two English Priests to wit William Bishop and Robert Charnocke which haue bene for the space of some moneths detained in this Colledge it appeared vnto vs to be in no case expedient for the English cause that the sayd Priests should immediatly returne to those partes where they haue bene at variance with other men of their order and now hauing conferred the matter wiâ—h his Holinesse and being againe certaine of his pleasure therein we thinke meete to decree and appoint the very same Wherefore we ordaine in his Holinesse and our owne name and do strictly commaund the foresayd Priests William and Robert in vertue of holy obedience and vnder paine of suspention from diuine offices to be incurred in the fact it selfe and vnder other censures and penalties to be inflicted at the appointment of our holy father that without the expresse leaue of his Holinesse or the most Illustrious Cardinall Protectour they do not for the time presume to go to the kingdomes of England Scotland or Ireland but liue quietly peaceably and religiously in other Catholike countries where we haue assigned them and endeuour as well by letters as by messengers by all other meanes that peace and vnion be conserued among the English Catholikes at home and abroad Which things if they truly and really performe their licence to returne may the sooner after be graunted vnto them But in the mean while we command these things to be rightfully obserued faithfully executed that your Reuerence signifie thus much vnto them in our name Giuen at Rome from our Pallaces the 21. of Aprill 1599. Your Reuerences as brother H. Cardinall Caiâ—tane Protector as brother C. Cardinall Burghesio NOw let him whosoeuer would soonest find a hole in our coate teach vs in what part of the sentence we their complices here are mentioned or point vs to that word in the whole Decree which can any way iustly or colourably be stretched to such a meaning or implication And if neither of these can be shewed as most sure it is they cannot how can we with any regard of truth or moderation of speech be sayd to be condemned Againe delegatine Iudges of what estate soeuer they be receiuing authority by Commission from their superiour to heare and determine the cause of sâ—ch and such persons by name as did the two Cardinals from his Holinesse as their sentence it selfe beareth witnesse cannot extend their censures condemnation to any of the sayd persons complices not expressed in the CoÌ„missioÌ„ how guilty soeuer they know them to be The reason is because they haue no authority nor iurisdiction ouer them as the first fourth and fifth Proposition teach in the second Reason and may be further declared by this similitude of the cases The Qâ—eenes Maiestie giueth a Commission to two of her priuie Counsellors to arraigne Iohn Astile and Iohn Anoke for treason coÌ„mitted Now we aske whether these priuie Counsellors may by vertue of this limited and particular coÌ„mission proceed vpon and condemne such coÌ„plices of the said traitors as their honors by sifting matters may find to haue had their finger in the treason without any personall triall or summoÌ„s of theÌ„ for thus also it fared in our case We assure our selues that none will say they can and those that are studied in the lawes do knew they cannot and that the lawes of our country reasons voice haue prouided punishments condigne for so exorbitant a presumption Furthermore howsoeuer the condemnation giuen by the Cardinals vpon our two brethren may be lengthned to reach vnto vs yet the punishment imposed a correlatiue in a kind to the condemnation and which cannot but concerne all those on whom the condemnation passed ne did nor could possibly any way agree or so much as point to their complices here For this being that those on whom the condemnation was giuen should not presume to go into the kingdomes of England Scotland or Ireland without expresse leaue of his Holinesse or the Lord Protector it could in no congruencie in the world appertaine to vs who were in England long before and at the same time euen to the knowledge of the Cardinals themselues when their Graces deliuered the sentence if both their Graces did expressely set downe such a sentence as the speeches and cariage of Cardinall Burghesio to M. Charnocke seeme in a sort to admit a doubt least the inditing therof were the left-hand worke of father Parsons as the words in isto Pregnant suspition of father Parsons cloaked dealing Collegio detenti detained in this Colledge contained in the sentence and the sentence being dated from their Pallaces yeeld no improbable conceit together with other grounds touched in the censure vpon father Parsons letter to M. Bishop Moreouer if condemnation passed vpon vs at Rome as complices of our two brethren then doth it necessarily follow that we were their complices in the crime they were condemned for And what crime was that for maintaining controuersies as the sentence expresseth with other men of their order Well but what kind of controuersie did they maintaine and with what men by name and how came our partaking with them so notorious as that we might rightfully be condeÌ„ned for what was not rightfully done can neuer be but iniuriously obiected without summons or relation from vs what we could say for our selues The sentence doth neither specifie what were the controuersies nor name the men with whom they maintained them Wherefore it were well and but the due tribute of charitie considering the infamie that groweth vnto vs by so publike an affirmance of our condemnation at Rome that declaration were made both what the controuersies were in particular the names of the persons with whom they were maintained and also our notorious participation in the same that so our countrey might be informed of the particular and our selues â—ake notice of the offence we committed which without such helpe we cannot hitherto call to mind To say