727 Ibid. c. x. xi. xii. xiii.

728 Ibid. c. x.

729 Ibid. c. xv.

730 Ibid. c. xviii.—Fiunt de medio barbaricæ leges, Romanæ introducuntur.—Ibid. c. viii.

731 Ibid. c. xvi.—Illæ gentes quæ a diebus antiquis monachi quidem nomen audierunt, monachum non viderunt.

732 In the hymn in which St. Bernard celebrated the virtues of his friend he compares him to the Apostles—

733 Sermo Giraldi in Concil. Dublinens. (De Rebus a se Gestis Lib. II. c. 14).

In the “Topographia Hibernica,” Dist. III. cap. 27, Giraldus confirms his assertion as to the chastity and drunkenness of the Irish clergy, but admits that they observed the canonical fasts with praiseworthy strictness.

734 Hist. Archiep. Bremens ann. 1179 (Lindenbrog. Script. Septent. p. 107).

It must be borne in mind, however, that in the Irish church bishops were almost as numerous as in the primitive church of Africa—“singulæ pene ecclesiæ singulos haberent episcopos.”—Bernard. Vit. S. Malachiæ cap. X.

735 Cap. 13 Extra Lib. I. Tit. xvii.

736 Benedicti Abbatis Gesta Henrici II. ann. 1171.

737 Girald. Cambrens. op. cit. Lib. II. c. 13.

738 Girald. Cambrens. loc. cit.

739 Innocent PP. III. Regest. v. 158.

740 Concil. Dublinens. ann. 1217 (Wilkins, I. 548).

741 Quia putridum libidinosæ spurcitiæ contagium adeo apud clericos et presbyteros invaluit his diebus, quod nec auctoritas evangelica, nec canonica severitas illud hactenus extirpare potuit, quia in suæ perpetuæ damnationis periculum, et ordinis ecclesiasticæ ignominiam, populique perniciosum exemplum manifestum, adhuc suas publice detinent concubinas, etc.—Constit. Synod. Ossoriens. (Wilkins, II. 502).

742 Bradshaw’s Enniskillen (London Athenæum, Sept. 7th, 1878, p. 305).

743 Haddan and Stubbs, II. 175-80.

744 Haddan and Stubbs, II, 216, 224-7, 235.—See also Cosmo Innes’ “Scotland in the Middle Ages,” pp. 107 sqq. We may assume that John of Crema or the pope must have conferred extraordinary powers on David before he could have the presumption to thus arbitrarily regulate and revolutionize the church. This, indeed, may readily be conceived as probable when we reflect how little authority Rome could have exercised over the Culdees, and how readily Scotland must have been subjected to the central power by placing her ecclesiastical establishment in the hands of the Sassenach monks.

Towards the end of the 12th century, Giraldus Cambrensis calls the Culdees of Bardsey in Wales, “Cœlibes vel Colidei” and characterizes them as “religiosissimi” (Itin. Cambr. II. 6—ap. Haddan and Stubbs, II. xxiii.).

745 Gesta Henrici II. T. I. p. 282 (M. R. Series).

746 Concil. Scotican. ann. 1225 c. 18, 62 (Wilkins, I. 610).

747 Chron. Paslatens. ann. 1268 (Wilkins, II. 19).

748 Hist. Compostellan. Lib. II. c. 1.

749 Hist. Compostellan. Lib. I. c. 20.

750 Didaci Decret. No. 15 (Hist. Compostellan. Lib. I. cap. 90).

751 Synod. Helenens. ann. 1027 c. 3 (Aguirre, IV. 393).

752 Hist, de España, Lib. IX. cap. xi.

753 Concil. Compostellan. ann. 1056 can. 3. An allusion, however, to those who left the church and married being allowed to return on abandoning their wives, would seem to show that some supervision was exercised. The council of Coyanza, in 1050, had forbidden the residence of strange women, except mother, aunt, or step-mother, but says nothing as to marriage.—Con. Coyacens. ann. 1050 c. iii. (Aguirre IV. 405, 407).

