title: Instructio ad Ludovicum Balbum

author: Hincmar of Reims

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 125, coll. 983D–990B

source_text:
## Instructio ad Ludovicum Balbum

[0983D]Domino LUDOVICO regi glorioso sit semper salus et vita.

## CAP. I.

Dominatio vestra mihi mandavit, ut ad vos festinarem venire, quia mecum de vestris, et sanctae Ecclesiae, ac regni utilitatibus tractare velletis: [0984D] unde vobis humili ac certa responsione satisfactionem exhibeo. Sanctus Apostolus dicit [n: (Rom. XV, 4)]: Quaecunque scripta sunt, ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt. Legimus in antiquis historiis, quia saepe, quando reges constituti sunt, inter regni primores [0985A] discordia orta est, quoniam aliqui sine aliorum consilio ejus constitutionem vindicare sibi votuerunt. Quae discordia non sine impedimento fuit pacificata. Legimus quia boni reges constituti bonos sibi consiliarios adhibuerunt, et per bonos reges et bonos consiliarios regnorum populi multa bona habuerunt, et per malos reges et malos consiliarios regnorum populi multa mala sustinuerunt.

## CAP. II.

Ut de recentioribus historiis vobis proponam exempla: Quando Pippinus abavus vester aegrotavit in infirmitate de qua et mortuus est, apud monasterium sancti Dionysii regni sui primores convocavit, et eorum consilio disposuit, qualiter post eum filii sui Carlomannus et Carolus, qui cum eo erant, regnum ejus pacifice gubernarent. Mortuo [0985B] autem illo, et cum magna devotione sepulto, Carlomannus ad Suessiones, et Carolus ad Noviomum venerunt, et decimo quinto die post illius obitum consilio et auxilio regni primorum in reges levati sunt, et unusquisque de regni primoribus sine ulla contentione ad regem suum convenit. Post tres circiter annos mortuo Carlomanno in Salmontiaco, venit Carolus ad Corbennacum, et regni primores, qui cum Carlomanno fuerunt, illuc ad eum convenerunt, exceptis paucis, de quibus non est modo necessarium dicere.

## CAP. III.

Mortuo autem Carolo imperatore, et sepulto in Aquis palatio, regni primores, qui cum eo erant, miserunt ad Ludovicum avum vestrum, qui erat in Teutuado: qui trigesimo die post mortem [0985C] patris sui venit Aquis, et cum regni primorum consilio pacifice regnum disposuit, donec, causa emergente quam non oportet nunc dicere, inter illum et filios ejus est orta discordia, pro qua magna pars de regni primoribus cum Lothario perrexit in Langobardiam.

## CAP. IV.

Mortuo Ludovico imperatore, avo vestro, quidam de istius regni primoribus evocaverunt Lotharium, et primores qui cum illo erant, de Langobardia in istud regnum. Et quidam de regni primoribus fuerunt cum Carolo patre vestro, et quidam cum Ludovico patruo vestro. Interea coeperunt regni primores, qui cum tribus fratribus erant, singillatim certare de honoribus, quique illorum, unde majores et plures possent obtinere: et parvi [0985D] pendentes sacramenta de divisione regni facta, et plus certantes de illorum cupiditate, quam de seniorum suorum et de sua salute, et de sanctae Ecclesiae ac populi pace, qui cum Lothario erant, immiserunt illum in hoc, ut fratres suos exhaeredaret, et regni primores qui cum illis erant annullaret, quoniam ipse primogenitus et in nomine imperatoris erat. Illi autem qui erant cum Carolo et Ludovico, dicebant, quia seniores illorum Lotharii fratres erant, et per sacramenta regnum inter eos divisum fuerat, et illi nec genere, nec potestate inferiores erant, quam illi qui cum Lothario erant, et ideo non se contra illos concrederent. Unde mala multa et maxima increverunt in terra, usque dum inter [0986A] carne propinquos et Christianos tantum malum et tam grande periculum in Fontanido devenit, quantum inter Christianos non accidit ex eo tempore, quo primum Carolus cum Raganfredo in Vinciaco pugnavit. Sed non pro illa occisione, quae facta fuit in Fontanido, pax in regno provenit, sed tandiu illa miseria inter Christianum populum et carne propinquos mansit, donec, vellent nollent, et seniores et regni primores in tres partes regnum diviserunt, et per sacramenta ipsam divisionem stabilem esse debere confirmaverunt.

## CAP. V.

Mortuo Lothario, filii ejus regnum illius inter se diviserunt. Unde adhuc illis viventibus facta est firmitas per sacramentum inter patrem vestrum et patruum vestrum Ludovicum. Mortuo autem Lothario [0986B] filio Lotharii, post multas controversias facta est divisio inter patrem vestrum, et patruum vestrum Ludovicum, de parte regni Lotharii. Mortuo autem Ludovico fratre Lotharii in Langobardia, requisita est patri vestro a fratre suo et a filiis ejus pars de regno illius: unde adhuc vivente Ludovico, sed et anno praeterito, tales devenerunt miseriae, sicut vobis sunt notae, et hoc anno talis provenit lugenda infelicitas, quae per universum pene mundum, et per futura tempora merito erit in opprobrium.

## CAP. VI.

Propterea videtur exiguitati meae, vestrum esse consilium, ut de antiquis historiis quantum potestis attendatis, ne in exordio regni vestri inter primores regni de vestro regimine oriatur discordia, quae non sine impedimento possit esse sedata: [0986C] et regni primores, qui vobiscum sunt, sic seipsos et suas voluntates contemperent, ne alios istius regni primores ad scandalum per suam cupiditatem aut negligentiam provocent. Praesertim cum non habeatis fratrem, ad quem populus debeat se dividere, sicut nec divisus est Carolo imperatore mortuo, sed se univit cum Ludovico illius unico filio. Nam si illi boni barones post mortem Pippini, cum duobus fratribus sic sano consilio egerunt, ut pax inter fratres reges et inter regni primores ac populum esset, multo facilius, nisi se invidia et cupiditas intermiserint, vobiscum Deo adjuvante se ad Dei voluntatem, et suam salutem venire valebunt, attendentes quanta miseria accidit de discordia, quae facta est inter tres fratres post mortem Ludovici [0986D] imperatoris.

## CAP. VII.

Vos scitis, quia pater vester prius Rhemis de constitutione vestra post illum in regimine regni cum primoribus regni sui disposuit: ubi, quantum recordor, maxime omnes regni primores fuerunt, excepto venerabili abbate Hugone, et Bernardo comite Arvernense: et omnes secundum dispositionem patris vestri in vestra regia constitutione consenserunt. Et quando proxime in Carisiaco inde disposuit, et nomina vobis descripta dedit, quorum consilio et auxilio regni negotia disponere deberetis (inter quos et Boso adscriptus est), omnes praesentes adfuerunt, excepto ipso Bosone, et Hugone abbate, et Bernardo comite Arvernico: et omnes [0987A] qui adfuerunt in regia vestra constitutione consenserunt, sed et illi qui cum patre vestro perrexerunt. Propterea sub celeritate mittite ad Hugonem et Gozlenum abbates, et ad Bosonem, et Conradum, et Bernardum, itemque Bernardum, comites: et petite, ut talem locum, sicut eis commodius visum fuerit, vobis et eis qui in istis partibus sunt, sed et ipsis qui in illis partibus sunt, convenire provideant, et vobis mandent ut illuc veniatis cum primoribus qui in istis partibus sunt. Et taliter quique conveniant ut regnum non depraedetur, nec devastetur, ut communi consilio de communi necessitate et utilitate tractetis, qualiter illa capitula, quae pater vester proxime in Carisiaco annuntiavit, ad effectum pervenire possint, quae interim relegite et vos et illi [0987B] qui vobiscum sunt, et mente recondite.

## CAP. VIII.

Credo etiam quia pater vester, postquam scivit se de sua infirmitate non posse convalescere, non dimisit ut vobis de regni dispositione, quae ad Dei voluntatem et sanctae Ecclesiae statum et vestrum honorem ac primorum regni, et populi necessitatem et utilitatem scivit, quaedam specialiter non mandaverit. Propterea necesse est, et bonum videtur, ut illi etiam intersint qui cum illo fuerunt, et omnes communiter de communi necessitate et utilitate tractent. Ego etiam, licet minimus illorum, et debilis ac infirmus, in Dei et vestrum servitium, et illorum obsequium, Domino annuente, libenter conveniam, et, si aliquid utilitatis valuero conferre, voluntarie faciam, quia necesse est ut cum Dei et vestris [0987C] fidelibus tractetis et disponatis.

