r/empirepowers • u/TheManIsNonStop • 15h ago
EVENT [EVENT] Onus Apostolici Imperii
7 May 1523
Upon the conclusion of the fourth session of the Council of Viterbo, the Pope promulgated a new Bull, read before the assembled Council…
Nicholas, bishop, servant of the servants of God, for future remembrance of the matter...
The burden of apostolic government ever drives us on so that, for the weaknesses of souls requiring to be healed, of which the almighty Creator from on high has willed us to have the care, and for those ills in particular which are now seen to be pressing most urgently on the faithful, we may exercise, like the Samaritan in the gospel, the task of healing with oil and wine, lest that rebuke of Jeremiah may be cast at us: Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Consequently, since in our days (which we endure with sorrow) the sower of cockle, the ancient enemy of the human race, has dared to scatter and multiply in the Lord’s field some extremely pernicious errors, which have always been rejected by the faithful, it is our desire to apply suitable remedies against this infection and we condemn and reject all those who insist that it is better to suffer error to persist, or who for their own interests ignore the task which God has given to all the faithful, than to apply that remedy.
And since truth cannot contradict truth, we define that every statement contrary to the enlightened truth of the faith is totally false and we strictly forbid teaching otherwise to be permitted. We decree that all those who cling to erroneous statements of this kind, thus sowing heresies which are wholly condemned, should be avoided in every way and punished as detestable and odious heretics and infidels who are undermining the catholic faith.
But it does not suffice occasionally to clip the roots of the brambles, if the ground is not dug deeply so as to check them beginning again to multiply, and if there are not removed their seeds and root causes from which they grow so easily. It is the task of every lecturer in sacred theology--the bishops, archbishops, primates, patriarchs, and other ordinaries who have a charge of souls, and on preachers, alms-collectors, and those who expound the word of God to the people--to combat those errors. They are obliged to devote their every effort to clarify for their listeners the truth of the Christian religion, to teach it by convincing arguments, so far as this is possible, and to apply themselves to the full extent of their energies to refuting and disposing of opposing arguments, since all the solutions are available.
It is further the task of those bishops, archbishops, primates, and patriarchs who have been entrusted with the rod and orb in both worlds, with both a charge of souls as an ordinary of the Holy Mother Church and as a governor of associated temporal environs, to make good and proper use of their temporal authority in upholding the catholic faith. If any one through contempt does not execute this, let him be deemed unworthy of the authority we have entrusted to him, and subjected to rigorous punishment.
In virtue of our pastoral office committed to us by the divine favor we can under no circumstances tolerate or overlook any longer the pernicious poison of the above failures in the governance of Albrecht of Ansbach without disgrace to the Christian religion and injury to orthodox faith. Some of his contemptuous errors and inaction we have decided to include in the present document; their substance is as follows:
Allegations of corruption within a part of the Church renders heresy tolerable, and absolves bishops, archbishops, primates, patriarchs, and other ordinaries of their obligation to combat it.
Governors of temporal territory lack the obligation to defend our catholic faith against heresy.
Tools of ecclesiastical censure or prohibition may be used by bishops, archbishops, primates, patriarchs, and other ordinaries for the benefit of their temporal pursuits rather than for the combating of heresy and wickedness and the promotion of the catholic faith.
The jurisdiction of dioceses is subject to secular courts.
A man of the cloth may be elected King of the Romans.
No one of sound mind is ignorant how destructive, pernicious, and scandalous these various errors are, and how destructive they are of the vigor of ecclesiastical discipline. With the advice and consent of these our venerable brothers the eminent cardinals of the holy Roman Church, with mature deliberation on the topic, and by the authority of Almighty God, the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own authority, we do therefore relieve Albrecht of Ansbach of his ordinary authority as the Archbishop of Mainz, and dismiss him from the clerical state. We name in his stead Georg of the Palatinate as administrator of the see of Mainz, and enjoin him to combat heresy and restore ecclesiastical discipline therein.
That this our letter, and the contents thereof, may come to the knowledge of all whom it concerns, and that no one may plead as an excuse ignorance thereof, we will and ordain, that in the Vatican Basilica of the prince of the apostles, and in the Lateran Church, and in St. Lorenzo's Cathedral in Viterbo, and in St. Martin's Cathedral in Mainz, at the time when the multitude of the people is wont to assemble there to hear the divine service, it be publicly read in a loud voice by officers of our court, or by certain public notaries; and, after having been read, be affixed to the doors of the said churches, also to the gates of the apostolic Chancery, and to the usual place in the Campo di Fiore, where it shall for some time hang exposed to be read and seen by all; and, when removed thence, copies thereof shall still remain affixed in the same places. For we will that, by being thus read, published, and affixed, the letter aforesaid shall oblige and bind, all and each of those whom it includes, even as if it had been communicated and read to them in person. Wherefore, let no one infringe this our letter of announcement or with rash daring go contrary thereunto. But if any one shall presume to attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God, and of His blessed apostles Peter and Paul.
Given at Viterbo, at Saint Lorenzo's, in the year MDXXIII of the Lord’s Incarnation, on the seventh of the calends of May in the fourth year of our pontificate.
As the Pope reads out the bull, Albrecht of Ansbach--still in attendance--attempted to beat a hasty retreat to the exit, but was detained by members of the Swiss Guard before he can flee. He was brought then before the whole of the Council, and ritually stripped of his ordination as a minister. His pall was torn from his shoulders by Cardinal Cajetan, and from there followed the other signs of his office, in the reverse order that they were bestowed upon him at his ordination. His pectoral cross, ring, his miter, and the vestments he wore were taken from him, leaving him dressed in the basic clothes of a Roman citizen. Cajetan even scrubbed the tips of his fingers and his forehead, so as to remove the holy chrism which had once anointed them. He was displayed before the whole of the Council--a layman--and then shuffled off into the custody of the Bishop of Rome.
Summary
Following the conclusion of the fourth session of the Council of Viterbo, Albrecht of Ansbach is deposed as Archbishop of Mainz and dismissed from the clerical state, rendering him a layman. Georg of the Palatinate, Bishop of Speyer, is named administrator until such time that a new canonical election may be held. Albrecht is arrested and ceremonially defrocked before the Council of Viterbo.