§ 1. Every age has taught that the morals of Priests contribute to the safety or overthrow of the state. For the examples of the powerful flow down among the common people; the examples of priests break through every barrier. As the priest is, so is the people; indeed, the common people judge God to be such as they have seen his ministers to be. Antiquity fashioned gods who were adulterers, murderers, thieves, and perjurers, so that it might excuse its crimes by the example of heavenly beings. Hence they were worshiped with obscenity in the theater, with frenzies in the circus, with cruelty in the amphitheater, and everywhere with crimes. The followers and ministers of demons most closely expressed in their own morals the character of their gods. Priests owe sacred examples to the whole world, but all things to God—and the more earnestly, the more closely they are joined to him.
Our laws teach us this, Cause 2, Question 7, canon 41:
If we have done anything suitably but have not preserved for our subjects the path of a just law, we wish everything to be amended by your judgment and that of your envoys; because if we, who ought to correct the sins of others, commit worse ones, assuredly we shall not be disciples of truth but—what we say with grief—teachers of error before all others. Hence we earnestly implore the clemency of Your Greatness to send into these regions such Envoys to investigate the things we have mentioned as fear God in all things and will diligently investigate everything, just as if your imperial glory had been present. And we ask not only that they examine to the utmost exactness these things alone which we have said above, but that, whether lesser or even greater matters concerning us have been reported to them, all of them be brought to an end by their lawful examination, so that henceforth nothing among them may remain undiscussed or undetermined.
§ 2. Although, therefore, all the reasons why one must live well apply to Clerics, that reason which pertains to example is nevertheless most especially their own.
For since they are in a high place, since they live under a stricter discipline, and since they adhere more closely to the immovable First Mover, their faults are more conspicuous, deflect others more greatly, and throw all things into confusion more effectively. Yet they ought not so to fear reputation as to trust that they can also avoid reproaches and calumnies. The canons rightly instruct us concerning this matter, Cause 11, Question 3, canon 55:
Amid the words of those who praise or blame us, we must always return to the mind. If the good that is said of us is not found in it, this ought to engender great sorrow; and conversely, if the evil that people say of us is not found in it, we ought to leap into great joy. For what if people praise us and our conscience accuses us? Or what sorrow ought there to be if everyone accuses us and conscience alone shows us to be free? We have Paul saying, “Our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience.” Job also says, “Behold, my witness is in heaven.” Therefore, if we have a witness in heaven and a witness in the heart, let us allow fools outside to say what they wish. What else do detractors do but blow into the dust and stir up earth into their own eyes, so that the more detraction they blow out, the more they see nothing of the truth? Yet they themselves must also be summoned and calmly admonished, and satisfaction ought to be given to them in every way, knowing what the Truth says concerning the Jews: “Lest perhaps we scandalize them.” But if they are unwilling to be satisfied by the truth, you have the consolation which you may perceive in the holy Gospel. For when it had been said to the Lord, “Do you know that the Pharisees, upon hearing this word, were scandalized?” he answered: “Let them alone; they are blind and leaders of the blind.” Paul the Apostle also admonishes us, saying: “If it is possible, insofar as it depends upon you, have peace with human beings.” Since he was about to say, “Have peace with all human beings,” because he foresaw that this was difficult, he premised, “If it is possible.” Yet he added what could be done when he said, “Insofar as it depends upon you.” For if we desire to preserve love in our mind toward those who hate us, then, even if they do not have peace with us, we nevertheless undoubtedly have it with them.
§ 3. The Apostle Paul describes the Christian Clergy for us, and it is necessary that the Church not depart even a nail’s breadth from his law. 1 Timothy 3:1:
If anyone desires the episcopate, he desires a good work. Therefore a Bishop ought to be irreproachable, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, decorous, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, not given to wine, not a striker, but moderate; not contentious, not covetous, but one who presides well over his own household, having children subject with all chastity.
And verse 12:
Let Deacons be husbands of one wife, who preside well over their children and their households. For those who have ministered well will acquire for themselves a good degree and great confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
And 2 Timothy 2:1: “Fit to teach others”; “a good soldier of Christ”; and verse 15: “Be solicitous to present yourself approved to God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” And Titus 1:5:
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might correct the things that are lacking and appoint presbyters in the cities, as I also directed you. If anyone is without crime, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riotous living or insubordinate.
Let this be the Christian Clergy, this the Lord’s portion. Let us examine the particulars separately. And although we have treated abundantly above of the virtues to be pursued and the vices to be fled, nevertheless this passage cannot be passed over without the life of clerics being described in a brief compendium. These, therefore, are Paul’s decrees.
§ 4. “He who desires the episcopate desires a good work.”
Εἴ τις ἐπισκοπῆς ὀρέγεται, καλοῦ ἔργου ἐπιθυμεῖ.
If anyone desires it, let him not do so from ambition for honor, for this ought to be a holy desire for labor. Formerly it could more readily be pure, when in a poor flock the first leader was sought for the slaughterhouse, when they were honored by the shouts of the Gentile people and sought a Bishop to be thrown to a lion. Now, amid such great honor and wealth, desire for dignities is more readily found than desire for hardships.