Primo, qualiter vos in regimine regni cum honore et salvamento, ac supplemento de his quae necessaria sunt, cum regno ac domo vestra possitis consistere. Secundo, ut praefatum capitulum a patre vestro nuper in Carisiaco denuntiatum, de honore sanctae Ecclesiae, et sacerdotum ac servorum Dei debito privilegio, ad effectum perduci possit: et ut Ecclesiae in isto regno per occasionabiles circadas et per indebitas consuetudinarias exactiones, quae tempore Pippini, Caroli et Ludovici non fuerunt, ante annos viginti impositas non affligantur. Tertio, qualiter regni primores cum debita securitate ac honore erga vos consistere possint, et caeteri nobiles homines in regno securitatem habeant, ne per [0987D] diversa ingenia a suis opibus quas habere potuerint despolientur: quia postquam radix omnium malorum cupiditas in regno isto exarsit, ut nullus aut pene nullus honorem aut aliquod bonum sine pretio posset acquirere, aut tenere, aut securitatem habere, pax et consilium, et justitia, atque judicium, sicut necesse fuerat, locum in isto regno non habuerunt. Quarto, ut inveniatis cum Dei et vestris fidelibus, qualiter istae rapinae et depraedationes in isto regno cessent, et miser iste populus, qui jam per plures annos depraedationes diversas et continuas, et per exactiones ad Nortmannos repellendos affligitur, aliquod remedium habeat, et justitia et judicium, quae quasi emortua apud nos sunt, reviviscant, ut virtutem [0988A] nobis Deus reddat contra paganos: quia usque modo jam ante plures annos locum in isto regno defensio non habuit, sed redemptio et tributum, et non solum pauperes homines, sed et Ecclesias quondam divites jam evacuatas habent. Quinto, ut concordiam, quae secundum Deum est, de qua nuper in Carisiaco pater vester mentionem habuit, inter fideles Dei et vestros haberi et vigere quantum potueritis satagatis, et vos talem erga eos praeparetis, ut verum consilium vobis dare possint et audeant. Quia, sicut per multos audivi, multum deperiit de utilitate in isto regno, pro eo quia consiliarii quod sciebant bonum et utile, dicere non audebant, nec ut dicerent locum habebant. Nullus enim homo est sic sapiens ut alterius non indigeat consilio, sicut scriptum est: *Audiens sapiens [0988B] sapientior erit, et intelligens gubernacula possidebit,* et, *qui confidit cogitationibus suis impie aget [n: (Prov. I, 5; XII, 2)]*. Sexto, ut inveniatis cum Dei et vestris fidelibus, qualiter pacem et amicitiam secundum Deum cum vestris sobrinis patrui vestri filiis habeatis, et mutuum adjutorium vobis ad Dei voluntatem, et sanctae Ecclesiae ac vestrum honorem, atque communem fidelium vestrorum salvationem exhibeatis.

## CAP. IX.

Caeterum, qualiter haec ad effectum perveniant, et caetera necessaria inveniantur et assequantur, Deus est exorandus, qui unicuique devoto promittit: *Si quis indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, et dabitur illi [n: (Jac. I, 5)]*. Et item dicit: *Indicabo tibi, homo, quid sit bonum, et quid Deus requirat [0988C] a te: id est facere judicium et justitiam, et sollicitum ambulare cum Deo tuo [n: (Mich. VI, 8)]*. Facienda est justitia, non pro ullo terreno lucro, sed pro eo ipso quia justitia est, sicut scriptum est: *Juste quod justum est exsequeris [n: (Deut. XVI, 20)]*. Faciendum est judicium pro iniquorum correctione, et pro injuriam sustinentium directione, non pro malevolentiae ultione, nec pro justam causam habentium oppressione. Nam qui injuste judicant, non judicant judicium, id est jure ac legaliter dictum, sed praejudicium. Unde, sicut Dominus dicit, *qui injuste judicant, juste judicati condemnabuntur.* Sollicite unicuique ambulandum est cum Deo suo, et regi praecipue, qui sub tantis erit poenis in futuro saeculo, si malus fuerit, super quantos fuit in isto saeculo, in [0988D] quo se a malitia non correxit, et non fecit judicium et justitiam, et non ambulavit sollicite cum Deo suo. Sicut enim homo subjectus vadit sollicite cum seniore suo, ut ea faciat quae illi placeant secundum Deum ad salutem, et secundum saeculum ad honorem et profectum, et si in aliquo fecerit, quod seniori suo displiceat, hoc statim emendare festinat, ut ad gratiam illius reveniat: sic vobis necesse est ut sollicite ambuletis cum seniore vestro rege regum, ut de praeteritis, quae contra illius voluntatem fecistis, illi per confessionem et cordis contritionem, et per opera bona satisfaciatis, et ab illius mandatis de caetero non declinetis: et si per fragilitatem in aliquo lapsi fueritis sicut ille qui lubricat de uno [0989A] pede, de altero pede vel manu sibi subvenit ut restituatur: sic iterum per devotionem et bonam operationem certate, ut ad gratiam senioris vestri Domini Dei reveniatis; quia peccantes et non poenitentes Dominus diu ut convertantur tolerat, sed non conversos durius damnat. Sicut etiam in vestra aetate audire et videre potestis, et de vobis, ne similia vobis eveniant, timere et cavere debetis. Et talem vos erga cultum divinum, et sanctam Ecclesiam, ac sacerdotes et servos Dei, caeterosque fideles vestros in omni statu manentes, et erga populum vobis a Deo commissum exhibete, ut vos diligant, et eos delectet tam in spiritali servitio, quam in temporali adjutorio, ubicunque vobis necesse fuerit, debitum obsequium exhibere; et plus vos delectet Christiana [0989B] religio, et cordis humilitas, quam vanae pompae et voluptates carnis: quoniam quantislibet molibus argenti et auri circumdetur, quibuslibet pretiosis vestibus induatur caro, quid est aliud quam caro? id est, putredo, et filius hominis vermis, et pulvis, ac cinis? Non vos tantum delectet per venationes insequi bestias silvestres, quantum pugnare contra carnis voluptates, et Dei ac sanctae ipsius Ecclesiae inimicos, tam corporales, quam spirituales: quia sicut dicit Dominus per Apostolum: *Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, et spiritus adversus carnem [n: (Gal. V, 17)]*. Et: *Non est nobis colluctatio adversus [0990A] carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus spiritales nequitias [n: (Ephes. VI, 12)]*. Non vos delectent tantum divitiae possessionum auri et argenti atque gemmarum, ut inter eos computemini qui idola adorant, quoniam, sicut dicit Apostolus, *Avaritia idolorum servitus est [n: (Coloss. III, 5)]*, quantum fides, spes, et charitas, justitia, veritas, et justum judicium, quae perducunt hominem in eis perseverantem ad aeternum regnum, et angelorum consortium.

## CAP. X.

Quae nunc verbis dominationi vestrae dicerem, si corpore praesens adessem, haec litteris suggero: quia de generalibus Ecclesiae ac de regni negotiis, sine generali primorum regni consilio et consensu, speciale dare consilium nescio, et consensum deliberare non valeo, nec praesumo. Propterea [0990B] mihi jam et aetate et infirmitate ac debilitate attrito, non necesse est a dominatione vestra imponi, ut sine causa laborem, antequam ad placitum vestrum Dei et vestri fideles conveniant, et ego, qualitercunque potuero, favente Domino, sicut praedixi, in Dei et vestrum servitium, et illorum obsequium veniam. Si autem, quod Deus avertat, interim alicujus perturbationis causa evenerit, et mihi notum facere dominationi vestrae placuerit, pro scire et posse, et consilio et auxilio in vestro obsequio fideliter laborabo.

english:
## Instruction to Louis the Stammerer

[0983D]To the lord LOUIS, the glorious king, be health and life always.

