Note: We missed this one on the
official day -- but better late than never. What goes around comes around!
Last October 31st on the five
hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Revolt, some unidentified person/people
stuck a copy of Pope Leo X’s Bull Decet
Romanum Ponteficem, excommunicating Martin Luther, on the main door of the
Chiesa Evangelica Alemanna in Venice.
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Extracts
from the Bull Decet Romanum Ponteficem:
Preamble
Through
the power given him from God, the Roman Pontiff has been appointed to
administer spiritual and temporal punishments as each case severally deserves. The
purpose of this is the repression of the wicked designs of misguided men, who
have been so captivated by the debased impulse of their evil purposes as to
forget the fear of the Lord, to set aside with contempt canonical decrees and
apostolic commandments, and to dare to formulate new and false dogmas and to
introduce the evil of schism into the Church of God—or to support, help and
adhere to such schismatics, who make it their business to cleave asunder the
seamless robe of our Redeemer and the unity of the orthodox faith. Hence it
befits the Pontiff, lest the vessel of Peter appear to sail without pilot or
oarsman, to take severe measures against such men and their followers, and by
multiplying punitive measures and by other suitable remedies to see to it that
these same overbearing men, devoted as they are to purposes of evil, along with
their adherents, should not deceive the multitude of the simple by their lies
and their deceitful devices, nor drag them along to share their own error and
ruination, contaminating them with what amounts to a contagious disease. It
also befits the Pontiff, having condemned the schismatics, to ensure their
still greater confounding by publicly showing and openly declaring to all
faithful Christians how formidable are the censures and punishments to which
such guilt can lead; to the end that by such public declaration they themselves
may return, in confusion and remorse, to their true selves, making an
unqualified withdrawal from the prohibited conversation, fellowship and (above
all) obedience to such accursed excommunicates; by this means they may escape
divine vengeance and any degree of participation in their damnation.
[...]
“V. We
would make known to all the small store that Martin, his followers and the
other rebels have set on God and his Church by their obstinate and shameless
temerity. We would protect the herd from one infectious animal, lest its
infection spread to the healthy ones. Hence
we lay the following injunction on each and every patriarch, archbishop,
bishop, on the prelates of patriarchal, metropolitan, cathedral and collegiate
churches, and on the religious of every Order—even the mendicants—privileged or
unprivileged, wherever they may be stationed: that in the strength of their vow
of obedience and on pain of the sentence of excommunication, they shall, if so
required in the execution of these presents, publicly announce and cause to be
announced by others in their churches, that this same Martin and the rest are excommunicate,
accursed, condemned, heretics, hardened, interdicted, deprived of possessions
and incapable of owning them, and so listed in the enforcement of these
presents. Three days will be given: we pronounce canonical warning and
allow one day’s notice on the first, another on the second, but on the third
peremptory and final execution of our order. This shall take place on a Sunday
or some other festival, when a large congregation assembles for worship. The
banner of the cross shall be raised, the bells rung, the candles lit and after
a time extinguished, cast on the ground and trampled underfoot, and the stones
shall be cast forth three times, and the other ceremonies observed which are
usual in such cases. The faithful
Christians, one and all, shall be enjoined strictly to shun these men.”
[...]
X. No one whatsoever may infringe this our written decision,
declaration, precept, injunction, assignation, will, decree; or rashly
contravene it. Should anyone dare to
attempt such a thing, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God
and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.
Written at St. Peter’s,
Rome, on the 3rd January 1521, during the eighth year of our pontificate.
H/T Chiesa e Post Concilio
Extracts
from the Bull Decet Romanum Ponteficem:
“V. We
would make known to all the small store that Martin, his followers and the
other rebels have set on God and his Church by their obstinate and shameless
temerity. We would protect the herd from one infectious animal, lest its
infection spread to the healthy ones. Hence
we lay the following injunction on each and every patriarch, archbishop,
bishop, on the prelates of patriarchal, metropolitan, cathedral and collegiate
churches, and on the religious of every Order—even the mendicants—privileged or
unprivileged, wherever they may be stationed: that in the strength of their vow
of obedience and on pain of the sentence of excommunication, they shall, if so
required in the execution of these presents, publicly announce and cause to be
announced by others in their churches, that this same Martin and the rest are excommunicate,
accursed, condemned, heretics, hardened, interdicted, deprived of possessions
and incapable of owning them, and so listed in the enforcement of these
presents. Three days will be given: we pronounce canonical warning and
allow one day’s notice on the first, another on the second, but on the third
peremptory and final execution of our order. This shall take place on a Sunday
or some other festival, when a large congregation assembles for worship. The
banner of the cross shall be raised, the bells rung, the candles lit and after
a time extinguished, cast on the ground and trampled underfoot, and the stones
shall be cast forth three times, and the other ceremonies observed which are
usual in such cases. The faithful
Christians, one and all, shall be enjoined strictly to shun these men.”
[...]
H/T Chiesa e Post Concilio
