INTRODUCTION
In Lent of 1139 a general council was summoned by Pope
Innocent II and held in the Lateran basilica. As we know, the synod
had been convoked the previous year; for the papal legates in England and Spain
pressed the bishops and abbots to go to the council. Thus, a good number of fathers,
at least five hundred, met in Rome. One of these came from the East, the
patriarch of Antioch, but he was a Latin. With the pope presiding the council
began on 2 April and it seems to have ended before 17
April, as far as we can judge from the sources.
This council is called "general" in the
records and more frequently "plenary" by Innocent himself. However,
there is a doubt as to its ecumenicity for the same reasons that affect Lateran
I.
The Roman church, which for a long time had been
divided in its obedience between Innocent II (1130-1143) and Anacletus II
(1130-1138), seems to have overcome schism and factionalism, and indeed to have
recovered its peace. This was due to the death of Anacletus in 1138 and the
efforts of Bernard of Clairvaux, who had fought with the utmost zeal on behalf
of Innocent for the restoration of unity. But Innocent, perhaps upset by the
agreements which Anacletus had arrived at, vigorously cited and condemned
Anacletus's part in the evil affair , an action which seems to have provoked a
complaint from Bernard.
Some heretics were also condemned by the fathers,
namely those who followed the monk Henry, and canons were enacted concerning
the reform of the church. The pope and the council fathers, following the
example and mind of Pope Gregory VII, took up a good many canons which had been
established by previous councils, with a view to restoring ecclesiastical
discipline to an unblemished state. They furnish a sort of body of precepts for
the whole church, taken from councils in the times of Gregory VII (canon 10),
Urban II (canons 3, 21-22), Callistus II (canons 3, 7, 23-25) and especially
Innocent II (canons 1, 4-7, 9-12, 14-20). Gratian included many of them shortly
afterwards in his Decrees (canons 2, 4-6, 8, 19-21, 26-28 and parts of 7, 10,
12, 15-16, 18, 22). Orderic Vitalis, however, was sceptical about their
effectiveness in practice.
Baronius was the first to print the thirty canons
(Annales ecclesiastici 12,1607, 277-280), having taken them from two manuscript
codices ("a register of the Vatican library and a Vatican codex of
decrees"). The Roman editors shortly after produced a more accurate
version (Rm 4, 1612, 21 -23), from "manuscript codices of the Vatican
library and of Anthony Augustine of Tarragona"; this was copied by all
later editions, as we have verified, though with some errors. These later
editions are as follows: Bn2 3/2 (1618) 487-489; ER 17 (1644) 123-133; LC {6}
10 (1671) 1002-1009; Hrd {7} 6/2 (1714) 1207-1214; Cl {8} 12 (1730)
1497-1507;Msi 21 (1776) 526-533.The canon which E.Martene and U.Durand
published (Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, IV, Paris 1717, 139-140) as being
"omitted in the editions, from a manuscript of St Vincent of
Bisignano", is in fact the same as canons 15 and 30. Having collated
together all these editions, we have followed the text of the Roman edition.
1. We decree that if anyone has been ordained
simoniacally, he is to forfeit entirely the office which he illicitly
usurped.
2. If anyone has acquired, through payment, a
prebend, priory, deanery or any ecclesiastical honour or preferment, or a holy
thing of the church of any kind, such as chrism or holy oil, or the
consecrations of altars or churches, where the execrable passion of avarice has
been the motive, let him be deprived of the honour which he wrongly acquired,
and let the buyer and seller and intermediary be stigmatised with the mark of
infamy. And let nothing be demanded for sustenance or under the pretext of any
custom from anyone before or afterwards, nor should the person himself presume
to give anything, since this is simony; but let him enjoy freely
and without any diminution the dignity and benefice which has been conferred on
him
3. We utterly prohibit those who have been
excommunicated by their bishops to be received by others. Indeed, whoever
knowingly presumes to communicate someone who has been excommunicated, before
he is absolved by the one who excommunicated him, is to be held liable to the
same sentence.