that the controuersies and the persons with whom they were maintained was the delay which our two brethren our selues made in admitting the new authoritie after sight of the Cardinal Protector his Letter and in their going to Rome by our perswasion for more certaine knowledge of the subordination and how fully it was established and for informing his Holinesse aswell of the inconueniences thereof as of the needs that abound in our country were as we thinke to charge the two Cardinals with ignorance or error or both For if this were the controuersie and the Archpriest the partie with whom it was maintained as if not the whole world caÌ„not proue vs to be their complices in any other coÌ„trouersie then we must ask this question whether M. Blackwell was at that time when we delayed to subiect our selues vnto him so authorized our Archpriest as we were bound vnder sin or other bond to admit him before the comming of his Holines Breue If he were not as the foregoings shew he was
him any such kind of iurisdiction ouer vs who to proue that he had authoritie to interdict vs affirmeth that by the letters of his institution and also by the Breue he may inquietos poenis coercere ecclesiasticis correct the vnquiet with ecclesiasticall penalties leauing forth the words which immediatlie followed and which specified with what ecclesiasticall penalties he should correct ablatione nimirum facultatum vel suspensione namely by taking away their faculties or suspending Which words and part of the sentence if M. Blackwell had not left out the very place he alleaged for proofe of his authoritie did most clearely demonstrate and conuince the contrarie Neither is this the first time that such kind of foule play hath bin offered vs for in the third of the twelue questions which our Archpriest or father Garnet in his name proposed vnto vs to be answered in stead of graunting the dispute we intreated In sua eccle rep de statu Ill. Cardinal nu 9. for ending of the controuersie the like pranck is practised the propounder alleaging Zecchius to affirme that against vs for them which if the whole sentence had bin taken not cut off guilefully in the mids it had made most stronglie for vs against them Zecchius words are these Cardinali creditur testanti sibi aliquid à Papa viuae vocis oraculo mandatum vt quod restituat aliquem natalibus si tamen de magno alicuius praeiudicio agatur ei non creditur A Cardinall is to be credited on his word affirming that he receiued a Mandate from the Pope by word of mouth namely that he should make such an one a Gentleman who was of base bloud before but if the matter whereof the Cardinall giueth testimony concerne greatly the preiudice of an other then is his sole word of no sufficient power to bind any to belieue him Now the proposer of the twelue questions were he father Garnet or M. Blackwell assumed only one part of the sentence as euery one may see where the difficultie lay not and which made for them and omitted the other part that belonged to the state of the difference and which made most strongly against them But can these odde shifts and paring of sentences proclaime other then a bad cause and lacke of sinceritie in the mainteiners No no the wise do note it Secondly whereas our Superior affirmeth in his letter that he was appointed Archpriest of the English Catholikes for the happie rule and regiment and mutuaâ— loue of Catholikes c. we pray him to shew vs wheÌ„ and by whom he was appointed Archpriest of the lay Catholikes The Constitutiue Letter maketh him Archpriest but only ouer all the secular English Priests residing in England or Scotland And though his Holines first Breue for his second was not extant long after M. Blackwell wrote these signified that the Cardinall had by his commaundement for the happie rule and gouernement and mutuall loue peace and vnion of the Catholikes of the kingdomes of England and Scotland and for conseruing and augmenting ecclesiasticall discipline deputed M. Blackwell Archpriest by his Letters patents ouer the English Catholikes Yet no such thing appearing in the said Letters M. Blackwell can no more rightfully stile himselfe the Archpriest of English Catholikes because per confirmationem Papae nihil noui iuris datur No new Glos in ca. Quis nesciat dist 11. verb. Autoritate Glos in ca. quia diuer sitatem de concess Praebend verb. forma coÌ„muni right is giuen by the Popes confirmation then Iohn Astile can write himselfe the Lieutenant of the Shire because the Queene commaunded the Lord Keeper to appoint him so who neuerthelesse in the commission he sent him made him but Iustice of peace And whether Iohn Astile be Lieutenant in this case or no there is none of iudgement especially of knowledge in the lawes but will say he is not because he is no more nor can be taken for other then the writ of Commission ordaineth him Thirdly to that M. Blackwell saith that the wayward man is to know that the Canonists agree that he which hath iurisdiction in the exteriour court can inflict censures we answere that it is true in any who hath iurisdiction in the exterior court by vertue of any ordinarie office or delegatine vnlesse there be a forme prescribed together with the graunt of the delegatine authoritie how he shall punish and proceede with the contumacious or delinquents For if there be such a specification or limitation added to the authority then that forme is most strictly to be obserued and any thing done beyond it is of no obligation Vbi datur certa forma procedendi processus corruit non solâ—m Panorm in ca. Prudentiam de offic deleg nu 5. si aliquid attentatur directè contra formam sed etiam citra vel praeter formam Where there is a certaine forme giuen of proceeding the processe falleth and is of no effect not only if an attentatiue be made directly contrary to the forme but also if any thing be enterprised beside or out of the compasse of the forme Againe Subdelegatus