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Given by His
Holiness Pope Paul IV
February 15, 1559
By virtue of the
Apostolic office which, despite our unworthiness, has been entrusted to Us
by God, We are responsible for the general care of the flock of the Lord.
Because of this, in order that the flock may be faithfully guarded and
beneficially directed, We are bound to be diligently watchful after the manner
of a vigilant Shepherd and to ensure most carefully that certain people who
consider the study of the truth beneath them should be driven out of the
sheepfold of Christ and no longer continue to disseminate error from positions
of authority. We refer in particular to those who in this age, impelled by
their sinfulness and supported by their cunning, are attacking with unusual
learning and malice the discipline of the orthodox Faith, and who, moreover,
by perverting the import of Holy Scripture, are striving to rend the unity
of the Catholic Church and the seamless tunic of the Lord.
1.In assessing Our duty and the situation now prevailing, We have been weighed
upon by the thought that a matter of this kind [i.e. error in respect of
the Faith] is so grave and so dangerous that the Roman Pontiff,who is the
representative upon earth of God and our God and Lord Jesus Christ, who holds
the fulness of power over peoples and kingdoms, who may judge all and be
judged by none in this world, may nonetheless be contradicted if he be found
to have deviated from the Faith. Remembering also that, where danger is greater,
it must more fully and more diligently be counteracted, We have been concerned
lest false prophets or others, even if they have only secular jurisdiction,
should wretchedly ensnare the souls of the simple, and drag with them into
perdition, destruction and damnation countless peoples committed to their
care and rule, either in spiritual or in temporal matters; and We have been
concerned also lest it may befall Us to see the abomination of desolation,
which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, in the holy place. In view of
this, Our desire has been to fulfil our Pastoral duty, insofar as, with the
help of God, We are able, so as to arrest the foxes who are occupying themselves
in the destruction of the vineyard of the Lord and to keep the wolves from
the sheepfolds, lest We seem to be dumb watchdogs that cannot bark and lest
We perish with the wicked husbandman and be compared with the hireling.
2 Hence, concerning these matters, We have held mature deliberation with
our venerable brothers the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church; and, upon
their advice and with their unanimous agreement, we now enact as follows:-
In respect of each and every sentence of excommunication, suspension, interdict
and privation and any other sentences, censures and penalties against heretics
or schismatics, enforced and promulgated in any way whatsoever by any of
Our predecessors the Roman Pontiffs, or by any who were held to be such (even
by their "litterae extravagantes" i.e. private letters), or by the sacred
Councils received by the Church of God, or by decrees of the Holy Fathers
and the statutes, or by the sacred Canons and the Constitutions and Apostolic
Ordinations - all these measures, by Apostolic authority, We approve and
renew, that they may and must be observed in perpetuity and, if perchance
they be no longer in lively observance, that they be restored to it.
Thus We will and decree that the aforementioned sentences, censures and penalties
be incurred without exception by all members of the following categories:
(i) Anysoever who,
before this date, shall have been detected to have deviated from the Catholic
Faith, or fallen into any heresy, or incurred schism, or provoked or committed
either or both of these, or who have confessed to have done any of these
things, or who have been convicted of having done any of these things.
(ii) Anysoever
who (which may God, in His clemency and goodness to all, deign to avert)
shall in the future so deviate or fall into heresy, or incur schism, or shall
provoke or commit either or both of these.
(iii) Anysoever
who shall be detected to have so deviated, fallen, incurred, provoked or
committed, or who shall confess to have done any of these things, or who
shall be convicted of having done any of these things.
These sanctions,
moreover, shall be incurred by all members of these categories, of whatever
status, grace, order, condition and pre-eminence they may be, even if they
be endowed with the Episcopal, Archiepiscopal, Patriarchal, Primatial or
some other greater Ecclesiastical dignity, or with the honour of the Cardinalate
and of the Universal Apostolic See by the office of Legate, whether temporary
or permanent, or if they be endowed with even worldly authority or excellence,
as Count, Baron, Marquis, Duke, King or Emperor.
