A Summary of "Sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ" (Pope Paul V)

 Introduction

As with any religious order or congregation, Pierre de Bérulle had to submit his Oratory of Jesus—begrudgingly headed by himself, rather than St. Francis de Sales, Henri de Gondi (the Bishop of Paris), or one of St. Philip Neri's Oratorians—to Rome for approval.  The petition, technically sent by Queen Marie de' Medici and Henri de Gondi, was approved by Pope Paul V (1550-1621, r. 1605-1621) in the bull Sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ, promulgated May 8, 1613.  

The Papal verbiage of the time was long-winded and convoluted, so, instead of providing a full translation of a difficult-to-follow document, I have instead provided simply a summary, with occasional exact quotes.

The main source for older papal documents is Bullarum Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum, Tauriensis Editio (Turin: A. Vecco et Sociis, 1857-1872).  This collection—often abbreviated simply as Bullariuim Romanum—was issued by order of Pope Bl. Pius IX.  The initial collection, the "Turin Edition," consisting of 24 volumes and an appendix, issued between 1857 and 1872, collected papal documents from Pope Leo I (r. 440-461) to Pope Clement XII (r. 1734-1740).  Five more volumes were printed at Naples between 1867 and 1875; these carried the documents down to the end of the reign of Pope Benedict XIV (r. 1740-1758).

The full Latin text of the present bull is found in Bullarium Romanum XII:205-210, where it is numbered as Paul V's Bull CCXXXI.  Bold portions below are my own comments, separate from the summary proper.

 

 Sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ
Paul V
5/08/1613

Institution of the Congregation of pious priests, named “the Oratory of Jesus Christ Our Lord,” in the kingdom of France, promoted by Henri, Bishop of Paris, and Maria, Queen of the French, for the restoration and increase of the Catholic faith

§1: Paul V has received a petition on behalf of Henri de Gondi (1572-1622), Bishop of Paris (r. 1596-1622), and Queen Marie de’ Medici (1575-1642), to erect a “Congregation of pious priests,” in France, and especially in Paris, for the purpose of restoring “ecclesiastical discipline, [which has been] depraved and corrupted almost everywhere in the kingdom of France, through the injury—in religion as well as morals—caused by heresies and past wars...to its primeval and primitive state, and the splendor of devotion and piety”; the Queen also bids the Pope to give care for this Congregation to “her beloved son, Pierre de Bérulle, priest of Paris (by whose ministry she trusts that the happy progress and direction of this Congregation would be most profitable to the Lord).”

§2: The Pope is charged with the propagation of the Catholic faith and religion, and with the increase of divine worship, and with leading the souls of the faithful to salvation. He considers the special charism of this institution, which “adds, beyond the common devotion of the faithful, a special and particular devotion to Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is Priest in eternity, according to the order of Melchizedek, and the font of priesthood in the Christian Church.” Queen Marie’s desire is that this institution will move “the Christian faithful who want to obtain eternal prizes and spiritual goods and the remission of sins to perform pious, meritorious, and salutary works, and to visit churches and God’s sacred temples, because of devotion.” The Pope absolves any “excommunication, suspension, and interdict, and other ecclesiastical sentences, censures, and penalties” that may lie against Bishop Henri and the aforesaid Pierre, for any cause. Pierre, he notes, has been many times commended to him “for zeal in religion, honesty in life and mores, and also for probity and merit in the virtues.” Then he declares that, by his apostolic authority, in perpetuity, he erects and institutes “a congregation, under the name of ‘Oratory of Jesus Christ Our Lord,’ in honor of the prayers which He poured out in the days of His flesh.”