delegati Idem in Can. venerabili de off deleg nu 1. Papae si excesserit formam rescripti processus est nullus The Subdelegate of the Popes delegate if he shall exceede the forme of his commission the thing that he doth therein is of no force And that M. Blackwell was the Cardinals Subdelegate none can deny who shall reade the Constitutiue Letter Now the ordinarie authority that M. Blackwell hath being the only authority of an Archpriest which giueth him no iurisdiction at all in the exterior court because as the Canonists yeeld the reason the a Ioannes Andreas in ca. 1 de Archip. nu 3. Lancelottus in Insti nu Ca li. 1 tit 14. Hostiensis in sumnâ—a de offi Ar hipraesb nu 2. Archpriest supplieth the stead of the Bishop in celebration of certaine spirituall things as the Archdeacon doth in matters belonging to iurisdiction and therefore the Archpriest hath no power in the exterior court as the authorities ensuing do proue b Zâ—cchius de Eccl rep ca. 24. nu 14. Archipresbyter iurisdictionem habet voluntariam non tamen contentiosam An Archpresbyter hath a voluntarie but no litigious iurisdiction that is c Schardius in suo Lexicon verbo Iurisdictio he can exercise no authority by compulsion but only where the parties are willing d Ioannes Andreas in ca. ministrum de Archipraesb nu 3. Archpraesbyter punire aliquem non potest authoritate sua sed de praecepto sui Episcopi An Archpriest cannot punish any body by his owne authority but vpon commaundement of his Bishop Of the otherside touching his delegatine authority the particulars and the forme thereof are set downe and therefore not to be extended to any thing that is beyond the limits of the said forme or if in case it be further extended neuerthelesse the like extension
expresly contrarie to his Holinesse Breue O Lord Christ O Sir our Superiour who are we or what may our cause be that not to be adiudged renegates from the Sea Apostolike or traitors to God by sinne must be accounted a preiudice to the dignitie of the sea Apostolicke strange and so strange as it astonieth You say that the sentence clearing vs of schisme and sinne is expresly contrarie to his Holinesse Breue We beseech you to quote the wordes to shew the place for if it be expresly contrarie as you say then the contrarietie must needes consist in plaine termes not in deductions or inferences vpon the tenour or purport of the Breue Or if this much be not to be shewed as al the labor vnder heauē can neuer shew it because neither of the two wordes schisme or sinne is vsed in the Breue nor we that prolonged the yeelding of our obedience any where specified in the same we then pray you to frame the arguments which conclude and infer so much For verily we for our parts do not see as is said before * Pag. 109. 110 111. in the place where we haue discoursed of this very point how any such inferēce cā with vnderstāding be made Or if vnderstāding be mis-led to make such an inference yet we protest that we cānot cōnceiue how the authorities that contradict the verity of such an inference which we haue alleaged * Pag. 58. sequentibus before cā possibly be answered or colourably shifted off Or were all the Canonists deceiued their authorities worth nothing yet if M. Blackwell be such a superiour Prelate as is contained vnder the wordes of the former Extrauagant and as his former faculties and largest iurisdiction must in all reason make him then is it dead sure that no such inference can be made because that cannot be schisme or sinne which the Extrauagant decreeth and commaundeth to be obserued vnder the paine of leesing the fruites of their ecclesiasticall liuings that shall presume to transgresse the precept And as we cannot conceiue how the censure of the Vniuersitie could be preiudiciall to the dignitie of the Sea Apostololicke or expresly contrary to his Holinesse Breue so can we lesse imagine how the same censure can be reckened preiudiciall to our common peace so much wished for by his Holinesse vnlesse our purgation of schisme and sinne be such a barre or aduerse hinderance of peace as the one cannot stand or be effected except the other be repealed Which lacke of charitie howsoeuer it may sort with the kind of peace that perhaps some of our aduersaries affect whose passion of ouerweening of themselues is so puissant as they can hardly if at all count that peace for peace wherein our discredit is not proclaimed yet we are sure that the stiffe seeking of our dishonour cannot sort with that peace which his Holinesse wisheth to be among vs. For this being a charitable peace charity not reioycing 1. Cor. 13. vpon iniquitie but reioycing with truth the fathers of the Societie especially our Superior should rather congratulate that we were acquited by publike sentence of a famous vniuersitie in the crimes obiected vpon errour then by opinionatiue defending their rash and temerarious iudgement make nouissima peiora prioribus their last actions worse Math. 12. then their first against vs. Concerning the other reason which our Archpriest alleageth also as part of the cause why he did so seuerely prohibite the defending of the censure of Paris viz. for that the same was preiudicial to the sentence iudicially giuen by the two Cardinals appointed iudges in our cause we know not where to take the first exception the whole and euery word thereof lyeth so loose and open Father Parsons in the Apologie will Fol. 133. not haue the said sentence giuen so much by way of a iudiciall sentence as by way of a letter vnder the two Cardinals their hands and seales So that if we may beleeue father Parsons the sentence was not iudicially giuē Neither were the two Cardinals appointed iudges to decide whether our deferring for the causes rehearsed in the question to receiue M. Blackwell our Superiour vpon view of the Cardinals Letter were schisme or sinne the matter meerely considered in it selfe abstracted from all circumstances