Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)

Ius canonicum

144

ELEMER BALOGH

of Salzburg took a vow (Uhrfehdebrief) confirmed only by oath. The perpetrators of crimes against church discipline could typically have been clerics. These behaviours included acts that violated the state of the ecclesiastical order, such as: deviation from the order of the prescribed ecclesiastical wear (hair and clothing); violation of ecclesiastical dignity (visiting infamous inns, participation in hunting and gambling), violation of celibacy. The adultery of the priests was severely punished. People living in concubinatus were sentenced to lose office, in case they had not already had a reward they were barred from obtaining it (if they did not stop guilty living within two months). At the Council of Salzburg in 1420, it was stated that priests could not keep young women as servants. It was a serious sin to violate canonical obedience, in practice disobedience to the superiors of the hierarchy. In a notable case, the provost of the Maria Saal Abbey in Carinthia and the chapter were excommunicated for this reason (1489). The antecedent of the story was that after the appointment of Archbishop Johann von Gran as administrator in Salzburg, he imposed a new type of tax (Weihesteuer) in the province, which provoked strong resistance. Those living in the Bavarian sphere of influence refused to pay him from the outset, and so did the former abbey. Johann Hesel sent commissarius generalis letters of formal notice to all the parishes in the province, but neither this nor the threat of exclusion was followed. The Carinthian abbey in question should have paid a tax of 21 Hungarian Forint (!). Sources are silent about the further fate of the excommunicated chapter.

Also included are cases where clergy have neglected their normal duties or have just committed acts that are not permitted. A priest, for example, was accused (1408) of taking the body of an executed man to the church, saying Mass for him, and burying him in a church ceremony; Friedrich Deys, with the burden of officialis excommunication, called for him to approve his deed as soon as possible. Violations of places of church protection and asylum were also punishable. According to the decision of the Salzburg Provincial Council in 1281, anyone who commits bloodshed violence in a church or cemetery should pay a fine.

Acts that infringe or endanger the interests of the church include the privileges of protecting the status of the ecclesiastical order, especially the violation of privilegium fori. The Council of Salzburg of 1386 forbade the clergy to appear before a secular court under penalty of excommunication: in such a suit both the defendant and the plaintiff were threatened with excommunication. According to the decree of the synod of 1448, a layman who summons a cleric to a secular court, and a secular judge who dares to judge in such a trial, may not attend mass until he has atoned for his sin. Despite the severe penalties, the Salzburg Holy See dealt with many such cases throughout the period.

Papal decretal law left the judging of all kinds of crimes committed by clergy to the Holy See. At the same time, however, the ecclesiastical judges