Epistolae Decretales SS Stephano Adscriptae

APPENDIX. DECRETAL LETTERS ASCRIBED TO SAINT STEPHEN. (I) LETTER I. TO HILARIUS THE BISHOP. ARGUMENT.— Who are infamous, and who are not to be admitted to ecclesiastical grades or to accusation. Concerning reverence to be shown to superiors, and concerning the vestments of ministers, that they be consecrated. TO HIS MOST BELOVED BROTHER AND INTIMATE FRIEND HILARIUS, STEPHEN THE BISHOP, OF INTIMATE CHARITY, GREETING. Although I trust (S. Leo, letter 46) that your love is devoted to every good work, yet on account of the familiarity by which you are known to be joined to us, so that your industry may become more effective, it has seemed fitting to us to direct these fraternal letters to your love. We admonish you, dearest brother, always to remain in good things, and to beware of evil; to be constantly with men of good and right faith and holy conversation, and to be separated from the perverse and from plotters against brethren, except to convert them and lead them back to concord; since, as the Apostle says, evil conversations corrupt good morals (1 Cor. 15). And Truth itself says: If your eye has scandalized you, pluck it out and cast it from you. And if your hand has scandalized you, cut it off and cast it from you. Similarly, it is to be done concerning the foot, because it is better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven one-eyed or lame than to be sent into the gehenna of fire having two eyes, or two hands, or two feet (Matt. 18; Mark 9).

And in the book of Ecclesiasticus it is found: In the good of a man, his enemy; in his sorrow and in his malice, his friend is known. The enemy sweetens his lips, and in his heart he lies in wait, to cast you into a pit. And, He who touches pitch will be defiled by it. And, He who associates with a proud man will be clothed with pride. He takes a burden upon himself who associates with one more honorable than himself. Do not be a companion to one richer than you. What will a small pot have in common with a large pot? When they clash, the small one will be broken. The rich man will act unjustly and roar, but the poor man, when injured, will be silent. If you have given generously, he will take you up; and if you have nothing, he will abandon you. If you have means, he will live with you, and he will drain you, and he will not grieve over you; if he needs you, he will supplant you, and smiling, he will give you hope, telling you good things, and will say: What do you need? And he will confound you with his feasts, until he has emptied you twice and thrice; and in the end he will mock you. Afterwards, seeing this, he will abandon you, and will shake his head at you. Humble yourself before God and await his hand. Take heed, lest, seduced into folly, you be humbled. Do not be humble in your wisdom, lest, humbled, you be seduced into foolishness. When summoned by a more powerful man, withdraw; for by this he will summon you all the more. Do not be insolent, lest you be thrust aside, and be far from him, and fall into oblivion. Do not presume to speak with him on equal terms, and do not believe his many words.

For from much speech he will test you, and smiling he will ask you about your secrets. His ungentle mind will keep your words, and he will not spare you from malice and from bonds. Beware, and attend diligently to your hearing, for you walk with your own ruin. Hearing those things as if in dreams, see and you will keep watch. All your life love God, and call upon him for your salvation. Every animal loves its like, so every man loves his neighbor. Every flesh joins to its like, and every man associates with his like. If the wolf will ever share with the lamb, so the sinner with the just. What communion has a holy man with flesh? Or what good peace has a rich man with a poor man? The lion's hunt is the wild ass in the desert; so the pastures of the rich are the poor. And as humility is an abomination to the proud, so the poor man is a curse to the rich man. A rich man, when moved, is strengthened by friends; but a humble man, when he has fallen, is driven out even by those he knows. For a deceived rich man there are many restorers; he has spoken proudly, and they have justified him: a humble man is deceived, and moreover is reproached. He has spoken sensibly, and no place is given to him. A rich man has spoken, and all have fallen silent, and they carry his word up to the clouds. A poor man has spoken, and they say: Who is this? And if he offends, they will overthrow him. Good is wealth to which there is no sin in conscience, and most wicked is poverty in the mouth of the impious. A man's heart changes his face, whether for good or for evil.