nor yet were their Graces appointed iudges in the cause of any one of our whole companie saue only in the cause of M. Bishop and M. Charnocke as the title of the decree and the decree it selfe doth witnes Againe their Graces sentence doth not signifie that they inflicted the punishment vpon our said two brethren for refusing to subscribe to the new authoritie or for comming to Rome because there is no such thing set downe nay the contrarie is expressed in that the causes for which they were restrained from comming into England or for going into the kingdomes of Scotland and Ireland were onely as the words of the decree do testifie for maintaining controuersies with other men of their owne order and for that it appeared in no case expedient for the English cause that they should returne into England Now to mainetaine controuersies with other men of their owne order and to appeare not to be expedient that they should forthwith returne into England are things different from deferring their obedience to the Archpriest and from sending or going to Rome for fuller knowledge of his Holinesse pleasure and to lay open our difficulties vnto him Besides if the cause in which the two Cardinals were appointed Iudges See more of this point pag. 101. sequentibus was the refusall to subscribe to the authoritie of the Archpriest instituted by the Letters of Cardinall Caietane and for sending to Rome then was Cardinall Caietane appointed iudge in the cause that most nearely concerned himselfe a thing against law and so intollerable in the ministring of iustice as his Holinesse would neuer haue assigned him iudge therein nor the Cardinall for edification sake haue vsed the office especially in designing the punishment Or to grant which is no more so then a foxe is a fearnebush that the two Cardinals had giuen sentence in the same cause before and otherwise then did the vniuersitie What then must the censure of a renowned vniuersitie one of the most famous in Christendome be so lightly set by abandoned detested and that in a matter of fact as whosoeuer shall either defend or maintaine it directly or indirectly in word or writing must if he be a priest be presently in the fact it self suspended from diuine offices and leese his faculties or if such a delinquent be a lay Catholike he must in like manner be interdicted ipso facto A rigour as the like whereof all the Annales and records of all the Prelates actions since Christs time hitherto cannot as we assure our selues yeeld one instance or neare example But that which of all other points in the decree seemeth to be most out of rule
ordaining for the triall and exercise of the good that where greater exploits are done to the glory of God there also are the more vehement attempts of Sathan and the common enemy to withstand or hinder the same Neither certes for these latter years space haue we seene a more famous example then in the English cause which as it hath receiued of our Lord very singular grace of piety fortitude patience and constancy and most renowmed glory both of Confessours and of Martyrs also so in like maner is it knowne to haue endured most sharpe assaults from heretickes in such sort as that hath place in it which the holy Ghost vttered of the elected soule God hath giuen her a strong conflict that she might ouercome And Christ our Lord of the vessell of election I will shew him how much he must suffer for my name Yea Sathan hath not God pardon the informer feared to assaile Catholickes themselues and some Seminary Priests who hitherto haue shewed themselues leaders and chieftaines of the rest to all praise of noble vertue that he might make them to bicker one with another and breake downe the wall of vnion whereon all the hope of Christian piety resteth Against which attempt of the enemy Great peace when two cannot speake together without a third nor the students of one chamber recreate with their fâ—llowes of another chamber beginning also of late to manifest it selfe at Rome whereas the high wisedome and fatherly loue of his Holinesse hath through the grace of God applied these dayes past wholesome remedy and desireth that after the example of this Romane Colledge which enioyeth great peace and quietnesse the same concord of minds without which nothing of good successe can be expected should be soâ—ghâ— for and conserued in other parts also hath by speciall comma 〈…〉 ent giuen charge vnto vs that we should employ our selues for the procuring of this thing with all the diligence we can which very willingly we take vpon vs to do because we are not ignorant that hereupon the moment of the whole cause dependeth Forasmuch therefore as some men thinke it would not a little auaile to this very thing if a subordination were constituted among the English Priests and the reasons yeelded by the Priests themselues for VVe know not to this day who vvere thâ—se Priests or what were the reasoÌ„s they yeelded the same matter were approued by our holy Father we following the most godly and most prudent will of his Holinesse haue decreed to ordaine the same and for directing and gouerning these Priestes of the English Nation that now conuerse in the kingdomes of England or Scotland or shall hereafter reside there while this our ordination shall continue we chuse you to whom for the time we commit our steed and office induced vpon relation and the publike fame of your vertue learning wisedome and labours taken for many yeares in the trimming of this vineyard And the faculties which to this purpose we grant vnto you are these First that you haue the title and authoritie of an Arch-priest ouer all the seminarie secular Priestes as is now said vntill his Holinesse or we by is commaundement shall institute another kind of gouernement then that you may direct admonish reprehend or also chastise those Priestes when neede shall require and this either by restraining of faculties