All this We will and decree.
3. Nonetheless, We also consider it proper that those who do not abandon
evil deeds through love of virtue should be deterred therefrom by fear of
punishment; and We are aware that Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates,
Cardinals and Legates, Counts, Barons, Marquises, Dukes, Kings and Emperors
(who ought to teach others and offer them a good example in order to preserve
them in the Catholic Faith), by failing in their duty sin more gravely than
others; since they not only damn themselves, but also drag with them into
perdition and into the pit of death countless other people entrusted to their
care or rule, or otherwise subject to them, by their like counsel and agreement.
Hence, by this Our Constitution which is to remain valid in perpetuity, in
abomination of so great a crime (than which none in the Church of God can
be greater or more pernicious) by the fulness of our Apostolic Power, We
enact, determine, decree and define (since the aforesaid sentences, censures
and penalties are to remain in efficacious force and strike all those whom
they are intended to strike) that:
(i) each and every
member of the following categories - Bishops, Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates,
Cardinals, Legates, Counts, Barons, Marquises, Dukes, Kings and Emperors
- who:
-
(a) hitherto (as
We have already said) have been detected, or have confessed to have, or have
been convicted of having, deviated [i.e. from the Catholic Faith], or fallen
into heresy or incurred schism or provoked or committed either or both of
these;
(b) in the future also shall [so] deviate, or fall into heresy, or incur
schism, or provoke or commit either or both of these, or shall be detected
or shall confess to have, or shall be convicted of having [so] deviated,
or fallen into heresy, or incurred schism, or provoked or committed either
or both of these; (since in this they are rendered more inexcusable than
the rest) in addition to the aforementioned sentences, censures and penalties,
shall also automatically, without any exercise of law or application of fact,
be thoroughly, entirely and perpetually deprived of:- their Orders and
Cathedrals, even Metropolitan, Patriarchal and Primatial Churches, the honour
of the Cardinalate and the office of any embassy whatsoever, not to mention
both active and passive voting rights, all authority, Monasteries, benefices
and Ecclesiastical offices, be they functional or sinecures, secular or religious
of whatsoever Order, which they may have obtained by any concessions whatsoever,
or by Apostolic Dispensations to title, charge and administration or otherwise
howsoever, and in which or to which they may have any right whatsoever, likewise
any whatsoever fruits, returns or annual revenues from like fruits, returns
and revenues reserved for and assigned to them, as well as Countships, Baronies,
Marquisates, Dukedoms, Kingships and Imperial Power;
(ii) that, moreover,
they shall be unfit and incapable in respect of these things and that they
shall be held to be backsliders and subverted in every way, just as if they
had previously abjured heresy of this kind in public trial; that they shall
never at any time be able to be restored, returned, reinstated or rehabilitated
to their former status or Cathedral, Metropolitan, Patriarchal and Primatial
Churches, or the Cardinalate, or other honour, any other dignity, greater
or lesser, any right to vote, active or passive, or authority, or Monasteries
and benefices, or Countships, Baronies, Marquisates, Dukedoms, Kingships
and positions of Imperial power; but rather that they shall be abandoned
to the judgement of the secular power to be punished after due consideration,
unless there should appear in them signs of true penitence and the fruits
of worthy repentance, and, by the kindness and clemency of the See itself,
they shall have been sentenced to sequestration in any Monastery or other
religious house in order to perform perpetual penance upon the bread of sorrow
and the water of affliction;
(iii) that all
such individuals also shall be held, treated and reputed as such by everyone,
of whatsoever status, grade, order, condition or pre-eminence he may be and
whatsoever excellence may be his, even Episcopal, Archiepiscopal, Patriarchal
and Primatial or other greater Ecclesiastical dignity and even the honour
of the Cardinalate, or secular, even the authority of Count, Baron, Marquis,
Duke, King or Emperor, and as such must be avoided and must be deprived of
the sympathy of all natural kindess.