You will hardly find a good heart's trace and a good face, and with labor (Ecclus. 12, 13). Beware of this, brother, and do not go after your desires (Ecclus. 23, 30). I. As to what you have consulted the Apostolic See, who are infamous, or who are not to be admitted to ecclesiastical grades, we believe you know, and by the authority of the Apostolic See we do not refuse to inform you. We say that those persons are infamous who are marked with infamy for some fault (6. q. 1; and in Decret. Ivo. lib. IV), that is, all who reject the norm of Christian law and despise ecclesiastical statutes; likewise thieves, sacrilegious persons, and all entangled in capital crimes; also violators of tombs, and those who willingly violate the statutes of the apostles and their successors and of the remaining Fathers, and all who arm themselves against the Fathers (Anianus in sent. Pauli libri I, tit. II, const. II, tit. XXXIX. Cod. Theod.), who are marked with infamy throughout the whole world. Similarly also incestuous persons, murderers, perjurers, rapists (Proclus ad Domnum Hadr. coll. cap. XVII), sorcerers, poisoners, adulterers, those who flee from wars, and those who unworthily seek to hold places for themselves, or unjustly abstract the faculties of the Church, and those who (Anianus in const. VIII, tit. XXXIX, libri IX Cod. Theod.) calumniate or accuse brothers and do not prove it; or who stir up the minds of princes to anger against the innocent (Cod. Theod. lib. IX, tit. I, cap. XI. Hadr. coll.

XLVIII) they provoke; and all those who are anathematized, or driven from the Church for their crimes, and all whom ecclesiastical (Anianus, const. III, tit. XXXIX, libri IX, Cod. Theod.) or secular laws pronounce infamous. But it is not permitted to promote to sacred Orders those who are slaves before legitimate freedom, nor penitents, nor bigamists, nor those who serve the curia, nor those who are not sound in body, or who do not have a healthy mind or intellect, or who are disobedient to the decrees of the saints, or who are manifestly insane: all these ought not to be advanced to sacred grades, neither these, nor freedmen, nor suspect persons; nor can those who do not have right faith or worthy conduct accuse the highest priests. II. But also as to how obedience (S. Greg. Epist. X. lib. IV) and reverence ought to be shown to superiors, you yourself do not doubt from your own subjects. In this matter it is very useful, if what the force of discipline imposes, laudable humility preserves without any compulsion (Idem epist. XXXIV ejusdem libri). Almighty God, in whose hand are all things, of whom it is written: There is no wisdom, there is no counsel against the Lord (Prov. XXVIII), may he grant that you and yours preserve the institutes of the divine and Apostolic See inviolate, and that we and all the faithful always ascend to better things, and from day to day avoid worse things, and pursue and perfect better and God-pleasing things.

III. But ecclesiastical vestments, by which the Lord is served and divine worship is celebrated with all honor and propriety by priests and the other ministers of the Church, ought to be both sacred and honorable. Since they have been consecrated and dedicated to God and His service, no one should use them for any purposes other than ecclesiastical and God-worthy offices. Nor should they be touched or worn by anyone except consecrated persons, lest the vengeance that struck King Belshazzar come upon those who transgress and presume such things, and the just scourge of divine vengeance cause them to fall to the depths. Make these things known to all in those regions where you dwell, and in all places where you are able, and see that they observe them by apostolic authority; for we and those entrusted to us in the holy apostolic and universal Church have all professed to observe these things, now and in future times. I have briefly replied to your letter, brother, with these words. Let your love be so joined to these matters that nothing pertaining to the state of the universal Church is done either doubtfully or sluggishly. And let all things be conducted with such moderation that neither the claims of benevolence nor those of justice are neglected, but divine judgment is considered in all things without regard to persons. That this may be preserved by right observance, let the integrity of the Catholic faith be maintained first of all.

And because the narrow and constricted path that leads to life is in all respects such that one must not deviate from its course to the left or to the right. Given on the fifth day before the Nones of May, under Valerian and Gallicanus, most distinguished men, consuls (in the years 257). LETTER II. ARGUMENT.—Concerning the expulsion of bishops, and that whatever is done unjustly against things consecrated to God and against bishops is to be regarded as sacrilege; and that no accusation is to be received in writing; and concerning several other and useful matters. I. Concerning accusations of priests. II. Concerning bishops despoiled of their property or driven from their see. III. If anyone presumes to accuse bishops or stewards or defenders of the Church before first admonishing them charitably, he is to be punished. IV. Who ought not to be admitted to accusation. V. That an accusation is not to be received in writing, nor can an absent person be accused or accuse, nor ought one to do so before he receives a place for making the accusation. VI. Concerning primates and metropolitans, and concerning the affairs of bishops to be referred to them. VII. That an accused bishop is to be heard by all the bishops of the province. VIII. That every accusation is to be concluded within the province, unless an appeal has been made to the Apostolic See; and concerning accusations involving criminal matters, or those spontaneously confessed, or former enemies. IX. If a cleric has accused a bishop, or has plotted against him. X. Whether lay persons ought to administer ecclesiastical affairs. XI. Concerning the persons of the accused. XII.