754 Concil. Gerundens. ann. 1068 can. 7, 8 (Labbei et Coleti T. XII.). The council of Toulouse, in 1056 (see ante, p. 255), which ordered the separation of priests from their wives, undertook to include Spain in its legislation, presumably meaning the eastern portion of the Peninsula which was subject to the Archbishops of Narbonne.

755 Gregor. VII. Regist. Lib. IV. Epist. 28.

756 Concil. Gerundens. ann. 1078 can. 1, 3, 4, 5 (Labbei et Coleti T. XII.).

757 Mariana, loc. cit.

758 Paschal. PP. II. Epist. 57.

759 Hist. Compostellan. Lib. I. cap. 20, 58, 81; Lib. II. cap. 3; Lib. III. cap. 46.—Even the moderate reforms introduced met with violent opposition—“nobis omnibus, veluti bruta animalia, nulla adhuc jugali asperitate depressa, reluctantibus”—and only a portion seem to have submitted “quosdam sibi acquiescentes doctrina et operatione conspicuos divina clementia reddidit.”

760 Didaci Decreta, No. 21 (Hist. Compostell. Lib. I. cap. 96).

761 Ibid. Lib. I. cap. 100.—“Si qui ex eorum progenie clerici esse et sæculariter continere vellent.”

762 Hist. Compostellan. Lib. II. cap. 87.

763 The Spanish church was not alone in this looseness of discipline as regards canons. When Arthur of Britanny took up arms against his uncle King John, and advanced with an army to Tours at Easter, A. D. 1200, he there “more debito in ecclesia B. Martini in canonicum est receptus, et in stallum decani in vestibus chori, sicut canonicus installatus.”—Chron. Turonens. ann. 1200 (Martene Ampl. Collect. V. 1038).

764 Hist. Compostell. Lib. III. cap. 11.

765 Ibid. Lib. I. cap. 101 (Concil. Legionens. ann. 1114 can. 8).

766 Concil. Palentin. ann. 1129 can. 5.—“Concubinæ clericorum manifestæ ejiciantur.”

767 Hist. Compostellan. Lib. III. cap. 20.—“Pro modulo suæ possibilitatis.”

768 Concil. Hispan. Sæc. XIII. (Martene Thesaur. IV. 167).

769 “De los clérigos que casan á bendiciones habiendo órdenes sagradas, que pena deben haber ellos et aquellas con quien casan.—Casándose algunt clérigo que hobiese órden sagrada non debe fincar sin pena, ca débenle vedar de oficio, et tollerle el beneficio que hobiere de la eglesia por sentencia de descomulgamiento fasta que la dexe et faga penitencia de aquel yerro, etc.”—Siete Partidas, P. I. Tit. vi. l. 41.

770 Concil. Valentin. ann. 1255 (Aguirre V. 197, 201).

771 Constit. Synodal. Arnaldi de Peralta Episc. Valentin. (Aguirre V. 207-8).

772 Synod. Gerund. ann. 1257 can. 4; ann. 1274 can. 25 (Martene Ampl. Coll. VIII. 1461, 1469).

773 Concil. Penna-fidelens. ann. 1302 can. ii. (Aguirre V. 226).

774 Concil. Vallis-oletan. ann. 1322 can. vi. vii. (Aguirre V. 243-5).

775 Concil. Salmanticens. ann. 1335 can. iii. (Aguirre V. 266).

776 Concil. Palentin. ann. 1388 can. ii. (Aguirre V. 298-99).

777 Et utinam nunquam continentiam promisissent, maxime Hispani et regnicolæ, in quibus provinciis in pauco maiori numero sunt filii laicorum quam clericorum.... Sæpe cum parochianis mulieribus quas ad confessionem admittunt, scelestissime fornicantur.... De bonis ecclesiæ pascunt concubinam continue et filios, et de pecunia ecclesiae emunt eis possessiones.... Multi presbyteri et alii constituti in sacris, maxime in Hispania, in Asturia et Gallicia et alibi, et publice et aliquoties per publicum instrumentum promittunt et jurant quibusdam, maxime nobilibus mulieribus, numquam eas dimittere; et dant eis arras de bonis ecclesiæ et possessiones ecclesiæ, publice eas ducunt, cum consanguineis et amicis et solenni convivio, acsi essent uxores legitimæ.—Alv. Pelag. de Planctu Ecclesiæ Lib. II. Art. xxviii. (Ed. 1517 fol. 131-3).