## CHAP. I.

Your Lordship has commanded me to hasten to come to you, because you wished to treat with me of the interests of yourself, and of holy Church, and of the kingdom: [0984D] whereupon I render you satisfaction with a humble and sure reply. The holy Apostle says [n: (Rom. XV, 4)]: Whatsoever things were written, were written for our instruction. We read in the ancient histories that often, when kings were set up, discord arose among the chief men of the kingdom, [0985A] because some wished to claim for themselves the establishing of the king without the counsel of others. And that discord was not pacified without hindrance. We read that good kings, once established, took to themselves good counselors, and that through good kings and good counselors the peoples of the kingdoms had many good things, and through bad kings and bad counselors the peoples of the kingdoms endured many evils.

## CHAP. II.

To set before you examples from more recent histories: when Pippin your great-great-grandfather fell sick with the sickness of which he also died, he called together at the monastery of Saint Denis the chief men of his kingdom, and by their counsel arranged how, after him, his sons Carloman and Charles, who were with him, should peaceably govern his kingdom. And when he was dead [0985B] and buried with great devotion, Carloman came to Soissons and Charles to Noyon, and on the fifteenth day after his death, by the counsel and help of the chief men of the kingdom, they were raised up as kings; and each one of the chief men of the kingdom came over to his own king without any contention. About three years later, when Carloman had died at Samoussy, Charles came to Corbeny, and the chief men of the kingdom who had been with Carloman came over to him there, except a few, of whom it is not now needful to speak.

## CHAP. III.

But when the emperor Charles had died and had been buried in the palace at Aachen, the chief men of the kingdom who were with him sent to Louis your grandfather, who was in Thionville; and on the thirtieth day after his father's death [0985C] he came to Aachen, and with the counsel of the chief men of the kingdom he peaceably set the kingdom in order — until, from a cause arising which it is not fitting to speak of now, discord arose between him and his sons, on account of which a great part of the chief men of the kingdom set out with Lothar into Lombardy.

## CHAP. IV.

When Louis the emperor, your grandfather, had died, certain of the chief men of this kingdom summoned Lothar, and the chief men who were with him, out of Lombardy into this kingdom. And certain of the chief men of the kingdom were with Charles your father, and certain with Louis your uncle. Meanwhile the chief men of the kingdom who were with the three brothers began to contend one by one over honors — which of them might obtain the greater and the more of them: and holding of little [0985D] account the oaths made about the division of the kingdom, and contending more for their own greed than for the safety of their lords and of themselves, and for the peace of holy Church and of the people, those who were with Lothar drove him to this, that he should disinherit his brothers and reduce to nothing the chief men of the kingdom who were with them, since he himself was firstborn and bore the name of emperor. But those who were with Charles and Louis said that their lords were Lothar's brothers, and that by oaths the kingdom had been divided among them, and that they were inferior neither in birth nor in power to those who were with Lothar, and that therefore they would not entrust themselves against them. Whence many and very great evils grew up in the land, until at last among [0986A] kinsmen by blood and Christians there came about at Fontenoy so great an evil and so great a peril as has not happened among Christians from that time when Charles first fought with Ragamfred at Vinchy. But not by that slaughter which was made at Fontenoy did peace come about in the kingdom; rather that misery remained among the Christian people and among kinsmen by blood until, willing or unwilling, both the lords and the chief men of the kingdom divided the kingdom into three parts, and confirmed by oaths that this same division ought to stand firm.

## CHAP. V.

When Lothar had died, his sons divided his kingdom among themselves. Whereupon, while they were still living, an assurance was made by oath between your father and your uncle Louis. And when Lothar [0986B] the son of Lothar had died, after many disputes a division was made between your father and your uncle Louis concerning the portion of Lothar's kingdom. And when Louis the brother of Lothar had died in Lombardy, a share of his kingdom was demanded of your father by his brother and by his brother's sons: whereupon, while Louis was still living, and also in the past year, such miseries came about as are known to you; and in this year there has come about such a lamentable unhappiness as will deservedly be a reproach through almost the whole world and through the times to come.

## CHAP. VI.

For that reason it seems to my littleness that it is your counsel to attend as much as you can to the ancient histories, lest at the beginning of your reign discord arise among the chief men of the kingdom concerning your rule, which could not be settled without hindrance: [0986C] and that the chief men of the kingdom who are with you should so temper themselves and their own wills that they do not, by their greed or negligence, provoke the other chief men of this kingdom to scandal. Especially since you have no brother among whom the people ought to divide itself — just as it was not divided when the emperor Charles died, but united itself with Louis his only son. For if those good barons, after the death of Pippin, dealt with the two brothers by counsel so sound that there was peace between the brother kings and among the chief men of the kingdom and the people, then much more easily — unless envy and greed interpose themselves — will they be able, with God's help, to come along with you to the will of God and to their own salvation, if they attend to how great a misery arose from the discord which came about among the three brothers after the death of Louis [0986D] the emperor.

## CHAP. VII.

You know that your father first arranged at Reims, with the chief men of his kingdom, concerning your establishment after him in the rule of the kingdom: where, so far as I recall, very nearly all the chief men of the kingdom were present, except the venerable abbot Hugh and Bernard count of Auvergne: and all consented, according to your father's arrangement, to your royal establishment. And when most recently at Quierzy he made arrangement about it, and gave you the names written out of those by whose counsel and help you were to order the affairs of the kingdom (among whom Boso too was enrolled), all were present except Boso himself, and abbot Hugh, and Bernard count of Auvergne: and all [0987A] who were present consented to your royal establishment, and so did those who set out with your father. Therefore send with speed to the abbots Hugh and Gozlin, and to Boso, and Conrad, and Bernard, and likewise Bernard, the counts: and ask them to provide such a place as shall seem more convenient to them for you and for those who are in these parts, and also for those who are in those parts, to meet at, and to send you word that you should come there with the chief men who are in these parts. And let each so come together that the kingdom be not plundered nor laid waste, so that by common counsel you may treat of the common need and advantage — how those chapters which your father most recently proclaimed at Quierzy may be able to come into effect; which chapters in the meantime do you re-read, both you and those [0987B] who are with you, and lay them up in mind.

## CHAP. VIII.

I believe also that your father, after he knew that he could not recover from his sickness, did not fail to command you certain things in particular concerning the ordering of the kingdom — such things as he knew to be for the will of God and the standing of holy Church and your honor and that of the chief men of the kingdom, and for the necessity and advantage of the people. Therefore it is needful, and it seems good, that those also should be present who were with him, and that all in common should treat of the common necessity and advantage. I too, though the least of them, and weak and infirm, will gladly come together for the service of God and of you, and for their attendance, the Lord granting it; and if I shall be able to contribute anything of use, I shall willingly do so, because it is needful that you treat and make arrangement with the faithful men of God [0987C] and your own.

First, how you may be able, in the rule of the kingdom, to hold your ground with honor and safety, and with a sufficiency of the things that are necessary, together with your kingdom and your household. Second, that the aforesaid chapter lately proclaimed by your father at Quierzy, concerning the honor of holy Church and the due privilege of the priests and servants of God, may be brought into effect: and that the churches in this kingdom be not afflicted by opportunistic circuit-levies and by undue customary exactions, which did not exist in the time of Pippin, Charles, and Louis, and were imposed less than twenty years ago. Third, how the chief men of the kingdom may hold their ground toward you with due security and honor, and how the rest of the noble men in the kingdom may have security, lest by [0987D] various contrivances they be stripped of whatever goods they have been able to have: because after greed, the root of all evils, blazed up in this kingdom, so that no one, or almost no one, could acquire or keep an honor or any good thing without a price, or have security, peace and counsel and justice and judgment have not had the place in this kingdom that they needed to have. Fourth, that you may find, with the faithful men of God and your own, how these robberies and plunderings in this kingdom may cease, and how this wretched people — which for many years now is afflicted by various and continual plunderings, and by exactions for driving back the Northmen — may have some remedy, and how justice and judgment, which among us are as if dead, may come to life again, so that God may give back to us strength [0988A] against the pagans: because up to now, for many years past, defense has had no place in this kingdom, but ransom and tribute; and they have already emptied out not only poor men but also churches once rich. Fifth, that you take pains, as far as you can, that the concord which is according to God — of which your father lately made mention at Quierzy — should be had and flourish among the faithful men of God and your own; and that you make yourself such toward them that they may be able and may dare to give you true counsel. For, as I have heard from many, much of what was useful in this kingdom has been lost, for this reason: that the counselors did not dare to say what they knew to be good and useful, nor had they any occasion for saying it. For no man is so wise as not to need another's counsel, as it is written: *The wise man hearing [0988B] shall be wiser, and the man of understanding shall possess the helm,* and, *he who trusts in his own thoughts shall act impiously [n: (Prov. I, 5; XII, 2)]*. Sixth, that you may find, with the faithful men of God and your own, how you may have peace and friendship according to God with your cousins, the sons of your uncle, and may render mutual help to one another for the will of God, and for the honor of holy Church and your own, and for the common salvation of your faithful men.

