Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Members of the Church · On the Clergy (Book I)
Chapter 9: The Seventh Proposition
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. II, De Clericis (De Membris Ecclesiae, Book I), On the Clergy (On the Members of the Church, Book I). The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
“The manner of electing the supreme Pontiff by the cardinals alone is the best of all, and deservedly to be preserved, although the Pontiff could absolutely change it if he willed.”
The second part is evident, because it is of positive right that the cardinals elect. The first part of this conclusion is proved, first, by induction. The Pontiff ought not to be created by lots, nor by carnal succession, nor by the nomination of his predecessor alone, nor by the votes of the people, nor by the votes of the whole clergy, as has now been proved; therefore by the votes of the chief of the clergy. Such are the cardinals; for they are the chief bishops, priests, and deacons of the Roman Church.
Secondly, none can better judge what the bishop to be elected ought to be than those who are counselor-bishops and rule the Church with him, and best know ecclesiastical affairs; such are the cardinals; therefore the election will most rightly pertain to them.
Thirdly, from duration; for no form of election could last long except this one by the cardinals alone. For it is established that from the year 1179 up to this time, for 400 years, the Pontiffs have always been elected by two-thirds of the cardinals, according to the decree of Alexander III promulgated in the Lateran Council, as we have in the chapter Licet (on election); nor yet did election then begin to be made by the cardinals alone, but seems to have begun long before. For in that chapter Licet, Alexander III openly indicates that this custom, that the cardinals alone should elect, had already begun before, and that he only established that the majority of the cardinals should not suffice, but two-thirds be required. Moreover before this time, in the 1100 years, seventeen changes are found in the election of the Roman Pontiff, as some have noted.
Fourthly, it is proved by experience, because there were never fewer schisms than in this time. Onuphrius noted (in the book On the Roman Pontiffs) twenty-nine schisms in the Roman Church, of which twenty-six were up to Alexander; in all the rest of the time only three; of which three even, one only happened through the fault of the cardinals, namely that which was made in the time of Urban VI. For that other, which happened in the time of John XXII, was stirred up by the Emperor Louis IV; and the last, in the time of Eugene, by the Council of Basel.
Fifthly it is proved; for this form of electing is tempered from all the other good and lawful forms. For it must be known that bishops were wont to be elected chiefly in five ways. The first way was that the supreme Pontiff himself elected in person — which way was especially kept of old in erecting new bishoprics and sending new bishops. The second way was that all the bishops of the same province, or the greater part of them, elected the bishop, the testimony and consent of the clergy and people of that place for which the bishop was given being nevertheless asked; and in the same way metropolitans and patriarchs were elected, and the supreme Pontiff himself, namely by the neighboring or provincial bishops. And this way was most ancient, and lasted long enough. Of this way Cyprian speaks (Book I, letter 4): “Among us, and through almost all the provinces, it is kept, that for ordinations rightly to be celebrated, all the nearest bishops of the same province come together to that people for which a prelate is ordained, and the bishop be chosen in the presence of the people, which most fully knows the life of each and has beheld the conduct of everyone by his manner of living.” The same (Book IV, letter 2) testifies that Pope Cornelius was elected by very many bishops, on the testimony and votes of the whole clergy and people. Of the same way we read in the Council of Nicaea (canon 4) that a bishop ought to be constituted by all the bishops of the province, and if this cannot be done, at least the consent of all the absent, or of the greater part, ought to be had by letters, as the sixth canon of the same Council explains. The same is had in the Council of Antioch (canon 19) and in the decrees collected by Martin of Braga (chapter 3).
The third way was that the clergy and people of the city elected. This way was in use in the time of Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, Leo, Gregory, as is plain from the passages cited above. The fourth way was that emperors and kings elected, either alone or with the clergy and people. For it is established that Justinian the elder, after recovering Italy, would not have anyone created Roman Pontiff without his approval — which was kept up to Constantine IV, who in this part yielded the right of his predecessors, as can be known from Platina and others. It is established likewise that the right of electing the Roman Pontiff and other bishops was granted to Charlemagne by Hadrian I, and then a similar right granted to Otto by Leo VIII, as is plain from Gratian (distinction 63, canon Adrianus, and canon In Synodo) — if however these canons be received, which were collected by Gratian not from the decrees of Pontiffs or Councils, but from the Chronicle of Sigebert. The fifth way was that the canons alone, that is, the chief clerics, elected the bishop — which way is kept from a long time in many places of Germany.
