tuit. Is enim culpæ est reus, qui tali indigno ordinem, curam, vel officium committit. Unde episcopus scienter ordinans indignum dicitur peccare mortaliter. Ratio est, quia infidelis est, etc. Item periculosum est decentiæ ecclesiæ in scandalo populari." Not only were strict examinations insisted on, previously to the conferring of orders, but there were certain disabilities which either barred altogether the reception of them,63 or, at least, required a dispensation. There are numerous canons, and decisions of canonists, against the conferring of any orders upon women. Very anciently there were undoubtedly heretics, such as the Collyridians, who practised such ordinations, but the Catholic Church instantly and unhesitatingly condemned them. Compare also the Constit. Apost. lib. 3. c. ix. Some have argued that nevertheless, in the first centuries, women were ordained, and appeal to the "presbyteræ," and "episcopa," whom we meet with in many records. But these were the wives of priests and bishops, either before or after their ordination in the former sense, according to the 19th canon of the council of Turin: cited by Bingham: (rol. 1. p. 338.) "Si inventus fuerit presbyter cum sua presbytera, aut diaconus cum sua diaconissa, aut subdiaconus cum Nor can the deaconesses of the primitive ages be taken as any precedent for such a custom: for independently of their functions being strictly kept separate from any matter appertaining to the priesthood, or to the public service of the Church, and being limited to the performance of mere secular duties, such as visiting the sick, and catechizing women, &c. it is very doubtful whether they received imposition of hands. I cannot enter into this question, but would refer the reader to Baronius, sub an. xxxiv. and to the 19th canon of the council of Nice, with the notes of Balsamon and Zonaras, in Bevereg. Pandect. Tom. 1. p. 82. And even if after all, there may seem to be a balance of evidence in favour of some imposition of hands, yet this was in the way of a benediction, and not of ordination. See Justellus, Bibl. Jur. Canon. tom. 1. p. 75. Casalius, de sacr. Christ. ritibus : pars. 2. cap. xxix. Bingham, as Among them were the following. Illegitimacy : specified by the Winchester canons, in 1308: “De trimonio:-ejus quanta sit virtus in Dei ecclesia, per hoc facile cernitur, quod sola proles, quæ in fide thori gignitur, ad dignitates ecclesiasticas admittitur; et aliter genita, sine dispensatione canonica, ab hujusmodi, reprobatur.” 64 And by a provincial canon of archbishop Edmund, in the preceding century: upon which I quote Lyndwood. "Tales, [i: e: qui de non legitimo matrimonio nati sunt,] ordinari non debent. Dicitur enim communiter per doctores, quod illegitime nati non possunt ordinari ad sacros ordines sine dis pensatione Papæ, nisi ingrediantur religionem, quo casu possunt ad omnes sacros ordines promoveri etiam sine dispensatione. Possunt tamen illegitime nati Antiq. Book. 2. Chap. xxij. I quote also this from the Manipulus Curatorum: "Et si forte in aliquo capitulo mulier inveniatur vocari diaconissa vel presbytera, intelligendum est quod illa vocatur diaconissa, supra quam fundabatur aliqua benedictio: presbytera autem vocatur, quia secundum morem primitivæ ecclesiæ erat uxor presbyteri: vel forte aliqua vidua de rebus ecclesiæ curam habens ad instar matrisfamilias vocabatur presbytera. Et ita exponenda sunt omnia capitula quæ loquuntur de ista materia." Lib. 5. cap. v. Compare also Guillermus Parisiensis: de vij sacramentis. fol. xiij. It is not necessary to dwell upon the analogy sometimes insisted on, from the circumstance that civil power and jurisdiction are exercised by women: for the nature of the ecclesiastical ministry, instituted by our Blessed Lord, is in fact so different, that the two cases are not analogous. Sometimes the example of abbesses is appealed to, but the decision upon this point of the canonists is unanimous: "illarum potestatem non esse veræ jurisdictionis, quæ videlicet ex auctoritate clavium descendat ecclesiæ concessa, sed earum munus ad vigilantiam referri, ad curam quandam domesticam, maternam et œconomicam." Upon the whole question compare the decision of Lyndwood. Lib. 1. Tit. 7. Sacerdotes. verb. Masculi. 295. Wilkins, Conc. Tom. 2. p. promoveri ad ordines minores ex dispensatione episcopi." 65 "65 The children of serfs or villeins: of which we have frequent examples in the earlier centuries. The 16th of the famous articles of Clarendon decides, "Filii rusticorum non debent ordinari absque assensu domini, de cujus terra nati esse dignoscuntur." In the next century, 1256; a canon of the diocese of Chichester: "Ut nullus se nobis offerat ordinandus, nisi liberæ conditionis existens; de legitimo matrimonio natus, et examinatione canonica examinatus, et approbatus." 