 |
 |
 |
|
|
|---|
|
Johannes Teutonicus wrote his Apparatus ad
Decreta in 1215 AD. This became one of the most important books,
after the code of Gratian, almost like an official juridical source in the
Church. It was completed later on by Bartholomew of Brixon in 1240 AD and had
great influence on the theologians of the Middle Ages.
- Woman cannot receive the ‘character’ of
ordination
- There are other theologians who only require
baptism, not gender, for ordination
- Women cannot carry any public
responsibility
- A woman's task is to produce children
- Woman is like the soil fostering the male
seed
- A woman owes her existence to man
- Woman is the source of sin
- A wife owes a double servitude to her
husband
Translations from the latin by John
Wijngaards
Woman cannot receive the
‘character’ of ordination
“I am saying to this that women cannot receive the
character of ordination on account of the impediment of their sex and a decree
of the Church”.
Causa 27, quaestio 1, chapter
23
Note. Johannes draws conclusions from this
repeated throughout his work:
- Women cannot exercise any ministry that requires ordination.
- The ordination to deaconesses mentioned by the Council of Chalcedon
cannot have been a sacramental ordination.
- Women may not teach, except in some cases with permission from the
priest.
- Women may not baptise, except in case of absolute emergency.
- Women may not bring communion to the sick. If a priest cannot be
found, a layman must do it.
There are other theologians who only
require baptism, not gender, for ordination
“There are others who say that if an abbess is ordained, she does very
well receive the character of ordination, because to be ordained is a question
of fact. And after baptism anyone can be ordained”.
(in summarised
form:) “These theologians quote a decretal of Pope Innocent III (=X 3.
43. 3), which says that an unbaptized person cannot be ordained and, if he is
factually ordained, he does not actually receive the character of ordination.
Thus the question of the conditions requisite for valid ordination is
objectively answered: the only foundation, or the necessary presupposition, for
the validity and efficacy of ordination, as well as for the exercise of
ecclesiastical office, is the baptized and believing person . The sex of the
ordinand is irrelevant.”
Note. The indispensable presupposition for valid ordination,
according to this variant conception, an opinion that differs from traditional
thinking, is not male sex but only baptism. If ordination is granted on the
basis of being baptized, then the validity of ordination is acknowledged eo
ipso (=automatically) with its factuality. Post baptismum quilibet
potest ordinari —i. e., After baptism anyone, i.e. man or woman, can
be ordained.
Causa 27, quaestio 1, chapter
23
Women cannot carry any public
responsibility
“Women are excluded from all male responsibilities”.
On Causa 33, quaestio 5, chapter 17, ad
v.
“Women cannot hold any civil or public responsibility.”
On Causa 15, quaestio 3, princ., ad
v.
Note. Johannes underwrites the role models found
in Roman Law and adopted in medieval society. Women have no capacity to hold
“masculine functions”, such as political posts, being a judge,
functioning as a witness for last wills and testaments and in penal cases or
bringing accusations in court (with some few exceptions).
A woman's task is to produce
children
“Nature produced women for this purpose that they would give
birth... and it is a shame for a woman not to have the fruits of her
marriage.”
Distinctio 56, chapter 5, ad
v.
Note. In Teutonicus' eyes, the real job of a
woman is the care for and multiplication of the family. This opinion agrees
fully with the original Roman Law which said: “For this purpose nature has
brought forth women, namely to produce children, and their ambitions are mostly
constituted in this area.” (Corpus Iuris Civilis II 271).
Woman is like the soil fostering the male
seed
“So the soil, that is the womb, accepts the human race, and what is
her own after receiving it she nourishes, and while nourishing this body, and
while giving it a body, distinguishes it into various members”.
Note. Johannes Teutonicus here follows the letter
of St Jerome to Pammachius according to which the womb of the woman is compared
to the soil that receives the seed.
A woman owes her existence to
man
“That is, the man himself is called the image of God, because as water
flowed from the side of the Lord, so also Eve flowed from the side of
Adam”.
Causa 33, quaestio 5, chapter 12, ad
v.
“This comes from birth and from origin, because the
woman arises from the body of the man”.
Causa 33, quaestio 5, chapter 13, ad
v.
Woman is the source of sin
“God is not glorified through the woman, as through a man, because through
a woman the first sin came about”.
Causa 33, quaestio 5, chapter 13, ad
v.
“Original sin is called original because it had its origin from a woman
before it came to man”
Causa 33, quaestio 5, chapter 19, ad
v.
A wife owes a double servitude to her
husband
“A husband is owed a double servitude by his wife, the first one with
regard to rendering him his sexual dues, the other one because of the ministry
she has to render him.”
Source: Ida Raming, The Exclusion of Women
from the Priesthood, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen 1976, pp. 65-68.
Follow @JohnWijngaards
Join our Women Priests' Mailing List
for occasional newsletters:
An email will be immediately sent to you
requesting your confirmation.
Please, credit this document
as published by www.womenpriests.org!