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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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