Re: Notitiae chronologico-diplomaticae ....
“EMINENTISSIMI ET REVERENDISSIMI
DOMINI, DOMINI CAROLI THEODORI,
sanctae Sedis Ratisbonensae Archiepiscopi, ac Primatis
Serenissimi supremi Principis Ratisbonensis &c. &c. Nos
Suffrageneus Praeses Consistorii, Officialis, caeterique
ad Ecclesiastica deputati Consiliarii &c.
______________________
Salutem precamur in Domini, eumque pro foro poenitentiali ita approbamus, ut omnium utriusque sexus Christi Fidelium vere poenitentium (praeterquam Monialium) sacramentales Confessiones audire, eosque a peccatis suis, non tamen a Casibus, censurisque Sedi Apostolicae, ac hujati Episcopatui reservatis (nisi in mortis articulo) absolvere possit et valeat,
cum praescitu nihilominus, et bona voluntate eorum, quibus in eo loco vel districtus ordinaria animarum cura actu incumbit, atque rite implendo non solum ea omnia, quae pro recta hujus saluberrimi Sacramenti administratione per sacros Canones sancita, vel in Rituali Dioecesano, aut alias specialiter ordinata sunt, verum etiam districte observando Constitutionem sanct. mem. Gregorii XV. contra sollicitantes, nec non sanct. pariter mem. Benedicti XIV. emanatam, et in hac Dioecesi publicatam Confirmationem ac ampliationem praefatae Constitutionis, una cum subsecuta anno millesimo septingentesimo quadragesimo quinto desuper declaratione.
Insuper concedimus, ut se in alliis functionibus spiritualibus, habita praevia instructione,
cum permissu Parochorum exercere, et committenda sibi ab eisdem munia Parochialia obire queat: praesentibus ad ______________________ duraturis. Ad haec praecipimus, ut ante duos Menses, priusquam approbatio exspiret, ad novum examen admitti per supplicem libellum humiliter petat simulque formatas istas toties quoties accludere non praetermittat. Datum Ratisbonae die __ Mensis ____Anno 181 __“
„Wir, des herausragendsten und hochehrwürdigen Herrn Karl Theodor
1, des heiligen Stuhls Erzbischofs zu Regensburg und vornehmsten und durchlauchtigsten Regensburger Fürst(bischofs) usw. usw. Suffragan, Präses des Konsistoriums officialis und die übrigen abgeordneten Kirchenräte usw. (ad Ecclesiastica deputati Consilarii &c.)
entbieten dem ______________________ den Gruß im Herren und lassen ihn zum (Bereich des) Bußsakrament(s) insoweit zu, dass er die sakramentalen Beichten wahrhaft reumütiger Christusgläubiger beiderlei Geschlechts (mit Ausnahme der Nonnen) anhören und diese von ihren Sünden - doch nicht in Fällen und Untersuchungen, die dem heiligen Stuhl und dem hiesigen Bischof vorbehalten sind (es sei denn in der Todesstunde) - lossprechen kann und vermag,
nichtsdestoweniger mit Vorwissen und Zustimmung derer, denen hierorts bzw. in diesem Bezirk die ordentliche Seelsorge tatsächlich obliegt, und nicht nur durch gehörige Erfüllung all dessen, was zur korrekten Besorgung dieses höchst heilsamen Sakraments durch die heiligen kanonischen Normen ratifiziert bzw. im Diözesanrituale oder anderswo in besonderer Weise geregelt ist, sondern in der Tat auch durch strenge Befolgung der
Constitutio contra sollicitantes2 Papst Gregors XV. seligen Andenkens und Papst Benedikts XIV. gleichermaßen seligen Andenkens, und der in dieser Diözese veröffentlichten Bestätigung und Erweiterung besagter
Constitutio in Verbindung mit der im Jahr 1745 darüber erfolgten Deklaration.