Of these five forms, the first cannot be found in the election of the supreme Pontiff, because it is not expedient that a predecessor elect his successor. Yet it is found in some manner, inasmuch as this form of election flowed from the decree of the Pontiff himself. The second is found in this form, as to what was chief in it; for now the neighboring bishops elect, as they elected then, namely the six cardinal-bishops. The third is not found, because it was the most disadvantageous of all, as we showed above. The fourth is not found either, because that the emperors mixed themselves in election was done either by the force and, as it were, tyranny of the emperors — as when the Greek emperors would not have a Pontiff created without their command, nay even unless they had received a sum of money, which custom Saint Gregory affirms to have been tyrannical (in the commentary on the fourth penitential Psalm) — or because the Pontiffs themselves judged it necessary for the defense of the Church, as when the Pontiffs granted this to Charlemagne and Otto, if indeed they granted it. But now neither do emperors tyrannically thrust themselves into election, nor is it required for the defense of the Church. Nay, scarcely is any pious emperor found who has wished to use this right granted to him; and on the contrary there stands an open renunciation of this right made by Louis, the son of Charles (canon Ego Ludovicus, distinction 63), and by Otto I (canon Constitutio, in the same distinction). The fifth, finally, is found; for what the canons are in other cities, that the cardinal priests and deacons are in the city [of Rome].
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CAPUT IX. Septima Propositio. « Ratio eligendi summum Pontificem per solos Cardinales, est omnium optima, et me¬ rito conservanda, etsi absolute posset Ponti¬ fex eam mutare, si vellet. » Secunda pars est evidens , quia de jure positivo est, ut Cardinales eligant. Probatur prima pars hujus conclusionis, Primo, in¬ ductione. Non debet Pontifex creari per sor¬ tes, nec per carnalem successionem, nec per solius praedecessoris nominationem, nec ad suffragia populi , nec ad suffragia totius Cleri, ut jam probatum est, ergo ad suffra¬ gia primorum ex Clero : Tales sunt Cardi¬ nales ; sunt enim praecipui Episcopi, Presby¬ teri, et Diaconi Romanae Ecclesiae. Secundo, nulli melius judicare possunt, qualis debeat esse Episcopus eligendus, quam ii, qui sunt Episcopi Gonciliarii, et cum -eo Ecclesiam regunt, et optime norunt Eccle¬ siastica negotia ; tales sunt Cardinales, igi¬ tur ad eos rectissime pertinebit electio. Tertio, ex duratione ; nulla enim forma electionis diu durare potuit, praeter istam per solos Cardinales. Constat enim ab anno 1179 usque ad hoc tempus per annos 400, semper electos Pontifices a duabus partibus Cardinalium, juxta decretum Alexandri III, promulgatum inConcilio Lateranensi, ut ha¬ bemus cap. Licet, extra de electione, nec ta¬ men tunc coepit electio fieri per solos Cardi¬ nales, sed diu antea videtur incoepisse. Nam in illo cap. Licet, Alexander III aperte indi¬ cat, jam ante coepisse morem istum, ut soli Cardinales eligerent, et solum se constituere, ut non sufficiat major pars Cardinalium, sed requirantur dure partes. Porro ante hoc tem¬ pus per 1100 annos, 17 mutationes inve- CAPUT IX. 433 niuntur in electione Romani Pontificis, ut quidam annotarunt. Quarto probatur experientia, quia nun¬ quam fuerunt pauciora schismata quam hoc tempore. Annotavit Onuphrius in lib. de Pon¬ tificibus Romanis, schismata 29 in Ecclesia Romana, ex quibus26 fuerunt usque ad Ale¬ xandrum ; toto reliquo tempore solum tria ; ex quibus etiam tribus unum solum accidit vitio Cardinalium, nimirum illud, quod fac¬ tum est tempore Urbani VI. Nam illud alte¬ rum, quod accidit tempore JoannisXXII, ab Imperatore Ludovico IV excitatum est; pos¬ tremum vero temporibus Eugenii a Concilio Basileensi. Quinto probatur; nam haec forma eligendi temperata est ex omnibus aliis bonis et legi¬ timis formis; sciendum est enim