The Presbyters Project

Letter 3

IV.7. Innocent I refers to those who after their ordination turned to the exercise of law, or to the military or civil service; some of them had been curiales before their ordination. Innocent I allows them to remain in their grades, but:

Sed ne deinceps similia committantur, dilectionis vestrae maturitas providere debebit, ut tantae usurpationi saltem nunc finis necessarius imponatur: eo videlicet constituto, ut si qui post haec adversus formam canonum vel ad ecclesiasticum ordinem, vel ad ipsum sacerdotium venire tentaverint, una cum creatoribus suis ipso, in quo inventi fuerint, ordine et honore priventur.

9. The rules of the Council of Nicaea should be respected in regard to ordination.

Ac primum quae sunt prohibita digeruntur. Ne quispiam, qui post baptismum militaverit, ad ordinem debeat clericatus admitti; neque de curialibus aliquem venire ad ecclesiasticum ordinem posse, qui post baptismum vel coronati fuerint, vel sacerdotium quod dicitur sustinuerint, et editiones publicas celebraverint. Nam et hoc de curialibus est cavendum, ne iidem qui ex curialibus fuerint, aliquando a suis curiis, quod frequenter videmus accidere, reposcantur. Quae omnia rationabiliter prohibita oportet modis omibus custodiri.

(ed. Coustant 1845: 491)

Letter 3

Lest similar things be commited again, Your Charity should wisely put, at least now, an end to such usurpations. It has been clearly declared that from now on, if someone tries to accede to the ecclesiastical order or to the very priesthood against the rules of the canons, he will be deposed of the order and dignity which they hold, together with those who ordain him.

9. The rules of the Council of Nicaea should be respected in regard to ordination.

Firstly, let us repeat what is prohibited. No one who was in the army after the baptism can be allowed to be ordained. Neither anyone of the curiales, who after baptism was crowned, or accepted the so called priestly office, or celebrated the public spectacles, can come to the ecclesiastical order. We should also beware that sometimes the ex-curiales are called back by their municipal councils, what we often see happening. This reasonable prohibition should be by all means kept.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

In some manuscripts the letter is wrongly described as being to the bishops of the Council of Tolosa. For another opinion of Innocent I on the curiales who became clerics, see [1590].

Canons 2-3 and 55 of the Council of Elvira (for the datation issues see [28]) deal with Christians who performed the duties of pagan priests: those who made public sacrifices after their baptism must be barred from the Communion even on their deathbeds; those who did not sacrifice, but organised celebrations, would be allowed to take Communion on their deathbeds; and those who neither sacrificed nor paid for the cult of the pagan gods, but only wore crowns (presumably in processions; this is what "crowned" in our passage means), should be given the Communion after two years.

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Iberian Peninsula

City

Rome
Toledo

About the source:

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

Innocent I was the bishop of Rome from AD 401 to 417. Several of his letters, especially to the bishops of Gaul and Spain, are "decretals": authoritative letters containing papal rulings, usually in response to questions raised by the bishops.

Edition:

P. Coustant ed., S. Innocentii Papae Epistolae et Decreta, Patrologia Latina 20, Paris 1845, 463-608.

Bibliography:

G.D. Dunn, "Innocent I and the Synod of Toledo", [in:] The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity, ed. G.D. Dunn, Farnham, Burlington 2015, 89–107.

D. Jasper, H. Fuhrmann, Papal Letters in the Early Middle Ages, Washington 2001.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Social elite

Entertainment - Spectacles

Impediments or requisits for the office - Social/Economic/Legal status

Public functions and offices before ordination

Public functions and offices after ordination - Civic office

Public functions and offices after ordination - Military activity

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Demotion

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1610, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1610