Epistolae Et Decreta

FELIX, Pope IV, to Caesarius of Arles. Concerning laymen not to be promoted to the priesthood without probation. To his most beloved brother Caesarius, Felix. I have read what was established among your fraternity, that it is not lawful for anyone to be rashly promoted from a lay state to the priestly office without probation. Concerning this matter, an opinion has also reached us that some, after ordination, have lapsed back into the ways of secular life. And although such a presumption is nefarious, negligence is even more dangerous. For he who can resist an approaching evil and, by dissembling, permits it to happen, is approved as the author of the evil work more than he who does it. Let no one, therefore, hope to extricate himself through ancient custom; because things which have been begun illicitly, if they are condemned in the future, cannot produce their fruits. For what is advanced through degrees, if it reaches its appointed end without perfection of doctrine, errs through examination, because it does not receive firmness; nor can one preserve through fear the honor which he has attained through labor once in its glory. And empty praise, when attributed, harms, nourishing elation more than provoking to the work of true virtue. The vessel of election writes to his own native Timothy, saying: "Do not lay hands hastily on anyone, nor share in the sins of others" (1 Tim. 5). What does this mean: "Do not lay on hands too quickly"? Because the dignity which is given is given so that it may remain immovable.

It ought, before it is granted, to be deliberated upon at length with careful consideration. Whence comes a teacher who is ignorant of the beginnings of the elements? Whence a helmsman who has not shown his service among the sailors? He is ignorant of what respect is due to teachers who has not bent his own heart to obedience, whence he may be an example to posterity of how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God. Let the word of apostolic admonition be in all clerics, and especially in those who are to be chosen for the priesthood, which says: "It is necessary also to have a good testimony from those who are outside" (1 Tim. 3). Wherefore, by common consent, under the observance of the venerable canons, choose to ordain a priest: so that we may be solicitous for our own salvation, and consult the interests of those who have been diligently summoned to this order. May God keep you safe, dearest brother. Given on the third day before the Nones of February, after the consulship of Mavortius, a most distinguished man (in the year of Christ 528).

Agnellus of Ravenna, a writer of the ninth century, in his Pontifical of the Bishops of Ravenna, published by the learned Bacchinius, and revised and collated with the manuscript codex by Muratori in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, volume II, part 1, in the life of Saint Ecclesius, bishop of Ravenna, preserved a certain Constitution of Pope Felix, given on the occasion of some dissension in the Church and the clergy of his jurisdiction. Here it is: CONSTITUTION OF FELIX IV. CONCERNING THE CHURCH OF RAVENNA. Felix (IV, Muratori), bishop of the city of Rome. The solicitude of our predecessors for ecclesiastical peace and quiet is to be praised (constitution, Muratori), because a pastor who keeps watch ought to contain contentions, either by condemning or correcting them. It is fitting that we, walking in this same path, should be seen as similar to them; because we, who by the mercy of God hold their place, ought to follow their examples. From envy, such things have befallen the priests of the Church of Ravenna (which, Muratori) are known to have saddened the hearts of all Catholics: altercations, seditions, depravities, which strove to disrupt all ecclesiastical discipline. We, again, having the fear of God before our eyes, so that we may give no boldness to illicit excesses, and not cast aside... by our constitution, we ordain what is just according to Solomon saying: "Do not give passage to water.

Therefore, reviewing the chapters presented to us by our brother (missing, MUR.) Ecclesius, and by the presbyters, deacons, clergy (clergy, MUR.), and notaries of the Church of Ravenna, in the presence of our brother and fellow priest Ecclesius and his clergy designated below, we deem it fitting according to reason that those whose life and conduct the authority of the sacred canons cannot impugn ought to receive the office of the clergy. As for clerics, according to the rules of the holy Fathers, only those willing and designated, insofar as it pertains to presbyters and deacons, we order to be solemnly promoted at the appointed times. Concerning the Church of Ravenna and Classis, the ancient custom shall be preserved. Clerics or monks shall not seek the patronage of the powerful to obtain an undue order or place, through which the bishop might appear either ungrateful by not acting, or unjust by acting. The fourth part of the patrimony of the Church of Ravenna, that is three thousand solidi, shall be completed with the usual distributions to all clerics, or to those to whom it is customary to distribute. If, however, anything should increase from pensions or inheritances, by the will of our Lord, with the same Lord mediating, even the fourth portions shall be added (shall increase, MUR.); yet in such a way that, with ordered briefs, what is distributed to each cannot be hidden... according to merits, according to places, because God establishes everything according to justice and measure...

