Letter 17: from Dionysio Exiguo. I.

From Dionysius Exiguus. [Chapter headings:] I. That if a priest or anyone from the clergy has married a widow as his wife, or a woman who has been put away, he loses his office. — II. That if some catechumen has had a wife and, after she has died, has obtained another after baptism, he is not to be a cleric. — III. That those ordained by heretics are not to be received into the clergy. — IV. That in ordinations it is not rightly believed that crimes or vices are imputed [...]. — V. That those who were ordained by the heretic Bonosus were for this reason received, lest a scandal should remain in the Church. — VI. That in the Church a sin of the people that goes unpunished is wont to be overlooked. — VII. That what has been obtained from the Apostolic See by stealth, and that it [the See] has changed its own sentence for the better. From the ancient Corbie codex. [Chapter headings:] I. Concerning those who are reported to have taken two wives. — II. That he ought not to be called twice-married who as a catechumen had a wife and lost her. — III. In what manner crimes are washed away in baptism. — IV. Concerning the children who were born before baptism. — V. Concerning catechumens who have shone with holy virtues. — VI. Concerning heretical clerics, in what manner they ought to be reconciled. — VII. That sacrilegious men and adulterers ought not to be admitted to the clergy. — VIII. And in what manner heretics are received. — IX. Concerning those who call themselves pure and clean. — X. Concerning those returning from the Novatians and heretics. — XI. Concerning catholic clerics who have crossed over into heresy. — XII. Concerning the reception of Fontinus and Eustasius. Innocent to Rufus, Eusebius, Eustathius, Claudius, Calecritus [?], Xierus [?], Aquilinus [?], Martianus, bishops of Macedonia, and to the deacons, greeting in God. [The same opening as in the conciliar reading and in the Colbertine [Corbie] manuscript; from the order, which these bishops held by such inscriptions, no argument can be drawn from this source, whose [...] their teachings or antiquity is proven. Dionysius Exiguus.] 527 OF SAINT INNOCENT I [...] 528 [Innocent to] Maximianus, Eugenius, Gerontius, John, Polychronius [Polycubinius?], Sophronius, Flavianus, Hilarius, Macedonius, Calicratus, Zosimus, Profuturus, Nicetas [some manuscripts: Nicetius], Hermogenes, Vincentius, Asiologus, Terentianus, Herodianus, and Marcianus. 1. Great rejoicing took hold of me when, after so many perils of, so to speak, the whole world, Vitalis the archdeacon, the bearer of your letter, sent from those parts, arrived all the way to us. When we had seen him, at once, as was fitting, we inquired about your condition. But when we found that you were living according to your purpose, we rendered abundant thanks to our God, who deigns both to crown his servants who serve at his altars in adversity and to govern them in prosperity. When he had handed over the letters, I ordered them at once to be read out: in which I perceived many things set down that introduced amazement into our minds, and made us hesitate not a little, whether we should suppose otherwise, or whether those things were so set down as they sounded. When I had had them read again more often, I observed that an injury was being done to the Apostolic See, to which the report sent was running as it were to the head of the churches, and whose sentence was as yet being drawn into doubt. Hence concerning the matters I recall having written about long ago, the doubled inquiry of your report now compels me to repeat the form with more evident arguments. Chapter I. — 2. Those [men] (Ivo p. 8, c. 503) whom I have learned to have been made [husbands] of widows, but also to have come all the way to the insignia of the highest priesthood: which no one is ignorant is against the precepts of the law. For when Moses the lawgiver cries out: Let the priest take a virgin as his wife (Lev. xxi, 13, 14); and lest in this precept anything be supposed ambiguous, he added, not a widow, nor one put away. Against this precept, set down by divine authority, no defense of any other command is opposed, except your custom: which, as you yourselves confess, was established out of ignorance, to