medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I was told many years ago that the practice presupposes that you cannot be
a bishop without a see. In the Middle Ages, the pope would have
authorized naming a bishop to a see in partibus.
Tom Izbicki
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Rosemary Hayes wrote:
>>
>> My own studies of English bishops (which includes noticing rather
>> than concentrating on their suffragans) suggests that while it was
>> quite common for them to give benefices to their suffragans, it was
>> rare for these benefices to be as important and wealthy as the
>> prebends and archdeaconries. I think this may be explained by
>> sensitivity to the fact that most of the suffragans were friars and,
>> therefore, should not be reaping rich rewards from spiritual duties
>> but I suppose, if one took that argument to its logical conclusion,
>> they should not have received any benefices.
>
> I do wonder if it is an oversimplification to say that most suffragans
> were
> friars (just as I thought that most suffragans held Irish sees).
> Certainly,
> friars would be the cheapest (in theory!) to employ, but glancing at the
> lists suggests that at least some of the obvious Religious were priors or
> abbots. I do wonder if some people constructed "portfolio careers", and
> becoming a bishop was just another aspect to it. Which raises at least
> one
> question: how did one become consecrated to a see in partibus infidelium?
>
> An even more basic question is, why? Why did you need to be a bishop of a
> titular see to be a suffragan? Could you only be consecrated a bishop if
> there was a "spare" see? If so, did you need to retain it in order to
> "practise" as a bishop? What happened if you resigned your see - could
> you
> still practise as a suffragan? (I suppose, this raises the whole question
> of 'episcopi vagantes'...)
>
> John Briggs
>
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