Commentary on the Four Books of the Sentences

Distinction 25: On the Conferral and Reception of Orders

Distinctio Vigesima Quinta: De Ordinum Collatione et Receptione

Thomas of Strasbourg's commentary on Distinction 25 of Book IV of Peter Lombard's Sentences, which treats the conferral and reception of holy orders. The distinction opens with an overview of the Lombard's structure and a resolution stating that while only a bishop can confer orders by common law, a heretical or censured bishop still validly ordains when the Catholic form and intention are observed. Article I examines the power of the ordainer, establishing that episcopal authority alone suffices to confer the sacrament of order. Subsequent articles address simoniacal ordination: whether orders conferred or received simoniacally are valid, the three modes of simoniacal exchange (gift of hand, tongue, and service), and the conditions under which a transaction involving spiritual or annexed goods constitutes simony.

Thomas of Strasbourg·1335·Latin·Liber IV, Distinctio XXV·fol. 364ra–367vb