twinnes in this yet as the state of things now standeth the case in hand is lesse doubtfull in these Canons then in the Successors of the Monkes and the Bishops power in this kind is if not greater yet more apparant ouer them then ouer the other Because there is no Act of Parlament pretended to defend them from his Iurisdiction no Surrender no Title of the King no imaginary alteration of their qualitie and nature but they continue the same they were from the beginning The law then requireth that euery such Dignitarie should haue a perpetuall Vicar instituted by the Bishop to serue in the Church vnited or annexed to his dignitie For so saith the Decretall of Innocent the third In ipsâ Ecclesiâ parochiali idoneum perpetuum habâ—at vicarium canonicè institutum qui congruentem habeat de prouentibus ipsius Ecclesiae portionem And hitherto the Case of these men is all one with the Case of the Monkes but there followeth a Clause which maketh the Case harder with them then with the Monkes Alioquin illa se sciat authoritate huius Decreti priuatum liberè alij conferenda By occasion of which wordes the Canonists fall into a fell contention among themselues Whether in default of presenting a Vicar for Institution the Prebendarie be ipso iure depriued and the Parsonage ipso facto made void Or whether the Parsonage onely bee voidable and he to be depriued by the sentence of his Superiour And the more common receiued opinion is That it is ipso facto voide but one of the two is certaine and which soeuer it be the case of the Prebendarie is harder then of the Monke for out of the Monkes Benefice the Bishop can onely take a sufficient maintenance for the Vicar and must leaue the rest to the Monke but to the Canon or Prebendarie he leaueth nothing at all If there bee any thing left aboue the Vicars maintenance the Bishop bestoweth it in other vses and that not onely pro illa vice but also so often as the Parsonage shall fal voide during the Prebendaries life to the ende hee may neuer reape profit thereof after neglect once committed in this kinde Againe other Patrons haue sixe moneths leisure to present but if the Prebendarie or Canon shal not present so soone as with opportunitie he may the Ordinarie taketh his aduantage and presenteth as in case of lapse If afterwards the Canon shall come and alledge an impediment the proofe shall also lie vpon himselfe wherein if he faile he shall neuer be relieued Poena enim eo ipso committitur quod facultatem habuit Vicarium instituendi non instituit which yet is to be vnderstood if the neglect be apparant and notorious Otherwise it is fit hee should be summoned to shew cause why not and if hee appeare not the Bishop may informe himselfe summarily and so proceede For it beseemeth not a reuerend ouerseer of the Church to do any thing but with good aduice deliberation but aboue all things he must take heede that hee seeme not to lie at catch for an aduantage against his inferiour fellow Minister The reasons giuen of the rigour of the Law in this point are First because hee deserueth no fauour which may be discharged by another and yet is negligent in that also And secondly because Diuine worship is herein tendred for Immunitas Clericis concessa propter diuinuÌ„ cultum eo ipso definit quod cultui diuino non incendunt But the question may be made What if the Prebend should present a Vicar in due time but yet shall not make him such allowance as the Law requireth Whether in this case the Bishop may proceede to priuation as in the former or onely proceede by Ecclesiasticall censure as in the case of the Monkes For mine owne part I would not at all be an Author nor willingly a follower of rigorous opinions in the Law But the wordes are these Idoneum perpetuum habeat Vicarium canonicè institutum qui vt praedictum est congruentem habeat de prouentibus Ecclesiae portionem alioquin illa se sciat auctoritate huius Decreti priuatum which clause as Panormitan affirmeth is referred ad omne id quod est supradictum therefore must of necessity touch that which stands next vnto it Peraduenture some man may thinke that a Vicar is not necessarie vpon a Benefice annexed to a dignitie if the Dignitarie himselfe will reside vpon it But wee must remember that from the beginning they were not ordeined but for the cause aboue mentioned namely to reside alwayes in the greater Cities for the better instruction of the people and daily assistance of the Bishops in the gouernment of the Church and therefore in law and reason ought to reside vpon the Prebend in the Citie and not vpon the Benefice in the countrey And this is the resolution of Panormitan vpon this Question My studie is not at this time to put all the Cases and to dispute all the Questions which are made and mooued by the Expositors of the Canon Law anent this matter onely I would shew That the Bishop hath as great a right and as absolute a power ouer the Cathedrall Churches as he hath ouer the successors of the Monkes and that therefore hee may and