66 From an allusion in a canon of the Exeter synod of 1287, we learn, that in spite of all precautions, such persons, by pretending that they were free, and suborning witnesses, obtained ordination; to which falsehood the penalty of excommunication was attached: and some years before this time, it was ordered by another council, that such persons should be suspended: "Præcipimus itaque, quod sacerdotes, qui se noverint filios servorum, et præter conscientiam dominorum suorum ordinatos-non exequantur sacerdotis officium, donec nostrum super hoc ab eis fuerit consilium requisitum."67 I shall only add further upon this head, the 82nd of the apostolical canons, upon which probably, or at least upon similar reasons, the apparently harsh Lib. 1. Tit. 4. Eos qui. verb. non legitimo. Compare J. de Athon. cap. Sacer ordo. verb. illegitimos. Bulls are extant, conferring power upon bishops to grant dispensations, even to receive the higher orders: as, for example, two to the archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1313; in VOL. III. h the Concilia. tom. 2. p. 434. 436: the first of which excepts those illegitimates who were born of adultery or incest. 66 Wilkins. Conc. Tom. 1. p. 436.689. 67 Ibid. Tom. 2. p. 137. Tom. I. p. 658. regulation was originally founded. "Servos in clerum provehi sine venia dominorum non permittimus ad possessorum molestiam. Domorum enim eversionem illud efficit." 68 But, that we may not delay to particularize all these disqualifications separately, I shall cite two authorities in which they are joined and named together. One of these, of a very early date: from the dialogue of archbishop Egbert: the xvth interrogation. "Pro quibus criminibus nullus sacerdos potest fieri, vel pro quibus jampridem ordinatus deponitur? Responsio. Hujusmodi tunc ordinatio episcopi, presbyteri, vel diaconi, rata esse dicitur: si nullo gravi facinore probatur infectus, si secundam non habuit [uxorem] nec a marito relictam; si pœnitentiam publicam non gessit, nec ulla corporis parte vitiatus apparet; si servilis aut ex origine non est conditionis obnoxius; si curiæ probatur nexibus absolutus; si adsecutus est literas; hunc elegimus ad sacerdotium promoveri. Pro his vero criminibus nullum licet ordinari, sed promotos quosque dicimus deponendos; idola scilicet adorantes; per aruspices incantatores captivos se diabolo tradentes; 68 I cannot refrain from quoting Balsamon upon this: "Hic autem canon nolens nostris fratribus aliquid a nobis offendiculi afferri, non permittit ut alienus servus in clerum promoveatur, etiamsi sit prudentissimus et dignus;-ad exemplum autem scriptum est et quod factum est in Onesimo.Quare nec libertas, nec sacerdotium, nec aliquid aliud dominum ignorantem a servi sui dominio abalienant." And Zonaras to the same purpose: "Fideles decet ea fidem suam falso testimonio expugnantes; homicidiis vel fornicationibus contaminatos; furta perpetrantes; sacrum veritatis nomen perjurii temeritate violantes."" The other, a canon of the provincial council under Stephen Langton: "Minores clerici ad inferiores gradus non admittantur, nisi idoneos habeant procuratores, et per testimonium eorundem admittantur. Nullus simoniacus, homicida, excommunicatus, aut suspensus, furarius, sacrilegus, incendiarius, aut falsarius, aut aliter hujusmodi canonicum impedimentum ad quoscunque ordines præsumat accedere." 70 I believe that it may be asserted, that at no time after Christianity became fixed, and spreading, among the Anglo-saxons, was the necessity overlooked of a title," that is, of a nomination to some post of duty, previously to the actual reception of Holy Orders. The council of Calcuith, in the eighth century, decreed, that all priests and deacons " in illo titulo perseverent, ad quem consecrati sunt." And before this, the excerpts of Egbert, (citing a Chalcedonian canon) say; Ut nullus absolute ordinetur, et sine pronunciatione loci, ad quem ordinandus est." The term absolute is Thorpe. Ancient Laws. Vol. oculi," cap. De ætate et qualitate ordinandorum. 2. p. 93. Wilkins. Conc. Tom. 1. p. 595. See Lyndwood, Lib. 1. Tit. 5; upon the similar constitution of Walter Reynold: and the commentary, already mentioned, of John de Athon, on Otho's constitution, De scrutinio ordinandorum. A very long and detailed account of the canonical impediments is given in the "Pupilla 71"Nota, quod titulus, in jure diversimode sumitur. Est enim titulus quandoque idem quod detentatio. Et quandoque ponitur pro causa qua dominium transfertur. Quandoque titulus dicitur signum, alias ipsum beneficium, alias ipse ordo ecclesiasticus, vel quælibet dignitas, vel prælatio. etc." Lyndwood. lib. 1. tit. 8. Cum a jure. verb. ullo titulo. |