speak more modestly, not out of apostolic tradition and sound reason. But let your beloved company know that we, and all the churches throughout the East and the West, by no means admit these things; nor do we take up such men even to the lowest place of the ecclesiastical order, and, if they be found, we remove them. Chapter II. — 3. Next it is set down that he ought not to be called (Dist. 26, c. 5; Ivo, p. 1, c. 252, and p. 8, c. 505) twice-married who as a catechumen had a wife and lost her, if after baptism he has obtained another; and that she is to be seen as the first who was joined to the new man: because that marriage was washed away through the sacrament of baptism along with the other crimes. And although this is said of one wife, surely if a man placed in the old man should have had three wives, the fourth, who comes after baptism, will for him, by these interpreters, be the first: and she will receive the name of virgin, who was married in the fourth place. Who, I ask, does not see that this is against the precept of the Apostle, who says (1 Tim. iii, 2; [Editorial commentary, partly OCR-garbled:] ...are reported to have taken wives, he is content to call by name not only the clerics whom I have recognized to have been made, but indeed two of those bishops, and he grazes the whole inscription in this manner: Innocent to Rufus, Eusebius and the rest of the Macedonian bishops and deacons, greeting in the Lord: and afterward the author of the Spanish collection and Isidore imitated this. Chrysostom, writing from exile his letter 165 to the Macedonian bishops, names alike Eustathius, Eusebius, Maximianus, Eugenius and Gerontius in the inscription. Here a question arises, [whether] in Macedonia there were as many bishops as we now reckon. For neither does the name of Marcianus, whom it is established to have been a bishop, placed in the last position, permit [...] that we should suppose [those placed] above to have been deacons named together with the bishops. Perhaps Innocent, when he had promiscuously mentioned the bishops whom he knew in [Macedonia] and in the other provinces of Illyricum, added to the bishops of Macedonia and to the deacons, so as to signify that his letter, although inscribed even to the bishops of the neighboring provinces, pertained chiefly to the Macedonians: just as before the [...] synod, on the testimony of Siricius (epist. 9, n. 1), had established that the bishops near Bonosus, especially the Macedonians, should take cognizance of his case. [Manuscript variants:] The Corbie ms., together with one Colbertine ms., [reads] reperivimus. — Mert.: tustri inducerent. Lest it should displease, injicerent. — In the better [potior] mss. [...] the word aliquam is here recalled, which before was missing. Now Innocent in epist. 2, n. 7 and 8, and also in epist. 3, n. 11, had forbidden that anyone be admitted to the clergy who had married either a widow or a second wife, even if he had received the first before baptism. It is probable, moreover, that he, by the example of Siricius, took care that letters and decrees of this kind should circulate through the provinces, as he himself says in epist. 1, n. 2, lest any of them should plead ignorance. Certainly that, concerning which he testifies that he had written before, falls under the two aforesaid chapters, not under the other two which are treated next. [Note on] In gemina percontatio vestra ["in the doubled inquiry of your report"]: The ancient copies of the Quesnel codex preserve the Vulgate reading. [Further editorial commentary:] ...the first council [of?] in the year 574, canon 1, established that henceforth no one of the twice-married or of the husbands of women previously married could be ordained a cleric in Macedonia, whether they had incurred bigamy before baptism or after. Those, however, who had hitherto been ordained, it does not dare to remove. Of that severity of discipline also they afterward somewhat relaxed; the Gallican councils, the First of Orange, canon 25, and the Second of Arles, canon 45, were content to forbid that men of this kind be promoted beyond the subdiaconate. Nor in this matter were the Spaniards, the Moors [Mauri], or the Italians more observant of the apostolic rule, as the witnesses are [...].