must see that their Churches be furnished with Perpetuall Vicars and the Vicars competently and sufficiently prouided for by these as well as by the other A point of law not to be neglected in this Kingdom of Ireland where there are many Prebendaries which haue no perpetuall Vicars at all vpon their annexed Benefices and more which make their Curats so small allowance as the Monkes were they liuing could not in conscience make them lesse I can answere for some of them that they cannot make them much better reserue any thing for themselues But in this case the Law is cleere Quod primo subueniendum est seruitio Ecclesiae secundò indulgendum necessitatibus Canonicorum Tolerabilius enim est saith Bowichius vt Canonicus egeat qui habet Curam annexam quà m Vicarius qui illam exercet To conclude therfore if the question be made à quo haec congrua portio peti possit wee may answere as Petrus Rebuffus doth i. Tam à Patrono exempto quam non exempto Ecclesiastico vel religioso vel seculari siue sint Monachi siue Canonici sic etiam à Capitulo generaliter ab ijs qui Ecclesiae prouentus recipiunt For all haue robbed and all must make restitution The Vicar or daily Minister of the Church must haue sufficient allowance out of the Tithes of his owne Parish or els God our Father is dishonoured and our mother the Church wronged As for those allowances which are now made as good none at al as they For the mischiefe which cometh of these small Vicarages and Curateships is still the same namely the vnlearnednesse of the Ministerie for as Panormitane well obserueth Ad tenuitatem
it had procured fiftie nine Church liuings in part or in whole to be appropriated to their vses Neither may we doubt but that Kilmainim Saint Maries and other such houses which were in great number in and about Dublin and other parts of that Kingdome had their share alike By meanes whereof it is come to passe that a man shall there finde few Churches serued by other then poore Vicars and Stipendarie Curats and those for the most part men of such course stuffe as hardly can a man say whether such men bee lesse worthy of better maintenance or such maintenance of better men I haue beene told that Doctor Weston a learned Ciuilian and not long since a worthy Lo. Chancellour of this Kingdom pitying the miserable plight of this poore Church deuised the meanes how to haue all those Impropriations restored to their primer vse againe and that hee wrote a large Discourse to that effect which he intended to send to her Maiestie of happy memorie but that death preuented him and he dying that worke aborted with him I must confesse that the line of my vnderstanding is too short to reach to so deepe a point of learning but well can I shew what hath beene done heretofore in the like case for the benefit of the Church and how without wrong to any man and by a laudable due course of law there may and ought to be a competent maintenance raised vnto euery Minister out of the Tithes belonging to his owne Church and that by the immediate authoritie of the Bishop notwithstanding the Appropriations as now they stand and so the poore estate of this Church be made a greaâ— deale more tolerable then now it is And this is the Argument of this short Discourse ensuing an Argument which I know wil seeme harsh and not sound well in the eares of those men who haue hitherto liued in the quiet possession of the whole But they aâ—e for the most part men of honour and wisedome and such as can easily apprehend That if happily my loue vnto our Mother the Church hath driuen me into an errour my errour cannot hurt them And if I shall maintaine a trueth the trueth will defend both it selfe and me In the one case they need not in the other they ought not and therefore I hope and presume that in honour they will not be offended at mee As for the Argument it selfe it will in my poore vnderstanding bee made cleere and sufficiently prooued to all men of indifferencie and wisedome if I shall be able to make it appeare First that by the Lawes Ecclesiasticall which were in force before and at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys in the reigne of Hen. 8. The Bishops had full power and authoritie within their seuerall Diocesses to allot or cause to be allotted out of euery Benefice so much of the Tithes as might well serue for a fit maintenance of the Minister any Impropriation notwithstanding And secondly That the same Lawes and Canons stand hitherto in full force and vncontrolled by any Statute of either Kingdome To put hooke to corne therefore And first to make it cleare That by the course of the Canon Lawes and by the practise vsed in those daies the Bishops had such power ouer the Monasteries and other such like houses while they were in their cheefest Ruffe It is to be obserued That it was the opinion which the world had conceiued of the pietie charitie and deuotion of Monks that first caused those ample reuenues both Temporall and Ecclesiasticall to be cast vpon them This opinion