§ 5. A Bishop ought to be irreproachable. What he requires here in a Bishop, he demands likewise of a presbyter in the Epistle to Titus. For in a Bishop it is not sufficient that he not be evil; rather, not to be as excellent as possible causes very great harm both to those who are better than he and those who are worse. Mud does not offend upon a workman’s leather apron; a faded color is despised upon purple. It is therefore necessary that he be ἀνεπίληπτον, “irreproachable.” How will he correct another when he himself refutes his own censure? Titus 1:5 calls him ἀνέγκλητον, so that he cannot lawfully be accused.
§ 6. The husband of one wife. He does not require marriage of Bishops as a necessary thing, as Calvin rightly teaches against certain men of his own party. Yet Junius the Calvinist contends that a Bishop is bound always to have a wife on account of the signification of the mystery; by this opinion he casts Paul out of the episcopate. Indeed, he contradicts Paul when the latter exhorts to continence in 1 Corinthians 7. Finally, in chapter 20, number 7, he wishes marriage to be free for Bishops. But the meaning is that a Bishop can have neither several wives simultaneously nor successively, and that anyone who has had several ought not to be ordained. Thus Tertullian, To His Wife; Epiphanius, Heresy 59; Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius on this passage; Ambrose, Letter 8 and book 1 of On Duties, final chapter; the book On the Dignity of the Priesthood, chapter 4; Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, chapter 18, and book 22 Against Faustus, chapter 47; Jerome, Letter to Oceanus; Pope Cyriacus, Letter 1, chapter 11; Leo, Letter 58; Gelasius, Letter 1, chapter 5; Innocent, Letter 27. Their reason is that this practice of the law has always prevailed in the Church, and custom is the best interpreter of law. Nor at any time was polygamy, by which several wives were held simultaneously, customary among Christians. Chastity of priests is certainly useful for the sanctity and tranquility of the divine offices and for the study of the Scriptures. It also serves this end: lest care for an expensive wife and desire and solicitude for educating and enriching children claim for themselves the hours owed to doctrine and prayer; lest hospitality be neglected; and lest the alms of the pious be diverted to domestic luxury. The vices of the times show that the dangers of this matter are great. For many, after fattening nephews and kinsmen from the Church’s goods, consign them to hell. What would they do if they had sons—that is, their most intimate objects of affection?
§ 7. He wishes the Bishop and presbyter to be sober—νηφάλιον—for sobriety is necessary to great care and vigilance, just as generally the luxury and drunkenness of Clerics arise from idleness. Sobriety and vigilance are inseparable companions. The Aaronic priests were forbidden to drink wine when they performed sacred rites; our sacred rites too are νηφάλια, “sober.” A drunken priest is a monstrous thing. How greatly drunkenness harms the state I have taught in its own place. Now Clerics must be discussed. Among them drunkenness is not punished in Germany, which is so lawless in this respect that it often imposes upon laymen the necessity of drinking. Yet the law of God promulgated by the Apostolic mouth remains firm and unshaken amid our vices, 1 Corinthians 5: “If anyone who is called a brother is a fornicator, or covetous, or a drunkard, do not even take food with such a one.”
Ὢ Θεός—φησὶ Χρυσόστομος—πόση ἡ ἀκρίβεια· ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐ μόνον οὐ φεύγομεν τοὺς μεθύοντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ περιερχόμεθα πρὸς αὐτοὺς μεθέξοντες τῶν παρ’ αὐτῶν.
How astonishing, what exactness! But we not only do not flee drunkards; we even approach them, intending to partake together of what comes from them.
It by no means befits him to be weighed down by surfeiting and drunkenness whose mind ought always to be occupied in prayer. Accordingly, a drunkard ought not even to be ordained, much less left without punishment. For, first, Canons 42 and 43 of the Apostles depose such persons:
Εἴ τις ἐπίσκοπος, ἢ πρεσβύτερος, ἢ διάκονος, κύβοις σχολάζων, ἢ μέθαις, ἢ παυσάσθω, ἢ καθαιρείσθω.
A Bishop, presbyter, or deacon who gives himself to gaming or drunkenness shall either desist or be condemned—that is, deposed. And canon 43:
Ὑποδιάκονος, ἢ ψάλτης, ἢ ἀναγνώστης τὰ ὅμοια ποιῶν, ἢ παυσάσθω, ἢ ἀφοριζέσθω· ὡσαύτως καὶ οἱ λαϊκοί.
A subdeacon, psalmist, or reader who does similar things shall either desist or be deprived of communion; likewise laymen. Now the tables of Clerics and Laymen are full of vomit and filth. If discipline does not wipe these away, the δίαιτα, manner of life, and abstinence of the Turks will overthrow them. Moreover, it is shameful and harmful. Jerome, Letter 83 to Oceanus, Distinction 35, chapter 4:
The prophetic discourse describes the princes of the Church who abound in pleasures and believe that they preserve chastity amid feasts and wantonness: they are to be cast out of spacious houses and sumptuous banquets and meals acquired with much labor, and cast out because of their evil thoughts and works. And if you wish to know where they are to be cast, read the Gospel: into the outer darkness, namely, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Is it not confusion and disgrace to preach Jesus crucified, the teacher of the poor and one who hungered, with well-fed bodies? And to set forth the doctrine of fasts with red cheeks and swollen faces? If we are in the place of the Apostles, let us imitate not only their discourse but also embrace their manner of life and abstinence.