## CHAP. IX.

For the rest, as to how these things may come into effect, and the other necessary things be found and attained, God is to be entreated, who promises to every devout man: *If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given him [n: (Jac. I, 5)]*. And likewise he says: *I will show thee, O man, what is good, and what God requires [0988C] of thee: that is, to do judgment and justice, and to walk solicitously with thy God [n: (Mich. VI, 8)]*. Justice is to be done, not for any earthly gain, but for this very reason, that it is justice, as it is written: *Justly shalt thou pursue that which is just [n: (Deut. XVI, 20)]*. Judgment is to be given for the correction of the wicked, and for the setting right of those who suffer wrong; not for the avenging of ill-will, nor for the oppression of those who have a just cause. For those who judge unjustly do not give judgment — that is, a thing spoken by right and lawfully — but prejudgment. Whence, as the Lord says, *those who judge unjustly shall be justly judged and condemned.* Every man must walk solicitously with his God, and a king above all, who in the age to come will be under punishments, if he has been wicked, as great as the number of those over whom he was in this age, in [0988D] which he did not correct himself from wickedness, and did not do judgment and justice, and did not walk solicitously with his God. For just as a subject man walks solicitously with his lord, so as to do those things which please him according to God unto salvation, and according to the world unto honor and profit, and if in anything he has done what displeases his lord he hastens at once to amend it, that he may come back into his favor: so it is needful for you to walk solicitously with your lord, the King of kings — that for things past which you have done against his will you make satisfaction to him by confession and contrition of heart and by good works, and that henceforth you do not turn aside from his commands: and if through frailty you slip in anything, then, just as a man who slips with one [0989A] foot helps himself with the other foot or with his hand so as to be set upright again, so do you again strive, by devotion and good working, to come back into the favor of your lord the Lord God; because those who sin and do not repent the Lord long bears with, that they may be converted, but those not converted he condemns the more harshly. As indeed in your own lifetime you can hear and see, and concerning yourself, lest the like befall you, you ought to fear and beware. And show yourself such toward divine worship, and holy Church, and the priests and servants of God, and your other faithful men abiding in every rank, and toward the people committed to you by God, that they may love you, and that it may delight them to render due attendance, both in spiritual service and in temporal help, wherever it shall be needful for you; and let the Christian [0989B] religion and humility of heart delight you more than empty pomp and the pleasures of the flesh: since, with however great masses of silver and gold the flesh be surrounded, with whatever precious garments it be clothed, what is it other than flesh? that is, rottenness; and the son of man, a worm, and dust, and ashes? Let it not delight you so much to pursue wild beasts in hunting as to fight against the pleasures of the flesh and against the enemies of God and of his holy Church, both bodily and spiritual: because, as the Lord says through the Apostle: *The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh [n: (Gal. V, 17)]*. And: *Our wrestling is not against [0990A] flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickednesses [n: (Ephes. VI, 12)]*. Let not the riches of possessions, of gold and silver and gems, so delight you that you be reckoned among those who adore idols — since, as the Apostle says, *Avarice is the service of idols [n: (Coloss. III, 5)]* — as let faith, hope, and charity, justice, truth, and just judgment delight you, which lead the man who perseveres in them to the eternal kingdom and to the fellowship of the angels.

## CHAP. X.

What I would now say in words to your Lordship, if I were present in body, this I put forward in a letter: because concerning the general affairs of the Church and of the kingdom, without the general counsel and consent of the chief men of the kingdom, I do not know how to give particular counsel, and I am not able, nor do I presume, to determine consent. Therefore, [0990B] worn down as I now am by age and by sickness and weakness, there is no need for it to be laid upon me by your Lordship that I labor without cause before the faithful men of God and your own come together at your assembly; and I, in whatever way I shall be able, the Lord favoring it, as I said before, will come for the service of God and of you and for their attendance. But if — which God avert — in the meantime any cause of disturbance shall arise, and it shall please you to make it known to me, I will labor faithfully in your service, according to my knowledge and power, both with counsel and with help.


