Resolutions of Questions on the Four Books of the Sentences

In quatuor libros sententiarum quaestionum resolutiones

1526·Latin·1092 pages PDF (165MB) Source

A major scholastic commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences by the Dominican theologian Durand of Saint-Pourçain (c.1275–1334), covering all four books. This 1526 Paris edition, printed by Jodocus Badius Ascensius for Jean Petit, presents the work in two columns of Gothic type with a full alphabetical index. Durandus was known for his independent theological positions, diverging from Thomism on key questions of cognition, universals, and the nature of the soul's relation to its powers.

Author

Durand of Saint-Pourçain

Durandus de Sancto Porciano

1275–1334

Readings

Distinction 25: On Simoniacs in Holy Orders

Distinctio Vigesima Quinta: De Simoniacis in Ordine

Durandus's commentary on Lombard's Distinction 25, which addresses simony in the conferral of holy orders. The "In generali" section defines simoniacs and distinguishes those who knowingly receive orders from a simoniac bishop (whose ordination is wholly invalid) from those who do so unknowingly (whose ordination is mercifully tolerated). Question I asks whether every bishop can confer orders, distinguishing between episcopal power, its exercise of right, and its exercise of fact. Question II asks whether a woman or child can be ordained, arguing from defects that can occur in the conferral of orders. Question III asks whether it is licit to buy or sell spiritual things for a temporal price. Question IV asks whether simony is committed in three customary modes: by gift of hand, by gift of tongue, and by gift of service. Question V asks whether the pope can commit simony.

Durand of Saint-Pourçain·1317·Latin·Distinctio XXV·fol. 413va–417ra