it had procured fiftie nine Church liuings in part or in whole to be appropriated to their vses Neither may we doubt but that Kilmainim Saint Maries and other such houses which were in great number in and about Dublin and other parts of that Kingdome had their share alike By meanes whereof it is come to passe that a man shall there finde few Churches serued by other then poore Vicars and Stipendarie Curats and those for the most part men of such course stuffe as hardly can a man say whether such men bee lesse worthy of better maintenance or such maintenance of better men I haue beene told that Doctor Weston a learned Ciuilian and not long since a worthy Lo. Chancellour of this Kingdom pitying the miserable plight of this poore Church deuised the meanes how to haue all those Impropriations restored to their primer vse againe and that hee wrote a large Discourse to that effect which he intended to send to her Maiestie of happy memorie but that death preuented him and he dying that worke aborted with him I must confesse that the line of my vnderstanding is too short to reach to so deepe a point of learning but well can I shew what hath beene done heretofore in the like case for the benefit of the Church and how without wrong to any man and by a laudable due course of law there may and ought to be a competent maintenance raised vnto euery Minister out of the Tithes belonging to his owne Church and that by the immediate authoritie of the Bishop notwithstanding the Appropriations as now they stand and so the poore estate of this Church be made a greaâ— deale more tolerable then now it is And this is the Argument of this short Discourse ensuing an Argument which I know wil seeme harsh and not sound well in the eares of those men who haue hitherto liued in the quiet possession of the whole But they aâ—e for the most part men of honour and wisedome and such as can easily apprehend That if happily my loue vnto our Mother the Church hath driuen me into an errour my errour cannot hurt them And if I shall maintaine a trueth the trueth will defend both it selfe and me In the one case they need not in the other they ought not and therefore I hope and presume that in honour they will not be offended at mee As for the Argument it selfe it will in my poore vnderstanding bee made cleere and sufficiently prooued to all men of indifferencie and wisedome if I shall be able to make it appeare First that by the Lawes Ecclesiasticall which were in force before and at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys in the reigne of Hen. 8. The Bishops had full power and authoritie within their seuerall Diocesses to allot or cause to be allotted out of euery Benefice so much of the Tithes as might well serue for a fit maintenance of the Minister any Impropriation notwithstanding And secondly That the same Lawes and Canons stand hitherto in full force and vncontrolled by any Statute of either Kingdome To put hooke to corne therefore And first to make it cleare That by the course of the Canon Lawes and by the practise vsed in those daies the Bishops had such power ouer the Monasteries and other such like houses while they were in their cheefest Ruffe It is to be obserued That it was the opinion which the world had conceiued of the pietie charitie and deuotion of Monks that first caused those ample reuenues both Temporall and Ecclesiasticall to be cast vpon them This opinion was the more confirmed in the minds of men by their laudable beginnings for as the liberalitie of the rich to them-wards was very great so were also their hospitality in receiuing strangers their charitie in redeeming captiues their deuotion in releeuing the poore and other Almesdeeds no lesse As for these Benefices which were annexed to their houses and appropriated to their vses it is reported that they vsed them as if they vsed them not and taking thereof a small pension for themselues they left the rest to their Vicar which performed the daily office in the Church And no maruaile for had they appeared in their owne likenesse at the first euery man had shut doores against them But in processe of time as their Luxurie caused by their idlenesse swallowed vp their deuotion so their Auarice the naturall begotten daughter of their Luxurie quenched the fire of their Charitie Then began they to take the whole fruits of those Benefices into their owne hands and to thrust the Curate to his pittance not regarding how vnworthy the man were so he would content himselfe with little wages Insomuch that the Popes themselues who vse to winke at small faults in their trustie seruants grew offended at this their insatiable auarice fearing and foreseeing that in the end it would turne to the discredit of the Papacie whose creatures they were to the ruine of the Parish-Churches and decay of Religion in all places where they came The first which opposed himselfe against them was Pope Alexander the third about the yeere of our Lord God 1170. He wrote to the Monkes and other Regulars of the Church and Diocesse of Yorke