Überdies gestatten wir, dass er, nach erfolgter Unterweisung, in anderen seelsorgerischen Funktionen mit Erlaubnis der Pfarrer tätig sein und die ihm von diesen anvertrauten Pflichten übernehmen kann. Vorliegendes Schreiben hat Gültigkeit bis _______________. Zusätzlich verfügen wir, dass er zwei Monate vor Erlöschen dieser Genehmigung demütig durch eine Bittschrift , zu neuerlicher Prüfung zugelassen zu werden, ersuchen und gleichzeitig nicht übersehen soll, jedes Mal jene Formulare beizufügen. Gegeben zu Regensburg am __ des Monats ____ im Jahre 18 __ „
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1 Karl Theodor Anton Maria Reichsfreiherr von Dalberg (1744 – 1817)
2 Constitutio Gregorii papae XV. contra sollicitantes in confessionibus, d. d. 30. Aug. 1622 -
http://books.google.de/books?id=1AUUMwEACAAJ&dq=%22contra+solicitantes%22&hl=de&sa=X&ei=BwmLU_v4M-au7Aa98IDwCQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA
Dieser und die im Folgenden genannten Erlasse behandeln offensichtlich sexuelle Übergriffe, Belästigung und Missbrauch im Zuge der Beichte:
"Time would fail and modesty forbid to give even half the well attested facts that could be adduced to prove the immoral tendency of auricular confession. In Spain, Pope Paul IV. uttered his bull against the crime of solicitants, or of those priests who, in the act of confession, solicit the person confessing to indecent acts. When this bull was introduced into Spain, every person who had been solicited was instructed, within thirty days, to report to the inquisitors. So great a number of females went to the palace of the inquisitor in the city of Seville only, to reveal the conduct of their infamous confessors, that twenty notaries, and as many inquisitors, were appointed to note down their several informations. But these being found insufficient, several periods of thirty days were appointed, and the matter was finally given up, and the whole matter terminated where it began. Indeed, in Roman Catholic countries, the corruption arising from confession alone sets chastity at defiance, and serves to introduce a flood of every species of sin. In Protestant countries, a sounder morality, even among Catholics, prevails. But we cannot endure the disgust of even writing these abominations. Those who desire to read extended discussions on such topics we refer to those authors who have treated on the corruptions of the Church of Rome in this respect.
We have now before us two bulls of two different popes, condemning this accursed practice of soliciting, which seems to have extensively obtained in the Church of Rome. Gregory XV. issued a bull on this in 1622, with the title, Universi Domini, from which we give the following extract:—„ Whoever shall attempt to solicit or provoke any persons, whoever they may be, to the performance of vile acts, either between themselves or any other person whatsoever, in the act of sacramental confession, either before, or immediately after, or at the time, or under the pretext of confession, though the confession should not accompany, or without the occasion of confession, in the confessional, or in any other place where sacramental confessions are heard, or a place chosen to hear confession, and pretending there to hear confessions; or if they have used unlawful or vile conversation or touching, let them be severely punished. And let their ordinaries decree their suspension from the execution of their ministerial office, the privation of benefices, dignities, and offices of every description, and a perpetual incapacity of filling them, either actively or passively; and if they are regulars, let them be condemned to exile, and to the oars and prisons for ever, without hope of any favour. We command to all confessors, that they should admonish their penitents whom they know to have been solicited by others as above, respecting the obligation of reporting solicitants to the inquisitors or the ordinaries of the place.“*
Benedict XIV. confirmed or explained the bull of Gregory, by issuing another in June, 1741. Another bull was issued by Benedict in 1745, repeating and enforcing the former regulations on this point.
In the same bull severe enactments were made against those who solicited the confessors to criminal acts. Thus it appears that the confessional has been a scene of corruption both to penitents and confessors; otherwise these enactments were useless. Indeed, such is the privacy of confession, that no laws, however severe, can reach it; and consequently the popes were compelled to permit all the evil practices of the confessional to remain unchecked.
The absolution of an accomplice in guilt presents a very curious case in Roman Catholic casuistry. It is briefly this: that a confessor cannot absolve or pardon a female penitent who has been his accomplice in crime, except in the article of death.:]: But then he can pardon at this solemn hour, though he has lived in sin till that period!
* Qui personas, quaecunque illae sunt, ad inhonesta, sive inter se, sive cum aliis quomodo libet perpetranda, in actu sacramentalis confessionis, sive antea, vel post immediate, seu occasione, vel praetextu confessionis hujusmodi, etiam ipsa confessione non secuta, sive extra occasionem confessionis, in confessionario, aut in loco quocunque ubi confessiones sacramentales audiantur, seu ad confessionem audiendam electo, simulantes ibidem confessiones audire, solicitare, vel provocare tentaverint, aut cum eis illicitos et inhonestos sermones, sive tractatus habuerint. . . severissime, ... puniantur. Ordinarii decernant in eos suspensionem ab executione ordinis, privationis beneficiorum, dignitatum, et officiorum quorumcumque, ac perpetuae inhabilitatis ad illa, necnon vocis activae et passivae, si regulares fuerint, exilii, damnationis, ad triremes et carceres etiam in perpetuum, absque ulla spe gratiae.. . Mandamus omnibus confessariis, ut suos poenitentes, quos noverint fuisse ab aliis ut supra solicitatos, moneant de obligatione denuntiandi sollicitantes inquisitoribus seu locorum ordinariis — Bulla Gregor. XV., Universi Domini, anno 1622. Vide Dens de Casibus Reservatis, No. 216, vol. vi, p. 313." (Charles Elliott: Delineation of Roman Catholicism Bd.1 S. 323ff.)