site: migne

title: Quae exsequi debeat episcopus

languages: en la

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 125, coll. 1087A–1094A

source_text:
## Quae exsequi debeat episcopus

[1087A]Haec specialiter exsequi debet episcopus juxta sacras regulas. Missas publicas celebrare, sacrum chrisma regulariter consecrare, sanctum baptisma juxta traditionem ecclesiasticam agere, et ut a presbyteris agatur providere. Presbyteros et diaconos, et reliquos ecclesiasticos ministros, statutis temporibus, quales praecipiunt regulae, sine ullius muneris acceptione ordinare. Synodos presbyterorum secundum sacros canones sine venalitate habere. Ad provincialem episcoporum synodum, et ad ordinationem episcopi, vocatus convenire, vel pro se presbyterum aut diaconem, cum tractoria causas suae impossibilitatis exponente, vel cum regulari suo consensu dirigere. Clerum regulariter gubernare, et sicut sanctus Gregorius in pastorali Regula [1087B] dicit, eidem clero, tam in interioribus, quam et in corporalibus rebus, necessaria providere. Ecclesiae, tam in luminaribus et ornamentis, quam et in aedificiis, et in sartatectis, curam habere. Hospites et pauperes in constitutis singillatim hospitalibus recipere, et dicente Apostolo: *Qui suorum, et maxime domesticorum, curam non habet, fidem negavit, et est infideli deterior [n: (I Tim. V, 8)]*, suorum domesticorum in ministrando necessaria curam habere. Monasteriorum in sua parochia, et ecclesiarum rusticanarum parochiarum, atque matriculariorum, secundum sacras regulas sollicitudinem gerere. Populo suae parochiae verbum Domini nuntiare, et verbo atque exemplo subjectos sibi docere, et oratione consulere. In consignatione eorum, qui necdum [1087C] in frontibus ministerio episcopali sunt consignati, regulariter satagere, et in hujus negotii circuitione, parochiae, ultra debitum et necessarium modum, sicut sanctus decrevit Gregorius, presbyteros non gravare. Bonum testimonium etiam ab his qui foris sunt habere. Peccantibus et poenitentibus secundum modum culparum regulariter poenitentiam indicere, et post satisfactionem regulariter eos reconciliare. Omnis possessionis, quae sub ejus est potestate, providentiam gerere. Militiam ad defensionem sanctae Ecclesiae, secundum possibilitatis quantitatem, juxta antiquam consuetudinem regiae dispositioni exhibere, et secundum Domini jussionem, quae Caesaris sunt Caesari, et Deo quae Dei sunt reddere [n: (Matth. XXII, 21)]. Quia sicut sanctus Gelasius [1087D] facundissimus papa in decretis suis scribens ad Anastasium imperatorem dicit [n: (epist. 10)]: « Duo sunt quibus principaliter mundus hic regitur, auctoritas sacra pontificum, et regalis potestas. Sed anto gravius est pondus sacerdotum quam regum, [1088A] quanto etiam pro ipsis regibus hominum in divino reddituri sunt examine rationem. » Et tanto in humanis rebus regum cura est propensior quam sacerdotum, quanto pro honore et defensione ac quiete sanctae Ecclesiae, et rectorum ac ministrorum ipsius, et leges promulgando, ac militando, a Rege regum est eis curae onus impositum: sic actionibus propriis dignitatibusque distinctis, ut et Christiani reges pro aeterna vita pontificibus indigerent, et pontifices pro temporalium rerum cursu regum dispositione uterentur; quatenus spiritalis actio carnalibus distaret incursibus, et militans Deo minime negotiis saecularibus se implicaret, ac vicissim non ille rebus divinis praesidere videretur, qui esset negotiis saecularibus implicatus. Sanctus namque [1088B] Spiritus per eos qui cum Christo in coelo regnant, et in terris miraculis coruscant, dixit, et usque ad nos scriptis pervenire fecit dicens [n: (Urban. epist. 1)]: « Res et facultates ecclesiasticae oblationes appellantur, quia Domino offeruntur, et vota sunt fidelium, ac pretia peccatorum, atque patrimonia pauperum. Si quis illa rapuerit, reus est damnationis Ananiae et Saphirae, et oportet hujusmodi tradere Satanae, ut spiritus salvus sit in die Domini. Quod nostri gloriosi imperatores Carolus et Ludovicus in primo libro Capitulorum suorum ita inseruerunt [n: (cap. 83)]: Quia, inquiunt, juxta sanctorum Patrum traditionem novimus res Ecclesiae vota esse fidelium, pretia peccatorum, et patrimonia pauperum, cuique non solum habita conservare, [1088C] verum etiam multa, Deo opitulante, conferre optamus. Tamen ut ab ecclesiasticis de non dividendis rebus Ecclesiae suspicionem dudum conceptam penitus amoveremus, statuimus ut neque nostris, neque filiorum et Deo dispensante successorum nostrorum temporibus, qui nostram vel progenitorum nostrorum voluntatem, vel exemplum imitari voluerint, ullam penitus divisionem aut jacturam patiatur. » Sanctus quoque Anacletus papa, ab ipso beato Petro apostolo presbyter ordinatus, postea in sede Romana successor illius factus episcopus, cum totius mundi sacerdotibus judicavit [n: (epist. 1)]: « Qui abstulerit, inquiens, aliquid patri vel matri, homicidae particeps est. Pater noster sine dubio Deus est, qui nos creavit; mater vero nostra Ecclesia, [1088D] quae nos in baptismo spiritaliter regeneravit. Ergo qui Christi pecunias et Ecclesiae rapit, aufert vel praedatur, homicida est, atque homicida ante conspectum justi judicis deputabitur. Qui rapit pecuniam proximi sui, iniquitatem operatur: qui autem [1089A] pecuniam vel res Ecclesiae abstulerit, sacrilegium facit, et ut sacrilegus judicandus est. » Item sanctus Urbanus papa et martyr [n: (epist. 1)]: « Res et facultates ecclesiasticae oblationes appellantur, quia Domino offeruntur, et vota sunt fidelium, ac pretia peccatorum, atque patrimonia pauperum. Si quis illa rapuerit, reus est damnationis Ananiae et Saphirae, et oportet hujusmodi tradere Satanae, ut spiritus salvus sit in die Domini. » Et sanctus Lucius papa [n: (epist. 11)]: « Rerum ecclesiasticarum et facultatum raptores a liminibus sanctae Ecclesiae anathematizatos apostolica auctoritate pellimus et damnamus, atque sacrilegos esse judicamus: et non solum eos, sed et omnes consentientes eis, quia non solum qui faciunt rei judicantur, sed etiam qui facientibus [1089B] consentiunt. Par enim poena et agentes et consentientes comprehendit. A qua poena consensus liberi esse non possunt illi, quorum ministerium est, et qui talia possunt prohibere, comprimere et emendare, et ea non student corrigere. » Et sanctus Gregorius in epistola ad Sabinum subdiaconum [n: (lib. VIII, epist. 7)]: « Sacrilegum, inquit, et contra leges est, si quis quod venerabilibus locis relinquitur, pravae voluntatis studiis, suis tentaverit compendiis retinere. » Et S. Augustinus in sermone Evangelii sancti Joannis dicit: « Fur sacrilegus loculorum sacrorum et Dominicorum est Judas, et qui aliquid de Ecclesia furatur et rapit, Judae perdito comparatur. » Et item in sacris canonibus, sancto Spiritu dictatis, et Christi sanguine confirmatis, [1089C] scriptum est [n: (conc. Tol. I, can. 11)]: « Si quis de potentibus clericum, aut quemlibet pauperiorem, aut religiosum exspoliaverit, et mandaverit ad ipsum episcopus ut eum audiat, si contempserit, invicem mox scripta percurrant per omnes provinciae episcopos, et quoscunque adire potuerit, excommunicatus habeatur, donec audiat et reddat aliena. » Et item scriptum est [n: (conc. Agath., can. 4)]: « Clerici etiam, vel saeculares, qui oblationes parentum, aut donatas, aut testamento relictas, retinere praesumpserint, aut id quod ipsi donaverunt ecclesiis vel monasteriis crediderint auferendum, sicut synodus sancta constituit, velut necatores pauperum, quousque reddant, ab ecclesiis excludantur. » Unde summopere caveant potentiores quique, unusquisque in ordine et dignitate [1089D] sua, ne praesumant, in damnationem suam res sibi ecclesiasticas, neque fatigent vel affligant inconsuetis consuetudinibus Dei ecclesias et loca sanctorum, scientes quia ut praemisimus res ecclesiasticae vota sunt fidelium, patrimonia pauperum, pretia peccatorum, et in tuitione atque defensione Christi consistunt, qui eas terrae principibus, atque primoribus ad defendendum et conservandum, non affligendum vel usurpandum sive praesumendum commisit. Nam quaecunque praetendatur a quocunque utilitatis sive necessitatis occasio, ille corda omnium conspicit, qui novit cogitationes hominum, et remunerat actiones, et etiam cogitationes irremuneratas nullatenus derelinquet. Quocirca omnis qui vult [1090A] salvus fieri, et ab aeterna morte liberari, et ad aeternam vitam pervenire, attentissime cordis aure exaudiat quid sanctus Spiritus per eos locutus est, quibus dixit Dominus: *Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi [n: (Matth. XXVIII, 20)]*; et: *Non vos estis qui loquimini, sed Spiritus Patris vestri qui loquitur in vobis [n: (Matth. X, 20)]*; et: *Quaecunque alligaveritis super terram, erunt ligata et in coelo, et quaecunque solveritis super terram, erunt soluta et in coelo [n: (Matth. XVIII, 18)]*; et: *Accipite Spiritum sanctum: quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur eis, et quorum retinueritis retenta sunt [n: (Joan. XX, 22)]*; et: *Qui vos audit me audit, et qui vos spernit me spernit [n: (Luc. X, 16)]*. Dicunt enim illi, qui in coelo regnant, et in terra miraculis coruscant, [1090B] qui et usque hodie nobiscum vivunt, et cum successoribus nostris usque in perpetuum vivent, quoniam apud Deum est merces eorum: « Si quis