This forms part of a list of fifty-four charges brought by Pelayo against the clergy of his time—“peccant in his communiter.” If the good bishop does not exaggerate, these ministers of Christ must have been a fearful curse to the communities over which they presided in the name of the Saviour.

778 Concil. Dertusan. ann. 1429 can. ii. (Aguirre V. 335-6).

779 Presbyteris, diaconibus, subdiaconibus et monachis concubinas habere, seu matrimonia contrahere, penitus interdicimus: contracta quoque matrimonia ab hujusmodi personis disjungi, et personas ad pœnitentiam redigi, juxta sacrorum canonum diffinitiones judicamus.—Concil. Lateran. I. c. 21.

780 Thus Gregory the Great, in 602: “Si enim dicunt religionis causa conjugia debere dissolvi sciendum est quia etsi hoc lex humana concessit, divina lex tamen prohibuit.”—Gregor. I. Lib. XI. Epist. 45.

And St. Augustin: “Proinde qui dicunt talium nuptias non esse nuptias sed potius adulteria non mihi videntur satis acute ac diligenter considerare quid dicant ... et cum volunt eas separatas reddere continentiæ faciunt maritos earum adulteros veros etc.”—De Bono Viduit. c. 10.

781 Decrevimus ut ii qui a subdiaconatu et supra uxores duxerint, aut concubinas habuerint, officio atque beneficio ecclesiastico careant.—Concil. Claromont. ann. 1130 can. 4. This is repeated verbatim in the council of Rheims in 1131, canon 4.

Concerning the latter a contemporary observes: “Placuit etiam domino apostolico et toti concilio, ne quis audiat missam presbyteri habentis concubinam vel uxorem. Assensu etiam omnium firmatum est ut clerici omnes a subdiacono et supra continentes sint, et qui non fuerint continentes, deponantur.”—Udalr. Babenb. Cod. Lib. II. c. 1.

782 Ut autem lex continentiæ et Deo placens munditia in ecclesiasticis personis et sacris ordinibus dilatetur, statuimus quatenus episcopi, presbyteri, diaconi, subdiaconi, regulares canonici et monachi atque conversi professi, qui sanctum transgredientes propositum uxores sibi copulare praesumpserint, separentur. Hujusmodi namque copulationem, quam contra ecclesiasticam regulam constat esse contractam, matrimonium non esse censemus. Qui etiam ab invicem separati, pro tantis excessibus condignam pœnitentiam agant.—Concil. Lateran. II. ann. 1139 c. 7.

783 Sed nimis abundans per universum orbem nequitia terrigenarum corda contra ecclesiastica scita obduravit.—Orderic. Vital. P. III. Lib. xiii. c. 20.

784 Concil. Remens. ann. 1148 can. 3, 8. “Sanctorum patrum et prædecessoris nostri Papæ Innocentii vestigia inhærentes, statuimus quatenus episcopi, presbyteri, diaconi, etc.”

785 Et ad hæc nihil ad præsens certius breviusque respondendum occurrit, nisi quod ita sancti antistites sapuerunt: rectene? ipsi viderint.—Lib. de Præcept. et Dispensat, cap. XVII.—Abelard contrasts the contradictory canons of the church in these matters in his Sic et Non cap. CXXII. It was possibly among other motives the skilful unveiling of ecclesiastical inconsistencies in this curious work that led the authorities of the church to procure the compilation of Gratian’s “Decretum.”

786 Bernardi Epist. LXXVI.

787 Ejusd. de Considerat. Lib. III. cap. v.

788 Si vero diaconus a ministerio cessare voluerit, et contracto matrimonio licite potest uti. Nam etsi in ordinatione sua castitatis votum obtulerit, tamen tanta est vis in sacramento conjugii, quod nec ex violatione voti potest dissolvi ipsum conjugium.—Comment. in Can. i. Dist. XXVII.

