The Presbyters Project

Letter 1

17. Monachos quoque quos tamen morum gravitas et vitae ac fidei institutio sancta commendat, clericorum officiis aggregari et optamus et volumus; ita ut qui intra tricesimum aetatis annum sunt, in minoribus per gradus singulos, crescente tempore, promoveantur ordinibus: et sic ad diaconatus vel presbyterii insignia, maturae aetatis consecratione, perveniant. Nec saltu ad episcopatus culmen ascendant, nisi in his eadem, quae singulis dignitatibus superius praefiximus, tempora fuerint custodita.

(ed. Coustant 1845: 1143-1145)

Letter 1

17. We also desire and wish that monks who are commended by depth of character and a holy pattern of life and faith be added to the ranks of clerics in this way. Those under thirty years of age should be promoted in minor orders over time through the individual ranks and thus reach the honors of the diaconate and the priesthood with the dedication of maturity. They should not ascend in a jump to the height of the episcopate, but only after having served the same periods of time which we established above for the individual ranks.

(trans. R. Somerville, B. Brasington; http://www.historyandapologetics.com/2015/02/letter-of-pope-siricius-to-bishop.html)

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Iberian Peninsula

City

Rome

About the source:

Author: Siricius
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The letter, written in early AD 385, is the response to the questions sent by Himerius, bishop of Tarragona in the Iberian Peninsula, to the predecessor of Siricius, Damasus. It is considered to be first papal "decretal", i.e. a letter aimed at correcting doctrinal errors and impose discipline in an authoritative way.

Edition:

P. Coustant ed., S. Siricii papae epistolae et decreta, Paris 1845, Patrologia Latina 13, 1131-1178.

H. Wurm, Studien und Texte zur Dekretalensammlung des Dionysius Exiguus, Bonn 1939.

Translation:

Robert Somerville and Bruce Brasington, Prefaces to Canon Law Books in Latin Christianity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998) 36-39

Bibliography:

A. Ferreiro, "Pope Siricius and Himerius of Tarragona (385): Provincial Papal Intervention in the Fourth Century”, [in :] The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity, Farnham, Burlington 2015.

Categories:

Former ecclesiastical career - Lower clergy

Former ecclesiastical career - Deacon

Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop

Impediments or requisits for the office - Age

Impediments or requisits for the office - Monastic rule

Monastic or common life

Impediments or requisits for the office - Ecclesiastical career

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1479, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1479