graunted vnto them by whom or whensoeuer or by reuoking their faculties if necessitie shall constraine it Besides to dispose of the same Priestes and to remoue and change them from one residence to another when Gods greater glorie and gaine of soules doth require the same Also to heare their doubts and controuersies arising and for the right of things to determine them according to reason and equitie Likewise to remoue or represse schismes diuisions and contentions and for these causes to call and conuent any Priest before you yea to summon many to repaire together in one place when it shall be necessarie and shall seeme in our Lord that it may be done without probable daunger and to be chiefe ouer the assembled and to propose vnto them either the things you shall iudge necessarie to be obserued by them the assistants being heard of which we wil speak anon or the things you shall think needfull to be written hither or to doctor Barret President of the Colledge of Doway to whom by commandement of his Holines we haue giuen speciall authoritie to assist you And if any one in these matters shall shew himselfe which truly putting trust in the vertue of all we do not feare that it will fall out disobedient vnquiet or stubborn it is lawful after due admonitions reprehensions first vsed in brotherly charity to correct this party by Ecclesiastical penalties that is to say either by taking away of faculties or suspension vntill he shall amend himselfe or if by this meane amendment follow not then let notice be sent either to Doctor Barret or to vs that he who is of such obstinacie either be called from thence or there humbled with more grieuous censures And to the end you may the easier and with the more contentation execute this charge of care commended vnto you we assigne likewise six consultors or coadiutors who by participation of the burthen may somewhat lessen you labour namely Iohn Bauen and Henry Henshaw Doctors of Diuinitie Nicholas Tirwit Henry Shaw George Birket and Iames Standish who was lately with vs in Rome which by the relation of many we vnderstand to be of the more auncient and best deserts We also giue you authoritie to choose sixe other beside these the same respects being had of auncientnesse grauitie A good direction hovvsoeuer follovved and their trauailes but chiefly of their prudence moderation and their loue of vnion and concord not a little also of their authoritie and estimation which they haue in the prouinces where they supply your steede and ours All which twelue nominated as well by you as by vs shall be subordinate vnto you that the meanes of vnion may the better be conserued to the maintenance and preseruation whereof all things are directed And when you haue chosen those whom you shall deeme in our Lord to be most fit for the office you shall aduertise vs of their names and qualities and let themselues also so farre as it may be done without daunger signifie by their letters how they stand affected to performe this which for the conseruation of vnity is earnestly desired of them Afterward we enioyne both them and you to write euery sixth moneth if it may be common or priuate letters vnto vs of the state of matters with you that of these we may relate to his Holinesse such as are meete to be knowne or the things that shall be deemed profitable to your cause to the end they may be knowne to his Holinesse And if any of these twelue which we haue appointed to giue counsell vnto you for better managing of the affaire
name so farre as we could gesse for moe Priests saw it beside my self was written also with his Graces owne hand But this Letter bore no date at all either of the day of the moneth or yeare of our Lord as I can wel proue if it be denied by sufficient witnesses And being in this maner infallibly sure that there were two seueral Letters Constitutiue both attested with the Cardinals hand and seale the one with date the other without date and therefore not to be said that the Cardinall out of his prouident wisedome sent two Letters of one purport into England to the end that if one miscarried the other might come to M. Blackwell his hand for that a Letter bearing no date can carry little credence and consequently not sufficient to work so great and effect as was intended the erection and establishment of a subordination both meerly penall and without example from the beginning of the world Hereupon I for my part do not see the counter-euidence why M. Charnocke and my selfe should distrust or not rather trust our memories agreeing both in one and little doubt but the Constitutiue Letter which M. Blackwel first shewed to vs both differed froÌ„ the other which he sithence sent vnto me to reade And not onely in the matter about chusing the Assistants but in another point also more importaÌ„t which was that the offenders should dicta causa be heard to speake answer for themselues before condemnation or punishment infflicted a right that nature and all lawes prescribe I vse the Latine words dicta causa because I seeme and haue since euer seemed to remember the very words themselues which maketh me as in this so in the former also the lesse doubtfull by much whether my memorie faileth me yea or no in the said particulars Neither can we yeeld a reason why fa Parsons or some other might not as well alter the Constitutiue Letter in these points as he or some other altered the sentence of the two Cardinals Caictane and Burgheso in the exile confinement of our two brethren And that their honours sentence was altered in the copy which was sent into England by fa. Parsons vnles some other besides fa. Parsons writeth to our Archpriest of such matters which M. Blackwel read to M. Mush me shewed the same to others is so apparant a truth that M. Blackwell can in no sort deny it The sentence in the originall was that in vertue of holy obedience vnder censure of present suspension from diuine