CatholicaWasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der abendländischen Kirche (1851) — translated from the Latin.
The manuscripts Paris 3182 (formerly Bigot 89) — marked (a) — and Sangerm. 121 — marked (b) — contain among other things a series of Hibernian canons, interesting both in themselves and as a source of later penitentials, and also on account of their Irish glosses (cf. I. 4, II. 5, 10). They were in part already printed by Martène, Thes. nov., vol. IV, from the first-named manuscript. The following canons are found only in codex (b), whose orthography is here reproduced as faithfully as possible.
One. Here begins the discourse of the Hibernian Synod, and the sermon of Gregory of Nazianzus on innumerable sins. #
C. 1 (Bigot. IV. 1. § 1.) The penance for parricide is fourteen and a half years, if [committed] through ignorance — [spent] in bread and water and satisfaction.
C. 2 This is the penance for homicide: seven years in bread and water.
C. 3 The penance for homicide: seven years in bread and water — or ten, as the Monochema says.
C. 4 This is the penance for the wizard or the evil votary — if the person has believed the same [evil-doer] — or for the herald or cohabitant or heretic or adulterer: seven years in bread and water.
C. 5 (Bigot. II. 5. § 2.) The penance for lying with a woman: seven years in bread and water. The penance for lying with a near kinswoman: fourteen years, or nine.
C. 6 (Bigot. IV. 2. § 2.) The penance for destroying the material of a son in the mother’s womb: three and a half years.
C. 7 (Bigot § 3.) The penance for the destruction of flesh and soul: seven and a half [years] in bread and water and chastity.
C. 8 (Bigot § 4.) The price of the soul for the destruction of the seed and of the woman: twelve maidservants.
C. 9 Twelve altars’ [worth], or thirteen sicts, is the price of each maidservant.
C. 10 The price of the soul for the destruction of a son and of a woman: twelve maidservants.
C. 11 The penance for the destruction of a woman’s [life] by her own son: twelve years in bread and water.
C. 12 (Bigot. I. 5. § 1: Canons of the Wise and of Gregory.) The penance for drinking blood or urine: seven and a half years in bread and water, with the laying-on of the bishop’s hands thereafter.
C. 13 The penance for eating horseflesh: four years in bread and water.
C. 14 The penance for eating flesh which dogs have eaten: forty days in bread and water.
C. 15 The penance for eating the flesh of a beast dead of itself: forty-two [days] in bread and water.
C. 16 (Bigot § 5.) The penance for the unlawful drink of the dog [i.e. drinking what a dog has lapped]: one year.
C. 17 (Bigot § 6.) The penance for the drink of an eagle, or a curlew, or a bird, or a cock, or a swine: fifty days in bread and water. (The Bigot text adds: “of the drinker of that into which an eagle or a garrot has dipped, or that into which a cock or a swine has dipped: fifty days in bread and water, and five nights likewise.”)
C. 18 (Bigot § 7.) The penance for the unlawful drink of a dead mouse: five days in bread and water, with a superposition.
C. 19 (Bigot § 12.) The penance for the unlawful drink of a beast dead of itself: forty days and nights in bread and water.
C. 20 (Bigot § 11.) The penance for the unlawful drink of a dead mouse: seven days in bread and water.
C. 21 (Bigot. I. 6. § 1: Canons of the Fathers.) The penance for the unlawful drink of a layman or laywoman: fifty days in bread and water.
C. 22 (Bigot. I. 7.) The penance for eating or sleeping in the same house or in one bed with a layman or laywoman: forty days in bread and water. (Bigot adds “or on one settle”.)
C. 23 (Bigot. I. 6. § 2.) The penance for the unlawful drink of a pregnant bondwoman or of her cohabitant: forty days in bread and water. (Bigot: “of the drinker of that which a bondwoman — i.e. a maid bearing a child in the womb — has dipped into, or of cohabitation with her…”.)
