Decretals of Gregory IX

Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

, Florence

The Decretals of Gregory IX (

Catholic canon law. In 1230, Pope Gregory IX ordered his chaplain and confessor, Raymond of Penyafort, a Dominican, to form a new canonical collection destined to replace the Decretum Gratiani, which was the chief collection of legal writings for the church for over 90 years. It has been said that the pope used these letters to emphasize his power over the Universal Church.^[1]

Political circumstances

During Gregory's papacy, the church had established a prominent role in the temporal and spiritual affairs of Europe. Following his predecessor, Pope Honorius III, Gregory maintained papal supremacy. Nevertheless, the utility of a new collection was so evident that there may be no other motives than those the pope gives in the Bull "Rex pacificus" of 5 September 1234, viz., the inconvenience of referring to several collections containing decisions most diverse and sometimes contradictory, exhibiting in some cases gaps and in others tedious length; moreover, on several matters the law was uncertain.^[1]

Work of St. Raymond

The

Quinque compilationes antiquæ was a series of five of these collections of pontifical legislation from the Decretum of Gratian (c. 1150) to the pontificate of Honorius III (1150–1227). Raymond followed the method of the Quinque compilationes in compiling the new collection of canons, which he completed in about four years. He borrowed from the Quinque compilations the order of the subject-matter, the division of the work into five books, of the books into titles, and of the titles into chapters. Of the 1971 chapters the Decretals of Gregory IX contain, 1771 are from the Quinque compilationes, 191 are from Gregory IX himself, seven from decretals of Innocent III not inserted in the former collections, and two of unknown origin. They are arranged, generally, according to the order of the ancient collections, i.e., each title opens with the chapters of the first collection, followed by those of the second, and so on in regular order. Next come those of Innocent III, and finally those of Gregory IX. Almost all the rubrics, or headings of the titles, have also been borrowed from these collections, but several have been modified as regards detail. This method considerably lightened St. Raymond's task.^[1]

Editorial work

Pope Gregory IX's work involved the compilation of documents from former collections, modifying some decisions whilst discarding others. Additionally, Gregory omitted parts when he considered it prudent to do so, filled in the gaps, and cleared up doubtful points of the ancient ecclesiastical law by adding some new decretals to ensure his work was clear and concordant. He indicated by the words et infra the passages excised by him in the former collections. They are called partes decide. The new compilation bore no special title, but was called "Decretales Gregorii IX" or sometimes "Compilation sexta", i. e. the sixth collection with reference to the "Quinque compilations antiquæ". It was also called "Collection seu liber extra", i. e. the collection of the laws not contained (vagantes extra) in the "Decretum" of Gratian; hence the custom of denoting this collection by the letter X (i.e. extra, here not the Roman numeral for ten).[1]

Force of law

All its decisions had the force of canon law whether they were authentic or not, whatever the juridical value of the texts considered in themselves, and whatsoever the original text. It is a unique collection; all its decisions were simultaneously promulgated, and are equally obligatory, even if they appear to contain, or if in fact they do contain, antinomies, i. e. contradictions. In this peculiar case it is not possible to overcome the difficulty by recourse to the principle that a law of later date abrogates that of an earlier period. Finally, it is an exclusive collection, i.e. it abrogates all the collections, even the official ones, of a later date than the "Decretum" of Gratian. Some authors (Schulte, Lenin) maintain that Gregory IX abrogated even those laws prior to Graduation time that the latter had not included in his "Decretum", but others contest this opinion.^[1]

Glosses

Like the former canonical collections, the Decretals of Gregory IX were soon

Godefridus de Trano (died 1245), Bonaguida Aretinus (thirteenth century) and Bernard of Botone or Parmensis (died 1263), the author of the "Glossa ordinaria", i.e., of that gloss to which authoritative credence was generally given. At a later date some extracts were added to the "Glossa ordinaria" from the "Novella sive commentarius in decretales pistols Gregorii IX" by Giovanni d'Andrea (Johannes Andreæ).^[1]

Printed publication

After the invention of printing, the Decretals of Gregory IX were first published at

Correctores Romani, a pontifical commission established for the revision of the text of the "Corpus Juris", had the force of canon law, even when it differed from that of St. Raymond. It was forbidden to introduce any change into that text (Papal Brief "Cum pro muneer", 1 July 1580). Among the other editions, mention may be made of that by Le Conte (Antwerp, 1570), of prior date to the Roman edition and containing the partes decis; that of the brothers Pithou (Paris, 1687); that of Böhmer (Halle, 1747), which did not reproduce the text of the Roman edition and was in its textual criticism more audacious than happy; the edition of Richter; and that of Friedberg (Leipzig, 1879-1881). All these authors added critical notes and the partes decis.^[1]

Commentators

To indicate the principal commentators on the Decretals would mean writing a history of canon law in the Middle Ages. Important canonists include

Nicolò Tudesco also called the "Abbas Siculus", or "Modernus", or "Panormitanus" (died 1453). Among the modern commentators, Manuel Gonzalez Tellez and Finance may be consulted advantageously for the interpretation of the text of the Decretals. The Decretals of Gregory IX remain the basis of canon law so far as it has not been modified by subsequent collections and by the general laws of the Church (see Corpus Juris Canonici).^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Papal Decretals". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2023-07-18.

External links

Complete Latin text of the Decretals of Gregory IX (Books I-V)

From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress:

[van-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Papal Decretals". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2023-07-18.

[1]

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