800 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
The old rules were renewed, debarring from the sacerdotal office persons afflicted with bodily defects, and Innocent III. complained of the bishop of Angouleme for ordaining a priest who had lost a thumb.1
Beginning with the twelfth century, the number of par ishes increased with great rapidity both in the rural districts and in the towns. In German cities the division of the old parishes was encouraged by the citizens, as in Freiburg, Mainz,Worms, and Liibeck, and they insisted upon the right of choosing their pastor.2 On the other hand, the convents were busy establishing churches and, in Germany, there were thousands under their control.3 The eleventh and twelfth centuries were a busy time of church building.
What occurred in Germany occurred also in England. But here the endowment of churches and chapels by devout and wealthy laymen was more frequent. Such parishes, it is true, often fell to the charge of the orders, but also a large share of them to the charge of the cathedral chapters and bishops.
Clerical incomes varied fully as much in those days as they do now, if not more. The poorer German priests received from one-tenth to one-twentieth of the incomes of more for tunate rectors and canons.4 The Fourth Lateran made small salaries responsible for a poorly trained ministry.
The clergy depended for their maintenance chiefly upon the income from lands and the tithe. The theory was that the tenth belonged to the Church, " for the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." The principle was ex tended to include the tithe of the fish-catch, the product of the chase, and the product of commerce.5 The clergy also received fees for special sacerdotal services from bap-
1 Ep.,I. 231. 2 Hauck, IV. 29 sqq.
3 The Gregorian Decretals discuss chapels controlled by monks. Friedberg's ed., II. 607 sqq.
4 Hauck, IV. 47 sq. In some dioceses priests were said to receive only one-sixteenth of the tithes due them, the rest being appropriated by the lay patron or bishop. So the synod of Mainz, Hefele, VI. 75.
5 The last claim, made by the archbishop of Bergen, was rejected by cent III. JSp.jI.217.
§ 126. THE LOWER CLERGY. 801
tism to burial and rites pertaining to the soul after death. Such fees became general after the twelfth century, but not without vigorous protests against them. The Second Lateran and other synods 1 forbade priests making charges for the administration of baptism, marriage, extreme unction, and other rites, and for sepulture. The ground was taken by Innocent III. that, while gifts for such ser vices were proper, they should be spontaneous and not forced. The Fourth Lateran bade laymen see they were not overlooked.
Priests receiving their benefices from laymen were likened to thieves who came not in by the door but climbed in some other way. The lay patron had the right of nomi nation — presentatio. To the bishop belonged the right of confirmation — concessio. Laymen venturing to confer a living without the consent of the ecclesiastical authority exposed themselves to the sentence of excommunication.2 Stories were current of clerics who had bought their way to ordination and to benefices, who afterwards gnawed through their tongues in remorse.3 The system of pluralities was practised in spite of the decrees of oecumenical and local synods.4
The ideal of a faithful priest was not a preacher but one who administered the sacraments and other solemn rites upon the living and the dead. Restricted as the education of the priest was, it greatly surpassed that of his lay brother, and it was not so meagre as it has often been represented. There were writers who held up the ignorance of the clergy to scorn, but it is dangerous to base wide generalizations on
iPiacenza, 1095; London, 1138, 1175; Oxford, 1222 ; Treves, 1227, etc. Caesar of Heisterbach, Dial., II. 7, tells of priests who for bribes gave burial to unchurched persons.
2 First Lat., can. 9; Second Lat., can. 10; Third Lat., can. 17; synods of Nismes, 1096, Troyes, 1107, Rheims, 1119, etc. The Gregorian Decretals are full on the subject of patrons and their rights. Friedberg's ed., II. 609- 622. Innocent III. laid down the rule, quod beneficia non possint conferri per sceculares. Ep., I. 64, IX. 234, quoted by Hurter, III. 381.
3 Hurter, III. 395.
4 Third Lat., can. 13 ; Fourth Lat., can. 29 ; Paris, 1212, etc.
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