quinque modis praecipue consuevisse eligi Episcopos. Primus modus fuit, ut ipse summus Pontifex per se eligeret, qui modus praesertim serva¬ batur olim in novis Episcopatibus erigendis, novisque Episcopis mittendis. Secundus modus fuit, ut Episcopum eli¬ gerent Episcopi omnes ejusdem provinciae, vel major eorum pars, postulato tamen tes¬ timonio et consensu Cleri et populi ejus lo¬ ci, cui Episcopus dabatur : et eodem modo eligebantur Metropolitani et Patriarchae, et ipse summus Pontifex, nimirum ab Episco¬ pis vicinis, seu provincialibus. Et hic modus antiquissimus fuit, et duravit satis diu. De hoc modo loquitur Cyprianus lib. I, epist. 4 : « Apud nos, inquit, et fere per universas provincias tenetur, ut ad ordinationes rite celebrandas, ad eam plebem, cui Praeposi¬ tus ordinatur, Episcopi ejusdem provinciae proximi quique conveniant, et Episcopus de¬ ligatur plebe praesente, quae singulorum vi¬ tam plenissime novit, et uniuscujusque ac¬ tum de ejus conversatione perspexit. » Idem lib. IV, epist. 2. testatur, Cornelium Papam electum fuisse a plurimis Episcopis, de tes¬ timonio et suffragiis totius Cleri et populi. De eodem modo legimus inConcilio Nicaeno, can. 4. Episcopum debere constitui ab om¬ nibus Episcopis provinciae, et si id fieri ne¬ quit, saltem per litteras debere haberi con¬ sensum absentium omnium, vel majoris par¬ tis, ut exponit can. 6. ejusdem Concilii. Idem habetur in Concilio Antiocheno, can. 19. et in decretis collectis a Martino Bracarensi, cap. 3. Tertius modus fuit, ut eligeret Clerus et populus civitatis. Hic modus fuit in usu Tom. II. tempore Chrysostomi, Ambrosii, Augustini, Leonis, Gregorii, ut patet ex locis supra ci¬ tatis. Quartus modus fuit, ut Imperatores et Re¬ ges, vel soli, vel cum Clero et populo elige¬ rent. Constat enim, Justinianum seniorem post recuperatam Italiam, noluisse quem¬ quam creari Romanum Pontificem, sine sua approbatione, quod servatum est usque ad Constantinum IV, qui juri suorum praede- cessorum in hac parte cessit, ut ex Platina et aliis cognosci potest. Constat item, Carolo Magno jus eligendi Romanum Pontificem et alios Episcopos concessum ab Adriano I, et deinde simile jus concessum Othoni a Leone VIII, ut patet ex Gratiano dist. 63. c. Adria- nus, et can. inSynodo; si tamen hi canones recipiantur, qui a Gratiano, non ex decretis Pontificum aut Conciliorum, sed exChronico Sigeberti collecti sunt . Quintus modus fuit, ut soli Canonici, id est, primarii Clerici Episcopum eligerent, qui modus servatur a longo tempore in mul¬ tis Germaniae locis. Ex his quinque formis, Prima non potest reperiri in electione summi Pontificis, quia non expedit, ut praedecessor eligat succes¬ sorem. Reperitur tamen aliquo modo, qua¬ tenus haec forma electionis ab ipsius Ponti¬ ficis decreto manavit. Secunda reperitur in hac forma, quantum ad id, quod erat in ea praecipuum ; nam eligunt nunc Episcopi vi¬ cini, ut tunc eligebant, nimirum sex Epis¬ copi Cardinales. Tertia non reperitur, quia erat omnium maxime incommoda, ut supra ostendimus. Quarta non reperitur etiam, quia quod Imperatores se miscuerint elec¬ tioni, factum est vel vi et quasi tyrannide Imperatorum, ut quando Graeci Imperatores nolebant creari Pontificem sine suo jussu, imo etiam nisi pecuniariam summam acce¬ pissent; quam consuetudinem tyrannicam fuisse affirmat S. Gregorius in commentario Psalm. IV poenitentialis ; vel quia Pontifices ipsi id necessarium judicabant ad Ecclesiai defensionem, ut quando Qarolo Magno et Othoni id Pontifices concesserunt, si tamen concesserunt. At nunc nec Imperatores ty¬ rannice se ingerunt electioni, nec id requi¬ ritur ad Ecclesiae defensionem. Imo etiam vix invenitur aliquis pius Imperator, qui hoc jure sibi concesso uti voluerit, et e contrario exstat aperta renuntiatio huic juri facta a Ludovico Garoli filio, can. Ego Ludovicus, dist. 63. et ab Othone I, can. Constitutio, 28 434 LIBER I. eadem distinctione. Quinta denique reperi- tur; nam quod sunt Canonici in aliis urbi¬ bus, id sunt Presbyteri et Diaconi Cardina¬ les in urbe.