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1487. 10 Kal. May. (22 April.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 17v.) |
Approbation and decree, as below. When Sixtus IV erected the church of St. Andrews, then a cathedral church, into a metropolitan church [Cal. Papal Lett., XIII, p. 15], he granted to all faithful who, being penitent and having confessed, on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel in September, from the first to the second vespers, and at any time (fn. 2) during the octaves of the same feast, visited the said metropolitan church and gave alms for its repair and restoration, plenary indulgence and remission of all their sins, and the indulgence which they would have gained if they had in person visited in the year of Jubilee the appointed churches and basilicas of Rome, etc.; the said indulgence to be perpetual, and the said visits to be made yearly for the first seven years, and afterwards triennially. Seeing that the present pope suspended all plenary indulgences and remissions granted by his said predecessor, and the faculties concerning the effect thereof, in so far as such faculties had not taken effect, he has now, considering the pre-eminence of the said church in the realm of Scotland, and the virtues and merits of William Scheuez, archbishop thereof, erected it into a primatial church, and constituted him primate and legatus natus of the whole of the said realm [above, p. 152]. Desiring, therefore, that the indulgence and the faculties for carrying out the one granted by the said predecessor, may begin anew from the first vespers on the feast of St. Michael in the month of September after the year of the Incarnation 1488, and continue during the octaves of the said feast for the following seven years, and afterwards triennially on the said feast and during its octaves, for ever, the pope hereby, motu proprio, approves the indulgence and letters of his said predecessor, the which shall begin to take effect immediately after the said year 1488 on the said feast, as if they had emanated from the pope anew, decrees that they shall have perpetual force, and, potiori pro cautela, renews them, and grants them anew (fn. 3) ; notwithstanding any papal constitutions, etc., and the aforesaid and any other suspensions, limitations or revocations made by the pope and the apostolic see, even the revocation made by James, bishop of Imola, nuncio of the pope and the apostolic see in Scotland, in virtue of a certain brief of the present pope, etc. Ad perp. rei mem. Pastoris eterni. (Gratis de mandato [sanctissimi] domini nostri pape.) [2½ pp. In the margin at the end: ’Maii.’] |
Ibid. (f. 19r.) |
To William, archbishop of St. Andrews, primate and legatus natus of the realm of Scotland. (fn. 4) Grant, as below. Whereas (in order that he might deliver his metropolitan church from the burden of debt which the late Patrick his predecessor contracted on account of the said church and the privileges granted to him and to it by the apostolic see; and whereas, in order that he might now enrich it and his and its subjects with greater privileges, etc., the pope having, in consequence of the merits of the said William, motu proprio erected the said church from a metropolitan into a primatial church, and appointed him and the archbishops for the time being primates and legati nati, he has incurred great burdens and expense, and is therefore, as the pope has also learned, bound to divers merchants and others in great sums of money), the pope, considering that the ecclesiastical persons of his city and diocese will enjoy the said privileges along with him, and that burdens shared are more easily borne, and deeming it right and proper that the said persons should also share with him the burdens and expense, (fn. 5) hereby grants, at his petition, that he may ask and exact, even a second time [in another year], (fn. 6) if necessary for full payment of the above, from all beneficed ecclesiastical persons of his city and diocese of St. Andrews, secular and regular, exempt and non-exempt, a charitable subsidy; with mandate executory hereby to the bishop of Aberdeen, the precentor of Segorbe (Segobricen.), and the official principal of St. Andrews, to cause such subsidy to be paid to the said archbishop, not only once but also, if it be not sufficient for the full payment of the said debts, a second time in another year. (fn. 7) Exigit tue deuotionis affectus. (Gratis de mandato sanctissimi domini nostri pape.) [2 pp. In the margin at the end: ‘Maii.’] |
5 Non. May. (3 May.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 57r.) |