C. 24 The penance for eating in one house or on one settle with them: forty days in bread and water.
C. 25 The penance for sleeping with them in one house: twenty days in bread and water.
C. 26 (Bigot. IV. 6. § 2.) The penance for partaking of the cup of the bondwoman after a layman or laywoman: fifty days in bread and water. (Bigot: “of the bardication of the bondwoman.”)
C. 27 (Bigot § 3.) If after a bondwoman bearing [a child] in the womb, or after her cohabitant: forty days in bread and water. (Bigot: “if after a bondwoman dying in childbed, or a cohabitor or cohabitrix having the faith.”)
C. 28 (Bigot § 4.) If after a clerk of the people: twenty days in bread and water. (Bigot: “if after the death of a clerk of the people.”)
C. 29 (Bigot § 5.) If after an anchorite or a bishop or a scribe or a great prince or a just king: fifteen days in bread and water. (Bigot: “if after the death of an anchorite or a great king.”)
Two. On Commutations (arrea). #
These canons stand also in Cod. Paris. 3182 (b) p. 177 under the heading “canones synodi Hiberniae et Gregorii Nazanzeni”; the readings of that copy are given below as (b).
C. 1 A commutation by superposition: a hundred psalms and a hundred genuflexions — or thrice five hundred — and seven canticles. (b adds “with canticles”.)
C. 2 A commutation of three days: a night and a day on station without sleep, save a little; or a hundred and fifty psalms with canticles, with mass at the twelve hours, and twelve lessons at each hour, and palms upturned in prayer. (b: “a commutation for a year of three days and nights without seat or sleep save a little, and a hundred and fifty psalms with ten canticles, standing and praying at every hour; twelve genuflexions are read at every hour of prayer, and the palms upturned in adoration.”)
C. 3 A commutation of three days for a year: with a holy dead man in the sepulchre, without food and drink and without sleep, but with a garment about him, and singing of psalms and prayer of the hours, after confession and vow to the priest. (b: “three days”; “in church”; “without sleeping, with a garment about him”; “with canticles without intermission, and mass at every hour”; “after confession of sins to the priest, and after vow”.)
C. 4 A commutation of three days for a year: in church without food and drink and sleep and clothing, without a seat, and singing of psalms with canticles and prayer of the hours, and therein twelve genuflexions, after confession of sins before priest and people, after vow.
C. 5 A commutation for a year: twelve days and nights upon twelve morsels of three breads which are made of the third part of a measure of meal… (b: “morsels”; the clause “which are made…” is wanting).
C. 6 (Th. I. 7. § 5.) A commutation for a year: twelve three-day [fasts]. (b and Theod. read “three-day fasts”.)
C. 7 A commutation for a year: a month in great sorrow, so that there is doubt of life. (b: “in great sorrow, but of which one does not die — afterwards let the life be brought again to the priest’s judgement”.)
C. 8 A commutation for a year: forty days and nights in bread and water in due measure, and a superposition in each week, and forty psalms, and sixty genuflexions, and prayer of every hour. (b: “and superpositions for each week of forty psalms and forty genuflexions at every hour of prayer”; “and sixty genuflexions at every hour”.)
C. 9 A commutation for a year: fifty days in a long superposition, and sixty psalms, and genuflexions, and prayer of the hours.
C. 10 (cf. C. 8.) A commutation for a year: forty days… and superpositions — two every week — forty psalms, and genuflexions, and prayer of every hour. (wanting in b.)
C. 11 A commutation for a year: a hundred days in bread and water, and prayer of every hour. (b adds “and mass at every hour of prayer”.)
C. 12 All these fasts [are to be kept] without flesh and wine, save a little of herbs in another’s cell, for a time. (b adds: “the penance of those for whom a commutation is made in those aforementioned by reason of length, is to be performed without flesh and wine and butter and sweet milk”.)
Three. The Hibernian Synod has decreed: #
From Cod. Paris. 3182 p. 302 — the same manuscript on which Martène’s edition (Thes. nov. IV, col. 6) is based.
