Bellarmine · De Potestate Summi Pontificis in Temporalibus · On the Power of the Supreme Pontiff in Temporal Matters, against William Barclay
Chapter 29: On the True Sense of the Chapter Inter corporalia, on the Translation of a Bishop
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. XII, De Potestate Summi Pontificis in Temporalibus adversus Gulielmum Barclaium, a treatise of 1610. 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).
In the twenty-ninth chapter Barclay, rejecting the explanations of others, brings forward his own opinion on the true sense of the chapter Inter corporalia, on the translation of a bishop; and in sum he says that the words of this chapter fight against the mind of the lawgiver, so that the Pontiff thought one thing and wrote another. But what else is this than to make the Pontiff either ignorant, as not knowing how to explain his own mind, or malicious, as wishing to deceive readers by lying? But Innocent was by the consent of all a most excellent and most wise Pontiff, so that both ignorance and malice were far from him. I shall say, then, what it seems to me the Pontiff wished to teach in this obscure chapter; and unless I am mistaken, I shall show that the words of the chapter are not only most true in themselves, but also most apt for explaining the mind of the Pontiff.
The Pontiff says that the bond of spiritual marriage is stronger than that of carnal. That this is true is proved by this reason: because the bond of spiritual marriage cannot be wholly dissolved, not even by death; for the episcopal character always remains impressed, which can be blotted out by no force; but the bond of carnal marriage is so dissolved by death that if the dead husband should return to life, he could not claim back the wife whom he had married while living; this is the doctrine of the Apostle in Romans 7. Then, the bond of spiritual marriage can be dissolved by the Supreme Pontiff alone, not indeed wholly, as we said, but in relation to the particular Church to which he was joined. For the Vicar of Christ alone, by transferring bishops, or deposing them, or granting them the faculty of resigning, looses them from the bond by which they were held bound to their Church; but the bond of carnal marriage not the Pope alone, but even the contracting parties themselves sometimes lawfully and freely dissolve. For a marriage ratified but not consummated one of the spouses can by right dissolve, if he wishes to profess a religious order, according to the Council of Trent, session 24, canon 6, nor need he ask any faculty in this matter from the Supreme Pontiff. Likewise a marriage contracted and consummated between unbelievers, which is certainly a true marriage, one of the spouses can dissolve if he is converted to the Christian faith while the other spouse remains in unbelief, according to the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 7. Likewise in the Old Testament the spouses themselves everywhere dissolved marriages even consummated by a bill of divorce, and did not wait for the authority of the high priest, according to Deuteronomy 24. Lastly, the ratified and consummated marriages of believers can be dissolved as to bed and cohabitation, for certain causes, by particular bishops; the spiritual marriage cannot be dissolved even as to cohabitation by any other than the Supreme Pontiff. From these things, then, it is manifestly gathered that the bond of spiritual marriage, which can be dissolved by the Pontiff alone, is firmer and stronger than the bond of carnal marriage, which is dissolved by the spouses themselves, or by inferior priests. And to this Pope Innocent seems to have looked, whose purpose in that chapter was to teach that translations of bishops cannot be made without the consent of the Supreme Pontiff.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT XXIX. De vero sensu cap. Inter corporalia , de trans¬ latione Episcopi. In cap. 29. Barclaius rejectis aliorum ex¬ plicationibus, profert sententiam suam de vero sensu cap. Inter corporalia, de transla¬ tione Episcopi : et in summa dicit, verba hu¬ jus capituli pugnare cum mente legislatoris, ut aliud Pontifex senserit, aliud scripserit. Hoc autem, quid aliud est, nisi Pontificem facere vel ignorantem, qui nescierit mentem suam explicare, vel mal gnum, qui voluerit mentiendo lectores decipeie ? At fuit Inno¬ centius omnium consensu Pontifex optimus, et sapientissimus, ut procul ab eo abfuerit tum ignorantia, tum ma ignitas. Dicam igitur quid mihi videatur Pontifex in huc obscuro ca¬ pitulo docere voluisse ; etnisi fallor, ostendam, vei ba capitula non tantum in se esse verissi¬ ma, sed etiam ad mentem Pontificis expli¬ candam aptissima. Fortius esse dicit Ponti¬ fex vinculum conjugii spiritualis, quam car¬ nalis. Id esse verum probatur hac ratione, quoniam vinculum conjugii spiritualis non potest in totum solvi, ne per mortem quidem, semper enim manet impressus character Episcopalis, qui nulla vi deleri potest : vin¬ culum autem conjugii carnalis per mortem ita solvitur, ut si maritus defunctus ad vitam rediret; non posset uxorem repetere, quam vivens duxerat, doctrina est Apostoli ad Ro- man. vir. Deinde vinculum conjugii spiritu¬ alis a solo Pontifice Maximo solvi potest, non quidem omnino, ut diximus, sed in ordine ad Ecclesiam particularem cui junctus erat. Solus enim Christi Vicarius Episcopos trans¬ ferendo, vel deponendo, vel facultatem re¬ nuntiandi tribuendo, solvit a vinculo, quo Ecclesiae sua? tenebantur obstricti : vinculum autem conjugii carnalis non solus Papa, sed ipsi etiam contrahentes aliquando licite, li- bereque dissolvunt. Siquidem matrimonium ratum, non consummatum potest alter con- jugum jure solvere, si ordinem religiosum profiteri velit, ex concilio Trid. sess. 24. can. 7. neque in haere ullam a Summo Pontifice facultatem petere debet. Item matrimonium inter infideles contractum, et consummatum, quod utique verum matrimonium est, potest dissolvere alter conjugum, si ad fidem Chri¬ stianam convertatur altero conjuge in infide¬ litate remanente, ex Apostolo I Cor vn. Item in testamento ve eri, matrimonia etiam con¬ summata passim ipsi conjuges per libellum repudii dissolvebant, neque Pontificis aucto¬ ritatem expectabant, ex Deuteronom. cap. xxiv. Denique matrimonia i*ata, et consum¬ mata fidelium solvi possunt quoad thorum, et cohabitationem, certis de causis, ab Epi¬ scopis particularibus ; matrimonium spiri¬ tuale, ne quoad cohabitationem quidem ab alio, quam a Summo Pontifice solvi potest. Ex his igitur manifeste colligitur vinculum spiritualis conjugii, quod a solo Pontifice solvi potest, firmius ac fortius esse, quam vinculum conjugii c irn alis, quod ab ipsis conjugibus, vel ab inferioribus Sacerdotibus solvitur. Atque huc respexisse videtur Inno¬ centius Pontifex, cujus propositum ineo ca¬ pitulo erat docere, translationes Episc po- ruin sine Pontificis Maximi consensu fieri non posse. IN liEUUS TEMPORALIBUS 87