status ex conditione viri, qui caput est mulieris, attendi potest, quæ dicenda se offerunt, ex industriâ præteream: jam obsecro ad eos, qui in sortem domini vocati, clericalique insigniti charactere, præcipuam animarum curam ac sollicitudinem gerunt, omnem mentem atque cogitationem conjicite. Quid enim inde regendis ovibus documenti, quid utilitatis, quid salutis sperari possit, clarius atque apertuis conspicaberis. Heu! heu! miseros patres talia ex ore meo de filiis audituros! sed me longè miseriorem, propriis eadem labiis prolaturum, miserrimos autem eos, qui et vobis audiendi occasionem et mihi dicendi causam suis operibus præbuere. Eo devenit insignis noster clericorum ordo, ut contempto acceptabili tempore, tantaque dierum nostrorum neglecta salute, caritatis regnum usque adeò destruximus, cupiditatis vero tyrannidem auxerimus, utne præclaram hanc ipsam militiam nostram coram divina majestate dictis factisque mentiamur, et vobis pro vestræ in nos pietatis officio diligentissimè advertendum, et nobis ex pungenti conscientiæ stimulo vehementissimè sit timendum. Neque enim modo, ut Augustini utar verbis, mendacium illud, falsa proferre, sed episcopum se aut sacerdotem vel clericum profiteri, et contraria huic ordini operari. Sacra parumper volumina revolvere placeat, vetusta patrum scuta perscrutari, omnem denique canonum tenorem repetere nonne clericum adulatorem impiuinque, proximi proditorem, maledicum, fratrisque sui perversum insimulatorem, invidum, pacisq alienæ seditiosum perturbatorem, ambitiosum, sacrarumque dignitatum sacrilegum usurpatorem, adulterum, cæterarumque obscoenitatum turpissi mum perpetratorem, crudelem per se, injuriarumque suarum sævissimum vindicatorem, fœneratorem, turpiumque lucrorum nefandissimum quæstorem; nonne, inquam, hujusmodi omnes clericos, aut ad sacerdotium non promoveri, aut promotos partim ab ordine sacerdotali deponi, partim verò suspendi omninò debere, eorumdem sacro rum voluminum, scitorumque patrum, ac priscorum canonum summa auctoritate, inviolabilique decreto didicimus? Quod si ecclesiæ matris nostræ benignitas, providis suis conciliis a tanta priscorum canonum severitate aliquantulum non temperasset, quonam ejusmodi cleri tempestate nostra confugerent? Quo consciam sibi tot scelerum faciem obvolverent? Cujus opem ac misericordiam non formidarent? Nam dum omnibus ecclesiæ gradibus ita discussis, ad urbem ipsam, quam Babylonem apostolorum princeps, divino afflatus Spiritu, nuncupavit, aciem mentis conjicio, ejusque incolas pastores, qui quotidiè per universam terrarum orbem animarum saluti præficiuntur, tantorum causam errorum interrogatione contendo; ecce divinam illam sponsam Jerusalem supernam, mystici sui corporis splendore fulgentem, aut ipsius sponsi humanitatis fulgore splendentem, sed lugubri indutam veste, totam squalore confectam, lacrymisque perfusam, ad infimum suum corpus, quod hac fidelium unitate representatur, visitandum descendere, nescio quo intuitu videor with filth and bathed in tears, descending to visit her humble body below, which is represented by this union of the faithful, and, cast at the pope's most holy feet, to hear her with dishevelled hair deploring these things with many sighs, "Am I, O sweetest husband, once your only beloved and beautiful, become such, that I may now exclaim, Look not on me for I am dark? Is this my renowned and celebrated house, which I now behold frequented by none, almost deserted and in a filthy state? Is this the flourishing vine, which when expecting it to produce grapes, I perceive to have produced thorns and thistles? Where, O beloved husband, is my well-watered garden? Where are my white lilies? Where are my never-fading roses? Have not all these things vanished, the glory of Lebanon and the beauty of Carmel deserting me? Where are the pastures of my flock which I now survey as the parched fields of the desert? Where are the shepherds of the flock, whom I understand command rather than profit, disperse rather than collect, slay rather than save? Where lastly are the dear sons to whom I gave birth, whom I brought up, cherished and beautified? They also have despised me, and have set up their horns against me as against a little one not arrived at maternal stature. Come to me, O father, succour me, O son, hasten to me, O husband. For I reverence you, in your character as the vicar of God, as a father, in your character as a man I love you as a son, in your character as the governor of the universal church I embrace you as a husband. You have heard, O fathers, the sighs of your mother, you have beheld her tears, you have understood her