Priests’ prayers, labour and wages

Pollard pp. 51.2–53.13

Falsehood51.2–51.8

51mendacium. Video quod moliris contra statum sacerdocii, sicut loqueris contra statum religiosorum per papam et totam ecclesiam confirmatum. Velles enim quod sacerdotes non venderent preces suas, sed quomodo, rogo, tunc viverent, vel cui intenderent operi manuali? Numquid forent carucarii vel consecrantes in dies corpus domini polluerent manus suas sanctas turpi opere manuali?

Falsehood. I see that you are plotting against the estate of the priesthood, just as you speak against the estate of the religious, confirmed by the pope and the whole church. For you would have priests not sell their prayers; but how, I ask, would they then live, or to what manual work would they apply themselves? Would they be ploughmen, or would those who daily consecrate the Lord’s body pollute their holy hands with base manual work?¹

Truth51.9–53.13

51veritas. Testis sit mihi deus affecto prosperitatem spiritualem et comodum sacerdotum; nollem tamen quod venderent preces suas nec quod forent mercantes mundani nec feneracionibus aut aliis negociis illicitis ocupati. Sed vellem quod intenderent predicacioni evangelii vel labori mecanico, ut scripture, vel alteri corporali, dum tamen preservarent se ab avaricia et aliis criminibus manifestis. Ymmo, ut videtur mihi, possent licite cum secularibus vel aliis conducentibus convenire quantum de precio accipient annuatim, dum tamen in limitibus apostoli pᵃ thymo 6° habentes alimenta et quibus tegantur sint cum prudencia contentati. Et omnino quod caveant de peccatis majoribus et intendant subducto ocio operibus sacerdotalibus; et specialiter quod propter suam cupidinem non sint ecclesie onerosi, ut quod non sint incontinentes aut cupidi vel in officiis aut jocis mundialibus ocupati. Et ut videtur mihi foret cum istis salubrius sacerdotibus exercicio manuali intendere, ut scripture, informacioni gramatice vel alteri operacioni ad quam 52deus moverit suos famulos, ut teneant se in limitibus supradictis. Unde de paulo legimus act. 18° quod erat artis senefectiore, et act. 20° testatur ipsemet de se ipso: in hiis que mihi necessaria erant et hiis qui mecum erant ministraverunt manus iste. Sed quis nostrum est dignior isto Paulo? Operacio quidem talis laboris corporalis non inficit, vel sacerdotem ad consecracionem corporis domini indisponit, sed ocium, superba ocupacio, vel onerositas ecclesie, aut aliud inficiens mentem suam. Confidat ergo sacerdos in domino et certet viriliter contra diabolum, seculum atque carnem, nec desperet quin deus de temporalibus sibi necessariis providebit, considerans illud Mᵗ 6° quomodo Christus dicit suis fidelibus quod non sint soliciti circa ista, monens per exemplum de volucribus atque liliis, quomodo deus non deficit eis in necessariis, quanto magis non servis suis fidelibus magis dignis. Ponat ergo se sacerdos fidelis in manu domini, et non ponat contra se obicem per peccatum, et non dubium quod quicquid sibi contigerit cedet sibi ad profectum anime salutarem. Paciatur ergo famem, sitim et corporis nuditatem, non tamen tantam quantam apostolus, et in istis omnibus gracias agat deo. Et stet constans fide quod deus non potest deserere servos suos fideles qui in fide et vita sua fideliter perseverant. Sunt autem vocati sacerdotes de hiis sectis 4or, et specialiter de fratribus, qui peccando ponunt obicem sibi ipsis, ut hii deserendo libertatem legis domini induunt novos ordines adinventos, et ultra quam deus consulit, in fratribus superfluis, in domibus sumptuosis et aliis ritibus inutilibus glomerantur. Et necesse est tales quandoque esse perplexos racione peccati prioris, in quo deserentes libertatem legis domini stolide se involvunt; et tales dicuntur habere 53istam consuetudinem quod de multis hominibus simul accipiunt annuam pencionem tanquam singuli eorum proprii oratores, et sic fraudant hos homines et seipsos; cum tenentes se in libertate legis domini possent facilius et competencius vivere et minus esse fidelibus onerosi. Unum enim peccatum inducit in aliud, sicut volutantes se in lacum per hoc profundius demerguntur. Nec video quin fundamentum istius sentencie sit sacerdotibus superioribus, cujusmodi sunt prelati et curati, cum majori diligencia observandum, cavendo semper ne sint in ecclesia ociosi nec subditis onerosi. Videtur tamen mihi racionabile quod curatus ocupatus ex dei ordinancia infirmitate corporali debet de parochia titulo elemosine, sicut prius cum moderamine, sustentari.