But if the Apostle condemns not merely a Priest given to wine, but even the old law, Numbers 6 and Leviticus 10, forbids the one serving at the altar to drink strong drink because it overturns the condition of the mind, how much more does it befit the Priests of the New Testament to hate drunkenness? If it is a crime to move about drunk amid the fumes of beef and mutton, amid the blood of goats and calves, amid fires and frying pans, will it not be a crime to mingle, amid drunken belches, the blood of the Son of God, the blood of the Testament, with one’s mind? To consume God and the Lord amid the next day’s burnings from wine? Excellently, therefore, the Council of Agde, chapter 4:
Before all things, drunkenness must be avoided by Clerics, for it is the tinder and nurse of all vices. Accordingly, when it has been established that someone was drunk, as his order permits, we decree either that he be removed from communion for the space of thirty days or that he be subjected to corporal punishment.
I would wish these canons to be recalled into use. For if the ancient discipline is not only relaxed but even dissolved, what at last is to be hoped concerning morals? How great must the temperance of Christians formerly have been, when Pope Eutychianus decreed:
We command Christians in every way to guard against the great evil of drunkenness, from which all vices spring. But we decree that anyone who refuses to avoid it is to be excommunicated until suitable amendment.
And certainly great men did not lack the endeavor. Otto, Cardinal and Bishop of Augsburg, celebrated a Synod in the year 1548 in which it is thus established:
Likewise those who are perpetually given and attached to drunkenness, surfeiting, and feasting—and especially those who spend feast-days or nights in taverns—must, after sacred confession, be forbidden the reception of this venerable Sacrament for thirty days, so that they may amend themselves of these vices. But if they refuse to do so, according to the decrees of the Canons they must even be punished with death.
That censure is not excessively severe. For in Deuteronomy 21:18 God judged thus:
If a man fathers a stubborn and insolent son who does not listen to the command of his father or mother and, when chastised, scorns obedience, they shall seize him and lead him to the elders of that city and to the gate of judgment, and they shall say to them: “This son of ours is insolent and stubborn; he scorns to hear our admonitions and devotes himself to feasting, luxury, and banquets.” The people of the city shall overwhelm him with stones, and he shall die, so that you may remove the evil from your midst and all Israel, hearing it, may fear.
§ 8. Prudent: the Greek calls him φρόνιμον, which some interpret as temperate. Both temperance and prudence are required. Here I understand prudence, for mention is made more frequently of the parts of temperance. Holy simplicity certainly does not suffice for rightly administering an Episcopate; rather, great circumspection is necessary amid so many evil men. The man to be ordained ought to be prudent. This must be noted against those who excuse the stupidity of Priests under the name of simplicity. Distinction 39: “The lips of Priests shall guard knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth.” But it is evident that this passage treats of prudence in governing, which is sometimes lacking even in otherwise excellent and holy Doctors. Therefore he also ought to be experienced in secular business, for the handling of such matters is often useful and sometimes necessary to piety. Thus Gregory, Letter 40 of book 8, to the Clergy and nobles of Naples. Peter the Deacon, Distinction 39, chapter 1:
The man whom you assert was elected by you is altogether—as is said—simple; and you know that at such a time there ought to be appointed to the summit of government one who knows how to be solicitous not only for the salvation of souls but also for the outward advantage and protection of his subjects.
§ 9. Decorous: κόσμιον. Others translate it “well ordered,” or “of well-ordered bearing.” I understand one who displays becoming modesty in food, habitation, and clothing and uses words with moderation. Plato in book 1 of the Politics calls κοσμίους those who are tractable, and εὐκόλους those who are affable and companionable. For a physician of many must accommodate himself to everyone and benefit everyone. Under this κοσμιότης, or decorous modesty, I understand the commands of so many canons in Distinction 41, chapter 5:
We do not condemn thrift together with humble clothing—as in the final chapter of the Council of Granada—just as we also praise ornament because care of the body is not superfluous and is ἀπερίεργον, unstudied; but we do not accept dissolute men and broken manners of walking in their clothing.
And the rule of the Fourth Council of Carthage is golden: “Let a Cleric prove his profession by both his bearing and his gait, and therefore let him seek adornment neither in clothing nor in shoes.” For it had not entered the Council’s mind to condemn beforehand the posthumous vanities of anklets. A disordered body indicates inequality of mind. He is changeable and afflicted in conscience whose gait is now rapid, now slow.
§ 10. Hospitable. He must therefore be rich, or receive from the people that from which he can exercise hospitality—φιλοξενίαν—perseveringly. But a Priest ought to be hospitable, Distinction 42, lest he be numbered among those to whom it will be said in the judgment: “I was a stranger, and you did not receive me.” For how will one who follows the Apostle and ought to invite others to hospitality be able to exhort hospitality if he closes his own house to guests? For if a Priest ought first to require of himself and of his domestic Church what he later commands the people, and if, first imitating Christ, he himself ought to do the things which he later teaches the people, he must receive the poor as guests,
so that by his own example he may more readily draw his subjects to hospitality.