a certaine Decretall wherin hauing first blamed their couetous disposition in this kind he addeth these words Intelleximus quod in Ecclesijs vestris 〈◊〉 Aâ—…aritia extra dâ— prebenâ— de quibus certas Pensiones consueuistis percipere portiones antiquos reditus minorastis quos nonnulli Clerici Ecclesiarum ipsarum habuisse noscuntur Idcóque mandamus quatenus fi quas portiones velantiquos reditus Clericorum fine consensu Archiepiscopi vestri minuere praesumpsistis ad integritatem pristinam reuocetis From whence that appeareth to bee true which was said before That in the beginning Monkes and others were wont to reserue to themselues a pension onely out of those Churches which they held appropriated to their vses leauing the grosse of their Tithes which were the proper ancient reuenue of the Church to the Vicars or other Curats 〈…〉 ad 〈…〉 extra de prâ—bâ—nd of them And so Panormitan vnderstandeth this Decretall and therefore summeth it in this manner Religiosi reditus Ecclesiarum ipsarum diminuere non possunt respectu portionis quae debetur Rectoribus Panormit ib. seu vicarijs earundem And a little after he saith that the religious men could not increase their owne Pension Nec possunt diminuere portionem solitam dari Rectoribus earundem Ecclesiarum Some men I know among them Aufrerius a learned Canonist in his 109. Decision Aufrer decâ—â— 109. will haue it to be vnderstood of the Couents of inferior Priories rather then of the Vicars of Parish Churches being led into this opinion no doubt by the word Clericorum which yet as Suidas and others testifie comprehendeth all sorts of Priests and Deacons and all others which had taken vpon them any degree of holy Orders were they Secular
quatenus nisi a iurisdictione tua exemptae sâ—…t Ecclesâ—â—… supradictae praedictos excessus stuâ—eas rationabiliter emendare Et nisi praedictae personae infra tempus in Lateranensi Concilio constitutum ad vacantes Ecclesias tibi personas idoneas presentauerint extunc tibi liceat appellatione remota in iisdem ordinare Rectores qui eis praeesse nouerint prodesse This Constitution suffereth some quarrell and dispute vpon sundry points But for our present purpose Petrus Rebuff traâ—t de congrâ—… port Petrus Rebuffus saith that it issued foorth vpon this occasion Alexander the third as hath beene said had decreed that a Bishop should not admitt of the Presentee of the Monkes vnlesse they would first assigne a sufficient portion of the profits for his maintenance whereupon the Monkes would not present any Vicar at all but either left their Churches vnserued or serued them with poore mercenary Curats such as we haue hundreds here in Ireland and so the Church was worse serued and the Church-men worse prouided for then before Whereupon this Clement by this Constitution ordained That in case they did not prouide sufficient persons within the time limited in the Lateran Councill which was of six months Then the Bishop should collate by his owne authority as in other cases of laps and deuolution Excepting alwaies those Monkes which by speciall priuiledge were exempted from his Iurisdiction for with these the Ordinary was not permitted but rather forbidden to deale But Clement the fourth about the yeare of our Lord 1240. perceiuing that the aboue mentioned Constitution of Alexander the third had taken some good effect with the ordinary sort of Monkes and taking notice That the Exempt Monkes which were immediatly subiect to the See of Rome continued still to oppresse their Vicars with intollerable exactions and to make them such small allowances that the poore men were not able to liue thereon made a Decree That the Constitution of Alexander should also take place and be of force against the Exempt Monkes The words after mention made of the Decree of Alexander and of the great abuses which grew by the auarice of the priuiledged Monkes follow in this manner Nos itaque volentes super hoc c. Suscepti de praebend in sexto salubre remedium adhiberi praesenti Decreto statuimus mandamus Constitutionem huiusmodi quoad omnes patronos Ecclesiarum religiosos tam exemptos quam non exemptos alios inuiolabiter obseruari consuetudine contrariâ non obstante But all these Lawes though grounded vpon great reason were of little force to preuaile against a mischiefe which had spread it selfe so farre and rooted it selfe so deepe by custome and the redresse whereof must pinch the belley of the Monke For what effect could a bare Mandamus worke in a case of this nature there being no penaltie inflicted vpon the offender Non canis à corio facile absterrebitur vncto The Templars for they were those which most offended in this kind and which of all others were the principall occasion of these Decrees were too couetous to obey for conscience and too mightie to bee terrified with words And for mine owne part I cannot see what this was else but either a feare to displease them or else a meere mockery of the world to commaund this thing to be done and yet neither to inflict a penaltie vpon the offender nor giue authoritie