The introduction of the doctrine of Innocent and Eugenius into the church has given rise to some controversy. In the Encyclical of Aug. 22, 1851, and in the Syllabus of Dec. 1864, Pius IX. has condemned the error of attributing it to Boniface VIII. Some zealously orthodox writers have endeavored to prove that the church consistently maintained this doctrine from the beginning, but the contrary is admitted by the greater number of Catholic authorities. Cf. Zaccaria, Storia Polemica, p. 346-7 and Bernal Diaz, Practice Criminalis Canonica cap. 74.

789 Gerhohi Tract. adv. Simoniac. c. 2.—About the year 1140, we find St. Bernard (Epist. 203) writing to the bishop and clergy of Trèves, urging them to labor for the reformation of a married subdeacon of their church, in terms which show that no severe application of the canons was to be expected.

790 Gerhohi Exposit. in Psalm LXIV. cap. xlix.

791 Gerhohi Exposit. in Psalm LXIV. c. xxxv. An allusion in this passage to Eugenius III. and the council of Rheims shows that it was written between 1148 and 1153. It seems that the nuns rebelled against the canon (Concil. Remens. ann. 1148 can. iv.) confining them to their convents under threat of deprivation of Christian sepulture.

792 Ibid. cap. xlvi.

793 Hugon. Rothomag. contra Hæret. Lib. III. cap. v.—Hugh gives us in a new form the old calculation as to the comparative merits of virginity, continence, and marriage—“Non centesimo honore cum virginibus gloriatur, non sexagesima continentiæ palma lætatur, sed tricesimo conjugii labore fatigatur.”

794 Fortescue de Laud. Leg. Angl. cap. xxi.—Fortescue speaks of the case as having occurred within his own knowledge.

795 Et constituit ut nullus in sacris ordinibus habeat uxorem vel concubinam.—Chron. S. Ægid. in Brunswig.

796 Concil. Turon. ann. 1163 can. 4 (MS. St. Michael. ap. Harduin. Tom. VI. P. ii. p. 1600).

797 Qui autem a subdiaconatu vel supra ad matrimonia convolaverint, mulieres etiam invitas et renitentes relinquant.—Concil. Abrincens. ann. 1172 c. 1. I give this on the authority of the Abate Zaccaria (Nuova Giustificazione del Celibato Sacro p. 120); there is no such canon among those attributed to the council by Hardouin (T. VI. P. II. p. 1634), and by Bessin (Concil. Rotomagensia, p. 86), whose accounts of the proceedings are extracted from Roger of Hoveden and tally with that given in the Gesta Henrici II. attributed to Benedict of Peterboro (I. 33. M. R. Series). As a number of canons proposed by the papal legates, Cardinals Theodwin and Albert, were rejected by the Norman bishops, it is possible that the local reports and those current at Rome may have differed.

798 Post Concil. Lateran. P. XVIII. c. 12.

799 Post Concil. Lateran. P. XVIII. e. 2, 6.

800 Sane sacerdotes illi, qui nuptias contrahunt, quæ non nuptiæ sed contubernia sunt potius nuncupanda, post longam pœnitentiam et vitam laudabilem continentes, officio suo restitui poterunt, et ex indulgentia sui episcopi ejus exsecutionem habere.—Can. 4 Extra, Tit. iii. Lib. III.

801 Post Concil. Lateran. P. XVIII. c. 4.

802 Post Concil. Lateran. P. XVIII. c. 13.—In a decretal addressed to the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, Alexander grants permission of marriage to a certain subdeacon, and forbids interference with such legitimate marriage, giving as a reason that the subdiaconate of the person referred to carried with it no preferment.—Ibid. c. 14.

803 Post Concil. Lateran. P. VI. c. 9.

804 Votum simplex impedit sponsalia de futuro, non autem dirimit matrimonium sequens; secus in voto solenni.—Can. 6 Extra Lib. IV. Tit. vi.

The practical rule deduced by a shrewd lawyer in the latter half of the thirteenth century from this varying legislation is, “Note deus relles; que simple vou et sollempnié lie maeme quant à Deu; et simple vou empêche à marier, mès il ne tost pas ce qui est fet; et note que vou, de la nature de soi, ne dépièce pas mariage, mès c’est de constitucion d’yglise”—(Livres de Jostice et de Piet, Liv. X. chap. vi. § 6). This is likewise the conclusion reached by Thomas Aquinas, Summ. Theol. Supp. Quæst. LIII. Art. i. ii.