so that each one, apart from the necessity of illness or a suitable reason of the altar, diligently observes everything in his own office. The revenues (except, MUR.) of the estates, however, or the additions for the expenses of the household property, or the gifts which are offered to various persons, and the banquets which it is necessary for them to provide, either because of their place or merit, or for the reception of those arriving, we decree ought to accrue to the bishop. Let no one from the clergy attempt to form any conspiracy, any little gathering, which even among the laity cannot go unpunished in the Church of God. For just as we wish that the mercy of heaven not permit it to be admitted, so, if anyone attempts it, let him feel the authority of the canons and ecclesiastical discipline according to the Apostle saying: "Correct those who transgress in the sight of all, so that the rest may have fear." Let the good who are vigilant in the works of God deserve praise; let those who seem to adorn their profession through their obedience feel the affection of their own priest; let them glory in the love of their pontiff, who in their offices do not desist from works pleasing to God with their services; as the divine words speak: "The worker is worthy of his reward." As for the patrimony of the Church, by the judgment of their bishop...

from the clergy, chosen persons with the assistants whom the bishop has appointed for the purpose, are to be sent under suitable surety, whose trustworthiness and diligence have been proven, so that the sustenance of the poor may suffer no fraud, and the amount of the Church's patrimony may not remain hidden, and each cleric, out of fear of God and of his own priest, may faithfully render accounts of those things entrusted to him. But that which a religious purpose ought utterly to abhor, we ought not even to speak of, nor to express in words. It has come to our attention that some of the clergy attend spectacles, a thing so cruel that it disturbs the souls of Catholics by its detestability, so that those whom one has heard reciting divine words in the house of God, one sees the same persons gathering contrary to commands at spectacles. In this, discipline is confounded, divine precepts are trampled. Hence it is fitting that the bishop exercise care in this matter as well, so that those who do not do so may not do so in the future, and if they do, they may be corrected according to ecclesiastical discipline. If, however, any of the clergy hold urban or rural properties belonging to the Church, we decree that they are to be leased out with formal contracts made under a just assessment of rent, on this condition (that, MUR.) what they are accustomed to receive in their own ways they themselves retain, and what remains is to be applied to the benefit of the Church's resources.

Concerning urban or rural estates and other movable goods left by name to various basilicas by the faithful as a reward for their souls, the ancient custom shall be preserved. The notaries, according to the order of the matriculation—the primicerius, secundicerius, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh—shall, at their own risk, in the presence of the presbyters and deacons, receive the ecclesiastical documents under a faithful brief description, so that whenever the need arises, they may be faithfully produced, handed over, and received. However, we order them to do all this with the command and ordination of their own bishop. For all ecclesiastical documents are to be described so that they may in no way perish once received, or fail to be produced for ecclesiastical uses at the time they are needed. Those notaries, moreover, who are diligent in their office shall obtain, without diminution, the benefits anciently assigned to themselves or to their predecessors. They themselves, as reason demands and antiquity has ordained, shall also hand over the libelli and securities of the entire ecclesiastical patrimony, signed by the bishop’s hand, to those whose interest it concerns. As for those who, having no necessity of domestic affairs in their secular intercourse, have been given urban or rural estates of ecclesiastical right, the bishop, through the clerics he has ordered, shall recall them to the dominion of the Church, and thereafter, except for the cause comprehended above, he shall not presume to give them.