On the word “oratory”: Bérulle used this name because he was inspired by the earlier Oratory of St. Philip Neri. (He tried to convince one of Philip Neri’s Oratorians to be the general of his Oratory, but he failed.) The constitution of Philip Neri’s Oratory makes a distinction between an “oratory” (Ch. 1) and a “church” (Ch. 2). An oratory is a more public place of worship than the church; it is open for the prayers of others, not part of the congregation, but Mass could not be celebrated there. The constitution of Philip Neri’s Oratory begins, “We call ‘oratory’ the place destined for prayer...in which, after the prayer we call mental, they recite the customary litanies of the Vespers of outsiders [externi], as well as our own, or where, thrice each week (which is a voluntary castigation of the flesh) they afflict themselves with the supplice of flagellation” (Ch. 1). Other uses of the oratory included sacred music and sermons. The constitution of Philip Neri’s Oratory was confirmed by Pope Paul V in 1612 (Bull CXCII, Christifidelium quorumlibet (2/24/1612), Bullarium XII:36-58). The Oratory itself had been approved by Pope Gregory XIII (Bull CLXXXVI, Copiosus in misericordia (7/15/1575), Bullarium VIII:541-544).

§3: The aforesaid Pierre will be institutor of the Congregation, which is for priests “not previously bound by a vow of solemn religion.” The priests will “strive to live together in religious society, and humility of spirit, and employ and devote themselves to serving the Most High through the efforts of a pious life,” though their “principal and especial institute will be totally devoting themselves to the state of perfect priesthood,” and to the “individual actions properly and essentially befitting the priestly order.” In addition, they will work for “the instruction of priests and others aspiring to sacred orders, not about knowledge, but about the use of knowledge, the properly ecclesiastical rites and mores.”

This seems to walk a fine line, since Bérulle did not want his Oratory to be involved with colleges and seminaries per se.

§4: Pierre is given the authority to care for “the happy state and direction of persons and the spiritual and temporal goods of the same Congregation or Congregations,” including being in charge of “reception and admission, the number, age, and qualities of those to be received and admitted into the same Congregation, and their instruction and discipline...and the mode and form of the divine offices, prayers and orations, and other suffrages to be recited, and other things useful and necessary to the same Congregations,” as well as in charge of “making, publishing, and establishing...statutes, ordinances, and chapters,” and “correcting, limiting, changing, altering...what has been made, published, and established.” His charge relates to “the aforesaid Congregation, in the city of Paris as well as in all other cities, towns, lands, and places to which they are called by the bishops of those places.”

§5: The Pope approves all the canonically erected Congregations which are to be erected after this bull is promulgated.

§6: The Congregation in Paris should have twelve priests, and Congregations in other cities, ten. Each Congregation should have a sufficient treasury to provide annual revenues of forty-five ducats of gold for each priest (unless a different amount is decided on, for an individual congregation, by the papal representative, the bishop of the place, and the general of the Congregation).

Bérulle’s intention was always to have twelve priests at the start, though his initial group only had five, besides himself: Jean Bence, Jacques Gastaud, François Bourgoing, Paul Metezeau, and Pierre Caron.

§7: The Congregation may make use of any revenues, donations, and alms given to them “by the aforesaid Queen Mary as well as by any other Christian faithful.”

§8: Any prior papal decisions and declarations (and many varieties are listed) that contradict the present bull are derogated.

§9: “To each and every priest who, in future times, in perpetuity, enters the aforesaid Congregation, and is received into it, and to their coadjutors and oblates, and other ministers, on the day of their own entrance, reception, and profession, or that of any other of them, and at the point of death, if they have done penance and confessed and received sacred Communion, we concede and bestow a plenary indulgence, and remission of all their sins.” For the same ministers, when they perform a pious act that aids the Congregation in its proper functions, an indulgence of sixty days is granted, whenever such a pious work is performed. “To not just them, but to all the other Christian faithful, who, also having done penance and confessed and received sacred Communion, devotedly visit the churches or oratories of those priests (on the feast of the most holy Body of Christ [Corpus Christi], and of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and [visit] the church or oratory of the aforesaid priests, in any diocese or place, on the first day it is opened to the people), by the same Apostolic authority, by way of the present [decrees], we also concede and bestow a plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins, to endure from the present to the future times, in perpetuity.”

Given at Tusculum, the year 1613 from the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the sixth ides of May, year 8 [of our pontificate].

 

Text ©2024 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the author.