4. We also enjoin that bishops as well as clergy
take pains to be pleasing to God and to humans in both their interior and
exterior comportment. Let them give no offence in the sight of
those for whom they ought to be a model and example, by the excess, cut or
colour of their clothes, nor with regard to the tonsure, but rather, as is
fitting for them, let them exhibit holiness. If after a warning from the
bishops they are unwilling to change their ways, let them be deprived of their
ecclesiastical benefices.
5. We enjoin that what was laid down in the sacred
council of Chalcedon be rigidly adhered to, namely, that the goods of
deceased bishops are not to be seized by anyone at all, but are to
remain freely at the disposal of the treasurer and the clergy for the needs of
the church and the succeeding incumbent. Therefore, from now on, let that
detestable and wicked rapacity cease. Furthermore, if anyone dares to attempt
this behaviour henceforth, he is to be excommunicated. And those who despoil
the goods of dying priests or clerics are to be subject to the same sentence.
6. We also decree that those in the orders of
subdeacon and above who have taken wives or concubines are to
be deprived of their position and ecclesiastical benefice. For since they ought
to be in fact and in name temples of God, vessels of the Lord and sanctuaries
of the holy Spirit, it is unbecoming that they give themselves up to marriage
and impurity.
7. Adhering to the path trod by our predecessors,
the Roman pontiffs Gregory VII, Urban and Paschal, we prescribe that nobody is
to hear the masses of those whom he knows to have wives or concubines. Indeed,
that the law of continence and the purity pleasing to God might be propagated
among ecclesiastical persons and those in holy orders, we decree that where
bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, canons regular, monks and professed lay
brothers have presumed to take wives and so transgress this holy precept, they
are to be separated from their partners. For we do not deem there to be
a marriage which, it is agreed, has been contracted against ecclesiastical law.
Furthermore, when they have separated from each other, let them do a penance
commensurate with such outrageous behaviour.
8. We decree that the selfsame thing is to apply
also to women religious if, God forbid, they attempt to marry.
9. Moreover, the evil and detestable practice has
grown, so we understand, whereby monks and canons regular, after receiving the
habit and making their profession, are learning civil law and medicine with a
view to temporal gain, in scornful disregard of the rules of their
blessed teachers Benedict and Augustine. In fact, burning with the fire of
avarice, they make themselves the advocates of suits; and since they have to
neglect the psalmody and hymns, placing their trust in the power of fine
rhetoric instead, they confuse what is right and what is wrong, justice and
iniquity, by reason of the variety of their arguments. But the imperial
constitutions testify that it is truly absurd and reprehensible for clerics to
want to be experts in the disputes of law courts. We decree by apostolic
authority that lawbreakers of this kind are to be severely punished. There are
also those who, neglecting the care of souls, completely ignore their state in
life, promise health in return for hateful money and make themselves healers of
human bodies. And since an immodest eye manifests an immodest heart, religion
ought to have nothing to do with those things of which virtue is ashamed to
speak. Therefore, we forbid by apostolic authority this practice to continue,
so that the monastic order and the order of canons may be preserved without
stain in a state of life pleasing to God, in accord with their holy purpose.
Furthermore, bishops, abbots and priors who consent to and fail to correct such
an outrageous practice are to be deprived of their own honours and kept from
the thresholds of the church.
10. We prohibit, by apostolic authority, that the
tithes of churches be possessed by lay people where
canonical authority shows these were assigned for religious purposes. For
whether they accept them from bishops or kings, or any person whatsoever, let
them know that they are committing the crime of sacrilege and incurring the
threat of eternal damnation, unless they hand them back to the church. We also
direct that lay people who are in possession of churches must either restore
them to the bishops or become subject to excommunication. We reiterate our
decision that nobody is to hold the office of archdeacon or dean unless he is
ordained deacon or priest; and archdeacons, deans or provosts who are without
these orders are to be deprived of the honour they have received, if through
disobedience they refuse to be ordained. Moreover, we forbid the aforesaid
honours to be conferred on youths or those not yet in sacred orders; let them
be conferred rather on those who are outstanding in prudence and integrity of
life. We also enjoin that churches are not to be entrusted to hired priests and
that each and every church with sufficient means is to have its own priest.