C. 1 The blood of a bishop or of a high prince or of a scribe that is shed upon the ground, if it requires a bandage — the wise judge that he who shed it be crucified, or that he pay seven maidservants.
C. 2 If in the face [the wound be], let him pay a third part of silver, and a like width of gold for them, and likewise the size of the eye in a precious gem.
C. 3 And for the disfigurement of his bruise or wound in the assembly or in any multitude — even to the third year, or longer, if it be not healed — let him who did it pay the price of a maidservant.
C. 4 But if the bishop’s blood does not reach the ground and needs no bandage, let the striker’s hand be cut off, or let him pay half of seven maidservants — if it be done of set purpose. But if not of set purpose, let him give the price of a maidservant.
C. 5 Whoever strikes or moves a bishop without shedding of blood, let him pay half the price of seven maidservants.
C. 6 But if any of his hair be plucked out, let there be paid for every hair its settlement — that is, twelve disciples, up to twenty from each side. For though a greater [tuft] be pulled out, it is not spoken of as to be paid like a separate [offence].
C. 7 The blood of a priest that is shed upon the ground, until it calls for a bandage — let the hand of the smiter be cut off, or let him pay half of seven maidservants, if it be done of set purpose. But if not of set purpose, let him pay the price of a maidservant.
C. 8 If it does not reach the ground, let the striker pay a maidservant; if in his face, let him repay a third part of silver; let the blow be recompensed at a maidservant’s price; let his “moving” be atoned as we have said before.
Patrick says (Coll. can. Hibern. bk. XLVII, c. 5; Mansi, vol. XII, col. 141):
Everyone who shall have dared to steal or seize the things of a king or bishop or scribe, or to commit anything against them, or to despise them — let him pay the price of seven maidservants, or do penance seven years with a bishop or a scribe.
Four. On casting out (jectio — the refusal of hospitality). #
Cod. Paris. 3182, p. 306.
C. 1 Again: he who casts out a poor man kills him — his casting out is the sixth, or the seventh, or the eighth, or the ninth part of his slaying. Again: whoever can succour a man perishing and does not succour him, kills him — the first is the slaying of the hungry guest, for when food is denied, a hungry man cannot live without food and drink more than eight days. Therefore the eighth part of the slaying is exacted for the casting out; and sometimes, according to the dignity of the person cast out, a fifth part is taken.
C. 2 If anyone shall have cast out a bishop, and if he die, let the price of his blood be taken from him — he shall pay fifty maidservants, that is, seven maidservants for each grade — or do penance fifty years; and of these, seven maidservants are taken for the casting-out itself.
C. 3 So too for the rest, down to the doorkeeper: whatever price of blood the judges shall have adjudged for each of these seven grades, the seventh part of his slaying shall be paid for the casting-out of him.
C. 4 If a bishop of bishops be cast out, the casting-out is the fifth part of his slaying — that is, eight maidservants and two parts of one maidservant.
C. 5 If anyone of the least, without grade, of the ecclesiastical order travelling in God’s name be not received into a house, the casting-out is the ninth part of his slaying.
C. 6 Whoever shall not have received a high prince, or a scribe, or an anchorite, or a judge — for so long as the judges shall have adjudged who shall judge in that time the due of his slaying — that is, the seventh part — shall be taken for the casting-out of him.
Five. On dogs — the Synod of the Wise. #
(From Cod. Paris. 3182 p. 312, and p. 145 of the same in Coll. can. Hibern. LI. 5 — marked (b); cf. Mansi, Concil. XII, col. 142.)
C. 1 (Coll. can. Hibern. LI. 5.) For a chained dog, whatever evil it shall have done in the night is not to be paid. (b adds: “to be paid by its master; but if by day it has harmed anyone, its master shall pay”.) For the herd-dog, whatever evil it shall have done in the cattle-yard or in the pastures of its own cattle is not to be paid (b adds “by its master”). But if it has gone beyond the bounds, what evil it has done shall be paid. (b: “there shall be paid for it whatever…”.)