Concerning accusations against teachers, or that those condemned by divine voices cannot accuse bishops or testify against them. Stephen, Bishop of the Holy Apostolic and Universal Roman Church, to all bishops established throughout the various provinces, greeting in the Lord. We greatly rejoice in the Lord (St. Leo, epistle 40), and we glory in the gift of His grace, that your faith grows magnificently through good works and is most amply spread abroad; but we are excessively afflicted and troubled by your oppression, concerning which the more frequent report of brethren traveling to us has been conveyed (Idem, epistle 87 and following). Indeed, it should not have been that you were shaken by such great oppressions from those by whom you ought to have been sustained, carried, and honored. Therefore it is necessary that, with the tergiversations of such persons removed, by which venomous malice is usually revealed and goodness and truth obscured (Idem, epistle 35), no small support be provided to you by the faithful, and that assistance be given from this Apostolic See, for it is fitting that those be aided by the help of Christ through divine grace, lest an imprudent intention proceed to the disturbance of the whole Church, and those things which were long ago prohibited by our holy predecessors and the other holy Fathers should revive anew. For of our place (St. Gregory, epistle 11, book

XII) We are compelled by consideration not to abandon, for the Lord's sake, those things which have come to our attention as needing correction, but to correct them with fitting amendment. And if the secular offices have their own order, and the discipline handed down by the elders must be preserved, who would tolerate that ecclesiastical orders be confounded by reckless presumption, that matters heard be neglected, and that things needing correction be postponed without bearing them? I. For we have heard that you are accused by certain persons, not so much for your own fault as for their whim, so that they may seize your possessions; and that you are so greatly afflicted and shaken that you are even driven from your own sees, and on such occasion the churches and your resources are laid waste and plundered. These things, dearest brothers, ought not to happen, nor be repeated anew. Yet it is necessary that what is so often usurped be repeated and prohibited more frequently. For whatever is done unjustly against things consecrated to God and against bishops shall be regarded as sacrilege, because they are sacred and ought not to be violated by anyone.

II. For no bishop, while he has been despoiled of his goods or driven from his own see for any reason whatsoever, ought to be accused, nor can any crime be objected to him by anyone, before he is most fully restored (Roman Council III and V, under Symmachus; Hadr.): and all things which were taken from him by any means whatsoever are reinstated by law, and he himself is regularly restored to his own see and former state, so that the primates and the synod shall fully restore to the bishop in question all possessions and everything unjustly taken from him, and all fruits, before the accusation is brought; because this is forbidden not only by ecclesiastical laws but also by the laws of the secular world. III. Nor should any of them, or of the church’s agents or defenders (Had. coll. cap. 2, from catti, 17, Council of Orleans V) be accused before anyone, before they themselves have been charitably summoned once, twice, or three times by those who consider themselves injured, or who wish to rebuke them for some errors, so that they may receive from them either a private correction or a just excuse. Whoever presumes to do otherwise shall be barred from the thresholds of the Church until he makes fitting satisfaction.

IV. Accusers (3, q. 5, Accusers; and above in the Decretals of Telesphorus and Julius) and accusations which the laws of the world do not receive, and which our predecessors have forbidden, we also remove. For no foreigner should become either an accuser or a judge of them. Whence it is written of Lot: "You entered as a stranger, do you also judge?" (Gen. XIX). Moreover, let no slave (Hadr. coll. variis cap.) or freedman be an accuser of yours, and no suspect or infamous person. Cohabitants with enemies are also to be repelled, and all laity; because the affection of friendship is accustomed to incite the attack of slander. Nor are those to be received in your accusation who wish to receive you in their defamation. No one under anathema (2 q. 2. None of the Anathematized) is to be received, nor are things said or written by them to be believed by anyone. V. I also declare those to be anathematized whom bishops have anathematized in their writings, or whose statutes anathematize them. For by writing (2. q. 8) no accuser is to be received, but by his own voice, if he is a legitimate and worthy accuser, in the presence, of course, of the one whom he desires to accuse, because no one absent can either be accused or accuse. Nevertheless, no man of the aforementioned order can be accused (Hincm. cap. 15, lib. LV), or ought to respond to his accusers, before he has been regularly summoned by his primate, and has received a place for defending and inquiring (12) to wash away the crimes.

VI. For no metropolitan or other bishop shall be called primates, except those who hold the primary sees and whose cities the ancients judged to be primatial. The rest, who have obtained other metropolitan cities, shall be called not primates, but either archbishops or metropolitans. For the cities and places over which primates ought to preside were established not by moderns, but even in times many before the coming of Christ, whose primates, even when gentiles, were appealed to for greater matters. In these very cities after the coming of Christ, the apostles and their successors placed patriarchs or primates, to whom the affairs of bishops, saving in all things the apostolic authority, and the greater causes, after the Apostolic See, are to be referred. And although, with the Apostle forbidding, accusations ought not to be exercised among Christians, yet if they cannot be prevented, accusations of bishops ought to be brought by the accusers to the aforementioned primates; nevertheless, bishops must strive to compel dissenting brothers more to peace than to judgment.