Truth. God be my witness, I desire the spiritual prosperity and advantage of priests; yet I would not that they sell their prayers, nor that they be worldly merchants, nor occupied in usuries or other unlawful business. But I would that they apply themselves to the preaching of the gospel, or to mechanical labour, such as writing, or to other bodily [labour], provided that they keep themselves from avarice and other manifest crimes.² Indeed, as it seems to me, they could lawfully agree with seculars, or with others who hire them, how much they will receive in pay yearly, provided that, within the limits of the apostle in 1 Timothy 6, "having food and wherewith to be covered", they are with prudence content.³ And [I would] above all that they beware of the greater sins and, idleness set aside, apply themselves to priestly works; and especially that through their covetousness they be not burdensome to the church, that is, that they be not incontinent or covetous, or occupied in worldly offices or sports.⁴ And, as it seems to me, it would be more wholesome for priests, with these [conditions], to apply themselves to manual exercise, such as writing, teaching grammar, or other work to which 52God may move his servants, so that they keep themselves within the limits aforesaid. Hence we read of Paul in Acts 18 that he was of the tentmaking trade, and in Acts 20 he himself testifies of himself: "For such things as were needful for me and them that were with me, these hands have furnished."⁵ But which of us is worthier than this Paul? The doing of such bodily labour indeed does not taint a priest, or make him unfit for the consecration of the Lord’s body; but idleness does, proud occupation, or being a burden to the church, or anything else that taints his mind.⁶ Let the priest therefore trust in the Lord and fight manfully against the devil, the world and the flesh, and not despair but that God will provide him the temporal things necessary to him, considering that passage of Matthew 6, how Christ tells his faithful that they are not to be solicitous about these things, admonishing them by the example of the birds and the lilies how God does not fail them in necessaries: how much more [will he] not [fail] his faithful servants, who are worthier. Let the faithful priest therefore put himself in the Lord’s hand, and not set an obstacle against himself through sin, and there is no doubt that whatever befalls him will turn to the saving profit of his soul. Let him therefore suffer hunger, thirst and nakedness of body, yet not so much as the apostle, and in all these things give thanks to God.⁷ And let him stand constant in faith that God cannot desert his faithful servants who faithfully persevere in their faith and life. But there are priests called from these four sects, and especially from the friars, who by sinning set an obstacle to themselves, as these, by deserting the liberty of the Lord’s law, put on newly invented orders, and, beyond what God counsels, mass themselves together in superfluous friars, in sumptuous houses and other useless rites.⁸ And such men must at times be perplexed by reason of the prior sin, in which, deserting the liberty of the Lord’s law, they foolishly entangle themselves;⁹ and such men are said to have 53this custom, that they take a yearly pension from many men at once, as though they were the particular bedesmen of each of them, and so they defraud these men and themselves;¹⁰ since, if they kept themselves in the liberty of the Lord’s law, they could live more easily and more fittingly and be less burdensome to the faithful. For one sin leads into another, as those who wallow in a pool are by that very thing sunk deeper. Nor do I see but that the foundation of this teaching is to be observed with greater diligence by the higher priests, such as are prelates and curates, taking care always that they be not idle in the church nor burdensome to their subjects. Yet it seems to me reasonable that a curate taken up, by God’s ordinance, with bodily infirmity ought to be sustained by the parish by title of alms, as before, with moderation.¹¹

Notes

1 B, B¹, C read carucarii vel carnifices et consecrantes corpus Christi polluerent: "ploughmen or butchers, and would those who consecrate the body of Christ pollute". B, B¹, C also omit suas after preces (51.5).
2 Ut scripture: "such as writing", i.e. the copying of books, as a kind of labor mecanicus; so again at 51.25–26. B, B¹, C omit predicacioni, so that the priests’ labour there is only "of the gospel or mechanical". For affecto (51.9) B, B¹ read quod affecto, C quod aspecto.
3 1 Tim. 6:8, recast in the third person: the Vulgate has quibus tegamur, his contenti simus, "wherewith to be covered, with these we are content". B, B¹, C read contenti for contentati.
4 Et omnino quod caveant: the quod-clauses still hang on vellem ("I would that") of 51.12; ut quod, "that is, that", spells out what being burdensome means.
5 The print reads senefectiore, which is not a word; the apparatus gives senefactorie in B, corrected from scenofactorie, and scenofactorie in B¹, the Vulgate’s scenofactoriae artis (Acts 18:3), "tentmakers by trade". Translated from B¹. The quotation of Acts 20:34 departs from the Vulgate (ad ea quae mihi opus erant, et his qui mecum sunt); Wyclif’s in hiis que mihi necessaria erant and erant are translated.
6 For aut aliud (52.8) B¹, C read est; B omits aliud, and a later hand adds above est ut invidia luxuria, "as envy [and] lust are".
7 The apostle’s hunger, thirst and nakedness: 2 Cor. 11:27 (in fame et siti ... in frigore et nuditate); compare 1 Cor. 4:11.
8 The plate prints IIIIor (quattuor), "four"; the extraction’s iinor is corrected to 4or. Wyclif does not name the four sects here; hiis points back to the orders of 51.3. Consulit: B, C and a marginal correction in B¹ read consuluit, "counselled".
9 Perplexos: "perplexed" in the moral theologians’ sense, caught where every way out involves sin, the consequence of the peccatum prius of taking the vow.
10 Tanquam singuli eorum proprii oratores: "as though [each of them were] the particular bedesmen of each of those men"; eorum is taken of the multi homines. Oratores are those who pray for a benefactor; Pollard’s side-note gives "bedesmen". B, B¹, C read capiunt for accipiunt (53.1).
11 Sicut prius: "as before", most likely "as [he was sustained] before [his infirmity]"; it could instead refer back to the moderation of pay set out at 51.16–19.

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 51: CAPITULUM 25m.
- 51: pᵃ (superscript a = prima)
- 51: contentati.
- 52: 18°
- 52: Mᵗ (superscript t)
- 52: agat
- 53: ∅ (side-note "be special")
- 52.24: plate prints IIIIor; iinor corrected to 4or in the Latin (; note 8).
- 52.3: plate prints senefectiore as the working transcription does; see note 5.
Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference 1 Tim.vi. (51.18); Acts xviii. 3 (52.2); Acts xx. 34 (52.3); Matt. vi. 25 (52.12). MS folio marks omitted: B¹. 156 d. and 112. (51.16–17), C. 16 a. (51.20), B. 14 a. (51.22), B. 14 b. (52.22), 112 b. (53.4), B¹. 157 a. (53.7), C. 16 b. (53.9).