Mastalo the archdeacon of the Church of Ravenna shall receive the emoluments of that same place assigned according to ancient custom without diminution, just as it is clear that those who were before him obtained them. Monasteries of men or handmaidens of God shall be ordained by the bishop, so that reason, justice, peace, and discipline may be preserved for all. The reason of this place of ours demands that we not be silent about these things; it falls to our brother Ecclesius to guard them, because justice preserved together with the canons generates peace. From justice proceeds charity, through which we see God, and by whose grace we are able to keep these precepts. Therefore it is fitting that we be negligent in nothing, but vigilant in all things, so that we may render the talent that has been entrusted to us, with an increase of good work, to the giver of all good things. We have recognized it. Coelius. Felix, bishop of the Catholic Church of the city of Rome, subscribed to this constitution between the parties.

The names of the presbyters, deacons, or clerics of the Church of Ravenna who came to Rome with the bishop: Patritius presbyter. Stephanus presbyter. Constantinus presbyter. Servandus presbyter. (Honorius presbyter. MUR.) Exuperantius presbyter. Clemens deacon. Ursus deacon. Felicissimus deacon. Vigilius deacon. Neon deacon. Joannes deacon. Stephanus deacon. Gerontius subdeacon. Honorius subdeacon. Petrus subdeacon. Vitatis subdeacon. Julianus acolyte. Faustinus acolyte. Romanus acolyte. Severinus acolyte. (Andreas acolyte. MUR.) Petrus lector. Marcus lector. Aslerius lector. Petrus another lector. Andreas lector. Marinus defensor. Majoranus notary defensor. Hermolaus primicerius defensor. Honorius cantor. Tranquillus cantor. Antonius cantor. Metitus cantor. The names of the presbyters and deacons who came to Rome with Victor presbyter and Mastalo deacon.

Laurentius presbyter. Rusticus presbyter. Victor presbyter. Thomas presbyter. Mastalus deacon. Magnus deacon. Paulus deacon. Agnellus deacon. Maurus subdeacon. Stephanus acolyte. Vincemalus acolyte. Thomas lector. Laurentius lector. Florus lector. Reparatus lector. Luminosus lector. Calunnius lector. Ysaac lector. Laurentius horrearius. Petrus dean. Stephanus dean. Vindemius acolyte. Colos acolyte. Cassianus acolyte. Laurentius acolyte. Stephanus acolyte. ADMONITION TO THE FOLLOWING LETTER. As I was unrolling that ancient epitome of canons, which I obtained in a very old Luccan codex of nine hundred years, a synopsis of a certain letter of Felix to the bishops of Sicily came to hand, under which title canons are placed. Since, however, I recognized in those canons some things which pertain to the reception of repenting Arians into the Church, others which struck down the heresy of the Pelagians or Semipelagians, and finally some things directed against the Manichaean dogma of evil produced by God, I judged that all these could only agree with Felix IV. For first, the Pelagian heresy can in no way cohere with Felix II, for it began to become known and to be condemned long after the death of Felix II. Therefore, with that pontiff removed, Felix III and Felix IV would succeed. What persuades that this epitome of ours is removed from Felix III is that we nowhere read that the Manichaeans troubled the Church in his time.

Conversely, however, all things agree with Felix IV. The Arians who were infesting Africa and Italy, as we learn from the Council of Vaison in the year 529, that is, celebrated under Felix IV, chapter. Concerning the Manichaeans, it is clear from the anathematisms of Prosper, a convert from Manichaeism around this time, to be read in Labbe, volume V, page of the Venetian edition. Finally, the dogma of the Semi-Pelagians is attacked by the Second Council of Orange held in the same year. With these matters noted in advance, now that epitome is to be brought forth, which I present as it is in the codex with numerical notes appended to each canon; which notes, indeed, while they certainly do not maintain a continuous series of numbers, but preserve a broken order, clearly enough indicate by open evidence that the things given there were excerpted from some larger collection. FROM THE LETTER OF FELIX TO THE SICILIAN BISHOPS. XVII. a. Arians coming into the Catholic faith are to be received through the imposition of hands.

XVIII. It is good to receive communion every Lord's Day, if one abstains from sin. XXIV. Without the invitation of God, no one comes to salvation. XXVII. Evil was not made by God. XXX. e Marriage is good. XXXI. Continence is better. LETTER OF KING ATHALARIC ON THE ELECTION OF FELIX. (See this letter below among the works of Cassiodorus, Variae, Book VIII, Letter 15.)