The canons admonish us that zeal must be shown for guests, because hospitality is preserved inviolate even among barbarians: Cause 32, Question 7, Offerebat; indeed Cause 16, Question 1, Quoniam. It wishes the goods of Clerics to be common, especially for receiving guests. Yet this virtue especially befits prelates, because, since they possess the means by which they can be liberal, they ought also to will it: Distinction 89, Volumus, and Cause 12, Question 1, Quia. Formerly this matter was certainly considered so important that Gregory denies confirmation in the episcopate to the Archdeacon of Florence if he is so close-fisted that no friend enters his house: Distinction 85, Archidiaconum. It therefore befits those who are obliged by office to exhort others to hospitality to be hospitable. Would that there were now in the Clergy that φιλοξενία, hospitality, which formerly existed among laymen. Charles, King of the Swedes, ordered the house of one who had denied lodging three times to be burned: Johannes Magnus, book 4, chapter 2. Nor do I doubt that many houses of prelates and many monasteries which stood open to flatterers rather than guests have gone into the flames.
§ 11. A teacher, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. Thus indeed is explained what we read in Greek, διδακτικόν; our translator reads διδασκαλικόν in the same sense, for it is necessary that one who truly acts as teacher be fit to teach. Formerly the Latin had “teachable,” which Jerome deservedly censures. The greatest and holiest function of Bishops is to teach. They ought to perform it themselves; if not from the pulpit, they are bound to appoint suitable men in their place, since they themselves will pay the penalty for those men’s errors.
§ 12. Not given to wine. Chrysostom interprets the Greek text πάροινον as one who, inflamed by wine, is carried away and revels; the Syriac has “a pursuer of wine”; Beza, “winy,” as though one sitting beside wine; and the Apostle in verse 8 interprets it, “not given to much wine.” But παροινεῖν is to inflict reproaches and injuries through wine and wantonness. Hence it appears that πάροινοι are worse than drunkards, since they add insults against others to drunkenness.
§ 13. Not a striker. Πλήκτην, says Chrysostom: Paul’s saying is to be understood of one who reviles and abuses, but not of injuries by blows. Yet in Distinction 86, canon Non liceat, one is forbidden to strike with one’s own hands even those over whom one possesses the power of correction. And in Distinction 45, chapter 7, a Bishop, presbyter, or deacon who strikes offending faithful persons or unbelievers acting unjustly is ordered to be deposed. For thus they do not correct vices, but burden themselves with hatred and their subjects with fear. Therefore those Clerics who pursue soldiering, who infest the streets of cities by night and beat those they meet, must be deposed. You would call them domestic and urban robbers rather than Clerics. For if a Cleric in sacred orders cannot be a notary in a criminal cause, as is stated in book 3 of the Decretals, title That Clerics, and so forth, chapter 8, Sicut te; if Clerics ought neither to dictate nor pronounce a sentence of blood, nor exercise anything through which a sentence of blood is approached, as they teach in this place; if a Cleric carrying arms loses the Clerical privilege after a threefold admonition, On the Sentence of Excommunication, chapter In audientia—what do those men deserve who strike others unlawfully?
§ 14. But moderate: ἐπιεικῆ, equitable, readily yielding his own right. For nothing is more grievous than the exaction of strict right if it is found in a prince. From this contention and hatred arise. Therefore the Lord also commands that a brother be forgiven as many as seventy times seven times.
§ 15. Not contentious: ἄμαχον, one foreign to contentions and fights. Against such men, Distinction 46, chapter 1:
Behold why contentious men are prohibited from being ordained as bishops. There is also another cause for this prohibition. For contentious men either reconcile the minds of princes to themselves by flatteries, or inflict the mark of infamy by detracting from their brothers, or never cease to create sedition by sowing discord among brothers. All these things are proved condemnable in prelates.
Finally, Distinction 90: “A Priest ought to call litigants to concord; therefore he ought not himself to litigate.”
§ 16. Not covetous. Not pursuing shameful gain: αἰσχροκερδῆ, not a seeker of shameful gain, as Jerome speaks to Heliodorus. Desire makes Clerics greedy for secular business, in which some, to our sorrow, are more practiced than secular men themselves. The Synod of Mainz under Charlemagne, chapter 14, and under Bishop Rabanus, chapter 13, embraced all these things. It is recited in book 3 of the Decretals, title 50:
There are many secular businesses, of which we shall touch briefly upon a few, to which all carnal concupiscence pertains. Whatever a person seeks beyond what is just is shameful gain: to accept, or even to give, unjust gifts; to hire someone for pay for the sake of some secular profit; to love contentions, lawsuits, or quarrels; to dispute in secular courts, except in defense of orphans or widows; to be lessees or procurators of secular affairs; to be a jester in shameful word or deed, or to love secular jesting; to love games of chance; to seek ornament unsuitable to one’s profession; to wish to live in pleasures; to follow gluttony and drunkenness; to possess unjust weights or measures; to conduct unjust business. Yet just business must not be forbidden on account of various necessities, because we read that the holy Apostles conducted business, and in the Rule of blessed Benedict it is commanded that provision be made for those through whose hands the business of the monastery is administered. To pursue dogs and birds for hunting, and to participate in any superfluous causes whatsoever—behold, we altogether forbid such things and things like them to ministers of the Lord’s altar and also to monks. Concerning them the Apostle says: “No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular business.”