oblationes Ecclesiae extra Ecclesiam accipere vel dare voluerit, praeter conscientiam episcopi, vel ejus cui hujusmodi officia commissa sunt, nec cum ejus voluerit agere consilio, anathema sit [n: (conc. Ancyr. can. 7)]. » Anathema autem interpretatur in Romana lingua *alienatio,* quia omnis talia faciens, quandiu in illis peccatis manet, licet nos episcopi, qui in apostolis et cum apostolis non nostro merito sed gratia divina ligandi et solvendi potestatem accepimus, interdum tardi, interdum divini sensus ignari, interdum quae committuntur nescientes, aliquando etiam commissa ut expedit [1090C] corrigere non valentes, quae statuta sunt exsequi dissimulemus, vel etiam negligamus, ut talem hominem ab Ecclesia et fidelium societate excommunicantes non segregemus, jam tamen a sacris canonibus excommunicatus et praedamnatus est, donec peccatum illud deserat, et per satisfactionem ecclesiasticam, et sacerdotalem reconciliationem, Domini gratiam et fidelium societatem recipiat. Et quicunque in peccatis suis et talibus sceleribus implicatus ante satisfactionem necessariam vitam istam finierit, communionem et societatem cum electis in regno Dei habere nullatenus poterit, nec de inferni poenis et daemonum societate unquam liberari valebit. Denique duo capitula quae sequuntur, ex edicto assumpta sunt ab Ansegiso [1090D] abbate, capitulorum imperialium ex diversis synodis et placitis collectore, causa brevitatis in primo libro capitulorum, septuagesimo septimo et septuagesimo octavo, de non dividendis rebus ecclesiasticis, et episcoporum electione, ex suprascriptis excerpta, in praefato libro inveniuntur. Quod edictum ex integro domnus Carolus Magnus imperator, cum interrogatione de chorepiscopis, per Arnonem archiepiscopum ad Leonem papam direxit, et ad ejus consultum aliud edictum de non dividendis rebus ecclesiasticis, et de episcoporum causis edidit, et apostolicae sedis atque auctoritate sua confirmavit, et per omnes metropolitanas ecclesias imperii sui perpetuo servanda direxit. Memorata itaque capitula [1091A] ita se habent [n: (lib. I, c. 83)]: « Quia juxta sanctorum Patrum traditionem novimus res Ecclesiae vota esse fidelium, pretia peccatorum, et patrimonia pauperum, cuique non solum habita conservare, verum etiam multa, Deo opitulante, conferre optamus. Tamen ut ab ecclesiasticis de non dividendis rebus illius suspicionem dudum conceptam penitus amoveremus, statuimus ut neque nostris, neque filiorum et Deo dispensante successorum nostrorum temporibus, qui nostram vel progenitorum nostrorum voluntatem, vel exemplum imitari voluerint, ullam penitus divisionem aut jacturam patiatur [n: (cap. 84.)] Sacrorum quoque canonum non ignari, ut in Dei nomine sancta Ecclesia suo liberius potiatur honore, assensum ordini ecclesiastico praebemus, ut scilicet episcopi per electionem cleri et populi [1091B] secundum statuta canonum de propria dioecesi, remota personarum et munerum acceptione, ob vitae meritum et sapientiae donum eligantur, ut exemplo et verbo sibi subjectis usquequaque prodesse valeant. » Et in eodem edicto unde haec fuerunt assumpta subsequitur: « Praecipimus etiam omnibus ditioni nostrae subjectis, ut nullus privilegia ecclesiarum, monasteriorum, aut ecclesias diripere pertentet, quia sicut a sanctis Patribus instructi sumus, gravissimum peccatum hoc esse dignoscitur, » et caetera quae sequuntur. Et in privilegio Belvacensis Ecclesiae, ab episcopis quatuor provinciarum consensu domni Caroli nuper defuncti confirmato, haec continetur ad locum: « Potestas autem saecularis, sive sit sublimitate donata aliqua, sive [1091C] in humili constituta loco, nullam in eis, nec in praesenti nec in futuro, suscipiat contra sacras regulas dominationem, nec violenter invadens, nec oblata suscipiens. Si quis vero regum, sacerdotum, et judicium, atque saecularium personarum, hanc constitutionis paginam cognoscens, contra eam venire tentaverit, potestatis honorisque sui dignitate careat, reumque se divino judicio existere de perpetrata iniquitate cognoscat. Et nisi vel ea quae ab illo sunt male ablata restituerit, vel digna poenitentia illicita acta defleverit, a sacratissimo corpore ac sanguine Dei Domini Redemptoris nostri Jesu Christi alienus fiat, atque in aeterno examine districtae ultioni subjaceat. Cunctis autem eidem loco justa servantibus sit pax Domini nostri [1091D] Jesu Christi, quatenus hic fructum bonae actionis recipiant, et apud districtum judicem praemia aeternae pacis inveniant. » Et in privilegio ejusdem Ecclesiae a domno Nicolao papa confirmato haec continentur ad locum [n: (Nicolaus Odon. episc. )]: « Nullus itaque regum, nullus judicum, nullus cujuscunque saecularis potentiae dignitate fultus, in rebus praefatorum coenobiorum, vel villis, vel agris, vel mancipiis, vel quidquid ad eadem monasteria collatum fuerit, potestatem habeat vel dominandi, vel accipiendi, vel auferendi, praeter episcopum Belvacensis Ecclesiae, qui per tempus fuerit eidem praelatus Ecclesiae. Sed quidquid vel in auro, vel in argento, vel in quacunque supellectili, vel in omni facultatis substantia, [1092A] ipsis est monasteriis hodie delegatum, vel futuris temporibus fuerit collatum, episcopi Belvacensis distributioni et ordinationi fiat subjectum, nec alterius potestatis jus vel dominatio super eis potestatem aliquam, nisi quantum divina auctoritas et lex et justitia permittet, obtineat. Si quis autem temerario ausu, magna parvare persona, contra hoc nostrum apostolicum decretum agere praesumpserit, sciat se anathematis vinculo esse innodatum, et a regno Dei alienum, et cum omnibus impiis aeterni incendii supplicio condemnatum. At vero qui observator exstiterit praecepti hujus, gratiam atque misericordiam vitamque aeternam a misericordissimo Domino Deo nostro consequi mereatur. » Et sanctus Gregorius in decretali epistola, [1092B] in partes Graeciae pro quibusdam commotionibus directa, ita dicit ad locum: « Si qui vero sunt, qui dicunt, quia compulsus quispiam necessitate, si anathematizaverit, anathematis vinculo non tenetur, ipsi sibi testes sunt quia Christiani non sunt, quia ligamenta sanctae Ecclesiae vanis se aestimant conatibus solvere, ac per hoc nec absolutionem sanctae Ecclesiae, quam praestat fidelibus, veram putant, si ligaturas ejus valere non aestimant. Contra quos diutius disputandum non est, quia per omnia despiciendi et anathematizandi sunt, et unde se fallere veritatem credunt, inde in peccatis suis veraciter ligantur. Eosque et ego, et omnes catholici episcopi, atque universa Ecclesia anathematizamus, quia veritati contraria sentiunt, et contraria loquuntur. » [1092C] Unde magnopere dilectissimo domno nostro regi curandum est, ne suggestione vel postulatione quorumcunque hominum contra haec sancti Spiritus decreta faciat, vel fieri de ecclesiasticis rebus consentiat: maxime post hanc visitationem Dei, qua per confessionem, et poenitentiam, et reconciliationem sacerdotalem illum credimus emendatum: quia magna est contra peccatum virtus poenitentiae, sed ei qui in eadem poenitentia perseverat, quia scriptum est: *Qui perseveraverit usque in finem hic salvus erit [n: (Matth. XVIII, 22)]*; et item scriptum est: *Qui baptizatur a mortuo, et iterum tangit eum, quid proficit lavatio illius [n: (Eccli. XXXIV, 30)]*? Mortuum quippe est omne opus perversum quod pertrahit ad mortem, quodque justitiae non vivit. Baptizatur ergo a [1092D] mortuo et iterum tangit eum, qui prava opera, quae se egisse meminit, deplorat, sed in eisdem se iterum post lacrymas implicat. Anima itaque quaelibet ejusdem mortui lavatione non proficit, quae hoc iterum faciendo quod planxit, nec per lamenta poenitentiae ad rectitudinem justitiae exsurgit. Poenitentiam enim vere agere est commissa plangere, et iterum plangenda declinare. Providendum est igitur charissimo domno nostro regi, quod Dominus dominorum et Rex regum etiam ipsi et unicuique nostrum, quin et omni homini sine exceptione alicujus personae, quia ut Scriptura dicit: *Non est personarum acceptor Deus [n: (Act. X, 34)]*, dicit, quod longe ante cuidam in Evangelio dixerat: *Ecce sanus factus es: jam noli peccare, [1093A] ne deterius tibi aliquid contingat [n: (Joan. V, 14)]*. Sed et prava sibi suggerentes non obaudiat, dicente Apostolo: *Non solum qui faciunt, sed qui consentiunt facientibus, digni sunt morte [n: (Rom. I, 32)]*. Episcopo etiam nuper ordinato agere talia vel talibus consentire non praecipiat, unde se ipsum perdat, et coram Deo ecclesiasticam gratiam amittat. Cum coram omnibus et electoribus et ordinatoribus suis districtissime professus ante ordinationem suam fuerit, et propria manu subscripserit sacras regulas sanctorum conciliorum, quantum scierit et potuerit, servaturum. Qui sacri canones spiritu Dei conditi, et totius mundi [1094A] reverentia consecrati ita decernunt: Si quis contra suam professionem vel suam scripturam venerit in aliquo, ipse se honore privabit. Qui autem res et facultates ecclesiasticas Belvacensis Ecclesiae ipsius consensu vel favore pessumdare praesumpserint, qui auctoritatem eas illis dare vel consentire non habuit, sollicitissime caveant, ne suprascriptas sacrorum canonum sententias, ab omnibus nobis episcopis, ad quorum notitiam ipsorum sacrilegia pervenerint intentatas, suscipiant, et ab omni Christianorum societate modis omnibus separentur.

