Por qué los príncipes seglares, no siendo jueces de la Iglesia, hacen leyes que pertenecen á ella.
The Prince as Protector, Not Judge
The secular prince must defend the Church and enforce her laws without usurping the authority to define doctrine or judge ecclesiastical matters.
And if anyone should ask why emperors, kings, and secular princes—though they may not meddle in purely ecclesiastical matters, as we have already explained—have made laws and decrees concerning priests, religious, churches, and monasteries, as can be seen in the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian, in the Novels and constitutions of many princes, and in the Sanctions of the kingdom of France and the Partidas of Spain (for it seems contradictory to make so many laws on ecclesiastical matters while being forbidden to meddle in them): to this I answer what the emperor Constantine said to the bishops: "You are bishops within the Church, and I am bishop outside the Church"—to make clear that it belongs to the ecclesiastical prelates to judge, define, and order what ought to be believed and done in everything that belongs to our holy religion and to ecclesiastical persons and things, over which the secular prince has neither vote nor power, as we have said; but he does have power to support what the prelates establish, to favor it, to command that it be kept under severe penalties, and to punish severely those who will not obey. And in this way he will be, after his own fashion, a bishop outside the Church, seeing that what she orders is kept.1 And so that it may be better understood that those princes were not making laws against the Church, but in favor of the Church, and that their intention was not to prescribe to the bishops what they were to order and judge, but to enforce what they, as pastors, had already ordered and judged, and with their powerful arm to protect, defend, and command the execution of the Church's mandates and ordinances in their own laws and constitutions, they say at times—as Anastasius Germonius well noted—that what they command is in accordance with the sacred canons and precepts of the holy Fathers; at other times, that it is according to the precept of the Apostle; at others, that the sacred rules so command it; at others, that proceedings be according to the canonical form or according to the sacred canons. The princes would never have laid their hands on such matters if the bishops and the councils themselves had not asked and charged them to do so, as is evident from the Councils of Carthage and Africa. For this same reason, the emperors Valentinian and Marcian wrote to the prefect Palladius that any and all constitutions and pragmatic sanctions of princes that ran contrary to the ecclesiastical canons should be held null and void.2 Furthermore, the emperor Frederick decreed that not only constitutions, but any statute or custom contrary to the liberty of the Church should be null by the law itself (ipso jure).3 This proves that Christian kings, whom we are discussing, must defend and protect the Catholic Church, and that they may neither meddle in nor usurp the judgment and definition of ecclesiastical matters that belong to her, because those belong properly to the ecclesiastical superiors to whom God has entrusted and reserved them.
The Danger of Corrupt Ministers
Princes must exercise extreme caution in selecting the ministers they entrust with ecclesiastical duties, as corrupt agents can undermine even the most pious intentions.
Before I finish this point, I want to warn Christian and devout princes of one thing of the highest importance: when they take up ecclesiastical matters to fulfill their duty to God and His holy religion—not to define or judge them, but to support and advance them—they must be careful about whom they entrust with the task. A prince's intention may be holy and pure, but his ministers' may not be. In fact, they sometimes bring blame upon their prince and make people doubt that the water is clean and clear at its source, because they see it running muddy and mired, taking on the color of the ground it passes through.4 The emperor Theodosius the Younger was a very religious, devout, and pious prince, so dedicated to the worship and reverence of God that God Himself favored him many times with miracles, shattered the armies that rose against him, and gave him victory over his enemies. As mentioned earlier, some notable favors and acts of kindness from the Lord that occurred during his reign were attributed to his merits and prayers.
The Lesson of Ephesus
The history of the Council of Ephesus illustrates how heretics and deceitful ministers can manipulate a pious prince, necessitating vigilance in both governance and the defense of the faith.
