Word Finder - simony

definition

The buying or selling of spiritual or sacred things, such as ecclesiastical offices, pardons, or consecrated objects.

In spite of all the provisions of the canon law it is well established that simony was deeply rooted in the medieval church.

Cases of simony have come before the courts in which clergy of the highest rank have been implicated.

The first really notable council at St Paul's was that of 1075 under the presidency of Lanfranc; it renewed ancient regulations, forbade simony and permitted three bishops to remove from country places to Salisbury, Chichester and Chester respectively.

Simony may be committed in three ways - in promotion to orders, in presentation to a benefice, and in resignation of a benefice.

The law on the subject of simony was long regarded as unsatisfactory by the authorities of the church.

There is no evidence of simony in the conclave, and Leo's election was hailed with delight by the Romans on account of his reputation for liberality, kindliness and love of peace.

In 1102 a national synod at Westminster under Anselm adopted canons against simony, clerical marriages and slavery.

Alexander now feared that the king might depose him for simony and summon a council, but he won over the bishop of St Malo, who had much influence over the king, with a cardinal's hat, and agreed to send Cesare, as legate, to Naples with the French army, to deliver Jem to Charles and to give him Civitavecchia (January 16, 1495).

So grave was the crime of simony considered that even infamous persons could accuse of it.

Machiavelli calls luxury, simony and cruelty the three dear friends and handmaids of the same pope.'

The penalty is forfeiture by the offender of any advantage from the simoniacal transaction, of his patronage by the patron, of his benefice by the presentee; and now by the Benefices Act 1892, a person guilty of simony is guilty of an offence for which he may be proceeded against under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892.

By the Act of 1584, c. 5, ministers, readers and others guilty of simony provided to benefices were to be deprived.

In addition to this, canons were enacted against simony and the marriage of priests; while resolutions were passed in favour of the crusaders, of pilgrims to Rome and in the interests of the truce of God.

At the time of the agitation against simony and the corruption of the clergy, the head of the movement in Florence was San Giovanni Gualberto, of the monastery of San Salvi.

Of his ecclesiastical achievements the bull against simony at papal elections deserves the most honourable mention.

Simony was universally practised and the morality of the clergy was very low.

The charge of simony was inspired by Jesuit hatred; there is absolutely no evidence that Ganganelli pledged himself to suppress the order.

Urban was frugal and never practised simony, but harshness, lack of tact, and fondness for unworthy nephews disgraced his pontificate.

English provincial and legatine constitutions continually assailed simony.

And, best proof of all, numerous decisions as to what is or is not simony are to be found in the reported decisions of the Roman rota.

The act also declares the validit y of leases made by a simoniac or simoniacallypresented person, if bona fide and for valuable consideration to a lessee ignorant of the simony.

The Benefices Act 1898 substitutes and makes obligatory on every person about to be instituted to a benefice a simpler and more stringent form of declaration against simony.

The Bishop of St David's, the bishop was deprived for simony.

Upon the bishop having satisfied himself of the sufficiency of the clerk, he proceeds to institute him to the spiritual office to which the benefice is annexed, but before such institution can take place, the clerk is required to make a declaration of assent to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and to the Book of Common Prayer according to a form prescribed in the Clerical Subscription Act 1865, to make a declaration against simony in accordance with that act, and to take and subscribe the oath of allegiance according to the form in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868.

By his bold and thorough-going opposition to this mode of procedure against Ladislaus, and still more by his doctrine that indulgence could never be sold without simony, and could not be lawfully granted by the church except on condition of genuine contrition and repentance, Huss at last isolated himself, not only from the archiepiscopal party under Albik of Unitschow, but also from the theological faculty of the university, and especially from such men as Stanislaus of Znaim and Stephen Paletz, who until then had been his chief supporters.

The Paterines in Milan (1045) raised a protest against simony and other abuses of the clergy, and Pope Gregory VII.