offices they should not pro tempore for a time presume to go into England Scotland or Ireland without the expresse leaue of his Holinesse or the Lord Cardinall Protector but in the copie it was thus changed that vnder the foresaid censure they should not presume to returne or go into any of the said kingdomes for the space of â— yeares So that the wordes pro tempore for a time in the originall signifying an indefinit space of time were altered in the copy which was sent into England went here currant none but it into a determined set space of time contrary to the wordes of the originall and more then could be collected out of the tenor nor the sentence euer so interpreted to our brethren on whom it passed Now if fa. Parsons dealt thus boldly in the sentence of the two Cardinals what reason can be yeelded why we should discredit our memories standing vpon so many presumptions rather then thinke that fa. Parsons would straine curtesie to change or get to be changed the Letter Constitutiue a deuice and plot of his owne and whereof he hath the whole managing That which we would adde further in this point is that his Holines confirming onely that Letter of the Cardinall which bore date the 7. of March in which the abouenamed particulars were expressed vnlesse as is said our memories do wonderfully deceiue vs whereof yet we haue no more doubt then of what we doubt least it followeth if so the said particulars were indeed expressed in the Constitutiue Letter which his Holinesse confirmed that the election of the Assistants made by M. Blackwell is frustrate and likewise all such censures and penalties as he hath imposed vpon vs otherwise then the forme of his Commission gaue him authoritie to do And consequently resteth bound by the prescript 2 Ca. sin de â—aâ—â—s ca. sacro de sent excom Glossa in ca. quoâ—â—m cotra de probation v b. negligentiam Nauar in man ca. 25. nu 12. Siluest v'b index 1. nu 17. omnes rule of law and conscience to make vs rateable satisfaction to the measure of the infamie and damages sustained great and very great both For proofe of the premises Pope Innoccntius the third writeth b Ca. Câ—m dilecta de rescriptis Processum contra formam rescripti attentatum irritum decernimus inanem We define that the Processe be of no effect and voyd which was either begun or proceeded in coÌ„trarie to the forme of the CoÌ„mission The like to this hath Pope Bonifacius the eight c Ca. Si cui de elect lib. 6. Si cui eligendi potestas data suit iuxta traditam sibi formam non eligerit talis electio non valet nec robur obtinet firmitatis If power of electing be giuen to any one and he shall not choose according to the limit or forme prescribed such an election is voide * Glossa Ibidé â—â—b valcre ipso iure and retaineth no force Now that he who receiueth Commission to clâ—use for such a cause such persons to his Assistants as haue their residences at such a place breaketh the forme of his Commission if he chuse them otherwhere there can be no question made thereof and consequently the d Panormit in ca. prudentiaÌ„ de ossi iud dele nâ— 5. Ant. Fâ—an in ca. cum post deelectione act he doth therein is of no validitie nor can bind any one to take them for Assistants The third and last principall reason why we could not thinke the new subordination to be the ordinance of his Holinesse or appointed by his commaundement was in respect of the rigours it contained a note farthest remoued from his Holinesse nature and course of proceeding For instances First it appeared incredible that his Holinesse tender compassion towardes the seuerall and heauiest afflictions that the lawes of our Country lay vpon vs would to the increase of our burthen institute a meere penall iurisdiction in our Church carrying only power to punish afflict vs more yea and in such sort as we tooke the case to punish and afflict vs as not after any condigne satisfaction and worthiest amendment the Superiour had authoritie to restore the offender 24 q. 1. ca. Si â—etrus dist 21. ca. inferior depaenit dist 1. ca. verbuÌ„ Siluâ—ster verb. Absolu 1. nu 3. to that which before he depriued him of namely his faculties the
onely instrument and meane of doing good to others and for himselfe to liue by For although in Censures of holy Church regularly he that hath authoritie to bind hath also authoritie to loose and contrary wise he that hath authoritie to loose hath authoritie to bind yet it followed not at least in our vnderstanding the taking away of faculties being no censure that because the Archpriest had authoritie giuen him to take away faculties graunted by whom or whensoeuer therefore he could giue or restore them againe after he had once taken them away in regard his authority being delegatine and after a prescript forme it could not at least as we thought be extended beyond the cases expressed And therefore no expresse signification being made of any such authority in the Constitutiue Letter that he might restore againe all such faculties as he had for any cause taken away we thought the subordination to be much more rigorous or defectiue in this point then that it could be the ordinance or commandemement of his Holinesse A second instance It appeared incredible that his Holinesse bearing so great commendation for mercifulnesse and lenitie as he doth would neuerthelesse enact a new kind of punishment for the Priests of our countrey onely â—ighting in more bloud for maintaining the soueraignty of that Chaire then any other Cleargy at this day in the world We presume to say a new kind of punishment for the Priests of our countrey only because the auncient and vsuall manner of punishing Priests in other countries that shew themselues disobedient vnquiet or stubborne against their Ecclesiasticall superiours is by imposition of censures that is by debarring them the vse of their Priestly functions not by taking their faculties quite from them But in the