Union, as below. Sixtus IV erected the church of St. Andrews, O.S.A., into a metropolitan church, and, in order that the late Patrick, then archbishop, formerly bishop of St. Andrews, and his successors, might the better keep up their estate, and for certain other reasonable causes, united in perpetuity to the archiepiscopal mensa the parish churches of Inchbrick, Tannydes, Kynnel and Tynyngame, in the diocese of St. Andrews. At the recent petition of archbishop William, containing that although the said unions were made, he desires the said churches to be united to the said mensa anew, and alleging that the causes for which the said unions were made still subsist, and that the yearly value of the said churches does not exceed 100l. sterling, the pope hereby unites the said churches to the said mensa in perpetuity, so that on the cession or death, etc., of the present holders, the said archbishop William or the archbishop for the time being may by his own authority take possession of the said churches and hold them for ever, suitable portions being reserved by him for fit priests (where there are not at present perpetual vicars), to be instituted at pleasure by the said archbishop. Ad perp. rei mem. Ut ea que pro utilitate ecclesiarum. (Gratis de mandato etc.) [2½ pp.] |
10 Kal. May. (22 April.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 58r.) |
To William, archbishop of St. Andrews, primate and legatus natus of the whole realm of Scotland. (fn. 8) Faculty, as below. Nicholas V made statute and ordinance that at all future voidances of monasteries, priories, and other pious places in the city and diocese of St. Andrews, the abbots, priors, and others appointed by election or postulation or otherwise, could obtain the confirmations of their elections from the then bishop, and from the bishop for the time being, and that he could grant the same (fn. 9) ; and after Sixtus IV had erected the church of St. Andrews, then a cathedral church, into a metropolitan church [Cal. Papal Lett., XIII, p. 15], the present pope, to the honour of Almighty God and St. Andrew the Apostle, erected the said metropolitan church into a primatial church, and willed that the said archbishop William, and the archbishop for the time being, should be primate of the whole realm of Scotland and legatus natus therein [above, p. 152], as is more fully contained in the letters of the pope and of the said Nicholas and Sixtus. Seeing that, as the pope has learned, there are in the said city, diocese, and province many monasteries, [churches? ], (fn. 10) and priories and other pious and religious places, hospitals and religious houses, (fn. 11) which are in need of visitation, he hereby motu proprio renews and confirms, for the lifetime only of the above archbishop (who has been sent as principal orator to make on behalf of James king of Scots (fn. 12) his obedience to the pope and the apostolic see), the said statute and ordinance of the said pope Nicholas; grants to him anew that at all future voidances of monasteries, priories, and other pious places in the city and diocese of St. Andrews, of any Order (except only those of the Cistercian, Premonstratensian, Cluniac [and] Mendicant Orders), provided that they be not exempt, (fn. 13) the abbots, etc., thereof elected, postulated, or by the said archbishop William appointed, may obtain the confirmations of their elections [and] postulations, and the said provisions, from the said archbishop only, to whom for his lifetime the pope hereby commits in this matter power to act in his stead, (fn. 14) and grants that he may grant the same, the pope further making statute and ordinance that the confirmations of such elections and postulations and such provisions shall always hold good and have force as if reservations by the pope and the apostolic see, special or general, of the provisions of the said monasteries, etc., had not emanated; with faculty for life to visit, in person or by deputy, once a year or oftener if necessary, the said monasteries, churches, priories [and] other pious and religious places, exempt and not exempt (but not those of Mendicants), (fn. 15) and their holders, etc., exempt and not exempt, in the said city, diocese, and province, both in head and members, and make necessary reformation, etc.; to correct and punish the guilty and, if need be, deprive them, and make provision to other persons of the said monasteries [churches? ], (fn. 16) priories, and other places, if they be not exempt (fn. 17) to receive procurations, even in money, on account of such visitation, (fn. 18) etc.; to absolve any persons of either sex of the said city, etc., from sentence of excommunication, enjoining a salutary penance, and dispense them on account of any irregularity contracted by celebrating masses and other divine offices, not in contempt of the Keys, when under such sentence; to dispense twelve persons of either sex of the said city, etc. (husband and wife being reckoned as one person), (fn. 19) related in the simple double and multiple third, and as many persons related in the simple double or multiple fourth degrees of kindred or affinity, or in such degrees mixed, to contract marriage, or, if they have already contracted marriage, to remain in such marriage, absolving from excommunication those who have done so wittingly, enjoining on them a salutary penance (fn. 20) and temporarily separating them, and decreeing the offspring of such marriages legitimate; and to reconcile by deputy the churches and cemeteries of the said city, etc.; with mandate executory hereby to the bishops of Tournai and Aberdeen and the precentor of Segorbe (Segobricen.). Personam tuam. (Gratis de mandato etc.) [6 pp. In the margin at the end: ‘Maii.’] |