One of his first public acts was to hold the well-known Easter synod of 1049, at which celibacy of the clergy (down to the rank of subdeacon) was anew enjoined, and where he at least succeeded in making clear his own convictions against every kind of simony.

At Mainz also he held a council, at which the Italian and French as well as the German clergy were represented, and ambassadors of the Greek emperor were present; here too simony and the marriage of the clergy were the principal matters dealt with.

Griffenfeldt, who was charged with simony, bribery, oath-breaking, malversation and lese-majeste, conducted his own defence under every imaginable difficulty.

The programme of reform thus included not only the extirpation of simony and Nicolaitism, but also the freeing of the Church from the influence of the State, the recovery of her absolute control over all her possessions, the liberty of the Church and of the hierarchy.

But the carrying out of reforms led at once to dissensions with the civil power, the starting-point being the attack upon simony.

Since the landed proprietors disposed of churches and convents, and the kings of bishoprics and abbeys, it became possible for them too to commit the sin of simony; hence a final expansion, in the iith century, of the meaning of the term.

The PseudoIsidorian idea being that all lay control over things ecclesiastical is wrong, all transferences by laymen of ecclesiastical offices or benefices, even though no money changed hands in the process, were now classed as simony (Humbert, Adversus Simoniacos, 1057-1058).

During his pontificate a decree against simony was engraven on marble and placed before the altar of St Peter's.

As bishop of Lucca he had been an energetic coadjutor with Hildebrand irk endeavouring to suppress simony, and to enforce the celibacy of the clergy.

He took no pains to temper the zeal of his legates, but incited them to the struggle, and, not content with prohibiting lay investiture and simony, expressly forbade prelates and even priests to pay homage to the civil power.

These conciliatory prelates were sincere supporters of the reformation, and combated simony, the marriage or concubinage of priests, and the immorality of sovereigns with the same conviction as the most ardent followers of Gregory VII.

Urban was serious and humble, opposed to all nepotism, simony, and secular pomp. He was himself of blameless morality and reformed many abuses in the curia.

Under the previously existing law, simony, or "the corrupt presentation of any person to an ecclesiastical benefice for gift, money or reward," renders the presentation void, and subjects the persons privy or party to it to penalties; a presentation to a vacant benefice cannot be sold, and no clerk in holy orders can purchase for himself a next presentation.

His bull of the 14th of January 1505 against simony in papal elections was re-enacted by the Lateran council (February 16, 1513).

Having become unpopular, the barons in 1301 vainly asked Edward to dismiss him; about the same time he was accused of murder, adultery and simony.

He consolidated and increased the estates of the church, exercised the powers of a count, denounced simony and initiated financial reforms. The presence of this powerful and active personality, who was moreover a close friend of the emperor, was greatly resented by the Saxon duke, Bernard II., who regarded him as a spy sent by Henry into Saxony.

In June 1055 Victor met the emperor at Florence, and held a council, which anew condemned clerical marriages, simony and the alienation of the estates of the church.

There is a charge that he was guilty of simony, having received his office through the favour of Philip, brother of Louis VII., his former pupil.

Yet there is evidence for a later date, and he may have been set aside for simony.

Of his numerous other Bohemian works we may mention the Postilla (collection of sermons), the treatises 0 poznani testy grave k spaseni (the true road to salvation) and O svatokupectvi (on simony), and a large collection of letters; those written in prison are very touching.

But he did not understand that this power was spoilt by self-seeking, and his offer of money to the Apostles, to enable him to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost, has branded his name for ever through the use of the word "simony" (q.v.).

He was the first pope placed on the throne by the power of the German emperors, but his short pontificate was only signalized by the convocation of a council in which decrees were enacted against simony.

With bitter indignation Swift denounced the simony and threw up his chaplaincy, but he was ultimately reconciled to Berkeley by the presentation to the rectory of Agher in Meath with the united vicarages of Laracor and Rathbeggan, to which was added the prebend of Dunlavin in St Patrick's - the total value being about 230 a year.

Annates were increased and simony flourished.