new subordination authoritie is giuen not onely to suspend or debarre vs from the vse of our faculties but as if that tye and punishment were too slight or brought not misery inough vpon vs we must haue all our faculties taken quite and cleane from vs giuen by whom and whensoeuer A kind of iurisdiction seldome heard of and neuer vsed vpoÌ„ any Pastors such as al the Priests in our country are after a sort reputed to be so named in the 9. Instruction Nor was the iurisdiction euer practised in England while good Cardinal Allen liued but an extremity taken vp only since Fa. Par. began to sit at sterne therby become more bold to vnmaske his violent nature Yea as M. Blackwell now demeaneth the matter and sayth he hath good warrant for it not only al our faculties must be taken wholy away from vs vpon due conuiction of a fault but the like prosecution must be made vpon vs without triall without proofe without summons meerely at the arbitrary disposition of himselfe that is as the euent hath hitherto shewed when so often as he shall imagine or be pleased to pretend a cause A third instance We could not beleeue the action being without an example in Gods Church that his Holinesse determining to make a superiour ouer our whole secular Cleargy would institute no greater a prelate theÌ„ an Archpriest to take the charge especially if his Holinesse then meant so much as in his later Breue is sitheÌ„ce appointed that he should also be a superiour ouer the laity as well honorable as worshipfull And not onely to gouerne all the secular Priests residing within the realme but to gouerne direct and command vs if so we do or shall reside in the kingdome of Scotland A scope which conuinced our vnderstanding that the subordination was not the appointment or decree of his Holinesse but some fine descant or politicke deuice plotted by father Parsons for seruing some turne appertaining to state matters We wish it were not so but it is too plaine for if consideration of matters of this quality were laid aside what reason can be giuen that an Archpriest residing in England should direct and gouerne his Countrey-priests in Scotland where also no English Priests at the time of instituting the authority or since is knowne to reside But father Parsons harbouring some watchfull bugs in his brest and forecasting matters a farre off thought it good wisedome to preuent the contingent which his owne feare or surmizes suggested and to forelay what might fall in time verifying therein the words of our Sauiour The children of this world are Luke 16. wiser then the children of light in their generation A fourth instance On the one side it appeared straunge that his Holinesse hauing set so long in the Chaire as he hath and receiuing aduertisements of the miseries of our Church could be so little weeting to the state of Priestes and lay Catholikes in our countrey as to thinke Priests might be remoued from one residence to another by authority and not great and open daunger to ensue And on the other side if so his Holinesse were ignorant of the lawes of our country or did not vnderstand the miseries and dangers we liue in what sinne could our prolonging be of not subiecting our selues to the new authority till we had informed his Holinesse therein and shewed how inconuenient nay how dangerous or truer how impossible it was for any such iurisdiction to be practised in our countrey vnlesse we did wilfully lay open not onely our selues but our Catholike friends to the hazards of a thousand ieopardies Let that point of the subordination the termes of our realme and the nature of requisite circumstances be considered together and the demonstration is made of as much as is auerred We will here let passe in silence that one of the Assistants the Iesuits chiefe solicitor in forwarding this new authority at Rome was the man who first suggested that clause of remouing Priests from their places of residence to be inserted in the iurisdiction of the Archpriest alleadging such a cause for his good deede as howsoeuer his discretion serued to tell it yet our conscience and feare of preiudice to manie especially if the faculty should happen to be practised as hath bene already threatned will not giue vs leaue to recite it Alexander the third writing to the Archbishop of Râ—uenna and pointing out the respect and duty we should beare to the Sea Apostolike vseth these words Aut mandatum nostrum adimpleas aut quare Ca. Si quando de rescript adimplere non possis rationabilem causam praetendas Either regardfully fulfill our commaundement or alleadge a reasonable cause why you cannot As if the good Pope would haue sayd the commandement of the Sea Apostolicke or of any other superiour ought to be carefully executed vnlesse there be a reasonable cause to the contrary Neither is this a false glosse or an enlarging of the Popes words being the same with the written Glosse Mandatum superioris debet adimpleri vel Glossaibidem reddenda ratio quare non adimpletur The commandement of a superiour ought to be accomplished or a reason rendered why it is not