11. We also prescribe that priests, clerics, monks,
pilgrims, merchants and peasants, in their coming and going and their work on
the land, and the animals with which they plough and carry seeds to the fields,
and their sheep, be left in peace at all times.
12. We decree that the truce is to be
inviolably observed by all from sunset on Wednesday until sunrise on Monday,
and from Advent until the octave of the Epiphany, and from Quinquagesima until
the octave of Easter. If anyone tries to break the truce, and he does not
comply after the third warning, let his bishop pronounce sentence of
excommunication on him, and communicate his decision in writing to the
neighbouring bishops. Moreover let none of the bishops receive into communion
the excommunicated person, but rather let each confirm the sentence received in
writing. If anyone presumes to infringe this, he will do so at the risk of his
position. Since a threefold cord is not quickly broken, we enjoin bishops,
having regard for God alone and the salvation of the people, and laying aside
all timidity, to furnish each other with mutual counsel and help towards firmly
maintaining peace, and not to omit this duty by reason of any affection or
aversion. For if anyone is found to be lukewarm in this work of God, let him
incur the loss of his dignity
13. Furthermore, we condemn that practice
accounted despicable and blameworthy by divine and human laws, denounced by
Scripture in the old and new Testaments, namely, the ferocious greed of usurers;
and we sever them from every comfort of the church, forbidding any archbishop
or bishop, or an abbot of any order whatever or anyone in clerical orders, to
dare to receive usurers, unless they do so with extreme caution; but let them
be held infamous throughout their whole lives and, unless they repent, be
deprived of a christian burial.
14. We entirely forbid, moreover, those abominable jousts and
tournaments in which knights come together by agreement and rashly engage in
showing off their physical prowess and daring, and which often result in human
deaths and danger to souls. If any of them dies on these occasions, although
penance and viaticum are not to be denied him when he requests them, he is to
be deprived of a church burial.
15. In the same way we have decided to legislate
that if anyone, at the instigation of the devil, incurs the guilt of the
following sacrilege, that is, to lay violent hands on a cleric or a
monk, he is to be subject to the bond of anathema; and let no bishop
presume to absolve such a person unless he is in immediate danger of death,
until he has been presented before the apostolic See and submits to its
decision. We also prescribe that nobody dare to lay hands on those who
flee to a church or cemetery. If anyone does this, let him be
excommunicated.
16. It is undoubtedly the case that since
ecclesiastical honours depend not on blood-relationships but on merit, and
since the church of God awaits successors not on the basis of any right of
inheritance, nor according to the flesh, it requires virtuous, wise and devout
persons for its administration and the distribution of its offices. Therefore
we prohibit, by apostolic authority, anyone to exercise a claim over or to
demand, by hereditary right, churches, prebends, provostships, chaplaincies or
any ecclesiastical offices. If anyone, unjustly and guilty of ambition, dares
to attempt this, he will be duly punished and deprived of the object of his
suit.
17. With good reason we entirely prohibit unions
within the bounds of consanguinity; for the teachings of holy fathers and the
holy church of God detest incestuous behaviour of this kind,
which (under the influence of the enemy of the human race) is engaged in
nowadays. Even the secular laws pronounce those born of such a union infamous,
and refuse them the right of inheritance.
18. We completely detest and forbid, by the
authority of God and the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, that most dreadful,
devastating and malicious crime of incendiarism For this
pernicious and inimical calamity surpasses all other kinds of destruction.
