviary, and Pope Leo IV, as cited in Gratian, in the canon 'de libelli', distinction

20—and Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, against Hincmar, bishop of Laon, chapter 43. And indeed this is the collection which Pope Zacharias, in his letter to Pepin, mayor of the palace, and to all the bishops established in the kingdom of the Franks, calls the BOOK OF DECREES, and from which he cites certain chapters of Siricius, Innocent, Leo, and Gelasius. Since we are preparing a fuller treatment of this matter, we have thought it fitting here to give this brief notice concerning the first collection of the decretals of the Roman pontiffs. A CATALOGUE OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS WHOSE DECREES ARE REVIEWED IN THIS COLLECTION OF DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS. THE PREFACE OF DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS. To the venerable lord, Julian, presbyter of the title of Saint Anastasia, Dionysius Exiguus.

Stirred up by the pious zeal of your Holiness, by which you omit to inquire into absolutely nothing of those things that pertain to ecclesiastical discipline, I have gathered, with all the care and diligence I could, the constitutions of the past prelates of the Apostolic See, and, reducing them into a certain order, I have distinguished them by composed titles—in such wise, namely, that I have brought all the precepts of each pontiff, as many of them as have been found by me, to a close under a single series of numbers, and have attached all the titles to this preface, in the same manner in which formerly, when translating the canons from the Greek speech of the Fathers, I had arranged them—a thing which I had learned was exceedingly pleasing to you. You who indeed love God with the most sincere affection, and therefore cherish His servants with praiseworthy solicitude.

For what pilgrim serving Christ is not cherished by your hospitality? I judged it just to serve you in this respect, that your diligence, which you devote to the heavenly rules, may both be imitated by the present age and admired by posterity. For out of love of virtue you desire to know all things that are profitable, although you fulfil by your conduct the observance of all venerable law. And of how great merit the blessed Pope Gelasius is in the sight of God, even we who did not see him in bodily presence more easily estimate through you, his foster-children. Formed by his teaching, you adorn the grade of presbyter by a holy manner of life, so that in the manifest endowment of your character his activity may in some measure be seen to shine forth.

We rejoice that he, as we have learned from your account, stood forth in such great goodwill that, by the Lord's favour, undertaking the chief place in the Church for the salvation of many, he bore it aloft by serving rather than by domineering, and enlarged the chastity of his life by the merits of his teaching. In short, his every work is recorded to have been either prayer or reading. At times too he took up the care of writing, as the occasion or reason demanded, and rejoiced in the fellowship and society of the greatest of the servants of God. By their spiritual converse he was cherished with such great zeal of divine love, with such great meditation upon the word of God, that to him also that which the Psalmist sang might be applied:

'Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy law, that Thou mayest give him rest from the days of affliction.' For he so passed the evil days of this world, the Lord thus assuaging and governing them, that he bore all temptations with wondrous prudence and long-suffering, scorned delights by fastings, trod down pride by humility, and shone with such mercy and alacrity of soul that, himself destitute, he merited that almost all the poor should be filled. Truly blessed in this poverty by which he ever clung to the divine praises, as the prophet says to the Lord: 'The poor and needy shall praise Thy name.' For he was a man of brilliant genius, distinguished in life, revered for his authority.

And therefore, adorned with the badges of so many virtues, he did not come unworthy to so lofty an office, esteeming the honour of the supreme dignity an exceedingly heavy burden, and contending that even a small negligence of a pontiff is an immense peril to souls. For this reason he gave himself over to no slothful idleness, nor served any luxurious or extravagant banqueting, from which things diseases both of souls and of bodies arise. This shepherd, therefore, being an excellent imitator of the supreme and good Shepherd, was a distinguished prelate of the Apostolic See, who both did and taught the divine precepts. Whence we are confident that he is great among the saints, according to the promise of Christ the Lord, who says: 'He that shall do and teach, shall be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.' THE DECRETAL LETTER OF POPE SIRICIUS.

Siricius to Himerius, bishop of Tarragona, greeting. The report of your fraternity, addressed to our predecessor Damasus of holy memory, found me already established in his see—because the Lord so ordained—and when we read it rather carefully in the assembly of the brethren, we found as many things worthy of reproof and correction as we could wish to learn deserving of praise. And because it was necessary that we should succeed to his labours and cares, to whom by the grace of God we have succeeded in honour, having first given, as was fitting, notice of my advancement, we do not refuse to give a fitting answer to your inquiry on each point, in so far as the Lord has deigned to inspire us.