was the more confirmed in the minds of men by their laudable beginnings for as the liberalitie of the rich to them-wards was very great so were also their hospitality in receiuing strangers their charitie in redeeming captiues their deuotion in releeuing the poore and other Almesdeeds no lesse As for these Benefices which were annexed to their houses and appropriated to their vses it is reported that they vsed them as if they vsed them not and taking thereof a small pension for themselues they left the rest to their Vicar which performed the daily office in the Church And no maruaile for had they appeared in their owne likenesse at the first euery man had shut doores against them But in processe of time as their Luxurie caused by their idlenesse swallowed vp their deuotion so their Auarice the naturall begotten daughter of their Luxurie quenched the fire of their Charitie Then began they to take the whole fruits of those Benefices into their owne hands and to thrust the Curate to his pittance not regarding how vnworthy the man were so he would content himselfe with little wages Insomuch that the Popes themselues who vse to winke at small faults in their trustie seruants grew offended at this their insatiable auarice fearing and foreseeing that in the end it would turne to the discredit of the Papacie whose creatures they were to the ruine of the Parish-Churches and decay of Religion in all places where they came The first which opposed himselfe against them was Pope Alexander the third about the yeere of our Lord God 1170. He wrote to the Monkes and other Regulars of the Church and Diocesse of Yorke a certaine Decretall wherin hauing first blamed their couetous disposition in this kind he addeth these words Intelleximus quod in Ecclesijs vestris 〈◊〉 Aâ—…aritia extra dâ— prebenâ— de quibus certas Pensiones consueuistis percipere portiones antiquos reditus minorastis quos nonnulli Clerici Ecclesiarum ipsarum habuisse noscuntur Idcóque mandamus quatenus fi quas portiones velantiquos reditus Clericorum fine consensu Archiepiscopi vestri minuere praesumpsistis ad integritatem pristinam reuocetis From whence that appeareth to bee true which was said before That in the beginning Monkes and others were wont to reserue to themselues a pension onely out of those Churches which they held appropriated to their vses leauing the grosse of their Tithes which were the proper ancient reuenue of the Church to the Vicars or other Curats 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 extra de prâ—bâ—nd of them And so Panormitan vnderstandeth this Decretall and therefore summeth it in this manner Religiosi reditus Ecclesiarum ipsarum diminuere non possunt respectu portionis quae debetur Rectoribus Panormit ib. seu vicarijs earundem And a little after he saith that the religious men could not increase their owne Pension Nec possunt diminuere portionem solitam dari Rectoribus earundem Ecclesiarum Some men I know among them Aufrerius a learned Canonist in his 109. Decision Aufrer decâ—â— 109. will haue it to be vnderstood of the Couents of inferior Priories rather then of the Vicars of Parish Churches being led into this opinion no doubt by the word Clericorum which yet as Suidas and others testifie comprehendeth all sorts of Priests and Deacons and all others which had taken vpon them any degree of holy Orders were they Secular
Administrationes aut Beneficia applicent mensis suis pensionéâ—ue nouas ijs imponant aut veteres augeant siue quae ipsis de nouo impâ—sitae siue auctae soluantur The difference betweene this and the former constitution is this In the former Bishops had power to make or cause to be made a sufficient allowance to the Incumbent In the later to see that the Monkes layd no new exactions or imposed greater pensions vpoÌ„ them which difference arose from a diuersitie of custome vsed among the Monkes For sometimes and that was the more ancient and better fashion they left the grosse of the tithes and other profits to bâ— receiued by the Vicar reseruing to themselues onely a pension to bee payed out of the whole by the Vicar which afterwards they sought immediately to increase and sometime they set their owne Proctor to take vp the maine profits and left onely a part or portion to the Vicar which they sought continually to diminish But in both cases the Bishops Crosier had the priuiledged Monke by the legge aswell as hee had the other This Clement made bolder with all sorts of Monkes then any Pope did before or after him And as for the exempt Orders of them whereas they were by vertue of their exemption immediatly subiect to the See of Rome which could not from so farre off looke well into their dealings he made them in this and certaine other cases liable to the Bishops of the seuerall Diocesse not as vnto Ordinaries but as to Delegates from the See of Rome for perpetuitie as heere appeareth And lastly subiected them wholly in this manner to the visitation and rodde of correction of the Bishops with