english:
## What a Bishop Ought to Carry Out

[1087A]These things in particular a bishop ought to carry out, according to the sacred rules. To celebrate public Masses; to consecrate the holy chrism in the regular manner; to administer holy baptism according to the tradition of the Church, and to provide that it be administered by the priests. To ordain priests and deacons and the remaining ministers of the Church at the appointed seasons, of such quality as the rules prescribe, without the acceptance of any gift. To hold synods of the priests according to the sacred canons, without venality. When summoned, to attend the provincial synod of bishops and the ordination of a bishop, or else to send in his stead a priest or a deacon with a *tractoria* setting forth the grounds of his inability to come, or with his consent given in the regular form. To govern the clergy according to rule, and, as St. Gregory says in the Pastoral Rule, [1087B] to provide that same clergy with what is needful both in inward and in bodily things. To have a care for the church, both in its lights and ornaments and in its buildings and *sartatecta*. To receive guests and the poor in the hospices severally established; and, since the Apostle says, *He that hath not care of his own, and especially of his household, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel [n: (I Tim. V, 8)]*, to have care of his own household in ministering to them what is needful. To exercise solicitude, according to the sacred rules, over the monasteries in his diocese, and over the churches of the country parishes, and over the *matricularii*. To announce the word of the Lord to the people of his diocese, and to teach those subject to him by word and by example, and to counsel them by prayer. To be diligent in the regular manner in the confirming of those who have not yet [1087C] been signed on their foreheads by the episcopal ministry; and in the circuit of the diocese for this business not to burden the priests beyond the due and needful measure, as St. Gregory decreed. To have a good testimony also from them that are without. To enjoin penance in the regular manner upon those who sin and repent, according to the measure of their faults, and after satisfaction to reconcile them in the regular manner. To exercise foresight over every possession that is under his authority. To furnish military service for the defense of holy Church, according to the measure of his ability, to the royal disposition after the ancient custom; and, according to the Lord's command, to render the things that are Caesar's to Caesar, and the things that are God's to God [n: (Matth. XXII, 21)]. For as St. Gelasius, [1087D] that most eloquent pope, says in his decrees, writing to the emperor Anastasius [n: (epist. 10)]: « There are two by which this world is principally ruled: the sacred authority of pontiffs, and the royal power. But the burden of priests is heavier than that of kings by so much as [1088A] they must render an account at the divine examination even for the kings of men themselves. » And by so much in human affairs is the care of kings the more weighty than that of priests, by as much as the burden of that care has been laid upon them by the King of kings — for the honor and defense and quiet of holy Church and of her rulers and ministers, both by promulgating laws and by making war: their proper actions and dignities being so distinguished that Christian kings should have need of pontiffs for eternal life, and pontiffs should make use of the disposition of kings for the course of temporal affairs; to the end that spiritual action should stand apart from carnal incursions, and that he who wars for God should in no wise entangle himself in secular business, and that in turn he should not be seen to preside over divine things who was entangled in secular business. For the Holy [1088B] Spirit spoke through those who reign with Christ in heaven and flash with miracles on earth, and caused it to come down even to us in writing, saying [n: (Urban. epist. 1)]: « The goods and resources of the Church are called oblations, because they are offered to the Lord; and they are the vows of the faithful, and the price of sins, and the patrimonies of the poor. If anyone seizes them, he is guilty of the condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira, and such a one must be delivered to Satan, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Which our glorious emperors Charles and Louis inserted thus in the first book of their Capitularies [n: (cap. 83)]: Since, they say, according to the tradition of the holy Fathers we know that the goods of the Church are the vows of the faithful, the price of sins, and the patrimonies of the poor, we desire not only to preserve to each what it has, [1088C] but even, with God's help, to confer much upon it. Yet, that we might utterly remove from churchmen the suspicion long since conceived concerning the non-division of the Church's goods, we have decreed that neither in our own times, nor in those of our sons and, by God's dispensing, of our successors who shall be willing to imitate our will or that of our forebears, or our example, shall it suffer any division or loss whatsoever. » St. Anacletus also, the pope who was ordained priest by the blessed Apostle Peter himself, and afterwards was made bishop as his successor in the Roman see, judged together with the priests of the whole world [n: (epist. 1)]: « He that takes away anything, he says, from father or mother is partaker with a murderer. Our father, beyond doubt, is God, who created us; and our mother is the Church, [1088D] who regenerated us spiritually in baptism. Therefore he who seizes, carries off, or plunders the moneys of Christ and of the Church is a murderer, and shall be accounted a murderer before the sight of the just Judge. He that seizes the money of his neighbor works iniquity; but he that [1089A] takes away the money or goods of the Church commits sacrilege, and is to be judged as one guilty of sacrilege. » Likewise St. Urban, pope and martyr [n: (epist. 1)]: « The goods and resources of the Church are called oblations, because they are offered to the Lord; and they are the vows of the faithful, and the price of sins, and the patrimonies of the poor. If anyone seizes them, he is guilty of the condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira, and such a one must be delivered to Satan, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. » And St. Lucius, pope [n: (epist. 11)]: « The plunderers of the goods and resources of the Church we, by apostolic authority, drive out and condemn as anathematized from the thresholds of holy Church, and we judge them to be guilty of sacrilege — and not them only, but also all who consent to them; because not only they who do such things are judged guilty, but also they who consent [1089B] to those who do them. For an equal punishment takes hold of both the doers and the consenters. From which punishment of consent those cannot be free whose office it is, and who are able to forbid, restrain, and amend such things, and are not zealous to correct them. » And St. Gregory, in his letter to the subdeacon Sabinus [n: (lib. VIII, epist. 7)]: « It is sacrilege, he says, and against the laws, if anyone by the pursuits of a depraved will attempts to retain for his own profit what is left to venerable places. » And St. Augustine, in a sermon on the Gospel of St. John, says: « Judas is the sacrilegious thief of the sacred purses that belonged to the Lord; and whoever steals and seizes anything of the Church's is likened to Judas the lost. » And likewise in the sacred canons, dictated by the Holy Spirit and confirmed by the blood of Christ, [1089C] it is written [n: (conc. Tol. I, can. 11)]: « If any of the powerful despoils a cleric, or any poorer man, or a religious, and the bishop sends word to him that he should hear him, and he holds it in contempt, then let letters run at once from one to another through all the bishops of the province; and by whomsoever he can be approached, let him be held excommunicate until he gives a hearing and restores what is another's. » And likewise it is written [n: (conc. Agath., can. 4)]: « Clerics also, or laymen, who presume to retain the oblations of their parents, whether given or left by testament, or who suppose that what they themselves have given to churches or monasteries may be taken away, are, as the holy synod has determined, to be excluded from the churches as murderers of the poor, until they make restitution. » Wherefore let all the more powerful, each in his own order and dignity, [1089D] take the utmost heed that they do not presume upon the goods of the Church, to their own condemnation, nor wear out or afflict the churches of God and the places of the saints with unaccustomed customs — knowing that, as we have said above, the goods of the Church are the vows of the faithful, the patrimonies of the poor, the price of sins, and that they stand under the protection and defense of Christ, who committed them to the princes and chief men of the earth to be defended and preserved, not to be afflicted or usurped or presumed upon. For whatever occasion of utility or of necessity may be alleged by anyone, he beholds the hearts of all who knows the thoughts of men, and who rewards deeds, and who will by no means leave even thoughts unrewarded. Wherefore everyone who wishes [1090A] to be saved, and to be freed from eternal death, and to attain to eternal life, let him hear most attentively with the ear of the heart what the Holy Spirit has spoken through those to whom the Lord said: *Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world [n: (Matth. XXVIII, 20)]*; and: *It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you [n: (Matth. X, 20)]*; and: *Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven [n: (Matth. XVIII, 18)]*; and: *Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose you shall retain, they are retained [n: (Joan. XX, 22)]*; and: *He that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me [n: (Luc. X, 16)]*. For they say — they who reign in heaven and flash with miracles on earth, [1090B] who both live with us to this day and shall live with our successors unto perpetuity, since their reward is with God: « If anyone wishes to receive or to give the oblations of the Church outside the Church, without the knowledge of the bishop or of him to whom offices of this kind have been committed, and is unwilling to act upon his counsel, let him be anathema [n: (conc. Ancyr. can. 7)]. » Now anathema is interpreted in the Roman tongue *alienation;* because everyone who does such things, so long