Ex Dionysio Exiguo. I. Ut si sacerdos vel quilibet ex clero viduam uxoretn duxerit , vel ejectam , suum perdnt officium. — II. Ut si quis catechumenus habuerit uxoreni, et, defunctq en, pnsl baplismum sortilus ftterit alteram, clericus non sit. — III. Quod non suscipiantur in clero ab haireticis ordinati. — ■ IV. Quod in vrdina- tionibuscriminn vct vitia non bcnc credantur tinfcrri. G — V. Qiroriii, ryiti aBonoso Imretico ordinati sunt, proplcrea sinl recepli, ne scandaium remauerei Ec- clesia'. — VI. Quod in Ecclcsia pectatum pvputi inultum svleai prtvlcriri. ■ — VII. Quod subrcpiiim ftierit apostolictr sedi, et suam in melius senlentium commutarit . Ex aniiquo codice Corbeiensi. I. De iis qui duas suggerunlur accepisse uxvrcs. — II. i\oii dici oportere dicjamum eum tj.n cutechttiueuus httbiuril tttque amiseril uxortm — III. Qwditer cri- iitina tiimitlaniur in baplismuni. — IV. De filiis qui aulc buptismuni nali fucrinl. — V. Dc calcclium nis, qiti sanclis iirlulibus slitducrint. — \l. De hwrcticis clericis qitaliler debeant reconciliari. — VII. De su- 0 criiegis ci atlulicris ad clcrum ttdmitti non debere. — VIII. El qualitcr hwiclici uccipianlur. — IX De his qiti sc c uharos ati;ne mundos cocaul.— X. De a Novatianis alque harclicis rcccitenlibus, — XI. De clciiciscalholicis em ttd Itwresim trtiiisctnt!. — ■ XII. hc reccplionc Fonlini c! Enslasi. INISOCENTIUS h R.UFO, ElsEHIO, EisrATHio, Claudio, Calecrtili, Xieiur, Acitilmjo, Martiati, cpitcnpts Ma- ceion if el dihconibus in Den snftrttrt. t^idem c dici conc.iiiil cl all t Colb. U ulc li |ii i, cx ordine, queui ill iiiscriiiiininlcis lnijiisinodi tenen episcopi, nnl- bim c m'i.'i posse liroiilm argumentu.u, quw ooriun di'cMlii;is vel :iiilii|nilas probftiur. Dioiyius Fxiguus 527 S. 1NN0CENTII I VAVJE 528 Maximiano, Eugenio, Gerontio , Joanni, Polv- A accepisse suggeruniur uxores, non solum clericos cubiinio, Sopiironio, Flavuno, IIilario. Macedo- nio, Calicratio, Zo-imo, Profuturo, Nicet,e, [Quidum mss. Nicetio], Uermogeni, Vincentio, Asiologo. Terentiano, IIerodiano et Marciano , 1. Magna me gratulatin habuit, cuni post lol dis- crimina tolins, ul iia dixcrim, mundi, Vilalis, ar- chidi iconus, vestrarum ponilor 1 tteraruin, ex illis parlibus ad nos usque directus ailvenit. Quein cuin vidissemus, illico, ul oporlebat, percnntaii de veslro statn snmus. Veruni ubib reperiinus vos ex senten- liadegere, Deo no-tro uberes gratias relulimus, qnml -uos laniulos suisque allariluis servienles el in adversis weiur, et in prosperis guberwire dignaiur. Quicuin iradidisset epistolas, easprseccpi illico rc- censeri : in quibus nmlla posita pervidi, quaa siupo- reni meniibusnostris c iriducereni, facerenique nos non modicum dubiiare, utium aliter putaremus, an iia illa essent pnsita queinadmodiim personabant. Quae cum saqiins repeii fecissem, adverli sedi apo- siolic.e, aJ quain relalio inissa quasi ad caput eccle- siarum currebal, d aliquam fieri iiijuriani, cujus ad- liuc in amliiguiim seuientia ducerelur. Unde de quibus jam dudum scripsisse memini, nunc iterare formam arguineniis evideniioribns, c relationis ve- slr* geininata perconlalio compellit. qap. i. _ 2, Eos {Ivo p. 8, c. 503), qui viduas effeclos agnovi , verum eliam nsqtie ad inlulas suinini sacerdolii pervenisse : quod conira legis essc prsecepla nullus ignorat. Nam cum Moy.