For by reason of our office's consideration, it is not for us to dissemble, nor have we liberty to keep silent—we upon whom a greater zeal for the Christian religion presses than upon all others; we bear the burdens of all who are weighed down. Nay rather, the blessed apostle Peter bears these burdens in us, who, as we trust, in all things protects and guards us, the heirs of his administration. That the Arians are not to be rebaptized. I. At the very front of your page, therefore, you have noted that very many baptized by the impious Arians hasten to the catholic faith, and that some of our brethren wish to baptize these same persons anew—which is not lawful, since the Apostle forbids this to be done (Eph.

chapter 4), and the canons forbid it, and the general decrees—sent to the provinces after the annulled Council of Ariminum by my predecessor Liberius of venerable memory—prohibit it. These persons we associate to the assembly of catholics, together with the Novatians and other heretics, as is laid down in the synod (in the Council of Nicaea, canon 8), by the invocation alone of the sevenfold Spirit through the imposition of the episcopal hand—a thing which the whole East and West also observes; from which path it is by no means fitting that you too should hereafter deviate, if you do not wish to be separated from our college by a synodal sentence. That baptism be not celebrated except at Easter and Pentecost. II.

There follows, concerning the diverse times for those to be baptized—just as it has pleased each one—a reprehensible and amendable confusion, which is presumed by our fellow priests (a thing we say with grief) not by reason of any authority, but by mere rashness; so that everywhere and freely, at the festivals of Christ's Nativity or Manifestation, and also of the Apostles or Martyrs, countless throngs of people, as you assert, receive the mystery of baptism—whereas both with us and in all the Churches the Lord's Pasch, with its Pentecost, specially claims this privilege for itself, on which days alone throughout the year it is fitting that the general sacraments of baptism be conferred upon those who flock to the faith.

Only those being chosen, namely, who have given in their names forty or more days beforehand, and have been purified by exorcisms, daily prayers, and fastings, so that there may be fulfilled that apostolic precept: that, the old leaven being purged out, a new lump may begin to be (1 Cor. 5). As, therefore, we say that the Paschal reverence is in no way to be diminished, so to infants, who by reason of age cannot yet speak, and to those who in any necessity have need of the sacred water of baptism, we wish that succour be given with all speed—lest it tend to the destruction of our souls if, the saving font being denied to those who desire it, each one departing from this world should lose both the kingdom and life.

Whosoever also shall have fallen into the peril of shipwreck, the inroad of an enemy, the uncertainty of a siege, or the desperation of any bodily sickness, and shall have begged that succour be brought to them by the sole aid of their faith, let them obtain, at the very moment in which they ask, the rewards of the longed-for regeneration. Let so much suffice for the error hitherto in this matter; now let all priests hold to the aforesaid rule, who do not wish to be torn away from the solidity of the apostolic rock, upon which Christ built the universal Church (Matt. 16). Concerning apostates. III.

It has also been added that certain Christians, passing over into apostasy (which it is a sin even to mention), and profaned by the worship of idols and the contamination of sacrifices—these, by being born again, we command to be cut off from the Body and Blood of Christ, by which they had formerly been redeemed. And if, perhaps, coming to their senses, they shall at some time be turned to lamentation, penance is to be done by these as long as they live, and at their very last end the grace of reconciliation is to be granted; for, as the Lord teaches, we do not desire the death of the sinner, but only that he be converted and live (Ezek. 18). That it is not lawful to take another's betrothed in the rights of marriage. IV. Concerning the violation of marriage, however, you have inquired whether one man may take in marriage a maiden betrothed to another?

That this be not done, we forbid by all means, because that blessing which the priest imposes upon her who is to be wed is, among the faithful, a kind of sacrilege if it be violated by any transgression. Concerning those who have by no means kept their penance. V. But concerning these, your Charity not improperly believed that the apostolic see should be consulted—those who, their penance done, like dogs and swine returning to their former vomit and wallowing-places, have sought again both the belt of military service, and theatrical pleasures, and new marriages, and forbidden embraces anew; whose sons, begotten after their absolution, have betrayed their professed incontinence.