C. 2 (Coll. can. Hibern. LI. 6.) Again: for a dog that has eaten anything, no payment is made for the first fault, save that alone (b adds “on its behalf”). But if it repeats it a second or third time, there shall be paid what it has done or eaten. (b adds: “unless perchance it refuse”; and “if it has eaten the carcase of a dead dog, the dog’s master shall pay what it has eaten”.)
C. 3 Concerning those who kill a dog that guards the cattle or dwells in the house, the wise say: He who kills a dog that guards the cattle shall pay five cows for the dog, and shall render a dog of its breed, and whatever beasts shall have eaten of the cattle, up to the year’s end. (This stands only on p. 279 of Cod. Paris 3182, from which Martène printed it.)
C. 4 Again, statutes of the wise: He who kills the dog of the four doors — that is, of the house where its master dwells, and of the fold of the sheep and calves and oxen — shall pay ten cows, and shall restore a dog of its breed that does its work.
Six. Again, the synod of wisdom thus discourses on tithes. #
C. 1 The authorities say that tithes of cattle are to be offered once [only], and for that reason they shall be “holy of holies” — that is, no further tithe ought to be offered of them. But others affirm in sound faith that every year we should give God tithes of the living and the mortal [produce], since every year we enjoy His bounties.
C. 2 Again: Of all things save the fruits of the earth, let the tithe be offered to the Lord once — as it is said, “Whatever is once consecrated to God shall be holy of holies to the Lord”; no further tithe ought to be offered of them, as Columbanus the teacher taught. But of the fruits of the earth a tenth part ought to be offered in each year, because they grow in each year.
C. 3 Again: Tithes consist not only in animals, but in mortal things. So also the firstfruits — that is, the first fruit of every thing; and the animal that is born first in the year; and things of like kind, as firstlings. Now firstborn are only of animals — not only of men but of animals — which it is lawful to offer.
C. 4 Again: Tithes are in cattle and in the fruits of the earth; or tithes in cattle, firstfruits in produce. Firstfruits are whatever of the cattle is born before the others are born in that year.
C. 5 It is to be known what is the measure of the firstfruits — that is, a gomor; as others say, nine loaves or twelve loaves; then the shewbread of the substance of nine or twelve loaves. And of herbs, as much as the fist can hold. These things ought to be paid at the beginning of summer, and once in the year they used to be offered to the priests at Jerusalem. In the new [law], however, let each one [pay them] to the monastery of which he is a monk; and besides, charity abounds along with the same; and firstborn are made only among males, never among females.
C. 6 Again: As others say, if a man has substance less than ten [beasts], he shall not pay tithes.
C. 7 Again: As others say — how is it fitting for anyone to offer tithes to the Lord? If he has but one cow or ox, let him divide the cow’s price into ten and give the tenth part to the Lord. And so of the rest.
C. 8 Again: The Lord requires a willing sacrifice. Therefore He says: “No man takes my soul from me”, and the rest. Concerning that which God does not avenge, neither ought men to avenge it. And of those who turn quickly from fault to penance it is read in Exodus concerning the worship of the calf: “And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said: If any man be on the Lord’s side, let him join with me. And all the sons of Levi gathered to him, to whom he said: Thus says the Lord God of Israel — put every man his sword upon his thigh,” and so on, until He says: “let every man kill his neighbour and brother and friend.” And a little after, Moses says: “You have consecrated your hands this day to the Lord, every man in his son and in his brother, that blessing may be given to you.” Finit. Amen. The people of Israel had to be bound by the ten commandments of the law, since for their sake God struck Egypt with ten plagues — therefore there are ten commandments. But where there are precepts in the law which God does not enjoin — as when Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, told him to choose seventy princes who should judge the people with Moses — such judgement is this: that if we find good judgements among the gentiles, which their good nature teaches them and which do not displease God, we shall keep them.
[Here follows in Wasserschleben’s edition the section “Die angelsächsischen Bussordnungen — Theodori 78” — the Anglo-Saxon penitentials — which does not belong to the Irish dossier.]