to the Reformer I confesse that our Doctors and Interpreters of the Canon Law reckon this for one of the cases wherein the Ordinary had power giuen him ouer the priuiledged Monkes But neither were these such men as would giue their beards for the washing neither would the Bishops venture vpon such a point of Reformation without a more expresse warrant seeing that Kings themselues had their power in suspect and iealousie which also was in the end their bane and ouerthrow At the last came Clement the fâ—â—…t a through man in whatsoeuer he vndertooke This Pope in the Councell of Vienne in France made a Canon for the reformation of this abuse more absolute then any of his predecessors had made before him For hauing repeated the Constitutions of Alexander the third and of Clement the fourth and finding them both to bee imperfect he adiureth all Bishops Ne praesentatum aliqueÌ„ per quamcunque personam Ecclesiasticam ius C. Vt câ—nst 〈◊〉 de Iurepatr 〈◊〉 Clemens praesentandi habentem ad aliquam Ecclesiam admittant nisi intra certum terminum competentem praesent antibus per Diocesanos ipsos praefigendum fuerit coram ijs congrua de prouentibus Ecclesiae por tio assignata And knowing wel by the experience of times past what little effect a bare command was like to take with this kinde of men Hee further ordained that in case the Monkes should not make such allowance as was fit for the vses there expressed within such reasonable time as the Ordinary should prefixe Vt extunc Diocesani debeant praesentatum admittere â—â—id in poenam praesentantium ad Diocesanos ipsos potestas assignationis huiusmodi deuoluatur By which wordes both the Presentee was secured in his possession as taking it by Collation from the Bishop and the right of assigning the Vicars portion taken from the Monkes and setled vpon the Ordinary of the Diocesse And moreouer to arme him aswel with power to execute as with authoritie to command ouer the exempt and priuiledged Monkes In the end of the constitution hee addeth these wordes Ad quae omnia integraliter adimplenda nec non ad obseruationem debitae assignationis per â—â—id Diocesanum faciendae Religiosos praedictos alios quoslibet à Diocesanis ijsdem Ecclesiastica volumus censura compelli non obstantibus exemptionibus aut alijs quibuslibet priuilegijs consuetudinibus vel statutis quae circa praemissavel eorum aliquod Religiosis ipsis aut alijs in nullo volumus suffragari And this authoritie granted to the Ordinarie ouer the exempt Monkes is yet more cleere by another constitution of the same Clement and in the same Councell wherein because Abbats and other regular Prelates were wont to hold their subordinate Priories and other Churches belonging to them in their owne hands or otherwise to oppresse them with exactions or happily not presenting any at all to the Bishop for institution therefore it was ordained that in case they presented not within sixe moneths Diocesani locorum C. Vnico de suâ—ple neglige Praelato in Clement in non exemptis sua in exemptis verò Apostolica authoritate negligentiam super hoc suppleant eorundem Prioratus Ecclesias Administrationes Beneficia huiusmodi conferendo And to the end the Ordinaries might haue power in themselues not onely to supplie their negligence but also to restraine their auarice Therefore it followeth in the same Decree in this manner Eadem quoque authoritate Diocesani suffulti nullo modo permittant quòd ijdem Praelati Prioratus Ecclesias
debent instituere Vicarium perpetuum vbi vero vaitur mensae Episcopali vel Abbatiali spectant ad illam pleno iure tam in spiritualibus quam in temporalibus tunc ponetur in ea Presbyter temporalis ad nutum remouibilis ad exercitium Curae quae principaliter residet in eo cuius mensae est vnita And Rebuffus following the same steppes and speaking of a graunt of a Benefice made by these words pleno iure vel vtroque iure addeth this exposition Per hoc intelligitur quod tam its Rebuff de congrua portio temporalibus quam in spiritualibus iurisdictionem habent in ijs Ecclesis constituuntur Vicarii temporales ad nutum reuocabiles quibus non prouidetur de congrua portione And lastly Ranchinus in his annotations vpon Guido Papa Decisione Ranchinus ad Guid. Papa 154. 154. saith that Illae Ecclesiae dicuntur de mensa quae sunt ita vnitae quod non habeant Vicarium perpetuum From all which it may be gathered That those Proprietaries who now hold Parsonages which were heeretofore vnited to the Tables of the Monkes because they are to hold them in the same manner forme and condition as the Monkes did cannot now bee forced to present their Clerks to the Ordinary for institution no more then the Monkes could heretofore but are onely to send him for a licence as now they doe Notwithstanding all which I take the law to be otherwise as the case now standeth For the Monasteries might indeede heeretofore serue the Cure in Churches belonging to their Table by a temporary Curate if that Curate were a Monke as commonly hee was or if there were no Parish belonging to the Church but if