Concerning these, since they now have no refuge of penance, we have thought this should be decreed: that they be joined to the faithful within the church only in prayer, and that, although they do not deserve it, they be present at the sacred celebration of the mysteries; but from the banquet of the Lord's table let them be separated, so that, chastened at least by this deprivation, they may both castigate their own errors in themselves and afford an example to others, whereby these may be drawn back from obscene desires. To these, nevertheless, since they fell through carnal frailty, we wish that succour be given by the gift of the viaticum, through the grace of communion, when they shall have begun to set out toward the Lord. And we judge that this form is to be observed also concerning women who, after penance, have bound themselves to such defilements.

Concerning monks and virgins not keeping their resolve. VI. Moreover, that certain monks and nuns, having cast off the resolve of sanctity, have been sunk into so great a wantonness of self-indulgence that first secretly, as it were under the pretext of monasteries, they have mingled themselves in unlawful and sacrilegious contagion, but afterwards, led into the abyss by the desperation of conscience, have freely begotten children out of unlawful embraces—a thing which both the public laws and the ecclesiastical statutes condemn:

these shameless and detestable persons, therefore, we command to be removed from the company of the monasteries and from the assemblies of the churches, so that, shut up in their own cells, bewailing so great a crime with continual lamentation, they may be able to purify themselves by the cleansing fire of penance—so that to them, at least at death, by the regard of mercy alone, indulgence may be able to come through the grace of communion. Concerning incontinent clerics. VII. Let us now come to the most sacred orders of the clergy, whom, to the injury of the venerable religion, we find so trodden down and confounded throughout your provinces (your charity prompting us to speak) that it must be said to us in the voice of Jeremiah:

'Who will give water to my head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep for this people day and night' (Jer. 9)? If, then, the blessed prophet says that his own tears cannot suffice to mourn the sins of the people, with how great a grief can we be stricken, when we are compelled to bewail the misdeeds of those who are in our own body, upon whom especially, according to the blessed Paul, the daily pressure and the care of all the Churches presses incessantly (2 Cor. 11)? 'For who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?' For we have learned that very many priests and levites of Christ, after long periods since their consecration, have procreated offspring both from their own wives and also from shameful intercourse:

and defend their crime by this plea, that in the Old Testament the faculty of begetting is read to have been granted to priests and ministers. Let him now tell me, whosoever he be, that follower of lusts and teacher of vices, if he thinks that in the law of Moses the reins of luxury were everywhere loosened by our Lord for the sacred orders, why does He admonish those to whom the holy of holies were committed, saying: 'Be holy, for I also am holy, the Lord your God' (Lev. 20)? Why also were the priests commanded to dwell apart from their own houses, in the year of their course, in the temple (Luke 1)?

For this very reason, namely, lest they could exercise carnal intercourse even with their wives, but, resplendent in integrity of conscience, might offer an acceptable gift to God. To whom, when the time of their service was completed, conjugal use was allowed for the sake of succession alone; because none was commanded to be admitted to the ministry of God except from the tribe of Levi (Num. 18). But the Lord Jesus, when He had illumined us by His advent, protests in the Gospel that He came to fulfil the law, not to abolish it (Matt. 5). And therefore He willed the Church, whose Bridegroom is beautiful in form (Eph. 5), to shine with the splendour of chastity:

so that on the day of judgement, when He shall come again, He may be able to find her, as He instituted through His apostle, without spot or wrinkle. By which sanctions all we priests and levites are bound by an indissoluble law, that from the day of our ordination we surrender both our hearts and our bodies to sobriety and chastity—provided only that in all things we please our God in those sacrifices which we daily offer. But they who are in the flesh, as the Vessel of election says (Rom. 8), cannot please God: 'But you are not now in the flesh, but in the spirit; if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you'; and where will the Spirit of God be able to dwell, except in bodies holy unto God, as we read (Wisd. 1)?