During his reign, the heresy of Nestorius, the archbishop of Constantinople, emerged; he claimed that our Lady, the glorious Queen of the angels, should not be called the Mother of God. This blasphemy caused enormous scandal and turmoil throughout the Catholic Church—and rightly so. To calm the situation, the good emperor Theodosius arranged for a general council to be held at Ephesus. It took place with Saint Cyril of Alexandria presiding, to whom Pope Celestine had committed his authority, along with other legates sent from Rome to attend in his name. This holy universal council is one of the four ecumenical councils that Pope Saint Gregory said he revered as he did the four holy Gospels. The Emperor sent a leading nobleman named Candidian, expressly ordering him not to meddle in ecclesiastical matters, but to leave them for the bishops to define, as we have said, and to serve them and give them support, so that with full freedom and peace they might decree what the Holy Spirit inspired in them. The pious Emperor was distressed by the false reports he received. Wanting to know the truth from the source, he sent a new commissioner with great authority to the council, so that he could be carefully informed of everything happening and report back to him.5 And if the first was bad, this second was worse, because he joined forces with Nestorius and with Candidian, and besides writing a thousand lies to his lord, he arrested the holy legate of the Apostolic See, Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, and kept him under tight restraint, and ordered all the bishops (who, the council already finished, wanted to return to their homes) that none should leave the city of Ephesus.6 And to be brief: though the Emperor was most pious and most eager to get things right and to serve the Catholic Church, the cunning of the heretics and the disloyalty and wickedness of the Emperor’s own ministers were so great that the whole council stood as if imprisoned and detained, until Theodosius, learning the truth, set it free, ordered that what had been determined in it be carried out, and that Nestorius and his followers, and the ministers who had deceived him, be punished and stripped of their offices and dignities—as can be seen in the church histories of those times, in Cyril’s Apology, and in the acts of that same Council of Ephesus, which Caesar Baronius records; all of which I have wanted to relate here so that the artifice and deception heretics perpetually use may be better understood—throwing their guilt onto the judges who condemn and punish them—and the caution the Christian prince must keep, both in handling ecclesiastical cases and in watching whom he entrusts them to; but let us return to what we proposed above, take up the thread we have begun, and prove that it is impossible for Catholics and heretics to mix well and form the body of a commonwealth in full peace and quiet.7
Read the original Latin
Y sialguno preguntáre por qué los emperadores, reyes y príncipes seglares, no pudiendo entremeterse en las cosas que son puramente eclesiásticas, como queda declarado, han hecho leyes y decretos tocantes á los sacerdotes, religiosos, iglosias y monesterios, como se ve en el Códice de Teodosio y de Justiniano, y en las novelas y constituciunes de muchos principes, y en las Sanciones del reino de Francia y Partidas del de España, porque parece que repugna el hacer tantas leyes de cosas eclesiásticas y no poderse entremeter en ellas; á esto respondo lo que dijo el emperador Constantino á los obispos: «Vosotros sois obispos dentro de la Iglesia, y yo lo soy fuera de la Iglesia»; para dar á entender que á los perlados eclesiásticos toca juzgar, difinir y ordenar lo que se debe creer y hacer en todo lo que pertenece á nuestra santa religion y á las personas y cosas eclesiásticas, en las cuales el principe seglar no tiene voto ni poder, como dijimos; pero tiúncle para apoyar lo que por los perlados fucre establecido, y favorecerlo y mandarlo guardar so graves penas, y castigar severamente á los que no obedecieren, y desta mancra será á su modo obispo fuera de la Iglesia, haciendo guardar lo que ella ordena. Y para que mejor se entendiese que los dichos principes no hacian leyes contra la Iglesia, sino en favor de la Iglesia, ni su intencion era dar forma á los obispos de lo que habian de ordenar y juzgar, sino hacer guardar lo que ellos, como pastores, habian ordenado y juzgado, y con su brazo poderoso amparar, defender y mandar ejecutar los mandatos y ordenaciones de la Iglesia en sus mismas leyes y constituciones, dicen unas veces, como bien lo notó Anastasio Germonio, que lo que mandan es conforme á los sagrados cánones y preceptos de los Santos Padres; otras, que es conforme al precepto del Apóstol; otras, que porque así lo mandan las reglas sagradas; otras, que se proceda segun la forma canónica ó segun los sagrados cánones. Y no hubieran puesto la mano los principes en semejantes materias, si los obispos y los mismos concilios no se lo hubieran rogado y encargado, como se saca de los concilios Cartaginense y Africano. Y por esta misma causa los emperadores Valentiniano y Marciano escribieron á Paladio, prefecto, que todas y cualesquier constituciones y premáticas sanciones de los principes que fuesen contra los cánones eclesiásticos se tuviesen por nulas y de ningun valor y firmeza. Y no solamente las constituciones, pero cualquiera estatuto 6 costumbre contraria á la libertad de la Iylesia, quiso el emperador Federico que ipso jure fuese nula. Con esto queda probado que los reyes cristianos (de los cuales hablamos) deben defender y amparar la Iglesia católica, y que no se pueden entremeter ni usurpar el juicio y difinicion de las cosas eclesiásticas que á ella tocan, porque son propias de los superiores eclesiásticos, á quien Dios las tiene encomendadas y reservadas.
Antes de acabar este punto que habemos declarado, quiero advertir á los principes cristianos y piadosos nna cosa de suma importancia, y es: que cuando, para cumplir con la obligacion de su oficio y con lo que deben á Dios y á su santísima religion, pusieren la mano en algunas cosas eclesiásticas, no para difinirlas y juzgarlas, sino para favorecerlas y encaminarlas, miren mucho á quién las encomiendan; porque alrunas veces la intencion del príncipe es santa y pura, mas no lo es la de sus ministros; ántes algunas veces dan ocasion á su principe y hacen que no se crea que el agua es limpia y clara en su fuente, porque se ve correr turbia y cenagosa, tomando la color de la tierra por donde pasa. El emperador Teodosio el menor fué principe muy religioso, devoto y pío, y tan dado al culto y reverencia de Dios, que el mismo Dios le favoreció muchas veces milagrosamente, y desbarató los ejércitos que venian contra él, y le dió vitorias contra sus enemigos, y algunas notables y de mucho regalo y favor del Señor, que acontecieron en su tiempo, se atribuyeron á sus merecimientos y oraciones, como se dijo arriba.
