Quod propter vindictam noxiorum gladius principi a Deo permissus est
The Sword Granted by God
Saint Innocent cites ancient practice and divine permission to show that the sword for punishing wrongdoers was granted by God to rulers.
And here Saint Innocent, in his own Decrees, asked Bishop Exsuperius of Toulouse: 'It has been asked,' he says, 'concerning those who, after administering baptism, have either inflicted torments alone or even pronounced a capital sentence.' On these matters we find nothing defined by the ancestors. For they remembered that these powers had been granted by God, and that the sword had been permitted for the punishment of wrongdoers, and that the minister of God had been given as an avenger of this kind. How then could they censure a deed which they saw had been permitted by the Lord as its author?
Holding Fast and Rendering Account
The Church preserves existing practice so as not to overturn discipline or oppose the Lord's authority, while leaving all deeds to be accounted for before God.
Therefore, on these matters, we hold as it has been preserved up to now, so that we may not seem either to overturn discipline or to go against the authority of the Lord. But for them, all their deeds will be preserved for an account to be rendered. »
Read the original Latin
Et hinc sanctus Innocentius ad Exsuperium Tolosanum episcopum in Decretis suis: « Quaesitum est, inquit, super his qui post baptismum administraverunt, et aut tormenta sola exercuerunt, aut etiam capitalem protulere sententiam. De his nihil legimus a majoribus definitum. Meminerant enim a Deo potestates has fuisse concessas, et propter vindictam noxiorum gladium fuisse permissum, et Dei ministrum esse datum in hujusmodi vindicem. Quomodo igitur reprehenderent factum quod auctore Domino viderent esse concessum? De his ergo ita ut hactenus servatum est sic habemus, ne aut disciplinam evertere, aut contra auctoritatem Domini venire videamur. Ipsis autem in ratione reddenda gesta sua omnia servabuntur. »
On the Person and Ministry of the King (De regis persona et regio ministerio) companion
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