4. By this Our
Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity, We further enact,
determine, decree and define: that those who shall have claimed to have the
right of patronage or of nominating suitable persons to Cathedral, Metropolitan,
Patriarchal and Primatial Churches, or to Monasteries or other Ecclesiastical
benefices which may be vacant by privation of this kind (in order that those
which shall have been vacant for a long time may not be exposed to the unfit,
but, having been rescued from enslavement to heretics, may be granted to
suitable persons who would faithfully direct their people in the paths of
justice), shall be bound to present other persons suitable to Churches,
Monasteries and benefices of this kind, to Us, or to the Roman Pontiff at
that time existing, within the time determined by law, or by their concordats,
or by compacts entered into with the said See; and that, if they shall not
have done so when the said period shall have elapsed, the full and free
disposition of the aforesaid Churches, Monasteries and benefices shall by
the fulness of the law itself devolve upon Us or upon the aforesaid Roman
Pontiff.
5. By this Our Constitution, moreover, which is to remain valid in perpetuity,
We also enact, determine, decree and define: as follows concerning those
who shall have presumed in any way knowingly to receive, defend, favour,
believe or teach the teaching of those so apprehended, confessed or convicted:
(i) they shall
automatically incur sentence of excommunication;
(ii) they shall be rendered infamous;
(iii) they shall be excluded on pain of invalidity from any public or private
office, deliberation, Synod, general or provincial Council and any conclave
of Cardinals or other congregation of the faithful, and from any election
or function of witness, so that they cannot take part in any of these by
vote, in person, by writings, representative or by any agent;
(iv) they shall be incapable of making a will;
(v) they shall not accede to the succession of heredity;
(vi) no one shall be forced to respond to them concerning any business;
(vii) if perchance they shall have been Judges, their judgements shall have
no force, nor shall any cases be brought to their hearing.;
(viii) if they shall have been Advocates, their pleading shall nowise be
received;
(ix) if they shall have been Notaries, documents drafted by them shall be
entirely without strength or weight;
(x) clerics shall be automatically deprived of each and every Church, even
Cathedral, Metropolitan, Patriarchal, Primatial, and likewise of dignities,
Monasteries, benefices and Ecclesiastical offices, and even, as has been
already mentioned, of qualifications, howsoever obtained by them;
(xi) laymen, moreover, in the same way - even if they be qualified, as already
described, or endowed with the aforesaid dignities or anysoever Kingdoms,
Duchies, Dominions, Fiefs and temporal goods possessed by them;
(xii) finally, all Kingdoms, Duchies, Dominions, Fiefs and goods of this
kind shall be confiscated, made public and shall remain so, and shall be
made the rightful property of those who shall first occupy them if these
shall be sincere in faith, in the unity of the Holy Roman Church and under
obedience to Us and to Our successors the Roman Pontiffs canonically entering
office.
6. In addition,
by this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity We enact,
determine, decree and define: that if ever at any time it shall appear that
any Bishop, even if he be acting as an Archbishop, Patriarch or Primate;
or any Cardinal of the aforesaid Roman Church, or, as has already been mentioned,
any legate, or even the Roman Pontiff, prior to his promotion or his elevation
as Cardinal or Roman Pontiff, has deviated from the Catholic Faith or fallen
into some heresy:
(i) the promotion
or elevation, even if it shall have been uncontested and by the unanimous
assent of all the Cardinals, shall be null, void and worthless;
(ii) it shall not be possible for it to acquire validity (nor for it to be
said that it has thus acquired validity) through the acceptance of the office,
of consecration, of subsequent authority, nor through possession of
administration, nor through the putative enthronement of a Roman Pontiff,
or Veneration, or obedience accorded to such by all, nor through the lapse
of any period of time in the foregoing situation;
(iii) it shall not be held as partially legitimate in any way;
(iv) to any so promoted to be Bishops, or Archbishops, or Patriarchs, or
Primates or elevated as Cardinals, or as Roman Pontiff, no authority shall
have been granted, nor shall it be considered to have been so granted either
in the spiritual or the temporal domain;
(v) each and all of their words, deeds, actions and enactments, howsoever
made, and anything whatsoever to which these may give rise, shall be without
force and shall grant no stability whatsoever nor any right to anyone;
(vi) those thus promoted or elevated shall be deprived automatically, and
without need for any further declaration, of all dignity, position, honour,
title, authority, office and power.
