Spondent Pariter (sometimes referred to as Spondent quas non exhibent [1] ) was a papal decretal promulgated in 1317 by Pope John XXII forbidding the practice of alchemy. [2] The rationale provided for the ban in the decretal is not a specifically theological one, [3] but instead a moral condemnation, with the Pope expounding how fraudulent alchemists exploited the poor and charging them with knowingly engaging in falsehood. [4]
Calling it "The Crime of Falsification", the Pope specified that any person who either produced, successfully ordered the production of, assisted in the production of or knowingly sold false alchemic metals in attempt to pay off debt should be sentenced to pay a fine; the fine was to be calculated by weighing the alchemic metal and then charging however much that weight of real silver or gold would cost. [4] Provisions were also made for those who could not afford to pay, the decree stated that other forms of punishment were allowed to be used, such as imprisonment, but that the precise sentence depended on the surrounding factors of the case. [4] Those who went on to use alchemic metals for the forging of coins were also condemned (one possible motivating factor for this inclusion being that the papacy was located in the French commune of Avignon, which had a lot of counterfeit currency in circulation), [3] but the harshest punishment was reserved for clerics, who if found guilty, were to be subjected to the loss of all their clerical benefices and denied the chance to regain them in the future, in addition to the normal punishment detailed above. [4] As a result of the decree, alchemists were forced to conduct their practice in secret. [5]
The decretal is frequently misunderstood to have been an anti-science (specifically an anti-chemistry) edict, but this is false – it was specifically against fraudulent alchemy. [2] [6] Pope John XXII had himself studied chemistry before entering the clergy, [2] and his papacy was marked by events which led one historian to remark that he was "one of the most liberal patrons of education and of science in history.". [6]
Spondent Pariter is sometimes referred to as a papal bull, though canonically it is not a bull but a less important document termed a decretal, specifically an Extravagantes. [6] It is listed in Corpus Juris Canonici Tome II (published in Lyons, 1799), but not in the ordinary list of Pope John XXII's bulls. [6]
Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practised throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, originating in Greco-Roman Egypt in the first few centuries.
An Abbreviator or Breviator was a writer of the Papal Chancery who adumbrated and prepared in correct form Papal bulls, briefs, and consistorial decrees before these were written out in extenso by the scriptores.
Pope John XXII, born Jacques Duèze, was Pope from 7 August 1316 to his death in 1334.
The Avignon Papacy, also known as the Babylonian Captivity, was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon rather than in Rome. The situation arose from the conflict between the papacy and the French crown, culminating in the death of Pope Boniface VIII after his arrest and maltreatment by Philip IV of France. Following the further death of Pope Benedict XI, Philip forced a deadlocked conclave to elect the French Clement V as pope in 1305. Clement refused to move to Rome, and in 1309 he moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remained for the next 67 years. This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian captivity of the Papacy".
Year 1317 (MCCCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.
Pope Paul IV, C.R., born Gian Pietro Carafa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in 1559. While serving as papal nuncio in Spain, he developed an anti-Spanish outlook that later coloured his papacy. A part of the Papal States was invaded by Spain during his papacy and in response to this, he called for a French military intervention. To avoid a conflict at the same time of the Italian War of 1551–1559, the Papacy and Spain reached a compromise with the Treaty of Cave: French and Spanish forces left the Papal States and the Pope adopted a neutral stance between France and Spain.
The temporal power or jurisdiction of the Holy See designates the political and secular influence of the Holy See, the jurisdiction of the pope of the Catholic Church, as distinguished from its spiritual and pastoral activity.
The Fraticelli or Spiritual Franciscans were extreme proponents of the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual churchmen as invalidating their status. They thus claimed that everyone else in the Church were damned and deprived of powers and were declared heretical in 1296 by Boniface VIII.
A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by a pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden seal (bulla) that was traditionally appended to the end in order to authenticate it.
Michael of Cesena was an Italian Franciscan, minister-general of that Order, and theologian. His advocacy of Evangelical poverty brought him into conflict with Pope John XXII.
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be named after Pope Gregory VII (1073–85), though he personally denied it and claimed his reforms, like his regnal name, honoured Pope Gregory I.
Conciliarism was a reform movement in the 14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church which held that supreme authority in the Church resided with an Ecumenical council, apart from, or even against, the pope. The movement emerged in response to the Western Schism between rival popes in Rome and Avignon. The schism inspired the summoning of the Council of Pisa (1409), which failed to end the schism, and the Council of Constance (1414–1418), which succeeded and proclaimed its own superiority over the Pope. Conciliarism reached its apex with the Council of Basel (1431–1449), which ultimately fell apart. The eventual victor in the conflict was the institution of the Papacy, confirmed by the condemnation of conciliarism at the Fifth Lateran Council, 1512–17. The final gesture however, the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, was not promulgated until the First Vatican Council of 1870.
Decretals are letters of a pope that formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church.
The Declaration of Rhens or Treaty of Rhens was a decree or Kurverein of the Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire issued in 1338 and initiated by Baldwin of Luxembourg, the Archbishop of Trier and brother of the late Emperor Henry VII.
The Corpus Juris Canonici is a collection of significant sources of the canon law of the Catholic Church that was applicable to the Latin Church. It was replaced by the 1917 Code of Canon Law which went into effect in 1918. The 1917 Code was later replaced by the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the codification of canon law currently in effect for the Latin Church. In 1990, Oriental canon law was codified in the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, which is currently in effect for the Eastern Catholic Churches.
The Liber Septimus may refer to one of three canonical collections of quite different value from a legal standpoint which are known by this title:
Ad abolendam was a decretal and bull of Pope Lucius III, written at Verona and issued 4 November 1184. It was issued after the Council of Verona settled some jurisdictional differences between the Papacy and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The document prescribes measures to uproot heresy and sparked the efforts which culminated in the Albigensian Crusade and the Inquisitions. Its chief aim was the complete abolition of Christian heresy.
The term Extravagantes is applied to the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, to designate some papal decretals not contained in certain canonical collections which possess a special authority. More precisely, they are not found in Gratian's Decretum or the three official collections of the Corpus Juris Canonici.
The papal conclave of 1314–16, held in the apostolic palace of Carpentras and then the Dominican house in Lyon, was one of the longest conclaves in the history of the Roman Catholic Church and the first conclave of the Avignon Papacy. The length of the conclave was due to the division of the cardinals into three factions: Italian, Gascon, and French/Provençal.
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church that states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error "when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church." Infallibility is, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, "more than a simple, de facto absence of error. It is a positive perfection, ruling out the possibility of error".