805 Alani ab Insulis Lib. Pœnitentialis.

806 Post. Concil. Lateran. P. XIX. c. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.—Can. 10, 11, 12, 14, Extra Lib. I. Tit. xvii.

807 Can. 17, 18, Extra Lib. I. Tit. xvii.

808 Quia de talibus absque difficultate curia Romana dispensat, quia et de subdiaconibus quibusdam audivimus a domino Papa dispensatum.—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. v.

809 Consuetudinem introductam quod filii eorum qui vestras ecclesias tenuerunt ... patribus ... consecuti, sub reprehensibili collusione volunt ipsas ecclesias jure successionis habere, etc.—Lucii. PP. III. Epist. 88.—Cf. Concil. Rotomag. ann. 1189 can. vi.

810 Chartular. Eccles. Parisiens. No. XX. T. I. p. 35.

811 D’Oudegherst, Annales de Flandre, chap. CIII.—Baluz. et Mansi T. I.—Miræi Diplom. Lib. I. c. 88.—Grandes Chroniques, T. IV. pp. 339-42.—Innocent. PP. III. Regest. Append. ad Lib. XIV.

812 Innocent. PP. III. Regest. XI. 204.

813 Innocent. PP. III. Regest. XII. 13.

814 Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. vi.

The “Gemma” was the favorite work of its author, who relates with pride the approbation specially bestowed upon it by Innocent III.

815 Yet so hopeless was this well-intentioned attempt, that Giraldus is willing to let off his recalcitrant clergy with the simple restriction demanded of the laity—abstinence for three days previous to partaking of the communion. “Qui igitur in immunditiæ veluti suo volutabro volvitur adhuc et versatur, hanc saltem altari sacro et sacrificiis reverentiam sacerdos exhibeat, ut vel tribus diebus et noctibus priusquam corpus Christi consecrare præsumat mundum ... vas custodiat.”—Ibid. cap. vi.

816 Hoc autem magistrum Petrum Manducatorem in audientia totius scholæ suæ quæ tot et tantis viris literatissimis referta fuit dicentem audivi, quia nunquam hostis ille antiquus in aliquo articulo, adeo ecclesiam Dei circumvenit, sicut in voti illius emissione.—Ibid. cap. vi.

817 Epist. Henr. Card. Albanens. (Ludewig, Rei. Msctor. II. 441).

818 Baluz. et Mansi III. 380.

819 De filiis quoque sacerdotum, diaconorum, rusticorum, statuimus, ne cingulum militare aliquatenus assumant; et qui jam assumpserunt, per judicem provincias a militia pellantur.—Feudor. Lib. V. Tit. x.—Conf. Conr. Urspergens. ann. 1187.

820 Statut. Synod. Odon. Tullens. cap. vi. (Hartzheim III. 456).

821 Can. 7 Extra Lib. V. Tit. xxxviii.

822 Ne vero facilitas veniæ incentivum tribuat delinquendi: statuimus, ut qui deprehensi fuerint incontinentiæ vitio laborare, prout magis aut minus peccaverint, puniantur secundum canonicas sanctiones, quas efficacius et districtius præcipimus observari, ut quos divinus timor a malo non revocat, temporalis saltem pœna a peccato cohibeat.

Si quis igitur hac de causa suspensus, divina celebrare præsumpserit, non solum ecclesiasticis beneficiis spolietur, verum etiam pro hac duplici culpa, perpetuo deponatur.

Prælati vero qui tales præsumpserint in suis iniquitatibus sustinere, maxime obtentu pecuniæ vel alterius commodi temporalis, pari subjaceant ultioni.

Qui autem secundum regionis suæ morem non abdicarunt copulam conjugalem, si lapsi fuerint, gravius puniantur, cum legitimo matrimonio possint uti.—Concil. Lateranens. IV. can. 14.

Ad abolendam pessimam, quæ in plerisque inolevit ecclesiis, corruptelam, firmiter prohibemus, ne canonicorum filii, maxime spurii, canonici fiant in sæcularibus ecclesiis, in quibus instituti sunt patres etc.—Ibid. can. 31.

