In the pages which follow, Foxe is arguing that the recipient of the letters of Volusianus was not Pope Nicholas I, as Bale, Matthias Flacius and Parker maintained, but Nicholas II. Foxe bases his argument on the fact that Nicholas I (858-867) was pope before the drive for clerical celibacy took place, whereas the pontificate of Nicholas II (1058-1061) took place when the Gregorian reform was at its height.
[Back to Top]Secondly, that þe libertie of Priestes Mariage ought not to bee restrayned by any generall lawe of compulsion: but to be left to euery mans free choyse & voluntary deuotion.
Thirdly, the sayd Epistles beyng written to Pope Nicolas (if the title be true) declare, that thys law prohibityng the lawfull matrimonye of Churchmen, begā first in this Popes tymes generally to bee enacted.
And although it be not here expressed whiche Pope Nicolas this was, yet by the circumstaunce of tyme, & especially by þe wordes of Pope Alexāder 2. Dist. 32. Præter,
MarginaliaDist. 32. Præter.it may probablye be estemed to be Nicolas. 2. and not Nicolas þe first, as some do suppose, amongest whom is Illyricus
Matthis Flacius, the author of the Catalogus testium veritatis, was from what had been the Roman province of Illyria (now Croatia) and was thus known as Illyricus.
In lyke effect folow also the woordes of Illyricus aforesayd: Decretum fecit ne quis a Sacerdote Sacramenta suscipiat, quem sciret habere concubinam, seu vxorem, and alleageth as Volaterane doth, the sayd Distinct. of Gracian, Distinct. 32. Nullus. In alleaging wherof both they seeme to bee deceaued, mistakyng belyke one Nicolas for an other, as may be proued and made good by iij. or iiij. reasons.
[Back to Top]Fyrst, by the wordes of Pope Alexander. 2.
Præter hoc autem ... ductam non reliquerit, &c.
J. Barrie Hall
From an ancient martyrology of the church of Canterbury
Besides this, moreover, we command by our precept that no one should hear mass from a presbyter whom he knows without doubt to have a concubine or a woman secretly introduced. Whence also the holy synod has decreed this chapter under excommunication, saying: Whoever among priests, deacons, subdeacons since the constitution of our holy predecessor Pope Leo of blessed memory, and of Nicholas, concerning the chastity of the clergy has openly taken a concubine or has not left one already taken, etc.
[Back to Top]To you making enquiry whether you ought or ought not to receive communion from a priest who has been taken in adultery or has merely been stained with rumour concerning this, our reply is: No one, however polluted he be, can pollute the divine sacraments which stand as purgatory of all contagions, etc.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe 2. reason.The second reason, I take out of the next Chapter of Gracian goyng before, where he alledgeth agayne þe same Nicolas writyng to Otho Archbyshop. Whiche Otho was then in the tyme of this Nicolas 2. Archbyshop of Colen, and was afterward in the Councell of Mantua vnder Pope Alexander 2. teste Ioan. Quintio Iureconsulto. MarginaliaEx Ioā. Quintio In speculo Sacerdotij.Wherby it must nedes bee graūted, that this was Nicolas the second, and not the first.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe thyrd reason.The thyrd coniecture or reason is this, for that pope Nicolas the first neuer made any such Acte or Decree, that Priestes that were entangled with a concubine, should neither sing Masse, nor that any should resorte to heare the Masse of such. &c. but rather the contrary. For so we read in þe historie of Antoninus, MarginaliaAntoninus Part. 2. tit. 16.and in the Decrees, 15. q. 8. Sciscitantibus. Sciscitantibus vobis si a sacerdote qui fuerit comprehensus in adulterio, siue de hoc sola fama resperserit, debeatis cōmunionem suscipere, nec ne, respōdenius: Non potest aliquis quantumcunq; pollutus sit, Sacramenta diuina polluere, quæ purgatoria cunctarum contagionum existunt. &c.
[Back to Top]And yet more playnlye also afterwarde hee saith: MarginaliaDist. 18. Consulendam.Consulendum decernitis vtrum præsbyterum habentem vxorem debeatis sustentare & honorare, an a vobis proijcere? In quo respondemus, quoniam licet ipsi valde sint reprehensibiles, vos tamen conuenit Deum imitari, qui solem suū oriri facit super bonos, & malos, deijcere enim a vobis eos nō debetis. Dist. 18. Cōsulendum. &c. MarginaliaEx Antonino ibidem.That is: Where ye demaunde concernyng the Priest that hath a wyfe, whether ye ought to susteyne hym, and honour hym, or reiecte hym from you, we aunswere: That albeit they be very much blame worthy, yet ye ought to bee folowers of God, whiche maketh his sonne to rise both vpon the good, and vpō the bad. And therfore ye ought not to reiect such, away from you, &c. And this Nicolas, Antoninus confesseth playnly to be Nicolas the first. Wherby it is not onely vnlyke, but also most certayne that Nicolas the first was not the father of this constitution, either to exterminate maryed Priestes from their Churches, or to excommunicate the people from receauyng their cōmunion, much lesse then from hearyng their seruice.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe fourth reason out of the words of Volusianus.Fourthly, for as much then as it is vndoubted that Nicolas 2. and Alexander the 2. throughe the instigation of wicked Hildebrand, were the authors of that constitution wherof Gracian speaketh, it remayneth playne by the wordes of Volusianus in the latter ende of hys letter (wherein he maketh mention both of dischargyng the Priest frō singyng Masse, and the people from hearyng) that the sayd Epistle was written not to Pope Nicolas the first, but to the 2. for because both these were Decreed agaynst maryed Priestes vnder Nicolas 2. and Alexander 2. as is afore declared.
[Back to Top]And further, lest my iudgement herein should seme to stand alone & singular, wtout some to take my part, I will here produce for me a Parisian Doctor, & a famous lawyer Ioānes Quintius aboue mēcioned, who in his booke De Clericorū moribus, MarginaliaEx testimonio Ioan. Quintij De Clericorū moribus.playnly accordeth with myne opiniō, touchyng this Nicolas author of the Decree aforesayd, where he writeth in this wordes: Nicolaus Papa Othoni Coloniēsi Archiepisc. &c. Quinque fuerunt hoc nomine pontifices. Primū, secundumuè oportuit esse, qui hæc rescripserit, ille Roma nus. an. 860. hic Burgūdus, an: 1059. Reliquos Nicolaos antecessit Gracianus, qui scripsit hæc, anno. 1150. Posteriorē fuisse credo, qui in Pannomiæ lib. 3. Tit. de lapsis, nominatur Nicolaus iunior, cuius est & aliud decretum sequens. &c. MarginaliaThe author of thys booke of Pānomiæ, was Iue Carpotensis, in which booke he complyled diuers Canons of Popes and Byshops.That is to say in Englishe: Pope Nicolas writyng to Otho Archbyshop of Colen. Glos. There haue bene in all, v. Popes called by this name of Nicolas. Of the whiche v. this Nicolas the writer hereof must be either the first, or second: the one a Romane, an. 860. the other a Burgūdian, an. 1059. or. 1060. The other Nicolas lyued after Gratian, who wrote, in the yeare. 1150. In my iudgement I suppose this to be Nicolas the second, whiche in the thyrd booke of the lawes called Pannomiæ Tit. de lapsis, is named Nicolas the yonger. Whiche
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