Folia Theologica et Canonica 6. 28/20 (2017)
IUS CANONICUM - José Miguel Viejo-Ximénez, Raymond of Penyafort decretalist
130 JOSÉ MIGUEL VIEJO-XIMÉNEZ chaplain and penitentiary could have dispatched with Gregory IX in Rome date back to May 123647. On October 15, 1236, he was already back in Catalonia, where he took part in the Courts of Monzón that had been summoned by James I of Aragon4*. In Barcelona, Raymond would not have enjoyed a well-deserved rest, as he received two delicate papal assignments in February 1237: to remit the excommunication in which King James I had incurred when preventing the elected bishop of Zaragoza to travel to Tarragona to receive the episcopal consecration; and to accept, also on behalf of Gregory IX, the resignation of the archbishop of Tarragona, William of Montgri49. The pope entrusted his chaplain with the granting of absolutions and dispensations, as well as with episcopal nominations and resignations in February, April and July 123750. A tragic and unexpected event forced him to leave the convent of Saint Catherine. Jordan of Saxony (1190-1237) second Master of the Dominicans died on February 13, 1237, in a shipwreck while travelling to the Holy Land. The general vicar of the order. Albeit the Great (c. 1200-1280), called the XVI General Chapter, held in Bologna on May 22, 1238. Raymond was unanimously elected the third master of the Preachers51. A commission of four friars was sent to Barcelona, and Raymond accepted the post. He travelled to Bologna, Rome and Paris, where he presided over the XVII General Chapter on May 15, 1239. At this meeting, Raymond presented a new version of the Liber consuetudinum of 1228 and started the drafting of the new constitutions of the order, a process that required the endorsement of three consecutive chapters. Pleading sickness and exhaustion, Raymond stepped down from office on July 3, 1240. during the general chapter of the order held in Bologna. The resignation was accepted and Raymond returned to Barcelona, where he would remain until the end of his days52. The XVIII General Chapter passed the constitutions that received their final ratification in Paris in 124153. Released from the responsibilities of the office, the Dominican of Saint Catherine kept being considered a reliable collaborator and a wise counsellor by both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. On January 1, 1241, Raymond is men47 Cf. Rius Serra, J., Diplomatane), num. XXV. 48 Rius Serra, J., Diplomatario, num. XXVIII. 49 Rius Serra. J., Diplomatario, nums. XXVIII-XXXI. 50 Rius Serra, J., Diplomatario, nums. XXXIII-XXXIX. 51 Cf. Balme, F. - Paban, C. - Collomb, J. (ed.), Raymundiana, II, num. V. Rius Serra, J., Diplomatario, num. XLI, and also pp. 345-346. Collell, A. (ed.), Raymundiana, num. 2. On this stage of Raymond’s life cf. Longo, C., San Raimondo maestro dell’ordine domenicano (1238- 1240), in Longo, C. (a cura di). Magister Raimundus, 35-50. 52 Rius Serra, J., Diplomatario, num. XLI, and also p. 346. 53 Cf. Balme, F. - Paban, C. - Collomb, J. (ed.), Raymundiana, II, num. LXIII. Collell, A. (ed.), Raymundiana, num. 3. Edition: Creytens, R., Les constitutions des Frères Prêcheurs dans la rédaction de s. Raymond de Penafort ( 1241 ), in Archivium Fratrum Predicatorum 18 (1948) 5- 68, esp. 29-68.