as he remains in those sins — although we bishops, who in the apostles and with the apostles have received the power of binding and loosing, not by our own merit but by divine grace, are sometimes slow, sometimes ignorant of the divine meaning, sometimes unaware of what is committed, and sometimes also unable to correct as is expedient [1090C] the things committed, and so dissemble or even neglect to carry out what has been decreed, so that we do not separate such a man by excommunicating him from the Church and from the fellowship of the faithful — is nevertheless already excommunicated and forecondemned by the sacred canons, until he forsakes that sin and, through ecclesiastical satisfaction and priestly reconciliation, receives again the grace of the Lord and the fellowship of the faithful. And whoever, entangled in his sins and in such crimes, ends this life before the necessary satisfaction, can in no wise have communion and fellowship with the elect in the kingdom of God, nor shall he ever be able to be freed from the punishments of hell and the fellowship of the demons. Lastly, the two chapters which follow were taken from an edict by Ansegisus [1090D] the abbot, the collector of the imperial capitularies out of various synods and assemblies; and for the sake of brevity they are found in the first book of the capitularies, in the seventy-seventh and seventy-eighth, on the non-division of ecclesiastical goods and on the election of bishops, excerpted from the passages written above, in the aforesaid book. Which edict the lord Charles the Great, emperor, sent in its entirety, together with an inquiry concerning chorbishops, by Arno the archbishop to Pope Leo; and upon his counsel he issued another edict on the non-division of ecclesiastical goods and on the cases of bishops, and confirmed it both by the authority of the apostolic see and by his own, and sent it to be observed perpetually throughout all the metropolitan churches of his empire. The chapters mentioned, then, [1091A] run thus [n: (lib. I, c. 83)]: « Since according to the tradition of the holy Fathers we know that the goods of the Church are the vows of the faithful, the price of sins, and the patrimonies of the poor, we desire not only to preserve to each what it has, but even, with God's help, to confer much upon it. Yet, that we might utterly remove from churchmen the suspicion long since conceived concerning the non-division of its goods, we have decreed that neither in our own times, nor in those of our sons and, by God's dispensing, of our successors who shall be willing to imitate our will or that of our forebears, or our example, shall it suffer any division or loss whatsoever. [n: (cap. 84.)] Being also not ignorant of the sacred canons, in order that in the name of God holy Church may the more freely enjoy her own honor, we give our assent to the ecclesiastical order: namely, that bishops be chosen, by the election of clergy and people [1091B] according to the statutes of the canons, out of their own diocese, all acceptance of persons and of gifts being put away, for the merit of their life and the gift of wisdom, that by example and by word they may be able to profit in every way those subject to them. » And in the same edict, from which these things were taken, there follows: « We command also all who are subject to our dominion that no one attempt to plunder the privileges of churches or of monasteries, or the churches themselves; because, as we have been instructed by the holy Fathers, this is discerned to be a most grievous sin, » and the rest that follows. And in the privilege of the Church of Beauvais, confirmed by the bishops of four provinces with the consent of the lord Charles lately deceased, this is contained in the relevant place: « But let the secular power, whether it be endowed with some high station, or [1091C] set in a lowly place, take no lordship over these things, either in the present or in the future, contrary to the sacred rules — neither invading them by violence, nor receiving them when offered. But if any of kings, of priests, of judges, or of secular persons, knowing this page of our constitution, shall attempt to go against it, let him be deprived of the dignity of his power and honor, and let him know himself to stand guilty before the divine judgment for the iniquity he has perpetrated. And unless he either restores those things which have been wrongly taken away by him, or bewails his unlawful deeds with worthy penance, let him become a stranger to the most sacred body and blood of God our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and let him lie under strict vengeance at the eternal examination. But to all who preserve what is just toward that same place, let there be the peace of our Lord [1091D] Jesus Christ, so that here they may receive the fruit of good action, and before the strict Judge may find the rewards of eternal peace. » And in the privilege of the same Church, confirmed by the lord Pope Nicholas, these things are contained in the relevant place [n: (Nicolaus Odon. episc. )]: « Let no king, therefore, no judge, no one upheld by the dignity of whatever secular power, have power either of lording it over, or of receiving, or of taking away, in the goods of the aforesaid monasteries — whether farms, or fields, or bondservants, or whatever shall have been conferred upon those same monasteries — save only the bishop of the Church of Beauvais, who shall for the time be set over that same Church. But whatever, whether in gold or in silver, or in furnishings of any kind, or in the whole substance of its resources, [1092A] is this day assigned to those monasteries, or shall in times to come be conferred upon them, let it be made subject to the distribution and ordering of the bishop of Beauvais; nor let the right or lordship of any other power obtain any authority over these things, save so far as divine authority and law and justice shall permit. But if anyone with rash daring, be he a great or a small person, shall presume to act against this our apostolic decree, let him know that he is bound with the bond of anathema, and is a stranger to the kingdom of God, and condemned with all the ungodly to the punishment of eternal burning. But he who shall show himself an observer of this precept, let him be counted worthy to obtain grace and mercy and eternal life from our most merciful Lord God. » And St. Gregory, in a decretal letter [1092B] sent into the regions of Greece on account of certain disturbances, speaks thus in the relevant place: « But if there are any who say that a man compelled by necessity, if he has pronounced an anathema, is not held by the bond of the anathema, they are witnesses against themselves that they are not Christians — since they reckon that they can loose the bonds of holy Church by empty efforts, and thereby they do not think even the absolution of holy Church, which she grants to the faithful, to be true, if they judge her bindings to have no force. Against such men there is no need to dispute at length, since they are in all things to be despised and anathematized; and in the very point where they believe that they deceive the truth, therein are they truly bound in their sins. And these both I, and all catholic bishops, and the whole Church do anathematize, because they think things contrary to the truth and speak things contrary to it. » [1092C] Wherefore our most beloved lord the king must take the greatest care that he does not, at the suggestion or the demand of any men whatsoever, act against these decrees of the Holy Spirit, or consent that anything be done against them concerning ecclesiastical goods — especially after this visitation of God, by which, through confession and penance and priestly reconciliation, we believe him to have been amended. For great is the power of penance against sin — but for him who perseveres in that same penance, since it is written: *He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved [n: (Matth. XVIII, 22)]*; and again it is written: *He that is baptized from a dead body, and toucheth it again, what doth his washing avail him [n: (Eccli. XXXIV, 30)]*? For every perverse work is dead which drags a man down to death and does not live unto justice. He therefore is baptized from [1092D] a dead body and touches it again who bewails the depraved works which he remembers having done, but after his tears entangles himself again in those same works. And so any soul whatever gains nothing by the washing away of that same dead thing, which by doing again the thing it bewailed does not rise up through the laments of penance to the uprightness of justice. For truly to do penance is to bewail the things committed, and to shun the things that must be bewailed again. Provision must therefore be made by our most dear lord the king for this: that the Lord of lords and King of kings says to him also, and to each one of us, indeed to every man without exception of any person — since, as the Scripture says, *God is not a respecter of persons [n: (Act. X, 34)]* — that which long before he had said to a certain man in the Gospel: *Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, [1093A] lest some worse thing happen to thee [n: (Joan. V, 14)]*. But let him also not give ear to those who suggest depraved things to him, since the Apostle says: *Not only they that do them, but they that consent to them that do them, are worthy of death [n: (Rom. I, 32)]*. Neither let him command the bishop lately ordained to do such things, or to consent to those who do them, whereby he should destroy himself and lose the grace of the Church before God. For before all his electors and his ordainers he has most strictly professed, before his ordination, and has subscribed with his own hand, that he would keep the sacred rules of the holy councils, so far as he should know and be able. And these sacred canons, established by the Spirit of God and [1094A] consecrated by the reverence of the whole world, thus decree: If anyone shall in any point go against his own profession or his own writing, he shall himself deprive himself of his honor. But those who shall presume to ruin the goods and resources of the Church of Beauvais with his consent or favor — he who had no authority to give them to them or to consent thereto — let them most carefully take heed, lest they incur the sentences of the sacred canons written above, brought against them by all of us bishops to whose notice their sacrileges shall have come, and lest they be by every means separated from all fellowship of Christians.

license_source: Public Domain Mark 1.0

license_translation: CC BY-NC 4.0

license_apparatus: CC BY-NC 4.0