And in the Lateran Council he is forbidden to be a prince’s general procurator or justiciar. In the Council of London, commerce for the sake of profit is prohibited.
§ 17. Presiding well over his own household. In order to preside well over his household, he must neither dissipate his property nor increase it by evil arts, and then he must keep his household members in duty and discipline. How will one who is not master of a single household administer an entire diocese? How will he command so many prudent and noble men—to which I add cunning and malicious ones—if he needs a guardian at home? If he does not know how to preside over his own household, this proceeds either from signal negligence or from imprudence, each of which is harmful to the state.
§ 18. Having children subject with all chastity. “If anyone has faithful children, not accused of riotous living or insubordinate.” Our translator understood chastity by σεμνότητι, because he removes the accusation of riotous living. But if he neglects his children—that is, his own blood—how will he have care of the Church?
§ 19. Not a neophyte. He does not forbid the election of a young man, but of a neophyte—one recently converted and imbued with religion—lest, lifted up into pride, he fall into judgment and condemnation, because the devil was condemned who fell from heaven on account of pride. Gratian speaks altogether excellently in Distinction 48:
Neophytes also are forbidden to be ordained as bishops, so that one who yesterday was a catechumen may not today become a Bishop; one who yesterday was in the theater may not today sit in the Church; one who in the evening was in the circus may not today minister at the altar; one who a short time ago was a supporter of actors may not today be a consecrator of virgins. The cause of this prohibition, according to the Apostle, is lest, lifted up into pride as though the Christian religion greatly needed him, he fall into the ruin of the devil. For an instantaneous Priest does not know how to possess humility, observe distinctions among persons, or despise himself. He has not fasted, has not wept, has not corrected himself, and has not distributed to the poor. Those fall into arrogance—which is the ruin of the devil—who in the space of an hour, while not yet disciples, become teachers.
That is the canon of the Council of Nicaea:
Because many things, either through necessity or from some other cause, have occurred contrary to the rule—so that people recently come from Gentile life, and only lately catechized or instructed, came immediately to spiritual baptism and, as soon as they had been baptized, were advanced at once to the episcopate or presbyterate—it has therefore rightly seemed that henceforth nothing of this kind ought to be done. For there is need both of time for him to be a catechumen and, after baptism, of much probation. For the Apostolic command is evident, saying: “Not a neophyte, lest perhaps, being lifted up, he fall into judgment and the snare of the devil.” But if, as time proceeds, he commits some sin and is convicted by two or three witnesses, let one of this kind cease from the clergy. But if anyone acts contrary to these things, as one who conducts himself contrary to the statutes of the Holy Council, he himself will also imperil his clerical status.
§ 20. But he must also possess a good testimony from those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Jerome speaks excellently to Oceanus: “As the beginning is, so is the conclusion. He who is irreproachable is praised with concordant voice not only by his own household but also by strangers.” So great formerly was the esteem of Bishops that Gentiles themselves frequently brought their causes before them.
§ 21. Likewise let a Deacon be grave: σεμνούς. Chaste in mind and then in body, Cause 32, Question 5, Itane. For chastity is not in the body unless purity has been implanted in the spirit. Nor is one of chaste spirit immodest in tongue or eye. Σεμνότης, gravity, is moreover a beautiful virtue, a companion of chastity: a becoming modesty and gravity in words and gestures, altogether such as a strict father loves and approves in a daughter and son honorably and chastely educated. Aristotle, Rhetoric, book 2: Σεμνότης ἐστὶ μαλακή τις καὶ εὔσχημος βαρύτης—gravity not harsh or proud, but well-mannered.
§ 22. Not double-tongued: μὴ διλόγους. God detests a double tongue. Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the Lord hates evil; arrogance and pride and the wicked way and a double mouth I detest.” And 18:8: “The words of the double-tongued are as though simple, and they themselves reach to the inward parts of the belly.” And Ecclesiasticus 5:17: “For upon a thief there is confusion and repentance, but the worst mark is upon the double-tongued.” And 6:1: “Do not become an enemy instead of a friend to your neighbor; for the evil man will inherit reproach and abuse, and every envious and double-tongued sinner.” And 28:15: “The whisperer and the double-tongued is accursed, for he will disturb many who possess peace.”
It is therefore no wonder that the Apostle requires Deacons not to be double-tongued, since divine sincerity detests double-tongued people of every kind.
§ 23. But in Deacons there is a peculiar reason. A Deacon is the minister of Priests, Distinction 99, Dominus, yet more honored than the common people. He must not speak in one way to the common people and another way to the Priest, lest he make a schism. He is the wandering and all-surveying eye of the Bishop, Distinction 93. Therefore great caution is needed lest he either observe incautiously or report carelessly or perversely, becoming an informer instead of an admonisher. He assists the Bishop while he preaches, lest the Bishop be harassed by rivals, Distinction 93, Diaconi qui. He presides over the goods of the Church. Therefore Deacons have often raised themselves above Priests and Bishops after courting popular favor. This especially makes them double-tongued, while on one side a Deacon insinuates himself ambitiously with the people and on the other with the Bishop by deceitful flattery. Certain Deacons long ago equated themselves with presbyters: Council of Nicaea, chapter 14; Fourth Council of Toledo, chapter 38; and Jerome to Evagrius, Letter 85. Sincerity is therefore required in a Deacon, so that he may honor God, the Bishop, and the presbyters from his heart, minister to them, and in no way strive to become greater himself by detracting from his superiors.