the Church were Parochiall and the Curate secular then hee was to receiue institution from the Bishop as perpetuall Vicar and to haue a competent allowance out of the fruits of the Benefice as other Vicars had And therefore Zabarella hauing handled this point giueth this caueate in the end Sed nota signa mente quod Zabarel ad lit dâ— sâ—ppleâ— negligeâ— Traeiat hoc ita procedit si Abbas ibi collocat vnum de suis Monachis secus si saecularem debent enim Beneficia esse perpetua hoc non reperitur esse permissum in saecularibus Wherefore seeing that now all those Churches are parochiall and the Curates secular it followeth That the Proprietaries are now to present their Clerkes as their Ancestors the Abbats were bound to doe in the like case for Res redijt in eum casum vnde incipere non potuit There are at this time with vs no Monkes in being therefore the Vicar must now of necessity be secular and beeing secular hee must be also presentatiue and perpetuall for so the law ordaineth And it is farther to be obserued That those very Monks could not serue the Cure in a Church remote from the Abbey For the Lateran Councell forbad Monkes to bee appointed and placed as Curates in Parish Churches about the Countrey And Vrban the third ordained that In Ecclesiis vbi Monachi habitant populus per monachum non regatur So that neither as Curate in Churches remote neither yet as Rector in the very Parish wher they dwelt could a Monke be imployed onely in those Churches which were neere adioyning to their Monasteries where they might sing Masse in the morning and returne to their Dorter at night they were permitted to serue and these were commonly vnited to their Table and none other And this is the cause why Archidiaconus a Father amongst the Canonists saith that Ecclesia si vicina est regitur per Priorem capitulum si vero remota est imponetur ei census ponetur in ea Presbyter perpetuus For in processe of time the Monkes finding that these vnions to Archidiacon ad C. cum singulis de prebend dignit in sexto their Table were more priuiledged in this point then others procured Benefices farre distant also to bee vnited to their Tables And therefore the Popes of later times in granting or confirming these vnions were wont to make the like reseruation as in other ordinary Appropriations as Rebuffus testifieth And againe in ordinary Appropriations if the Benefices lay neere vnto the Abbeies the Bishop was wont to winke at it and to suffer them to discharge the Cure by some one of their Monkes or other stipendary Curates as if they had beene mensall I mentioned before a certaine contention which fell betweene Richard Bishop of Meath and certaine Monkes vpon whose Appropriated Benefices he placed perpetuall Vicars of his owne authority and made them allowances at his owne discretion yet did he not vse this right and power on all but onely vpon twelue yeelding this reason of his act Because those twelue were farre off from the Abbey and lay neere the high way where it was necessary that some kept residence for the receiuing of Pilgrims and strangers that were to passe that way The rest hee forbare to taxe because they lay neere vnto some Grange of the Abbey And therefore if any came thither for hospitalitie they might aswell repaire vnto the Grange it selfe there to bee receiued which cause of toleration how good or bad soeuer it were now ceaseth in our Proprietaries because they will not make their houses Innes for trauellers as the Abbats did wherefore as they can pretend no better right then the Abbats had so they may not in discretion challenge the like sufferance of the Bishop as they found To conclude the summe of all is this In Benefices giuen to the vse of the Monkes which are properly called Appropriations or Impropriations the Ordinarie now is and euer was without distinction to ordaine a Perpetuall Vicar with Cure of soules And to compell the Proprietarie to a competent and conuenient allowance out of the fruits of the Benefice for his maintenance And in those Mensall Benefices which were vnited to their Tables the Ordinarie is as the state of things now standeth to doe the like So that in all and all maner of Benefices as well Mensall as other heretofore belonging to those Abbeys or other Religious Houses and which are now in the hands of the Proprietaries within this Kingdome these mercenarie and seruing creatures these stipendarie Curats are by course of Law to be abolished and in their roomes Perpetuall Vicars or Rectors with sufficiencie of meanes to be ordained Sufficiencie of meanes I say For it was long since obserued That beggerly Poets neuer made good Verses for pouertie is a heauie burden and the feare thereof worketh as violently vpon the wit and spirit of a man as any terrour doeth and is therefore reckoned by the Orator inter grauissima vitae onera Tullie de senectu And it is certaine that there is no one thing which doeth more depresse and keepe downe the minde and rising spirit of a man from aspiring to any high inuention or conceit of learning then