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Sicardus wrote the Summa Decretorum between 1179
and 1181 AD. He also composed a liturgical work known as Mitrale.
- Women may not accuse a priest in court
- Women must wear a veil
- Women are not allowed to touch any of the sacred
vessels used in the liturgy
- Man is the origin of woman, which is the reason
why he has total control over her.
- The birth of a girl carries a double curse
- Ordaining a woman is automatically
invalid
Translation from the latin by John
Wijngaards
Women may not accuse a priest in
court
“Those who may not be priests, cannot accuse a priest or give witness
against him”
Causa 15, quaestio 3
Women must wear a veil
“A woman must cover her head for two reasons:
because of original sin and out of respect for the bishop. She is not allowed
to speak in the presence of a bishop. Also she is not allowed to
teach.”
Causa 33, quaestio5,
chapters17,19
Women are not allowed to touch any of
the sacred vessels used in the liturgy
“Reverence with regard to sacred utensils is shown both in what one does
and in what one does not do. With regard to not doing, utensils may only be
touched by men and not even be touched by religious sisters”.
On Distinctio 1 de cons.
Man is the origin of woman, which is
the reason why he has total control over her.
“There exists in marriage a trace of the Blessed
Trinity. Because the husband is the origin, from which woman comes forth; and
both are the origin from which children come forth”.
Mitrale V, fol. 60v.
The birth of a girl carries a double
curse
“There were two commandments in the (Old) Law, one pertaining to
the mother giving birth, the other to the delivery itself. With regard to the
mother giving birth, when she had given birth to a male child, she was to
refrain from entering the Temple for forty days as an unclean person: because
the foetus, conceived in uncleanliness, is said to remain formless for forty
days. But if she gave birth to a female child, the space of time was doubled,
for the menstrual blood, which accompanies birth, is considered to such an
extent unclean that, as Solinus states, fruits dry up and grass withers at its
touch. But why was the time for a female child doubled? Solution: because a
double curse lies on the feminine growth. For she carries the curse of Adam and
also the (punishment) ‘you will give birth in pain’. Or, perhaps,
because, as the knowledge of physicians reveals, female children remain at
conception twice as long unformed as male children.”
Mitrale V, chapter 11
Ordaining a woman is automatically
invalid
“What would happen if a Jew or a pagan were to receive holy orders
and ordination to dignity. Some say that such a person would be a (genuine)
bishop. What, however, if a woman were to be ordained? But then, how will she
be ordained? If a slave has passed a judgement, is it not automatically
undone?”
Mitrale V, fol. 12r
Source: Ida Raming, The Exclusion of Women
from the Priesthood, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen 1976, pp. 58-60.
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