a Non obstante of all their exemptions or other Prerogatiues and Priuiledges whatsoeuer As for the Templars of whom I spake before This also was that Clement which either fearing or enuying their 〈◊〉 in vâ—ta Câ—ement â— greatnesse by reason of their wealth reputation in warres alliance with great houses and populous fraternities which they had in euery corner of euery State and Kingdome laide the traine to blow them vp in an instant and combining with Philip of France and other Princes caused them all to be surprised in a moment and to be made away some by massacre and some by course of Law laying to their charge Confederacie with the Sarazens abnegation Bâ—ason 〈◊〉 Ar 〈…〉 of Christ secret rites strange lusts and other crimes whereof some say they were not guiltie A Mirrour for the Iesuites to beholde their greatnesse and to foresee their ruine in They are as the Historian saith of Elephants Liâ—… Decaâ— â— lib. 3. anceps Belluae genus as likely to turne vpon him that vseth them as to runne vpon them against whom they are vsed Henry the fourth late King of the French flattered them for feare and could not thereby eschew their plots And it is not long since that La Marteliere the Kings Attourney generall in Paris in the case betweene the Vniuersity En son plai dâ—iâ— pour l' vniuersite contre leâ— Iesuites and them deliuered in open Court That they are so fortefied and cabled vp with the Graunts and Priuiledges of Gregory the 14. and other Popes that now no gunne-shot or thunder of Excommunication can make breach vpon them That sundry Popes of latter times haue sought to bring them into some order but haue not beene able to preuaile And lastly that Aquauiua their Generall had at that present no lesse power and credit in Rome then the Pope himselfe The saying is old and true Quem quisque metuit periisse expetit and the Pope cannot long endure a fellow Pope in Rome But to returne to our purpose By that which hath beene said it may clearely appeare That the Bishop of euery Diocesse what as Ordinary what as a legall and perpetuall delegate of the Pope had full power in all cases of Appropriation to compell the Abbat of what sort order or priuiledge soeuer to make a conuenient allowance out of the Tithes and other profits of euery Benefice for the sufficient and decent maintenance of the Curate so that had these Lawes beene as carefully put in vre as they were in writing the Auarice of the Monkes had beene restrained and the Curats better prouided for But Quid leges sine moribus The miserable euent and calamitie of all Churches sheweth that the gate being once set open to their auarice it was too late to shut the wicket yet the Popes of succeeding times were not altogether negligent in seconding this ordinance of their predecessors For Petrus Rebuffus sayth That in those Appropriations which passe immediatly from the See of Rome this clause or the like is alwayes added in the end Reseruata tamen De congrua portio nu 103. de fructibus prouentibus huiusmodi pro vno vel duobus Vicarijs perpetuis Canonicè instituendis congruâ portione ex qua ijdem vicarij possint de caetero sustentari iura Episcopalia soluere alia incumbentia onera commodè supportare non obstantibus exemptionibus priuilegijs aut alijs quibuscunque And againe Reseruantes tamen de ipsis In â—rax Beneficiaria 〈◊〉 de Resâ—ript 〈◊〉 fructibus prouentibus Beneficiorum ipsorum si Ecclesiae parochiales fuerint pro singulis perpetuis vicarijs in singulis eisdem parochialibus Ecclesiis instituendis portiones ex quibus dicti vicarij congruè sustentari valeant alia sibi incumbentia onera supportare Also in all Confirmations granted from that See of Appropriations made by inferiour Bishops the same clause or the like in effect was euer vsed so saith Speculator In confirmatione de Ecclesiis in proprios vsus retinendis ponitur haec clausula Speculator â—tit de confirma Ita tamen quod perpetuo vicario qui pro tempore seruiet in eadem ad sustentationem suam subeunda episcopalia Ecclesiae onera congrua portio de ipsius prouentibus relinquatur By which clauses of Reseruation it is manifest That the Popes meaning was to haue the Vicar first prouided for and to giue the surplusage onely to the Monkes as the same Rebuffus sayth And Panormitan also affirmeth That Panormit ad c. de Monachis extra de Praebend those which haue Churches granted vnto them in proprios vsus cannot by vertue thereof challenge the whole fruits vnto themselues sed reditus tantum superfluos detracta prius congruâ portione pro Vicario seu Rectore ibidem instituendo So that if there be sufficiencie for both each may haue a share but if one must goe without in all reason the daily waiter ought to be first prouided for And because there are many things ordained in the CanoÌ„ law which yet are not receiued for Canons nor obeyed as lawes in all places therfore will I shew vnto the world that the practise of our Bishops of England and Ireland in former times agreed with this very praescript and Rule