99 30

There is not the same ease in arriving at the decision of the English church, before the reformation, as to the number of the various orders. This, in fact, has always been an open question in the western Church: nor, as one might have supposed, did even the council of Trent venture to set it at rest among the doctors of the Roman communion. Her canon is: "Si quis dixerit, præter sacerdotium non esse in ecclesia catholica alios ordines et majores et minores, per quos velut per gradus quosdam in sacerdotium tendatur, anathema sit." By which decision, if decision it may be called, it is really wonderful to perceive how carefully the via media has been taken, so as not to condemn the Greek church upon the one hand, nor the old schoolmen on the other; and how the great controversies are carefully not affected; for example, how many and what these "ordines majores et minores" are; whether they are all of Divine institution; whether all are of the nature of a sacrament, and equally so; whether all equally impress a character upon the person ordained; and others of the like kind.3

31

ignorare; jam primum accuratissime castigata, atque tersissime in lucem edita. Impensis honestissimi ac fidelissimi mercatoris Wil

helmi Bretton." Paris. Wolf gang Hopylius. 1510. sm. Folio. Another edition before me, is by Regnault, Paris, 4to. 1514.

I may add that a "Pupilla" is referred to, earlier than this of De Burgo, in a sentence of excommunication settled by a provincial council at York, A.D. 1311. See Wilkins, Conc. Tom. 2. 414. p. Another book of the same kind

was the " Manipulus curatorum:" in which, as the first sentence declares, "pernecessaria officia eorum quibus animarum cura commissa est breviter pertractantur." This was frequently printed by both Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson. It treats of the sacraments, the articles of the faith, and the ten commandments. I shall have occasion to refer to it, as we proceed.

30 Sess. XXIII. Can. 2. Comp. Cap. II. of the same session.

31 The "Catechismus ad parochos" however, does not speak

They, who denied that there were seven orders only, encreased the number sometimes to eight, by adding the Episcopate; sometimes to nine, by adding the Tonsure; and others would even make a tenth, by distinguishing the archbishops of the church. The chief difficulty rested with the episcopate: whether bishops were to be considered as distinct from priests, not merely in the degree of their office, but in its nature.

32

There are so many duties common to both bishops and priests, that we may regard the two degrees as but one Order: "both are ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God; both are invested with the cure of souls: both are sent to teach and preach the Gospel of Christ: to baptize: to celebrate the eucharist: to bless the congregation:"33 but there still remains the very high power, attached to the one only, of sealing with the Holy Spirit in confirmation, and of conferring orders. The balance of authority, even from the earliest ages, certainly inclines to consider

with so much hesitation: "Docendum erit, hosce omnes ordines septenario numero contineri, semperque ita a catholica ecclesia traditum esse, quorum nomina hæc sunt. etc." And it accurately distinguishes between the greater and the minor orders. p. 199. Edit. Aldus. 1566.

32 Morinus, de sacr. Ordin. Pars. 3. Exercit. 3. cap. 1. Where are collected the various authorities on the different points of the question. I cite a place from S. Isidore, (who appears by it, also, to have included the ton

VOL. III.

sure,) as illustrating the term clericus. "Omnes qui in ecclesiastici ministerii gradibus ordinati sunt, generaliter clerici nominantur." De eccles. off. lib. 2. cap. 1.

33 Palmer, Treatise of the Church. vol. 1. p. 374. I cannot agree with Mr. Palmer however in including confirmation within the offices common to both because, although as Habertus says, Pontif. Græc. p. 709, the Greek church permits her priests to confirm, yet it is only by special commission, and with chrism previously hallowed.

the episcopate, as an Order, to be identical with the priesthood, but the completion of it; and I think that this may mainly be attributed, not so much to the fact that many offices are common to both, as that one chief office and power is so; namely, that of consecrating the Holy Eucharist. Much, however, as I would desire to pursue this question further, I must nevertheless proceed to matters more immediately within my subject.

934

The opinion in the Anglo-saxon age generally, seems to have been that the number of orders was limited to seven. Late in the seventh century we find a constitution, beginning: "Septem sunt dona spiritus sancti, et septem gradus sunt ecclesiasticorum ordinum et sacrarum functionum.' Again, in the canons of Ælfric: "Seven degrees are established in the church-the sixth diaconus, the seventh presbyter." 35 Once more, in the pastoral epistle of the same Ælfric: "Beloved, seven orders are appointed in books [on bocum] for God's ministries in Christ's church." 36 Against these, we have the following in the Ecclesiastical Institutes, about the same period, in the chapter "De munere et dignitate sacerdotum." "Ye ought

also to know, that your orders are the second orders after our orders, and the next to us; like as the bishops are in the stead of the apostles in the church of the holy, so are the mass-priests in the stead of Christ's disciples.'