What, then, is a double mouth? The Hebrew calls it תהפכות, which among the Seventy is rendered διεστραμμένας ὁδοὺς κακῶν, “perverse ways of the wicked”; others, “a mouth of perversities,” “a mouth of cunning”; Theodotion, στόμα στρεβλόν, “a twisted mouth.” Our translator is the most accurate of all: “a double mouth.” For הפך is to turn, overturn, or change into another form. Therefore the Seventy are accustomed to translate it στρέφω, διαστρέφω, μεταστρέφω, μεταβάλλω, κυλίω. And that which is placed here, תהפכות, is σκόλια in Proverbs 23:33. And in Proverbs 17:21 איש תהפכות is called εὐμετάβολος: a changeable man, a versatile man, a man of changes; properly, a man of contrarieties. For הפך, or הפכי, is a contrary or contrariety, Ezekiel 16:34. It therefore signifies perversities when one turns contrary things over in the heart and speaks variously, which is properly to be δίλογον, or δίγλωσσον. That serpent’s tongue is forked, an instiller of poison; that tongue is called ἀγκύλη by the Greeks. It either deceives in such a way that the speech uttered disagrees with what is within, or among different people it is one thing and another. In Ecclesiasticus 28:16 it is called γλῶσσα τρίτη, “a third tongue,” because, situated as though midway between two, it sows disagreements on each side. See the most learned Delrio in the Sacred Adages. Tongues of perversities are those which invert the truth, promise vainly, blame things worthy of praise, extol wicked things, flatter those present, gnaw at the absent, and speak contrary things to please their hearers.
§ 24. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. He does not admonish them not to disclose the things done at home, for this is not to hold the mystery in a pure conscience. Rather, he altogether wishes the sacred mysteries to be believed by them, since Deacons, after receiving authority, can teach; and then, because, when conscience has been abandoned or suppressed, shipwreck of the faith is imminent. For nothing has ever yet made an apostate except a conscience of crimes committed or a hoped-for license to commit them.
§ 25. But let these first be proved: δοκιμαζέσθωσαν πρῶτον. Now this is neglected; and, what must be lamented, even where discipline flourishes, those to be ordained are not sufficiently proved. Hence is the origin of all evils, while the unworthy are admitted to sacred orders—if not by money, at least by favor, ignorance, or omission of probation. In certain Churches nobility is sought with the greatest scrupulousness, while virtue is neglected. As long as this is not corrected, reformation is not to be hoped for, because a Cleric is cast out more shamefully than he is refused admission. Nor can any appearance of excuse be adduced for this negligence, since there are so many canons which require probations and testimonies. This matter has given all heresies material for speaking against us; indeed, it has created heresies, while people see admitted into the Lord’s sanctuary those who lived in the world under an unfavorable reputation.
The invectives of them all proclaim what the heretics object. I shall give a specimen from Erasmus, their forerunner, on the third chapter of Timothy:
Indeed, this is more astonishing: although Paul requires so many excellent gifts in a Bishop, all the others are passed over and account is taken of one wife alone. An incestuous man is admitted, a murderer is admitted, a pirate is admitted, a sodomite, a sacrilegious man, a parricide—in short, who is not admitted? Only a twice-married man is excluded from this honor, who alone has committed nothing. But it is astonishing that we press certain things and hold them with more than tenacious teeth while utterly closing our eyes to others. If anyone weighs the condition of these times—what portion of humanity the flocks of monks occupy, what portion the colleges of priests and clerics—and then weighs how few from so great a number truly preserve chastity of life, into how many kinds of lust innumerable men decline, and with how great a disgrace many are openly incestuous and unchaste, perhaps he will judge it more expedient that those who are altogether incontinent be granted the right of public marriage, which they may cultivate purely and holily without evil reputation, rather than that they exercise lust unhappily and shamefully. Now the world has very many celibates, very few chaste persons; although not even he is chaste who does not touch Venus because it is not permitted. But again and again I fear that ecclesiastical revenues geld clerics today more truly than piety does, while we fear that what we possess may be taken away or that certainly nothing may be added.
He exaggerates the vices hyperbolically. He himself was an apostate and deserter who could not speak well of those whom he wickedly deserted without accusing his own flight. Yet this is true: among the Lord’s Priests there have been Ophnis and Phinehases, Jasons and Caiaphases; nor is it more astonishing that this has sometimes happened through the course of ages than that it happened in the Lord’s time, when Judas betrayed and the disciples denied. Yet the remedy is the probation instituted before orders are given. When it is neglected, Bishops and prelates are the cause of the evils; and although they themselves preserve the mystery in a pure conscience, nevertheless, if they quickly impose hands upon men who have not been proved, they share in the sins of others and are to be condemned for those sins as though for their own, because by their own negligence and cooperation they caused them. But I shall treat of them at another time. For that which is public and notorious must not be concealed.
