CONFIRMATION OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

THE CONFIRMATION OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

In three year’s time, the Order shall be celebrating eight hundred years of its confirmation as a religious Order. It is a milestone for an Order which is faithful to the legacy of its past but also open to the motions of the spirit and to the signs of the times.

On 22 December 1216, Pope Honorius III began to publish a series of Bulls in behalf of the nascent community of preachers founded by Dominic de Guzman. The long series of Bulls and Papal rescripts began to delineate the basic lines of Dominican identity, stability and direction for its growth in the coming years especially after the death of the founder. The first of these Bulls known as Religiosam Vitam is considered as the Bull of Confirmation of the Order.  The Latin text is found in Koudelka, MOPH, t. 25, 71-76.

 

Here is the English translation:

Honorius, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the beloved sons Dominic, prior of St. Romain in Toulouse, and his brethren, both present and future, professed in the regular life. In perpetuum.

It behoves that those professing the religious life should be placed under apostolic protection, lest they should be turned aside from their aim by rash attacks, or, which god forbid, their religious life be imperiled. Therefore, dear sons in the Lord, we readily accede to your just demands and take under the protection of the blessed Apostle Peter, and under our own, the church of St. Roman of Toulouse, in which you have dedicated yourself to the divine service.

We decree, first, that the canonical Order established in this church, according to God’s will and the rule of St. Augustine, be perpetually and inviolably observed there; moreover, that the possessions justly acquired by the said church, or eventually accruing to her by pontifical concession, the alms of the faithful, or in any other legitimate way, remain irrevocably in your hands and those of your successors. We also deem it well to name the following possessions, the church of Prouille and its dependencies, the estate of Casseneuil, the church of Notre-Dame-de-Lescure with all its dependencies, the hospital of Toulouse called Arnaud-Bérnard and its dependencies, the church of the Sainte-Trinité of Loubens with its dependencies, and the tithes which our venerable brother Foulques, Bishop of Toulouse, in his pious and thoughtful generosity, has, with the consent of his Chapter, ceded to you.

 
That no one presume to demand tithes on the lands cultivated by you, or at your own expense, or on the produce of your cattle. We permit your receiving and retaining, without fear of hindrance, clerics and lay persons desiring of leaving the world, provided they are bound by no other ties.

We forbid your Religious, after their profession, to leave their Order without their Prior’s permission, unless it be to embrace a severer Rule, and we likewise forbid any one to admit such without your consent. You will provide for the services of the parish churches belonging to you by presenting to the Bishop of the diocese Priests worthy of being appointed to the care of souls, and who will be responsible to him, in things spiritual, and to you, in things temporal.

We forbid that your church be subjected to any new conditions; we forbid that either it or you should be laid under an interdict or excommunicated, unless for a reasonable and manifest cause. In case of a general interdict, you may celebrate the Divine Office in a low voice, without bells, and with closed doors, after such as are excommunicated and under the interdict have left the church.

Chrism, holy oil, consecration of altars or basilicas, ordination of your clerics, shall be obtained from the bishop of the diocese, provided that he be Catholic and in the grace and communion of the Holy See, and that he consent to give you the above without any unjust conditions; in the contrary case, you shall apply to any Catholic bishop you may please to select, provided he be in the grace and communion of the Holy See, and he shall comply with your requests in virtue of our authority.

We grant you the right of sepulture in your church; and forbid any opposition to the pious and last wishes of such as desire to be interred there, unless they are excommunicated or under an interdict, and provided that the right of sepulture attaching to other churches be not interfered with.

At your demise and that of your successors in the office of Prior, let no one take possession of the office by ruse or violence, but he who has been duly elected by all, or by the majority of the brethren, according to God and the Rule of St. Augustine.

We also ratify the privileges, immunities, and reasonable customs introduced of old and still existing in your church, and desire that they may be observed inviolate.

Let none disturb the peace of this church; seize or retain, diminish or meddle, with its possessions; but, saving by apostolate authority or the canonical decision of the diocesan, let such possession remain intact, for the use and support of those to whom they have been conceded.

If any person, ecclesiastical or secular, cognizant of the above, dare to infringe this Order, and on being warned a second and third time refuse to give satisfaction, let him be deprived of all power and honor, and let him know that he has rendered himself guilty in the sight of God; let him be cut off from the communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and at the final judgment may he suffer severe punishment.

On the other hand, may the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon all those who respect the ights of this church, and may here below receive the reward of their good deeds and an eternal recompense from the Sovereign Judge. Amen. Amen. Amen. Farewell.

 
Lord, may my ways remain in your paths (Ps 16:5).
Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Honorius Pope III

I, Honorius, bishop of the Catholic Church, subscribe to it.

I, Nicholas, bishop of Tusculum, subscribe to it.
I, Guido, Bishop of Prenestina, subscribe to it.
I, Hugolino, bishop of Ostia and Velletri, subscribe to it.
I, Pelagius, bishop of Albano, subscribes to it.
I, Cyntius, of the title of San Lorenzo en Lucina, Priest- Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Leo, of the title of “Sancta Croce in Hierusalemme”, Priest-Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I,  Robert, of the the title “San Stefano in Monte Celio: , Priest-Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I,  Stephen, of the Basílica of the Twelve Apostles, Priest-Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Gregory, of the title of Saint Anastasia, Priest Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Peter, of the title of Saint Laurence in Damaso , Priest- Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Thomas, of the title of Saint Sabina, Priest Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Guido of Saint Nicholas, in Carcere Tullana, Deacon-Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Octavius of Saint Sergius and Bacchus, deacon and Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, John, of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Deacon and Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Gregory of Saint Theodore, Deacon Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I, Rainier of Santa Maria in Cósmedin, deacon Cardinal , subscribe to it.
I, Roman of Santangelo, deacon Cardinal, subscribe to it.
I,  Stephen of Saint Adrian, deacon Cardinal, subscribe to it.
Given in Rome by the hand of Rainier , Prior of San Fridiano of Lucca, Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, on 22 December, in the V indiction, in the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1216, the first year of the pontificate of the Lord Honorius III, Pope.