vociferations, you have perceived her entreaties of your pity and your piety. Exert yourselves, therefore, O venerated fathers, for it is expedient to call upon you before all others. To this so necessary and salutary reformation of morals, apply, direct, steadfastly turn and fix all your thoughts, vigilance, counsel, industry, work, and efforts. Labbaus and Cossart, tom. 14, p. 414 Pope Clement 7. An. Ch. 1524. A Constitution for removing Abuses, and an Ordinance for reforming the Life of the Clergy, by the Most Reverend Father and Lord in Christ, Lawrence, Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church, &c. &c. Lawrence, by the divine mercy, cardinal priest of the church of Rome, by the title of St. Anastasia, legate of our lord the pope and of the apostolic see throughout all Germany and the kingdoms of Hungary, &c. Many things having been discussed and chiefly by what counsels and in what manner they should decide respecting the abovementioned German nation which was thus in peril, it was universally agreed, that this most depraved heresy, so acceptable to the people on account of the liberty falsely inculcated under the pretence of evangelical charity, had derived no little advantage, partly from the abandoned morals and lives of the clergy, partly from the no longer to be concealed mihi conspicere, taliaque ad sacratissimos pontificis pedes sparsis cri, nibus provolutam, multo cum gemito deplorantem audire. "Hæccine ego, suavissime sponse, unica illa dilecta tua atque formosa, quæ jam clamare possum, noli me considerare quia fusca sum? Hæccine inclyta mea celebrisque domus, quam pænè desertam ac situ squalentem a nemine video frequentari? Hæccine florida illa vinea, quam ut produceret uvas spectans, eam spinas tribulosque produxisse prospicio ? Ubi ille, jucundissime sponse, hortus meus irriguus? Ubi lilia niea candentia? Ubi rosæ immarcessibiles? Nonne hæc omnia, gloriâ Libani cum decore Carmeli a me transeunte, evanuere? Ubi pascua gregis mei, quæ tanquam arva deserti arefacta perlustro? Ubi pastores gregis, quos præesse potius quam prodesse, dispergere quam colligere, mactare quam salvare intelligo? Ubi demum carissimi illi filii, quos genui, quos educavi, quos fovi, quos decoravi? Illi autem spreverunt me, et adversus me tanquam parvulam, maternaque ubera non habentem, cornua erexêre. Accurre pater, succurre fili, occurre sponse: Ego enin te, ut Dei vicarium patrem colo, ut hominem filium diligo, ut ecclesiæ universæ præpositum sponsum amplector." Miseremini autem, miseremini mei, vos quoque amici mei, quia filii dereliquerunt me, et ex carissimis meis, non est qui consoletur ine. (Job. 19.) Audistis patres, matris vestræ singultus, lacrymas conspexistis, vociferationes intellexistis, implora tionem misericordiæ, pietatisque vestræ animadvertistis. Eia. Agite, observandi antistites vos primò nunc appellare juvat. Omnem, quæso, cogitationem, vigilantiam, consilium, industriam, operam atque conatum in hanc ipsam tam necessariam tamque salubrem morum reformationem, intendite, adhibite, configite, et locate. Labbai, tom. 14, p. 414, Clement 7, P.-An. Ch. 1524. Constitutio ad removendos Abusus, et Ordinatio ad Cleri vitam Reformandam, per Reverendissimum in Christo patrem et Dominum Laurentium tituli Sancto Romanæ Ecclesiæ Presbyterum Cardinalem, &c. &c. Laurentius miseratione divina tituli Sanctæ Anastasia, Romanæ ecclesiæ presbyter cardinalis, per universam Germaniam, ac Hungariæ, et Bohemiæ, Poloniæque regna, et quæcumque alia loco ad quæ nos declinare contigerit, domini nostri papa et apostolicæ sedis legatos, ad perpetuam rei memoriam. Pluribus hinc in discussionem allatis, et præcipuè quibus consiliis,: quibusque modis præfatæ Germanicæ periclitanti consuleretur, paribus sententiis receptum fuit, hanc perditissimam hæresin rudi populo. plausibilem, ob libertatem illi falsò persuasam prætextu evangelicæ caritatis, non parvam habuisse occasionem, partim a perditis moribus et vita clericorum, partim ob non diutius dissimulandum sacrarum sanctionum, ecclesiasticorumq constitutionum abusum, et proinde: abuse of the sacred ordinances and the ecclesiastical constitutions, and hence that it would be of no little importance in extirpating Lutheran heretics, and the sect of their followers, that the clergy should be brought back by due censures to an honourable way of living, and to those morals which the divine Paul demands and requires, and that the abuses which offend the laity should be removed. Council of Trent. Labbæus and Cossart, vol. 14, p. 733, Pope Paul 3, An. Dom. 1545, The decree of the first Session for beginning