§ 26. Having no crime. “If anyone is without crime.” He calls them ἀνεγκλήτους, men whose integrity, and also reputation for integrity, is such that a crime cannot be laid upon them and they cannot be called into judgment. For an ἔγκλημα, a criminal charge, is an atrocious injury on account of which the praetor is accustomed to grant an action. If a Cleric labors under infamy but cannot be convicted, he purges himself by oath: Cause 15, Question 5, Omnes; Cause 4, Question 1, Diffinimus. How can a Cleric be infamous, when the infamy of Clerics especially demands purgation on account of the scandals of others? Cause 2, Question 2, Presbyter.
§ 27. God’s steward. For he is God’s οἰκονόμος, the steward of the greatest goods—that is, heavenly goods. His care for accounts and advantages must therefore be secondary. Concerning the Bishop’s office in dispensing external goods, the Council of Antioch established, Cause 12, Question 1, chapter 23:
Let the Bishop have authority over ecclesiastical property for distribution to all who are in need, with the greatest reverence and fear of God. Let him himself also partake of those things which he needs—if indeed he needs them—for necessary uses beneficial both to himself and to the brothers whom he receives, so that under no circumstance are they defrauded in anything, according to the holy Apostle, who speaks thus: “Having food and covering, with these we are content.” But if he is by no means content with these things and converts the Church’s property to his own domestic uses and does not handle its profits or the fruits of its fields with the knowledge of the presbyters and deacons, but entrusts authority over them to members of his household, kinsmen, brothers, or sons, so that through persons of this sort the Church’s property is secretly injured, let him pay the penalties imposed by the provincial synod. But if the Bishop, or the presbyters who are with him, are accused in another way—that they usurp for themselves what pertains to the Church, whether from fields or from any other ecclesiastical resource, so that the poor are afflicted by this and both the discourse of preaching and those who dispense the goods are thus exposed to accusation and blasphemies—they too must be corrected, with the holy synod approving what is fitting.
§ 28. Not proud. They call αὐθάδεις those who are obstinate and rely excessively upon their own judgment. For this vice belongs to τῶν ἐρημιτῶν, solitary men, not κοινωνικῶν, sociable men; for those who are content with themselves and do not live in the fellowship of others more readily become obstinate. Humility is therefore commended to a Priest: lest he fashion new opinions from Scripture, Distinction 30, Haec autem; and lest he correct his subjects austerely rather than gently, Distinction 45, Licet nonnumquam.
§ 29. Not irascible: ὀργίλον. The source of anger is pride, for anger is an opinion that one has been despised. It is a great vice, because an angry man thinks everything he does just. Concerning this see Cause 11, Question 3, Ira; Cause 5, Question 1, Velut; and Cause 5, Question 2. For angry men, while striving to correct the sins of others, commit graver ones.
§ 30. Benevolent: φιλάγαθον. They refer it to things and persons. More correctly it refers to persons, for benevolence toward good men is a distinguished ornament of a Bishop; toward the wicked, frivolous, and covetous, austerity is approved. For no one judges a person devoted to such men to be upright. A suspect Cleric or layman brings infamy upon an episcopal household; a Jew makes it detestable. An excellent statute was enacted concerning a Bishop’s household, Cause 2, Question 7, canon 58:
Since the life of a pastor ought always to be an example to his disciples, Clerics very often do not know what their Pontiff’s life is like in private, although, as has been said, secular servants know it. Concerning this matter I establish by the present decree that certain persons chosen from the Clerics, or even from monks, shall attend to the ministry of the Pontifical chamber, so that he who is in the place of government may have such witnesses as see his life in private association and, from diligent observation, take an example for their own advancement.
§ 31. Just. He must practice justice not only in life but in judgment. For since he judges as though in God’s place and is frequently chosen as arbiter by the parties, let him strive accurately to understand and observe every requirement of justice.
§ 32. Holy: ὅσιον. There is a twofold holiness in a Priest: the first sacramental, the other innocence of life. Cause 1, Question 1, Dominus. The judgment of Distinction 40, chapter 3, is noble:
We who preside ought to become known not from the dignity of our places or birth, but from nobility of morals; not from the distinction of cities, but from purity of faith.
And chapter 2:
It is not easy to stand in the place of Paul and hold the rank of Peter, who now reign with Christ. Hence it is said: those who hold the places of the saints are not the sons of saints, but those who perform their works.
And chapter 12:
Many Priests and few Priests: many in name, few in work. See, therefore, how you sit upon the chair, because the chair does not make the Priest, but the Priest the chair; the place does not sanctify the man, but the man the place; not every Priest is holy, but every holy man is a Priest. He who sits well upon the chair receives honor from it; he who sits badly does injury to the chair. Therefore an evil Priest
acquires from the priesthood a charge against himself, not dignity. For, sitting in judgment, if you live well and teach well, you are the judge of all; but if you teach well and live badly, you will be the condemner of yourself alone. For by living well and teaching, you instruct the people how they ought to live; but by teaching well and living badly, you instruct God how he ought to condemn you.