>es legislator clainitet : Sucerdos uxorem virginem uccipiul iLev. xxn, 13, 14); ac ne in boc pr.ccepto alii|iiid puta- retur ainhiguuin, addidil, non viiluum,neque ejcctam. Contra quod prseceptum, divina auctoritate f sub- missum, nulla defensio mandati alierius opponitur, nisi consueiudo vesira : qu;i-, ut ipsi f.ueinini, ex iguoianiia, ul verecumlius dieam, non ex aposiolica tradiiioue ct iutegra ralione constilula e»t. Nos au- lem, omiiesque per Orieniein Occidentemque eccle- sias, noverit veslra dileciio li;ec peniliisuon adinil- lere ; nec ad ullimum ecelesiastici ordinis 6 locun) 15 tales assumere et, si reperli fuerint, removere. Cap. II. —5. Deimle ponilur, nnn dici {Dist. 26, c. 5 ; Ivo, p. i, c. 2j2, et p. 8, c. 5u5) oportere di- gamuiii eum, qui calechumenus hahueril atque ami - seril uxorein, si post baplismum lueiit aliam surti- lus ; eamque primam videri , qua: novo homiiii copulaia sit : quia iliud conjngium per lia|ilismi sa- craraenlum cum caeteris criininihus sit abluium. Quoil cum de una uiit|ue dicilur, certe si ires ha- hiierit in vetere |iosiius homine uxores, erit ei, quoe posi baptismum quarta est, sic interpreianiiuus prima : h virginisque nomen accii iet, quae quarto ducta esl loco. Qnis oro, istud non videat contra Apustoli esse pracceptum, qui ait (I Tim. m, 2 ; duos ex illis episcopis appellare conienlns, loi.nn inscii 'lion-m perstiingii in bunc modiim : Innocen- tins liufo, En*eb o et cceleris episcopis Macedonibus et dinconibiis in Domino sulutem : eiiin |iie piistea inii- tati siini llispanse colleciioiiis aucmr et isidoros. Chrysostnmus de exsilio epi-tolam 165, ad Macc- donas episcopos , scribens, Eus'ailiiiim , Eusebium, Maxitnianum, Euqenium ei Gerontiumw ms riptmne pariter appellai. llic ohoritur qua-stio, in M cedo- niane lot fuefint episcopi, quoi nune recen>emur. Neque enini Mnci.nii, quem episcq i luissecon- slat, nnineii ultiuio loco positiim peimitlil, ut sn- periiisaliquni cum episeopis diac >- appellatns sen tiainns. Forie Iniioeentins, cuiu quos et aliis lllyriei provinciis uoveiat episcopos proniis- coe oieinoiassel, aihlitlil ip';scop:s Macedanibut el diuconis. ui epistoiam siram, quainvis ena n vicina- ruin provinciiiruni episiOpis in-cnptim, ad .VI icedo- nas iu priuiis aitnere signilicaret : queaiadinodum amea Canuana ^yaodus, tesie Siricjo epist. '.), n. I, stiueri, ut finiiioii acvicioi B moso epi->copi, pra- cipue Maccdones, causam ejtis cognost erent. t> Corli. in^. cnm uuoColb., reperivimus. Mert., twstri inducerent. Nmi displuerel injicerent. A & poiionlnis ins-. IiiiC levocalur vox aUquum, qnai prms desiderahatur. Jam lonoceniius episl. 2, n. 7 el 8 , neciion episi.,3. n. 11 , vemeiai ne ad cletuin ailinilieretur, qui vel vidnam vel secundaui uxureui tluxii , etiamsi priinam accepisset ante bap- lismtim. Probabile aulem est eum, Siricii exemplo cuias-e, ut hujusmndi epistolie ac decrela per pro- vincias toinmeareni, m ipse loquitiir epist. I, n. 2, ne i|uis eoiuin igiioranliaiii pratleuderet. Cerie id, de quo antea scnpsisse se leslilicaiur, in tlno pr.c- dicta rapiia, uon in alia duo, qnce subinde tractan- lur, cndil. Im. gemina percontatio vestra. Vul^aiani lectionem asserva t veiera excmpl.v Codiris Quesu. iiuin i coucilium anno 574, can. i, slatuit, neini- nein posihac de digamis aul internuptarum marilis Macedooia D ordinari clericum po^se, sive anie baptisniuiii, sive poit in digamiaui iucurrerinl. Eos lamen, qui hac- leniis nrdinati fneranl, removere noii audet. Dc ilia eliain disciplio* severilale noonihil posten remise- runl GaHicana conril a Aransicaiiiiui i, can. 25, et Aiclaiense n, can. 45, ne bujiisiuodi viri iiltra -uh- diacouaiiim pronioveainur, inlerdicere saiis h.iboe- iiinl. Neque hac iu re Hispauos, Mmros Italosve ap.islolic.e regul.e observaiuiores fuisse, te-tes sunl