VII. A bishop, however, ought not to be heard or judged otherwise than in the presence of all the bishops of the province, and by all the bishops of the province, because, in their absence, he neither ought nor can be. Which persons are not to be admitted to their accusation has been partly stated above, and both these and infamous persons are enumerated more fully in the letter which we recently sent to Hilarius. VIII. The license of accusing shall not proceed beyond the boundaries of the province, but every accusation shall be heard within the province and determined by the bishops of the province, unless an appeal has been made to the Apostolic See. And the accused are to be denied the license of accusing others before they have cleared themselves of the crime with which they are charged; because the confession of those who are involved in crimes is not to be believed against others unless they first prove themselves innocent, since it is dangerous; and the profession of a defendant against anyone whatsoever ought not to be admitted. Moreover, household members, those who have voluntarily confessed, and those entangled in crimes, ought not to be admitted, nor those who were enemies yesterday, the day before, or earlier.

IX. Therefore, a cleric who has accused his own bishop or has been a plotter against him is not to be received, because he has been rendered infamous, and he must withdraw from his rank or be handed over to the curia to serve. X. Moreover, to laymen, however religious they may be, no power of responding concerning ecclesiastical properties is ever recorded to have been granted. We know, most beloved, that the carnal always persecute the spiritual, and the malevolent defame and tear apart the benevolent. Therefore the Apostles and their successors, and the rest of the holy Fathers, did not wish the accusation of bishops to be made easy; because, if it were easy, either no one or scarcely anyone would now be found. For they are called thrones of God; therefore they ought not to be moved, or afflicted, or disturbed. Concerning them, therefore, the Prophet says: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands.

XI. Those who are not of good conduct and whose life is blameworthy, or whose faith, life, and freedom are unknown, cannot accuse them. First, the persons of the accusers—their faith, life, and conduct—must always be examined in detail; and afterward, the charges they bring must be faithfully considered, because nothing ought to be done before the persons of the accused, their faith, life, and conduct are diligently discussed, lest anyone be harassed out of envy, enmity, or evil intent (2. q. 7, It must be inquired; 1, q. 8, The persons of the accusers; and in the Decretals of Pope Callistus). XII. No one should undertake accusations against a teacher, for teachers are more to be borne than harmed or defamed. Hence the Apostle says: Bear one another’s burdens, and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6). Charity, moreover, is not ambitious, is not puffed up, does not seek its own interests, but those of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 13). He who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4). And he who abides in God wishes to harm no one, but desires to help and support all, just as the Lord Himself came to save all and to give His life as a ransom for us (Matthew 20). We block the voice of those accusing priests or testifying against them whom we recognize as condemned or dead by human and divine pronouncements (Hadr. coll. 29).

Therefore, all those who persecute the priests of the Lord, whether secretly or openly, must take great care lest they be condemned by the precepts of the Lord’s subjects. For through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord, threatening such persons, speaks, saying: “Your iniquities have turned aside everything, and your sins have removed the good from you, because impious men and those speaking vain things have been found among my people; they have set themselves to destroy men, and they have seized, and as the snare of a hunter is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit” (Jeremiah 5). And through David he says: “Those who have devised evils in their heart have been engaged in battles all day long; they have sharpened their tongues like serpents, the venom of asps under their lips” (Psalm 139). And a little later: “Coals in fire will fall upon them; you will cast them down into pits, so that they may not rise again. A talkative man will not be directed on earth; evils will seize an unjust man in destruction. I know that the Lord will plead the cause of the poor, the judgments of the poor” (Ibid.). Likewise the same: “Let deceitful lips be struck mute” (Psalm 19). And again through Micah he says: “All are judged in blood; each one afflicts his neighbor; all prepare their hands for evil” (Micah 7, according to the Septuagint). The Lord, foreseeing these things, commanded the apostles that his servants should not be easily torn apart, lest they be destroyed or fall into such temptation as they could scarcely bear.