and Cardinall Burghesio the tenth of Ianuary 1599 against M. Bishop and M. Charnocke affirmeth his Holinesse to be the institutor of the subordination and the Cardinall a witnesse-bearer therof His words in the foresaid bill are these a §. 1. Cum S muâ— D. N. hierarchiam quandam Sacerdotum saecularium inter se sub vno Archipraesbytero duodecim Assistentibus per Ill mi Cardinalis Protectoris Literas ordinasset b §. 2. statim atque D. Georgius Blackwellus Archipresbyter constitutus authoritatem suam Ill mi Cadinalis Caietani literis testatam Roma transmissam perhumaniter vocauit ad se duos ijsque exposuit quid sua S â—aâ— instituisset c. When his Holinesse had ordained by the letters of the most Illustrious Cardinall Protector a certaine Hierarchie of Secular Priests among themselues vnder one Archpriest twelue Assistants and assoone as M. George Blackwell was made Archpriest and had receiued his authority froÌ„ Rome testified by the Letters of the most Illustrious Cardinall Caietane he courteously inuited two Priests to come vnto him declared what his Holines had instituted c. Moreouer our said aduersarie as he wrote these words in the names of master D. Haddocke and M. Martin Array so keeping his old wont still to mask and vent his vntruths vnder the persons of other men commeth in his Preface to the Appendix set forth as he gloseth by the Priests that remaine in due obedience to their lawfull Supeiour to interlace his short notes by way of parenthesises vpoÌ„ his Holines Breue being of his own procuring and suggestion of the points The wordes of the Breue and his parenthesis are these Vos filij praesbyteri qui libenter institutum a nobis Archipraesbyterum suscepistis valdè in Domino commendamus c. You Priests that did receiue willingly the Archpriest appointed by vs mark how he saith not that he was instituted by the Cardinall but by himselfe we do highly commend you Which passages seeming so to auow the subordination to be the act of his Holinesse as the Cardinall was but a witnes or at most a meere Excecutor therof do no doubt if they were true much weaken part of that which hath bene alleaged before as shewing it to be spoken besides the matter But let vs examine the truth of the assertioÌ„s by the tenor and selfe words of the Constitutiue Letter the rule and only touchstone for triall of the premisses And to cite but one place of many for auoiding tediousnesse Cum igitur non parum c. Sith therefore some men thinke that it would not a little auaile to the procuring of peace and concord if a subordination were constituted among the English Priests and the reasons yeelded by the Priests themselues for the same matter were approued by our holy Father we following the most pious and prudent will of his Holinesse haue decreed to ordaine the same and for directing and gouerning the Priests of the English nation that now conuerse in the kingdomes of England or Scotland or shall hereafter reside there whiles this our ordination shall continue we chuse you to whom for the time we commit our steed and office induced vpon relation and the publicke fame of your vertue learning wisedome and labours taken for many yeares in the trimming of this vineyard And the faculties which for this purpose we graunt vnto you are these First that you haue the title and authoritie of an Archpriest ouer all the Seminary secular Priestes to direct admonish reprehend or also chastise them when neede shall require and this either by abridging or taking away their faculties Now let the indifferent iudge whether the Constitutiue Letter doth more shew his Holinesse or the Cardinall to be the institutor of the Subordination or whether it conuinceth not that the Cardinall had a greater part in the institution thereof then the part of a witnesse or of an Executor onely The Cardinal writeth to M. Blackwell We chuse and substitute you to be our vicegerent Ours saith the Cardinall not the Popes In what In directing and gouerning the English Priests Where In the kingdomes of England or Scotland How long So long as this our ordination shall endure Ours againe not the Popes Vpon what cause Induced thereunto marke who was induced and consequently who elected the Archpriest by the common bruite of your vertue erudition prudence and the long continuance of your labours to the splendor of the English Church To what end To direct admonish and correct the seminarie secular Priestes In what sort By restraining or taking away their faculties Who giueth him this power and iurisdiction ouer his brethren The faculties which for this purpose we saith the Cardinall not the Pope graunt vnto you are these Ergo the Cardinall was more then a witnesser of the subordination because a witnesser hath no authoritie to delegate And as little can the executor call the fact of his superiour his owne ordination or yeeld the reason why he made choice of such a deputie as the Cardinall doth both Because as c 2 p. Consil Cons 11. nu 4. Panormitane writeth and other d Glossan ca. super Quaestionum de off Deleg Siluâ—st ver Executor nu 1. Fumus â—od vâ—r nu 1. in l. Executorem c. de exec rei iud authors agree in the same Executor est ille qui habet nudum ministerium facti in exequendo dispositum per alium He is called an Executor that hath the bare ministerie of a fact in executing things disposed by an other that is as the same Authour interpreteth in another place e In ca. super Quaestionum de off Deleg nu 10. his Superiour Againe the Cardinall writeth We following the will of his Holinesse haue decreed to ordaine the subordination Ergo if the Cardinal decreed it as himselfe affirmeth he was more vndoubtedly then a witnesser or an Executor thereof and giuing authoritie to the Archpriest to dispose of secular Priests in our Countrey to remoue and change them from one residence to another to heare and determine their doubts with other like faculties which without question are the substance the principall part the very sinewes heart and life of the Subordination it followeth of necessitie that his Grace carried another person in instituting the subordination then the person of a witnesse or an Executor onely Furthermore if his Grace decreed the subordination as nothing can be plainer spoken by himselfe then that he did he either decreed it without authoritie which we trust our aduersaries will not graunt or by authoritie from his Holinesse because neither of his two titles either of being Cardinall or of being our Protector did giue him sufficient iurisdiction to institute so rare ample and soueraigne superioritie ouer vs. And if by authoritie from his Holines then we haue what our aduersaries would seem to flie from and * Throughout the second Reason and in the beginning of the third all the authorities