And because some, of whom we speak (as your Holiness reported), bewail that they fell through ignorance, to these we say that mercy is not to be denied on this condition: that without any increase of honour they persevere, as long as they live, in the office in which they were detected, provided that hereafter they study to show themselves continent. But those who rely on the excuse of an unlawful privilege, and assert that this was conceded to them by the old law, let them know that they have been cast down by the authority of the apostolic see from every ecclesiastical honour, of which they have made themselves unworthy, and that they can never handle the venerable mysteries, of which they themselves deprived themselves while they panted after obscene desires.

And because present examples warn us to take precaution for the future, let any bishop, presbyter, or deacon (which we do not wish) who shall henceforth be found such a one, understand even now that every avenue of indulgence is barred to him through us, since it is necessary that with the knife those wounds be cut away which have not felt the medicine of poultices. Concerning clerics: what manner of men ought to be promoted. VIII. We have also learned that men of unexamined life, who have even had numerous marriages, freely and licentiously aspire to the aforesaid dignities, just as it has pleased each one—which we impute not so much to those who arrive at these things by immoderate ambition, as to the metro-

-politan pontiffs in particular, who, while they wink at forbidden audacities, despise—as far as in them lies—the precepts of our God. And, to be silent about what we more deeply suspect, where is that which our God established by the law given through Moses, saying: 'Let my priests marry but once' (Lev. 21)? And in another place: 'Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not one repudiated, not a harlot' (Ezek. 44). Following which, the Apostle (1 Tim. 3), from a persecutor become a preacher, commanded that both priest and deacon should be made the husband of one wife. All which things are so despised by the bishops of your regions, as though they had been established rather to the contrary.

And because we must not be negligent concerning usurpations of this kind, lest the just voice of an indignant Lord rebuke us, which says: 'Thou sawest a thief, and thou didst run with him, and thou didst put thy portion with adulterers' (Ps. 49)—we decree by a general pronouncement what is hereafter to be followed by all the Churches, and what is to be avoided. Concerning the manner of life of clerics. IX.

Whosoever, therefore, has vowed himself to the services of the Church, ought from his infancy, before the years of puberty, to be baptized and to be associated to the ministry of the readers; who, from the entrance of adolescence up to the thirtieth year of his age, if he shall have lived commendably, content with one wife only, and her whom he received as a virgin by the common benediction through a priest, ought to be an acolyte and subdeacon; after which let him advance to the grade of the diaconate, if he shall first, continence going before, have proved himself worthy. There, if he shall have ministered laudably beyond five years, he shall fittingly attain the presbyterate, and thereafter, after a decade, he will be able to obtain the episcopal chair—provided, however, that throughout these times the integrity of his life and faith has been approved.

Concerning men advanced in years. X. But he who, already advanced in age, provoked by the conduct of a better resolve, hastens from a layman to attain to the sacred service, shall not otherwise obtain the fruit of his desire, unless, at the very time when he is baptized, he be at once associated to the number of the readers or exorcists—provided, however, that it be established that he had or has one wife only, and received her as a virgin. When he has been initiated, after two years have been completed, let him for another five years be an acolyte and subdeacon, and so let him be advanced to the diaconate, if throughout these times he shall have been judged worthy. Thereafter, by the lapse of time, he shall not undeservedly obtain the presbyterate or the episcopate, if the choice of clergy and people shall call him.

That a cleric who shall have married a second wife be deposed. XI. Any cleric indeed who shall have married either a widow, or assuredly a second wife, let him be straightway stripped of every privilege of ecclesiastical dignity, with only lay communion conceded to him, which he shall be able to possess only on this condition: if afterwards he admit nothing on account of which he might lose it. What women may dwell with clerics. XII. We suffer no other women to be in the houses of clerics save only those whom, on account of the sole causes of necessary relationship, the Nicene synod permitted to dwell with them. Concerning the promotion of monks. XIII. Monks too, whom however the gravity of their morals and a holy ordering of life and faith commends, we both desire and wish to be added to the offices of the clergy:

so that those who are within their thirtieth year of age may, in the minor orders, be advanced through the several grades as time increases, and thus arrive at the insignia of the diaconate or the presbyterate by the consecration of a mature age; nor may they at once ascend by a leap to the summit of the episcopate, unless in these grades the very intervals which we have above prescribed for each rank have been observed. That a penitent is not to become a cleric. XIV.