Therefore, the holy Apostles and their successors established norms of decrees, so that the voice of such men (which strives more to destroy the innocent and simple than to save them) would not be readily received, but rather that they themselves would be driven far off by these same darts, and would be least able to destroy the Lord’s disciples according to their own wills and wiles. Whence the Lord Himself says: “Shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them” (Mark 6). And elsewhere, Truth itself says concerning such men: “It is better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck and he be sunk into the depths of the sea, than that he scandalize one of these little ones” (Matthew 18). And the Apostle James says: “Judgment without mercy will be made for him who has not shown mercy” (James 2). For with what face does one who hopes to obtain pardon for his own sins from God, while he is unwilling to grant anything to a sinning brother through the office of piety and clemency? Indeed, it is necessary that he deem he will experience such a God in judgment, when he has been placed before the tribunal of the just judge, as he has shown himself to his brother: “For with the measure with which we have measured, it will be remeasured to us” (Matthew 7). And John the Apostle and Evangelist says: “He who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that every murderer does not have eternal life remaining in him” (1 John 4).

Nevertheless, dearest sons, we exhort you to bear patiently the wrongs inflicted upon you with the Lord’s help, and by these apostolic precepts to drive such men far away, lest like dogs they be able to tear or bite you. Remember also that, according to the words of the Psalmist (St. Boniface, Ep. XXVI): “A man’s days are like grass, and he will flourish like a flower of the field” (Ps. 102). And the Apostle says: “The whole world is set in evil” (1 John 5). Hence we pray that you not greatly fear such men, for they are infamous, and they cannot harm you much, because their voice is extinguished; since God so hates those (Proclus to Domnus, Hadr. coll. 71) who, as invaders of the fathers, are armed against the fathers in the world, that they are marked with infamy. Therefore arm yourselves with these apostolic supports against them, and strengthen your hearts with the principal spirit, so that God, who wished you to be called shepherds among His people, may not find you negligent or lukewarm, or fleeing when wolves attack, but rather, by the example of a good shepherd, manfully defending the lambs together with the mothers and sons and daughters, and faithfully upholding holy Mother Church, may He always find you so. And although (St. Boniface, Ep. XXV) the times are evil, yet do not be imprudent, but understand what the will of God is (Eph. 5).

Therefore, be strengthened and stand firm in the faith, acting manfully, and let all your deeds be done in charity (1 Cor. 16), and according to the holy Gospel, in your patience you will possess your souls (Luke 12). Remember also the holy apostles and prophets; and because they labored greatly in the Lord, they therefore obtained eternal rewards. Know also that, according to the voice of the Psalmist, the tribulations of the just are many, and from all these the Lord will deliver them (Ps. 33). Wherefore, dearest sons, we exhort and beseech you to entreat God with the frequent prayers of your supplications, that (St. Boniface, ibid.) we and you may be freed, according to the saying of the Apostle, from troublesome and evil men, because not all have faith (2 Thess. 3). Also demand that God and our Lord, who is the refuge of the poor and the hope of the humble, may mercifully deliver His holy Church, redeemed by His precious blood, and us, who ought to teach, rule, bear, and defend that same holy Church, from the aforementioned oppressions and temptations of this wicked age, and from all our necessities, so that the word of God may run (1 Cor. 15) and the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified; and that His grace in us may not be in vain, nor the fruit of the Gospel be without effect, which God forbid!

we may appear barren in the sight of God, and return empty of the number of sons and daughters, nor be judged guilty of the hidden talent when the Lord comes. For Satan always envies this. And therefore he stirs up such persons against us who oppress and suffocate us, so that he may snatch the Lord's sheep without us, and cause them to fall into the depths, there being no shepherds to guard and defend them. Therefore, labor to the best of your ability, and pray and watch lest these things happen, knowing that we are always ready in every way that the Lord may grant us power to bring you aid, although we ourselves are not exempt from these rivals of the holy Church of God and from our own; and the tribulations of our heart are greatly enlarged on account of our and your tribulation, or that of the sheep entrusted to us. We also beseech you not to neglect the service enjoined upon you by the Lord, and to strive to help all the oppressed and all the servants of God, and generally all Christians, as the Lord may grant you the power (St. Boniface, Ep. 26), so that before the tribunal of Christ you may have a perpetual reward. And know that your memory is constantly before God. For, just as we sorrowfully learn that you are troubled by wicked and criminal men, so we continually sympathize with you, praying to God for the liberation and alleviation of your affliction, which (whence we are grievously distressed) is daily inflicted upon you by the wicked.

And before the bodies of the Apostles, prayers are offered daily for you, so that you may be freed from troublesome and evil men by the Lord’s help, and that the sheep entrusted to you may together with you reach the pastures of eternal life. May the unity and communion of your love, strong and effective for the salvation of all peoples, be preserved eternally by the Creator of all peoples, the almighty God, mindful of us. Amen. Given on the Nones of April, in the consulship of Valerian and Gallienus, most beloved men (A.D. 255).