In vain do those congratulate themselves upon their orders who defame them by their vices. Augustine to Valerius, Letter 148, Distinction 40, canon 7:
Before all things I ask that your religious prudence consider that nothing in this life—and especially at this time—is easier, more joyful, and more acceptable to human beings than the office of Bishop, presbyter, or deacon if affairs are conducted perfunctorily and flatteringly; but before God nothing is more wretched, sorrowful, and damnable.
§ 33. Continent: ἐγκρατῆ. Concerning the continence of Clerics, many statutes were enacted by the Fathers in councils, as at Nicaea, canon 3; Distinction 32, Interdicit; Nantes, chapter 3; Trent, session 28, On Reform, chapter 14. Nicholas V, chapter 2, On the Life and Honesty of Clerics, established thus:
If we diligently attend to the individual vices which, in the sight of the people, cause clerical honor to become vile, and how hateful incest is in the Clergy, we are not undeservedly compelled to restrain a crime of incest of this kind—which very many, on account of its impunity, flatter themselves is scarcely shameful, indeed as though it were not a sin—and especially the more readily in our Curia, inasmuch as it appears more scandalous there and is more dangerously drawn into example by others. Hence it is that, by the edict of the present constitution, we more strictly prohibit each and every official of the Apostolic See, and also those exercising any offices of the Roman Curia—even if by reason of offices of this kind they are not considered officials of the See itself—and any other Clerics following the same Curia, that none of them keep a concubine publicly in his house or elsewhere in order to make freer use of her shameful commerce, nor keep any woman for the shameful use of others in this manner. Whoever presently keeps any woman whatsoever must, after the publication of these presents upon the doors of the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles in the City and in our chancery—which publication we also wish to possess the force of a peremptory warning—within nine days desist really and effectively from an excess of this kind and dismiss the concubine or woman herself utterly and altogether. Whoever hereafter presumes to keep a concubine or such a woman shall by the deed itself be deprived of all his ecclesiastical benefices and also of the offices which he possesses or exercises in the said Curia; and from that time these may freely be sought by any other persons. The same deprived persons, and any others who presume to keep concubines and women of this kind contrary to the present prohibition, shall be judged incapable of obtaining benefices and exercising offices of this kind in the said Curia, nor shall they be made capable of them unless they first obtain, by letters of the said See, the abolition of their incapacity; and meanwhile the things transacted by them in the aforesaid offices shall be regarded as not having been done.
§ 34. Embracing the faithful word which is according to doctrine. Rightly handling the word of truth. The latter expression is taken from sacrificers: ὀρθοτομοῦντα τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, rightly cutting the word of truth, just as all parts are rightly cut in sacrificial victims. That is, he must read the word of God and interpret it rightly, not devising a meaning of his own, but drawing it from the context, the Fathers, the Councils, and the Church. Proverbs 11: δικαιοσύνη ἀμώμους ὀρθοτομεῖ ὁδούς: “the justice of the blameless rightly cuts paths.” That very fact shows that great study is required, because he says ἀντεχόμενον: holding fast against those who strive to snatch it away, guarding and defending it.
§ 35. A good soldier of Christ. There is a twofold warfare, spiritual and secular. All wage the spiritual warfare except those who, having been conquered, are captives of the enemies; but Clerics are the leaders and standard-bearers of that warfare. If they show themselves lions, they readily preserve the whole army. How will they fight? Our arms are prayers and tears. Cause 23, Question 8, chapter 19:
It is established to be highly reprehensible that you added that the greater part of all the Bishops keep watch by day and night with your other faithful against maritime pirates, and that for this reason the Bishops are prevented from coming; since it belongs to the soldiers of Christ to serve Christ, but to the soldiers of the age to serve the age, according to what is written: “No one serving as a soldier for God entangles himself in secular business.” But if the soldiers of the age devote themselves to secular warfare, what remains for Bishops and soldiers of Christ except that they devote themselves to prayers?
§ 36. Let them solicitously take care to present themselves approved to God. For in truth the priesthood does not remove the inclination to sin, but restrains it. With an increase of honor, the care of solicitude also ought to increase, Distinction 100, Rationis. Let their care be to prove themselves to God and to gain others for God.
§ 37. A workman who need not be ashamed: ἀνεπαίσχυντον, one who does not blush. Saint Ambrose calls him shameless in the good sense. This is in the manner in which Paul glories when he says: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” This is not a great thing when Christ’s prelates are honored among Christians, but it is so when Christ’s reproach must be borne among Gentiles, heretics, or impious Catholics. First, he is one who need not be ashamed when, overcoming empty shame, he omits no part of his office. Next, he is one who is hindered from the work by no insults, mockery, or derision. Formerly there was a great danger of shame concerning the Gospel, and now there is amid heresies, because religion requires humility, which is despised. Nor without reason does Paul say in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” Why does he not rather glory in the Gospel? Because it was a scandal to the Jews and a laughingstock to the Gentiles.
These things, when neglected, bring infamy upon the sacred order. Long ago Nazianzen, in his work on the praises of Saint Basil, complained that, on account of the morals of those who are ordained, the holiest order was imperiled and made exceedingly ridiculous. “We make one-day saints,” he says, “and command those in whom there is no wisdom to be wise.” Ambrose makes the same complaint in On the Dignity of the Priesthood, chapter 5.