the Council. Is it your pleasure to decree and declare that the holy and general council of Trent shall begin, and that it is begun, to the praise and glory of the holy and undivided Trinity, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to the increase and exaltation of the faith and Christian religion, to the extirpation of heresies, to the peace and union of the church, to the reformation of the clergy and the Christian people, and to the depression and extinction of the enemies of the Christian name? They answered, it is our pleasure. Page 754. The Advice and Exhortation of the Legates of the Apostlic See to the Fathers in the Council of Trent, which was read at the first Session. * In order, therefore, to begin with that of which we ought first of all to be admonished, each of us ought in the first place to set before his eyes the things which are expected from this council, whence every one will easily understand what a responsibility rests upon him. To comprehend all things in a few words, they are the same which are contained in the bull for the appointment of the council, namely, the extirpation of heresies, and the reformation of ecclesiastical discipline and morals, and finally the eternal peace of the whole church. *That we should at length do this, justice itself requires of us, namely, that we should confess ourselves as guilty before the tribunal of God's mercy of all these evils by which the flock of Christ is oppressed, and transferring to ourselves, not so much from a feeling of piety as from a sense of justice, the sins of all, because in truth we are in a great measure the cause of these evils, we should implore the divine mercy through Jesus Christ. But if any one thinks that what we have said, namely, that we who are pastors have given rise to the evils by which the church is oppressed, is too severe and an exaggeration rather than truth, experience, which cannot deceive, will prove it. Let us observe, therefore, a little the evils by which the church is oppressed, and at the same time also our own sins. But can any one number these, which with the other ills surpass in number the sea-sand, and cry out even to heaven? There are none of those things, I affirm, which are recorded in the book of pastoral abuses, which the greater part of non parùm momenti fore extirpandæ hæreticorum Lutheranorum, et eorum sequacium sectæ, ut clerici ad honestatem vitæ moresque suos illos, quos divus Paulus exigit et præscribit, debitâ censura reducti, abususque laicos malè offendentes, sublati fuerint. Labbai, tom. 1, p. 733. Paulus 3, An. Ch. 1545. Decretum prima Sessions de inchoando Concilio. Placetne vobis ad laudem et gloriam sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ad incrementum et exaltationem fidei et religionis Christianæ, ad extirpationem hæresum, ad pacem et unionem ecclesiæ, ad reformationem cleri et populi Christiani, ad depressionem et extinctionem hostium Christiani nominis, decernere et declarare sacrum Tridentinum et generale concilium incipere, et inceptum esse? Responderunt, Placet. Page 734. Admonitio atque Hortatio Legatorum sedis Apostolica ad Patres in Concilio Tridentino, Lecta in prima Sessione. ** Igitur ut ab eo incipiamus, de quo maximè in hoc principio admonendi omnes sumus, unusquisque nostrum ante oculos sibi imprimis proponere debet, quænam sint quæ ab hoc concilio expectentur, ex quo quisque facilè intelliget, quantum sibi oneris incumbat. Sunt vero ea, (ut omnia summatim amplectamur) quæ in bulla indictionis concilii continentur; nempe hæresum extirpatio, disciplina ecclesiastica et morum reformatio, ac tandem pax eterna totius. ecclesiæ. 735 Hoc nunc ut ipsi faciamus, justitia ipsa a nobis flagitat, ut omnium horum malorum, quibus grex Christi est oppresfus, nos pastores coram tribunali misericordia Dei reos constituamus, atque omnium peccata in nos ipsos non tam piè quam justè transferentes, quia reverâ horum malorum magna ex parte nos causa sumus, divinam misericordiam per Jesum Christum imploremus. Quod verè dicimus, nos pastores his malis, quibus ecclesia est oppressa, causam dedisse, si quis hoc acrius, et magis per exaggerationem quamdam verborum, quàm verè dictum existimet, hoc quidem ipsa rerum experientia, quæ mentiri non potest, comprobabit. Respiciamus ergo paululum ad ipsa mala, quibus ecclesia opprimitur, ac simnl etiam ad nostra peccata. Sed quis hæc numerare valeat, quæ simul cum reliquis malis multitudine superant arenam maris, et usque ad cœlum clamant? hic, inquam, dicimus, nihil horum esse, quod in libro abusuum pastorum, maxima illorum pars, qui hoc nomen sibi ven |