Folia Canonica 10. (2007)

PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi: Development of the Clerical Duties and Rights Based on the 11th-12th Centuries. Canonical Collections

FOLIA CANONICA 10 (2007) 207-219.

SZABOLCS ANZELM SZUROMI

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLERICAL DUTIES AND RIGHTS BASED ON THE 11™ -12th CENTURIES CANONICAL COLLECTIONS*

“Nulli sacerdoti suos liceat canones ignorare, nec quicquam facere quod patrum possit regulis obviare. Quae enim a nobis res digna servabitur, si decretalium norma constitutorum pro aliquorum libitu licentia populis permissa frangatur.”* 1 This canon, which is attributed to Pope Celestin I by Burchard of Worms (BW 2. 160), is a significant element of the discipline regarding the clergy in the 11th and 12th century. This is a good example how the 5th century canonical discipline motivated the daily life of the Church in the Middle Ages, even before the so-called Gregorian Reform.2 We would like to underline at the beginning of our analysis, that these canonical collections were composed based on the fundamental intention to summarize the whole of canon law which — as “ius sacrum”- could improve the canonical knowledge of the clergy and served also the daily life of the church.3 Without this intention we cannot understand the contents and structure of these brilliant works.

If we observe the different canonical sources from the 4th and 5th centuries until the 11th century, we can see the gradual clarification of the deacon-priest-bishop hierarchical order, and the proper power of bishops.4 On the one hand the peculiarities of the different orders were not defined exactly because of the strong influence of two great early canon law collections, namely the

This paper has been written with the generous support of Insituto de Derecho Europeo Clásico (IDEC) in Las Palmas. We would like to thank Prof. Carlos Larrainzar and Prof. José Miguel Viejo-Ximénez. This publication is supported also by OTKA T 048584/2004 research program.

1 FRANSEN, G.-KöLZER, Th. (Hrsg.), Burchard von Worms, Decretorum Libri XX, Aalen 1992. 47va.

2 GILCHRIST, J., Was there a Gregorian Reform Movement in the Eleventh Century, in Gilchrist, J., Canon Law in the Age of Reform, ll'h-12"' Centuries (Collected Studies Series CS406), Aldershot 1993. VII, 1-10.

3Cf. Szuromi, Sz.A. Some observations on BAY Pal. lat. 587 as compared with other textual witnesses of Ivo’s works, in Szuromi, Sz.A. (ed.), Parare viam Domino. Commemorative Studies on the occasion of Rt. Rev. Polikàrp F. Zakar O. Cist, ’s 75,h Birthday (Bibliotheca Instituti Postgradualis Iuris Canonici Universitatis Catholicae de Petro Pázmány nominatae III/7), Budapest 2005. 179-203.

4 Cf. Yarza, F., El obispo en la organizáción ecclesiastica de las Decretales pseudo-isidorianas, Pamplona 1985.