Nobody is unaware of the extent to which it is injurious to the people of God
and the damage it brings to souls and bodies. It is necessary, therefore, to
oppose it and to labour with all one's might, that so great a harm and danger
be eradicated and suppressed for the sake of the people. If anyone, then, after
the publication of this prohibition of ours, from some wicked design born of
hate or vengeance, starts a fire or causes it to be started, or knowingly
provides counsel or help to those starting one, let him be excommunicated. And
when an arsonist dies, he is to be deprived of a christian burial. Nor is he to
be absolved unless, having first made reparation for the loss according to his
means, he swears that he will never raise a fire again. Moreover, let him be
given the penance of remaining a whole year in Jerusalem or Spain in the
service of God.
19. If any archbishop or bishop relaxes this
decree, he is to make restitution for the loss and abstain from his episcopal
office for a year.
20. As is right, we do not deny to kings and
princes the power to dispense justice, in consultation with the archbishops and
bishops.
21. We decree that sons of priests are
to be removed from the ministries of the sacred altar unless they are living
religiously in monasteries or canonries.
22. Because there is one thing that conspicuously
causes great disturbance to holy church, namely, false penance, we warn
our brothers in the episcopate and priests not to allow the souls of the laity
to be deceived or dragged off to hell by false penances. It is agreed that a
penance is false when many sins are disregarded and a penance is performed for
one only, or when it is done for one sin in such a way that the penitent does
not renounce another. Thus it is written: Whoever keeps the whole law
but fails in one point, has become guilty of all of it; this evidently
pertains to eternal life. Therefore, just as a person who is entangled in all
sins will not enter the gate of eternal life, so also if a person remains in
one sin. False penance also occurs when the penitent does not resign a
position at a court or in business which cannot be carried on without sin, or
if hate is harboured in his heart, or if the person does not make amends to
whomever he offended, or if an injured party does not pardon the offender, or
if anyone unjustly carries arms.
23. Those who, simulating a kind of religiosity,
condemn
- the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood,
- the baptism of children,
- the priesthood and other ecclesiastical orders, and
- legitimate marriages,
we expel from the church of God and condemn as
heretics, and prescribe that they be constrained by the secular powers. We also
bind up their defenders in the fetter of the same condemnation.
24. We also prescribe that no sale-price is
to be demanded for chrism, holy oil and burials.
25. If anyone receives provostships, prebends or
other ecclesiastical benefices from the hand of a lay person, let him be deprived
of the benefice unworthily received. For the decrees of the holy fathers state
that lay people, no matter how devout they may be, have no power of
disposal over ecclesiastical property.
26. We decree that the pernicious and detestable
custom which has spread among some women who although they live neither
according to the rule of blessed Benedict, nor Basil nor Augustine, yet wish to
be thought of by everyone as nuns, is to be abolished. For when, living
according to the rule in monasteries, they ought to be in church or in the
refectory or dormitory in common, they build for themselves their own retreats
and private dwelling-places where, under the guise of hospitality,
indiscriminately and without any shame they receive guests and secular persons contrary
to the sacred canons and good morals. Because everyone who does evil hates the
light, these women think that, hidden in the tabernacle of the just , they
can conceal themselves from the eyes of the Judge who sees everything; so we
prohibit in every way this unrighteous, hateful and disgraceful conduct and
forbid it to continue under pain of anathema.
27. In the same way, we prohibit nuns to come
together with canons or monks in choir for the singing of the office.
28. Since the decrees of the fathers prohibit
churches to be left vacant for more than three months, we forbid under anathema
the canons of the episcopal see to exclude religious men from the election
following on the death of the bishop; but let a virtuous and suitable person be
elected as bishop with their advice. Because if an election is held with these
religious persons excluded, where this is done without their knowledge and
consent, it is null and void.
29. We prohibit under anathema that murderous art
of crossbowmen and archers, which is hateful to God, to be employed
against Christians and Catholics from now on.
30. We render void the ordinances enacted by Peter
Leoni and other schismatics and heretics, and deem them null.
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