823 See his instructions to his legates, cap. xi. (Martene Ampl. Collect. VII. 267-74).

824 Concil. Melfitan. ann. 1284 c. iii. (Ibid. p. 284).

825 Tolle de ecclesia honorabile connubium et torum immaculatum; nonne reples eam concubinariis, incestuosis, seminifluis, mollibus, masculorum concubitoribus et omni denique genere immundorum?—Bernardi Serm. lxvi. in Cantic. § 3.—This series is understood to have been written in 1135.

826 Bernardi Serm. de Conversione cap. xx.

827 Constit. Gallonis cap. (Harduin. I. T. VI. P. II. p. 1975).—Giraldus Cambrensis, a few years earlier, makes the same assertion (Gemma. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. xv.).

828 Statut. Eccles. Trecorens. c. 32 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 1102). Cf. Synod. Andegavens. ann. 1312 cap. 1. (D’Achery I. 742).

829 Statut. Eccles. Nemausens. Tit. VII. c. 5 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 1044).

830 Innocent. PP. III. Regest. Lib. XV. Epist. 113.

831 Concil. Parisiens, ann. 1212 can. 4 (Harduin. T. VI. P. II. p. 2001).

832 Ibid. P. II. c. 21, P. III. c. 2 (Harduin. VI. II. 2009, 2011).

833 Chron. Augustens. ann. 1260 (Freher. et Struv. I. 546-7).

834 Michel, Théat. Franç. au Moyen Age, p. 23.

835 Guillel. de Nangis ann. 1299.

836 Cæsar. Heisterbach. Dial. Mirac. Dist. XII. c. xx. xxi.

837 Chron. Casinens. Lib. III. cap. xxxix.

838 Concil. Hammaburg. ann. 1406 (Hartzheim VI. 2).

839 Constit. Sicular. Lib. III. Tit. 25 c. 1.

It is possible that Frederick’s legislation may have attracted attention to the irregularities of the Neapolitan church, for in 1230 Gregory IX. addressed an encyclical letter to the prelates of that kingdom “præsertim super cohabitatione mulierum;” and two years later he deemed it necessary to repeat his admonitions.—Raynaldi Annal. ann. 1230 No. 20.

840 Baluz. et Mansi I. 211.

841 Specul. Saxon. Lib. III. art. 45.

842 Richstich Landrecht, Lib. II. c. 25.

843 Michelet, Origines des Loix, p. 68. This popular phrase gives point to the story told by Henri Estienne of a German ambassador to Rome, to whom, on his farewell audience, the pope gave a message to his master, commencing, “Tell our well-beloved son”—The honest Teuton could not contain himself at what he took to be a flagrant insult, and he interrupted the diplomatic courtesies with an angry exclamation that his noble master was not the son of a priest.—Apol. pour Herodote, Liv. I. chap. iii.

844 This admirable prelate, after enjoying the episcopate for twenty-seven years, was at length deposed in 1274 by Gregory X., at the council of Lyons, in consequence of his excesses “præsertem de deflorationibus virginum, stupris matronarum et incestibus monialium” (Chron. Cornel. Zanfliet, ann. 1272). For some details of his excesses, see the epistle addressed to him by Gregory X. in Hardouin, Concil. T. VII. p. 665. As Gregory had been archdeacon of Liége, he was probably familiar with the subject. Henry’s promotion to the see of Liége was part of the policy of Innocent IV. in elevating William of Holland, his brother, to the imperial throne as a competitor to Frederic II. By special dispensation Henry had enjoyed the see for ten years before he was ordained to the priesthood, and after his degradation he infested the bishopric for twelve years, until his death, one of his exploits being the killing of his successor, John of Enghien.—Hist. Monast. S. Laurent. Leodiens. Lib. V. c. 69 (Martene Ampl. Collect. IV. 1105).

845 Concil. German. ann. 1225 c. 5 (Hartzheim III. 521). This council was assembled to check the prevalent vices of concubinage and simony, and its elaborate provisions show how fruitless previous efforts had been.

846 Gudeni Cod. Diplom. II. 36.—Not a few testaments of this kind are preserved.