99 37

34 Wilkins. Conc. tom. 1. p. 62. 35 Thorpe. Ancient Laws and Institutes. vol. 2. p. 347.

36 Ibid. p. 379. Again, almost immediately after, in the same, in plain words: "Beloved,

understand that both are of one order, the bishop and the masspriest, that is, of the seventh church order, as holy books tell

us."

37 Ibid. p. 403.

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For later opinions, I shall content myself with quoting, first, the Pupilla Oculi. Septem sunt ordines sive gradus: et sic loquendo de ordine, ut est sacramentum, et characterem imprimit;-prima tonsura non est ordo sed dispositio quædam ad ordinem.-Episcopatus autem non est ordo proprie, sed dignitas, sive excellentia in ordine, tum quia non imprimit characterem, tum etiam quia omnis ordo ordinatur ad sacramentum eucharistiæ." 38 And secondly, Lyndwood: "Ut volunt theologi quasi omnes, solum sunt septem ordines. Unde secundum eos, tonsura, quæ vocatur psalmistatus, non est ordo sed solum dispositio ad ordines: sic etiam episcopatus, secundum eos, non est ordo in quantum sacramentum, sed dignitas.

Pars. vij. cap. 1. C. The author of the "Manipulus curatorum," is decided against reckoning the tonsure as an order, but he continues; "De episcopatu vero utrum sit spiritualis ordo dubito." Lib. 5. Cap. ij. And Guillermus Parisiensis, de vij. sacramentis, draws a distinction similar to that laid down in the Pupilla, saying also, that the episcopate presupposes the priesthood, and depends upon it. fol. xij. b. But he does not clearly decide the point, that is, in his opinion. I quote this book, as it was also in much estimation among the English clergy of the 15th century. Compare also, the "Parochiale curatorum," Tit. 9. cap. vj. edit. 1514.

T later opinions of the Roman theologians seem to incline

Ordo namque sumitur

to consider the episcopate as a distinct order: see Perrone, Prælect. Theol. vol. viij. p. 126. Dens Theologia. tom. 7. p. 39. But Thomas Aquinas plainly said, "episcopatus non est ordo." In 4. sect. dist. 24. q. 2. art. 2. And Bonaventure, "Episcopatus, prout distinguitur contra sacerdotium, non est proprie nomen ordinis, nec novus character imprimitur, nec nova potestas datur, sed potestas data ampliatur." Opera. tom. 5. p. 369. Bellarmin takes a middle line between the two extremes. He reckons seven orders, and dividing the priesthood, declares that ordination to the episcopate is a sacrament, confers grace, and impresses a character. Opera. tom. 3. p. 609. Compare Bonacina. tom. 1. Disp. viij. p. 219.

multipliciter. Nam aliquando est nomen dignitatis, et sic episcopatus dicitur ordo: aliquando est nomen officii, et sic psalmistatus dicitur ordo: aliquando est nomen spiritualis potestatis, et sic diaconatus dicitur ordo." 39

As an office, there is no evidence that the "Modus faciendi tonsuras" can be traced higher than the seventh century. Hence we do not find any prayers or forms in the oldest MSS. and sacramentaries, "de clerico faciendo." Not that it can be disputed, that the practice of distinguishing the clergy by their hair, is of very high antiquity: first probably introduced to a moderate and seemly extent, for the sake of outward decency and gravity, according to the admonition of the Apostles; afterwards restricted within the limits of a certain fashion, and shape. And it is not difficult to trace the progress of these restrictions, in the canons of successive councils, as time went on.40 The reason why, about the time that I have mentioned above, the conferring of the tonsure came to be a separate and distinct office, probably was, because parents were then accustomed to dedicate their children to the

fol. 29. And archbishop Becket, before his murder: "Clamavit aliquis, ubi est ille proditor?— aliquis alius; ubi est archiepiscopus? Ille; ecce ego, non proditor, sed presbyter Dei." Vita S. Thomæ Cantuar. edit. Sparkes. p. 86. Compare Ralph de Diceto. apud Angl. Sacr. Pars. 2. p. 691.

40 Cf. Carth. IV. Can. 44. Barcinon. c. 3. Toletan. 4. c. 40. And others, cited by Morinus, p. 203.