7. Finally, by
this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity, We also enact,
determine, define and decree: that any and all persons who would have been
subject to those thus promoted or elevated if they had not previously deviated
from the Faith, become heretics, incurred schism or provoked or committed
any or all of these, be they members of anysoever of the following
categories:
(i) the clergy,
secular and religious;
(ii) the laity;
(iii) the Cardinals, even those who shall have taken part in the election
of this very Pontiff previously deviating from the Faith or heretical or
schismatical, or shall otherwise have consented and vouchsafed obedience
to him and shall have venerated him;
(iv) Castellans, Prefects, Captains and Officials, even of Our Beloved City
and of the entire Ecclesiastical State, even if they shall be obliged and
beholden to those thus promoted or elevated by homage, oath or security;
shall be permitted at any time to withdraw with impunity from obedience and
devotion to those thus promoted or elevated and to avoid them as warlocks,
heathens, publicans, and heresiarchs (the same subject persons, nevertheless,
remaining bound by the duty of fidelity and obedience to any future Bishops,
Archbishops, Patriarchs, Primates, Cardinals and Roman Pontiff canonically
entering). To the greater confusion, moreover, of those thus promoted or
elevated, if these shall have wished to prolong their government and authority,
they shall be permitted to request the assistance of the secular arm against
these same individuals thus promoted or elevated; nor shall those who withdraw
on this account, in the aforementioned circumstances, from fidelity and obedience
to those thus promoted and elevated, be subject, as are those who tear the
tunic of the Lord, to the retribution of any censures or penalties.
8. The provisions
of this Our Constitution, which is to remain valid in perpetuity are to take
effect notwithstanding any Constitutions, Apostolic Ordinations, privileges,
indults or Apostolic Letters, whether they be to these same Bishops, Archbishops,
Patriarchs, Primates and Cardinals or to any others, and whatsoever may be
their import and form, and with whatsoever sub-clauses or decrees they may
have been granted, even "motu proprio" and by certain knowledge, from the
fulness of the Apostolic power or even consistorially or otherwise howsoever;
and even if they have been repeatedly approved and renewed,have been included
in the corpus of the Law or strengthened by any capital conclaves whatsoever
(even by oath) or by Apostolic confirmation or by anysoever other endorsements
or if they were legislated by ourself. By this present document instead of
by express mention, We specially and expressly derogate the provisions of
all these by appropriate deletion and word-for-word substitution, so that
these may otherwise remain in force.
9. In order, however, that this document may be brought to the notice of
all whom it concerns, We wish it or a transcription of it (to which, when
made by the hand of the undersigned Public Notary and fortified by the seal
of any person established in ecclesiastical dignity, We decree that complete
trust must be accorded) to be published and affixed in the Basilica of the
Prince of the Apostles in this City and on the doors of the Apostolic Chancery
and in the pavilion of the Campus Florae by some of our couriers; [we] will
[further] that a quantity of copies affixed in this place should be distributed,
and that publication and affixing of this kind should suffice and be held
as right, solemn and legitimate, and that no other publication should be
required or awaited.
10. No one at all, therefore, may infringe this document of our approbation,
re-introduction, sanction, statute and derogation of wills and decrees, or
by rash presumption contradict it. If anyone, however, should presume to
attempt this, let him know that he is destined to incur the wrath of Almighty
God and of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul.
Given in Rome at Saint Peter's in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord
1559, 15th February, in the fourth year of our Pontificate. |
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