Folia Theologica et Canonica 11. 33/25 (2022)
Sacra theologia
THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF SAINT JEROME... 103 which not only contributed to the enrichment of knowledge of canon law and the functioning of the individual institutions, but also to the day-to-day exercise of the Church in the administration of the sacraments.25 At the same time, on the basis of the collections’ canonical material, a clear picture is drawn of the decisive character of the bishop’s specific power of government and of sanctifying within the Church.26 In terms of content, the influence of St Jerome’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew on the canonical collections is noteworthy in the High Middle Ages27 (e.g., Ans. 7. 115). Here, the author uses the Jewish practice of Jesus’ time, based on the Old Testament law, as an analogy for the Church’s forgiveness of sins, a power exercised by bishops and priests.28 However, it is necessary here to mention the role of the text of St. Jerome’s commentary on the Letter of St. Paul to Titus29, which is also significant because it is one of the texts which correctly interpret the unity of the Church and the hierarchy, and can therefore be considered as a basic ecclesiological canon (i.e. Ans. 7. 112), which can be found in the Gregorian reform collections, as well as in the works of St. Ivo of Chartres and later in the Decretum Gratiani. gradualis luris Canonici Universitatis Catholicae de Petro Pázmány nominatae III/11], Budapest 2009. 25 Cf. Szuromi, Sz. A., Ivonian intention to collect the «ancient canons» together with new decretal materials, in The Jurist 67 (2007) 285-310. 26 Capitans, O., Episcopato ad ecclesiologia nell ’eta gregoriana, in Le istituzioni ecclesiastiche della societas Christiana dei secoli X-XII: papato, cardinalato ed episcopato (Atti della V Settimana Intemazionale di Studi medioevali, Mendola 26-31 agosto 1971; Miscellanea del Centro di Studi Medioevali VII), Milano 1974. 316-373. 27 Cf. di Berardinon, A. - Quasten, J. (ed.), The Golden Age of Latin Patristic Literature, 235. 28 (...) quodcumque ligaueris (...) Istum locum epscopi et presbiteri non intellegentes, aliquid sibi de Pharisaeorum adsumunt supercilio, ut uel damnent innocentes uel soluere se noxiberardinpoos arbitrentur, cum apud Deum non sententia sacerdotum sed reorum uita quaeratur. Legimus in Leuitico de leprosis ubi iubentur ut ostendant se sacerdotibus et, si lepram habuerint, tunc a sacerdote inmundi fiant, non quo sacerdotes leprosos faciant et inmundos, sed quo habeant notitiam leprosi et non leprosi, et possint discernere qui mundus quiue inmunduus sit. Quomodo ergo ibi leprosum sacerdos inmundum facit, sic et hic alligat uel soluit episcopus et presbiter non eos qui insontes sunt uel noxii, sed pro officio suo, cum peccatorum audierit uarietates, scit qui ligandus sit, qui soluendus. Bonnard, É. (ed.), Commentaire sur Saint Matthieu, II (Sources chrétiennes 259), Paris 1979. 16-18. 29 (...) Idem est ergo presbyter qui et episcopus, et antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in populis: Ego sum Pauli, ego Apollo, ego autem Cephae [I Cor. I, 12], communi presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur. Postquam vero unusquisque eos quos Baptizaverat suos putabat esse, non Christi, in toto orbe decretum est, ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur ceteris, ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura et scismatum semina tollentur. (...) Sicut ergo presbyteri sciunt se ex Ecclesiae consuetudine ei qui sibi prepositus fuerit, esse subiectos, ita episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine, quam dispositionis Dominicae veritatae, presbyteris esse maiores, et in commune debere Ecclesiam regere (...). PL XXVI. 597-598.