It was likewise fitting for us to provide that, just as it is not permitted to any cleric to perform penance, so also after penance and reconciliation it may never be lawful for any layman to attain the honour of the clerical office; for although such men may have been cleansed from the contagion of all their sins, nevertheless those who have lately been vessels of vices ought not to receive the instruments for administering the sacraments. So that, if through ignorance either a penitent, or a twice-married man, or the husband of a widow has been made a cleric, they are not to be promoted. XV. And because, for all those things which fall under reproach, the sole excuse of ignorance is offered—a man to whom in the meantime, out of regard for mercy alone, we must mercifully grant…

…to acknowledge that whoever, being a penitent, or twice-married, or the husband of a widow, has crept unworthily and unfittingly into the sacred ministry, let him understand that pardon has been granted him by us upon this condition: that he ought to reckon it a great benefit if, with all hope of promotion taken from him, he may remain in perpetual stability in the rank in which he is found. Hereafter the chief bishops of all the provinces are to know that, if they think any of such men should be further admitted to sacred orders, a fitting sentence is to be pronounced by the Apostolic See both concerning their own standing and concerning the standing of those whom they have advanced contrary to the canons and our prohibitions.

We have now, as I think, most beloved brother, dealt fully with all the matters that were set forth in your complaint; and to the several causes concerning which you reported to the Roman Church—as to the head of your body—through our son Bassianus the presbyter, we have rendered, as I suppose, sufficient replies. Now we urge your fraternity more and more to keep the canons and to hold fast the decretal ordinances.

That you cause these things which we have written in reply to your inquiries to be brought to the notice of all our fellow-bishops, and not only of those who are established in your diocese, but also that to all the Carthaginians and Baeticans, the Lusitanians and the Gallicans, and to those who border on the provinces neighbouring you on either side, these matters which have been arranged by us in a salutary ordinance may be sent under the conveyance of your own letters.

And although it is permitted to none of the priests of the Lord to be ignorant of the statutes of the Apostolic See or of the venerable definitions of the canons, yet it will be able to be exceedingly glorious to your love, also for the antiquity of your priesthood, if those things which have been written generally, though addressed to you by special title, are brought, through the care of your unanimity, to the knowledge of all our brethren; so that both the things which have been established by us salutarily—not inconsiderately, but providently, with utmost caution and deliberation—may remain inviolate, and the access to all future excuses, which can now lie open to no one with us, may be blocked. Given on the third day before the Ides of February, in the consulship of Arcadius and Bauto, most distinguished men. (In the year

…in the year of Christ 385.) THE DECREES OF POPE INNOCENT. Innocent to Decentius, bishop of Eugubium, greeting. If the priests of the Lord were willing to keep entire the ecclesiastical institutions as they have been handed down by the blessed apostles, no diversity, no variety would be found in the orders and consecrations themselves. But while each one judges that not what has been handed down, but what has seemed good to himself, is to be held, hence in different places or churches diverse practices appear to be either held or celebrated; and a scandal arises among the peoples, who, while they do not know that the ancient traditions have been corrupted by human presumption, suppose either that these are not suitable for themselves or their churches, or that a contradiction has been introduced by the apostles or by apostolic men.

For who does not know, or fails to observe, that what was handed down by Peter, the prince of the apostles, to the Roman Church, and is kept even to this day, ought to be observed by all, and that nothing ought to be brought in over and above or introduced which either has not authority or appears to take its example from elsewhere? Especially since it is manifest that throughout all Italy, the Gauls, the Spains, Africa, and Sicily, and the islands lying between, no one founded churches except those whom the venerable apostle Peter or his successors appointed as priests—or let them read whether in those provinces any other of the apostles is found or read to have taught.

But if they do not read this, because they find it nowhere, it is fitting that they follow what the Roman Church keeps, from which there is no doubt that they received their origin; lest, while they are eager for foreign assertions, they should seem to omit the head of their institutions. There is no doubt that your love has often come to the City and has assembled with us in the church, and has come to know what custom it holds both in consecrating the mysteries and in performing the other secret rites—which I should think sufficient for the instruction or reformation of your church, if your predecessors held anything less or otherwise; and I should hold it quite certain, were it not that you judged we ought to be consulted about certain matters.