En su tiempo se levantó la herejía de Nestorio, arzobispo de Constantinopla, que decia que no se habia de llamar madre de Dios la gloriosa Reina de los ángeles nuestra Señora. Hubo de esta blasfemia grandisimo escándalo y turbacion en toda la Iglesia católica, y con razon; y para sosegarla, el buen emperador Teodosio procuró que se juntase en Efeso concilio general, como se hizo, presidiendo en él san Cirilo, alejandrino, á quien el papa Celestino cometió sus veces, y otros legados enviados de Roma, para asistir, en su nombre, en este santo universal concilio, que es uno de los cuatro concilios ecuménicos que san Gregorio, papa, dice que reverenciaba como los santos cuatro evangelios. Envió el Emperador á un caballero principal, llamado Candidiano, mandándole expresamente que no se entremetiese en las cosas eclesiásticas, sino que las dejase difinir á los obispos, como dijimos, y que los sirviese y diese favor, para que con toda libertad y quietud decretasen lo que el Espíritu Santo les inspirase. Fué cn aquel santo Afligióse el piadoso Emperador con las falsas nuevas que le dieron, y deseando saber de raíz la verdad, envió nuevo comisario ó embajador, con gran potestad, al concilio, para que se informaso puntualmente de todo lo que pasaba, y le avisase. Y si el primero fué malo, este segundo fué peor, porque se confederó con Nestorio y con Candidiano, y demas de escrebir á su sefior mil mentiras, prendió al santo legado de la Sede Apostólica, Cirilo, obispo de Alejandría, y le tuvo muy apretado, y mandó á todos los obispos (que, acabado ya el concilio, se querían volver á sus casas) que ninguno saliese de la ciudad de Efeso. Y por abreviar, siendo el Emperador piadosísimo y deseosisimo do acertar y de servir á la Iglesia católica, fué tan grande la astucia de los herejes y la infidelidad y maldad de los ministros del mismo Emperador, que estuvo como preso y detenido todo el concilio, hasta que Teodosio, sabiendo la verdad, le dió libertad, y mandó que se ejecutase lo que se habia determinado en él, y que Nestorio y sus secuaces, y los ministros que le habían engañado, fuesen castigados y privados de sus cargos y dignidades, como se ve en las historias eclesiásticas de aquellos tiempos y en la Apología de Cirilo y en las actas del mismo concilio Efesino, que trae César Baronio; lo cual he querido referir aqui para que mejor se entienda el artificio y engaño de que perpetuamente usan los herejes, echando sus culpas á los jueces que los condenan y castigan, y el recato que dcbe guardar el príncipe cristiano, así en el tratar de las causas eclesiásticas, como en el mirar de quién las fia; pero volvamos á lo que arriba propusimos, y sigamos el hilo que habemos comenzado, y probemos que es imposible que católicos y herejes hagan buena mezcla y formen el cuerpo de una república con entera paz y quietud.
Notes
- 1 ↩Translated from the most plausible readings of OCR/period forms: sialguno→si alguno; iglosias→iglesias; monesterios→monasterios; constituciunes→constituciones; tiúncle→tiénelo; fucre→fuere; mancra→manera; perlados=prelates; difinir=definir.
- 2 ↩"premáticas sanciones" rendered as "pragmatic sanctions" (imperial acts with force of law), not modern diplomatic "pragmatic sanction" only.
- 3 ↩Read "estatuto 6 costumbre" as "estatuto o costumbre" (OCR 6 for o) and "Iylesia" as "Iglesia".
- 4 ↩Source reading corrected from obvious print/OCR errors: «nna» → «una»; «alrunas» → «algunas».
- 5 ↩Source opens with a corrupt/truncated fragment «Fué cn aquel santo» before «Afligióse…»; the continuous sense after that break was translated. Also corrected «cn»→«en» and «informaso»→«informase» as obvious orthographic damage. The lost words likely described Candidian’s misconduct at the holy council (implied by s5’s «si el primero fué malo»), but that missing material was not invented.
- 6 ↩Obvious print/OCR corrections applied: «escrebir»→«escribir»; «sefior»→«señor».
- 7 ↩Obvious print/OCR corrections applied: «deseosisimo do acertar»→«deseosísimo de acertar»; «dcbe»→«debe».
Tratado de la Religión y Virtudes que debe tener el Príncipe Cristiano (The Religion and Virtues of the Christian Prince) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit