Tractatus I: PRIMUS DE VIRTUTIBUS THEOLOGICIS

Quaestio I: Whether Tithes are to be paid

Whether Tithes are to be paid.

HERETICS, according to their custom, reprehend this holy practice of paying to the Church a tenth part of fruits or of other things: Valentia reports them disp. 6. quaest. 5. punct. 1. This error is condemned in the Council of Const. sess. 8., and is the eighteenth among the errors of Wyclif; and therefore the Council of Trent sess. 25. cap. 12. declares: Those who withhold or hinder tithes are to be excommunicated; nor are they to be absolved from this crime except after full restitution has been made. Understand, however, with Navar. cap. 21. num. 32., when restitution can be made before absolution, when no necessity presses, such as death or other, in order that absolution may come first. And in the Clementina Cupientes, de poenis, Religious are excommunicated who in sermons dissuade the payment of tithes.

MOREOVER, God had instituted tithes to be paid in the time of the old law, to honor God as rewarder, and to profess faith in the Redeemer, as D. Bonav. teaches in 4. dist. 1. p. 2. quaest. 3., and for the institution of a right life.

FIRST, indeed, God the rewarder is honored by tithes, (says the holy Doctor). For the number ten is the most perfect, because it has three perfections in itself. The first is of unity, which is perfect, since it is the beginning of every number. The second of the ternary, which is a perfect number consisting of all its parts, both aliquot and non-aliquot. The third of the senary, which consists of all its aliquot parts. And these together make up the denary, in which is the state [of perfection]: for those wishing to ascend again resume counting: undenarius, duodenarius, etc., adding units to the denary up to the hundredth number, from which one sheep went astray. This is the reason of Chrysost. homil. 1. Imperf. apud Suar. c. 11. n. 5.

SECOND, tithes are ordered to the professing of faith in the Redeemer. For man is expressed by the tenth drachma that was lost; which, when found, completes the ten choirs in heaven, as Beda says in Glossa ad 15. Lucae, and at that place the holy Doctor, with the Gloss, understands by the woman wisdom; by the ten drachmas, or denarii, the nine choirs of Angels and the tenth of man, which God fashioned, hewn from His own image. Hence, they say, God commanded tithes to be brought to Himself to signify the redemption of man, and gave the ten commandments. See the holy Doctor excelling there in his distinction.

THIRD, tithes are ordered to the institution of a right manner of life; for while a tenth part is given to God, that which is the perfection of our life is referred to Him, and the remainder, which is imperfect, is left to us. See the holy Doctor.

THIS payment is indeed excellently proved by D. Bonav. ad 10. Lucae from those words: But in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire.

FURTHER he proves it from 1 Cor. 9, not only by the authority but by the arguments of the Apostle: Who ever serves in the army at his own charges? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who feeds a flock and does not eat of its milk? etc. For it is written in the law of Moses: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. Does God care for oxen? Or does he speak indeed for our sakes? For these things are written for us, that he who ploughs ought to plough in hope, and he who threshes, in hope to receive fruit. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things?

HENCE he proves it from 6. ad Galatas: Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches him, in all good things.

THE SAME is found in 1 Timot. 5: The Priests that rule well are worthy of double honour: especially they who labour in word and doctrine. For the Scripture says: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn.

THE holy Doctor confirms it with the argument of Christ: For the labourer is worthy of his hire, which sense is also expounded by D. August. in Psalm. 146. et lib. 10. homiliarum, homil. 48., who says most beautifully: Our forefathers abounded in all riches because they gave tithes to God and paid tribute to Caesar. But now, since devotion to God has withdrawn, the exaction of the fisc has come in. We refused to share tithes with God; now the whole is taken away: the fisc takes what Christ does not receive. Valentia also uses these means disp. 5. quaest. 5. punct. 1., and Suar. tract. 2. l. 1. cap. 10. et sequent.

THE SAME is proved from the Decretals tit. de decimis. See Valentia loc. cit. and Suar.

But by what right tithes are paid.

THE holy Doctor supposes in 4. dist. 1. p. 2. quaest. 3. that tithes were introduced by the law of nature, and soon also established by Divine law; for thus all the Jews gave tithes to the Priests, and these gave a tenth of the tithes to the Pontiff, Numer. 18, and this was called the tithe of the tithe, as D. Bonav. notes ad Psal. 64.

THE holy Doctor, on the title of Psalm 93, which is inscribed quarta Sabbathi, observes that this fourth of the Sabbath is Wednesday, on which the Lights were created, and in it the brightness of the Church itself was shadowed forth; and therefore the four Ember seasons begin on Wednesday, and Lent on Wednesday. For we ought to offer the first-fruits of the times, that is, the four Ember seasons, and the tithe of the days, that is, Lent. Wherefore we give a tenth rather than a ninth or eleventh; because the tenth order of Angels fell, which is to be restored to men.

DOCTORS indeed dispute: what quota ¹, that which is the tithe itself, is still owed by Divine law to the Ministers of the Church.

INNOCENTIUS in Rubr. de decimis, and the Gloss on cap. 1. de decimis, lib. 6., and other Jurists cited by Couar. l. 1. var. cap. 17. and by Nauarro Man. cap. 21. num. 28., think that by Divine law men are bound not only to pay something for the sustenance of the Church's ministers, but to a quota, that is, a tithe.

THE FOUNDATION of these is, that the Pontiffs in the Decretals extra, de Decimis say that tithes are to be paid by divine precept. Likewise that they were not established by men but by God: C. Parochianos, C. Tua nobis, C. Cum non sint, and C. In quibusdam.

THE TRUE opinion, however, is that the quota, that is, the tithe, is not to be paid from an old, but now from an Ecclesiastical precept. But from a Divine precept a sufficient recompense is to be given to the ministers of the Church for their sustenance. So D. Thom. art. 1., Suar. cap. 10. n. 1., Nauar., Couar. above, Valentia quaest. 5. punct. 1., who says this is common to the Theologians, whom Suar. cites. Indeed Maior in 3. dist. 37. quaest. 36. reprehends the opposite opinion as Judaizing.

This is without doubt the opinion of D. Bonav., who ad 10. Lucae and in the other places cited understands the payment of tithes in that sense alone, as is clear to the reader, and he expounds the Scriptures above adduced by the holy Doctor from the New Testament in this way.

TO the Decretals the Theologians cited by Valentia reply that an exemplary or imitative observance is meant, that is, that tithes are to be paid by Ecclesiastical law, imitating the ancient Divine precept; hence he who precepts it after the manner of the divine law asserts its greater firmness, as Suar. notes cap. 10.

I would add that those Decretals register the institution of this rite, but that the Church changed the modes and retained that in which we are still bound now that the Redemption is already accomplished, namely to pay something to God the rewarder.

From what has been said I conclude, with the common opinion, that the law of tithes as regards the quota can be abolished by a contrary custom. The reason, as given by Valentia puncto 2., is that it is a human law, which can be abrogated by a reasonable and prescriptive custom.

Quaestio III: To whom, and by whom tithes are to be paid

To whom, and by whom tithes are to be paid.

I ASSERT first that tithes are to be paid not to Laymen but to the ministers of the Church: C. Quamvis grave, de decimis; and he seems to understand it of those only who have the care of souls, cap. Cum contingat de decimis. So D. Bonav. intimates ad 10. Lucae.

But from the tithe-revenues of these, curates and their clerics are accustomed to be fed, as Valentia notes punct. 4. quaest. 5. And given the precept of the Church, they are to be paid also to the body of Ecclesiastics; so D. Thom. quaest. 87. art. 3. and others cited by Bass. num. 10.

I ASSERT second: praedial tithes pertain to the Parish priests of the place where the lands are. So D. Thom. art. 3. ad 1., and it is gathered ex c. Quoniam de decimis and cap. ult. de Parochis. In this, however, one must stand by custom, as is had in c. Ad Apostolicam and c. Cum sint de Decim, and D. Thom. hands down art. 3. ad 2.

I ASSERT third that by concession of the Supreme Pontiff tithe-fruits can be extended to the uses of Laymen. First, by sale or donation. Second, by privilege of the Supreme Pontiff for a time or in perpetuity. Third, by concession in perpetual feud, made by some Prelate of the Church before the Lateran Council under Alexander III, which was celebrated in 1107: c. Cum Apostolica. After the said Council, however, no Prelate inferior to the Supreme Pontiff can grant such a feud to Laymen.

FOURTH, by a concession in feud made by a Prelate of some Church, if such tithes were once legitimately possessed by Laymen under the title of feud and have returned from the feud to the Church. So Valentia and others.

FIFTH, by the title of Lease: c. Vestra, de locato, et conducto; provided the direct dominion remain with the Ecclesiastic who leases, as D. Thom. notes art. 3. ad 3., and only its fruit be with the Layman who takes the lease; nor is this lease to be made in perpetuity, as Sylvester notes v. Decimae, nor beyond three years, where the Extravagant of Paul III de rebus Ecclesiae non alienandis has been received, which forbids this under excommunication.

IN this category also the Council of Trent sess. 25. cap. 11. de reform. declares void whatsoever leases of the goods of Churches, even confirmed with Apostolic authority, which a Provincial Synod, or those deputed by it, shall judge to have been contracted for a long time, even thirty years, to the damage of the Church and against the Canonical sanctions.

I ASSERT lastly that those are bound to pay tithes who either receive the Sacraments in some Church, or hold lands in its territory under any title, were it more than spiritual, even if they be Clerics, unless privilege, custom, or condonation ordain otherwise. So D. Thom. art. 4. and D. Bonav. locis adductis, Valentia quaestione prima p. 5., Suar. cap. 16., Less. l. 2. cap. 39. disp. 5., Lillius tract. 27. cap. 8., Vasq. de benef. cap. 1. dub. 8. num. 37., Regin. l. 19. num. 87., Fagund. l. 1. cap. 4. et l. 2. cap. 1., Bassaeus num. 5. So it is had in C. ex transmissa v. Fideles omnes, c. Tua nobis.

AS to Clerics, it is had in cap. 2. de decim., where however he speaks of their being paid from secular goods, not from the goods of the Church, as Suar. warns cap. 17., with the Theologians and Canonists.

INFIDELS, however, since they are aliens and do not receive the Sacraments, are not bound to Tithes. Therefore c. Ex transmissa explains who are bound to them.

As to Jews, they are bound to pay the real burdens: c. De terris; but not tithes of lands. Then c. Quamco lays down that they can be compelled to the tithes of lands which were accustomed to be paid before the lands came to them. The Gloss adds the reason, because a thing passes with its burden.

But baptized heretics are bound, for they are subjects of the Church. See Suar. cap. 16. num. 3.

NOTE, however, that by prescription it can come about that tithes be paid not in the Parish where the land is, but in another: c. Ad Apostolica, c. Cum sint homines, de decim.; it is gathered ex c. Ad aures de Praescript. and cap. 1. de Praescrip. in 6.

MOREOVER, for this prescription there is required a time by which derogation is made from the common law, as the Gloss says ad c. cit. Cum sint homines. For it is of the common law that tithes be given where the lands are, as is had in eo cap. Ad Apostolicae; but the necessary time is forty years: c. Accidentibus de Primil.

From what has been said you have that praedial tithes are paid from all whatsoever whole fruits: c. Nuncius, c. Ex parte, c. Ex transmissa, c. Tua nobis. See Suar. cap. 34. They are to be paid whole, moreover, before expenses are computed. See Suar. cap. 35.

SIMILARLY also for the mixed ones, as flocks, etc. Thus you have: c. Pervenit, c. Non est, c. Quicunque, c. Omnes 16. quaest. 7., c. Nuncios, where the same is said of the fruits of bees, wax and honey. See Suar. loc. cit. num. 4.

Quaestio IV: Where, and when, Tithes are to be paid

RECEIVED custom is to be observed in this matter; for in many places tithes are accustomed to be paid in the field itself, when the fruits are gathered, and then the Lord of the tithes must be admonished to be present, lest he be defrauded or robbed of the goods owed to him. In other places the untithed fruits are heaped in barns and afterwards tithed. And if for a space of ten years it has been the custom to carry the untithed fruits into barns, this must be provided at the expense of the Feudatories themselves, or of the Lords of the field; since that time induces a prescription having the force of law; but if that custom has not made a law, the Lord of the field will not be bound to anything else except to admonish the one to whom the tithes are owed; and if he is unwilling to present himself, they can be left separately in the field.

As to the time, however, at which this must be done: if the Tithe is personal and is accustomed to be paid, it must be paid immediately after the gain is acquired; because it is owed on gain acquired: therefore then it ought to be paid; yet if it has been introduced otherwise by custom, that custom is to be followed. See Lessius lib. 2. cap. 39. dub. 3. num. 26., Suares, Valentia, Azorius, Vasquez, Molfesius, and not a few others whom he cites and follows, and Bonacina disp. ult. de praecep. Ecclesiae, quaest. 5. p. 5. et 4.

THE SAME reason holds also for the praedial tithe. For it is owed once the fruits have been gathered; therefore it must then be paid. It can be added, in confirmation of both, that the payment of any Tithe falls under an affirmative precept, which is to be fulfilled at a definite time; and no definite time is more suitable than when the thing owed is in the power of the debtor, nor is there any sufficient reason or custom to compel postponing the payment. Moreover it is prescribed in cap. cum homines, de decimis, that it be so paid.

HENCE you have that for the payment of Tithes it is not required that they be demanded, but that they ought of themselves to be paid at the appointed time; where, however, a contrary custom prevails, it is not to be contradicted. Truly, if from the time fixed for payment the debtor is in delay, at least in respect of those tithes which are accustomed to deteriorate by delay, he will be bound to repair the loss. The time of payment begins for wool at the shearing of the sheep, for calves and other offspring of animals when they are maturely separated from their mothers; likewise dairy products are tithed when they are reckoned perfect in their kind.

Quaestio V: By what authority the payment of tithes is to be exacted

THAT this payment, if it is unjustly refused, can be justly demanded, no one has ever doubted; and this is true to such a degree, even if the one to whom it is owed long delays to demand it; for a debt is not remitted because it is not demanded within a set time, unless such a condition is attached; which rarely happens. Hence the mark of downright temerity is deservedly branded at Paris on Suarez cap. 38., because improbably he alone, unsupported by any instance either of reason or of authority, asserted that a parish priest who does not demand the tithes of fruits at the time of collection can no longer demand them: For no one prescribes against his own property by omitting to demand it, especially since the thing ought to be rendered without demand; and tithes are to be paid thus, as I said above, unless custom stands in the way.

TRULY, although the Parish priest, or another Cleric who holds them by just title, has the right to demand them, yet he cannot claim any authority of compelling by force, even if the Lord of the fruits utterly refuses them; partly because everyone is the legitimate possessor of his own property until he abdicates its dominion by traditio; partly because the parish priest is a private person, to whom it does not pertain to vindicate such an injury by right, either by seizing the thing itself, or by denying the Sacraments to the one who so injures.

THEREFORE the Ecclesiastical Judge, or the Prelate of the Church, is to be resorted to, who ought to preside over Ecclesiastical causes, such as tithes are: For since the penalty inflicted on the contumacious withholders of tithes is excommunication, a penalty indeed worthy of so great a disobedience, it must be pronounced by one having Ecclesiastical jurisdiction. So cap. 16. omnes, quaest. 7., and the Council of Trent decrees in sess. 25. cap. 12. de reformat.: Those who withhold or hinder tithes are to be excommunicated, nor are they to be absolved from this crime without full restitution having followed; which understand, if they have the means of restoring; for if they have become unable, they can be absolved by the one having jurisdiction, precaution having been given, and the purpose of satisfying the Church when they are in a position to pay.

IT MUST BE NOTED, however, that decree of the Council binds not only the holders of tithes by excommunication, but also obliges the prelates of the Church to compel their subjects in that manner to the payment of Tithes; in which, however, great prudence is to be employed, as Suarez warns in the place cited, that they lead them to it in an amicable way and through some composition, lest on account of a custom not duly prescribed, scandals and other disturbances arise.

NOR does such a composition, or agreement, in any way savour of simony, since it is not a question of spiritual right, but of temporal revenue, in whose administration the Prelates are bound to show themselves faithful and peaceable.

BUT if lands are alienated after the tithes due have been contracted, many, cited by Suarez in the place cited above, add that the pastors of the Church can demand the praedial tithes from those persons to whom the lands have been sold. More, however, hold that such lands remain liable only for future tithes, not for past ones; and this seems more probable. Nor can it be alleged to the contrary that the praedial goods of the faithful remain bound by way of a tacit Hypothec, under a certain tacit obligation, so that tithes may be paid from them wherever they are found, and thus pass with the burden of paying them, whether they be future or past, in the same manner as the goods of a husband remain tacitly hypothecated for the payment of the wife's dowry, with whomever they are found.

To this I reply that every hypothecary obligation arises from some law; but in this case no law can be shown.

Tractatus I: PRIMUS DE VIRTUTIBUS THEOLOGICIS

Proemium I: Prooemium

Disputatio I: ON FAITH

Quaestio I: What FAITH signifies, and what it is

Quaestio II: What the object of FAITH is

Quaestio III: Whether the object of FAITH is something complex

Quaestio IV: Whether the object of FAITH can be false

Quaestio V: Whether the object of FAITH can be evident scientifically

Quaestio VI: Whether FAITH is concerned with those things which are seen by vision on the way

Quaestio VII: Whether the articles of FAITH are evidently credible

Quaestio VIII: Whether the things to be believed are rightly arranged according to the articles

Quaestio IX: Whether the articles of FAITH have grown over the course of time

Quaestio X: Whether FAITH has grown as regards light

Quaestio XI: Whether Faith has grown in certitude

Quaestio XII: Whether the articles of Faith are to be expounded by some authority which is an infallible teacher, and what it is

Quaestio XIII: What are the marks of the true Church, in which the authority of expounding FAITH resides

Quaestio XIV: What must be believed by the necessity of means

Quaestio XV: What things are to be believed by the necessity of precept

Quaestio XVI: Whether we are bound to confess FAITH, and when

Quaestio XVII: Whether it is lawful to dispute about FAITH, and when

Quaestio XVIII: Whether Faith resides in the Intellect

Quaestio XIX: Whether Faith is perfected by Charity, as by its form

Quaestio XX: Whether it is certain that FAITH remains without CHARITY

Quaestio XXI: Whether, and how, FAITH is a VIRTUE

Quaestio XXII: Whether FAITH is ONE VIRTUE

Quaestio XXIII: Whether FAITH is the first of the Virtues

Quaestio XXIV: Whether FAITH is more certain than any science, or than any intellectual habit

Quaestio XXV: Whether one can know with certainty that he has FAITH

Quaestio XXVI: In whom FAITH is found

Quaestio XXVII: Whether FAITH is a substantial Gift of GOD

Quaestio XXVIII: Whether the difference between FAITH and other acts, natural as opposed to supernatural moral acts, always arises from the object

Quaestio XXIX: On the effects of FAITH

Quaestio XXX: On the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

Dubitatio I: Whether UNDERSTANDING is a gift of the Holy Ghost

Dubitatio II: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING can coexist with FAITH

Dubitatio III: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING consists in the contemplation of the Creator and of Creation

Dubitatio IV: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING is found in all who have grace, and whether in these alone

Dubitatio V: What is the necessity and utility of the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

Dubitatio VI: Whether* **the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING** *corresponds to the sixth beatitude, namely, Blessed are the clean of heart, etc.

Dubitatio VII: Whether* **to the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING** *there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Ghost, Faith

Quaestio XXXI: On the Gift of Knowledge

Dubitatio I: Whether* **KNOWLEDGE** *is a gift of the Holy Ghost

Dubitatio II: Whether knowledge is concerned with Divine things

Dubitatio III: Whether the gift of knowledge is speculative

Dubitatio IV: Whether the third Beatitude corresponds to the Gift of Knowledge: Blessed are they that mourn, etc.

Disputatio II: On Unbelief

Quaestio I: What UNBELIEF is, and what kind of sin it is

Quaestio II: Whether all the works of unbelievers are sins

Quaestio III: Whether unbelievers can be compelled to hear FAITH

Quaestio IV: Whether unbelievers can be compelled to embrace our FAITH, when it has been sufficiently set forth

Quaestio V: Whether unbaptized unbelievers can be compelled to abandon errors or rites contrary to natural reason

Quaestio VI: Whether the rites of unbelievers are to be permitted

Quaestio VII: Whether it is lawful to make agreements with unbelievers about the toleration of their rites

Quaestio VIII: Whether unbaptized unbelievers can retain power over the Faithful, and whether they can be deprived of it

Disputatio III: On Heresy

Quaestio I: What HERESY is

Quaestio II: Whether one who doubts about the articles of FAITH is a heretic

Quaestio III: Whether one who gives merely opinionative assent to an article of FAITH is a heretic

Quaestio IV: Whether, and what, Ignorance excuses from Heresy

Quaestio V: What pertinacity is required for HERESY

Quaestio VI: Whether, for one to be deemed a Heretic, it is necessary that he have been baptized and a believer

Quaestio VII: Whether the Church can compel heretics to receive the Catholic FAITH

Quaestio VIII: On the other means the Church uses against heretics, by forbidding their Books

Quaestio IX: Whether we are bound to avoid the conversation of heretics

Quaestio X: What excommunication is inflicted upon heretics

Quaestio XI: On the other spiritual punishments of heretics

Quaestio XII: On the temporal punishments of Heretics

Disputatio IV: On Hope

Quaestio I: What HOPE is

Quaestio II: What the material object of HOPE is

Question III

Quaestio IV: Whether a certain object is set forth for HOPE, and is hoped for

Quaestio V: Whether Hope is a Virtue

Quaestio VI: Whether HOPE is a Theological Virtue

Quaestio VII: Whether HOPE is at times formless

Quaestio VIII: Whether HOPE arises from merits

Quaestio IX: Whether Hope precedes Charity

Quaestio X: What the proximate subject of HOPE is

Quaestio XI: Whether HOPE remains in the Blessed

Quaestio XII: Whether there is a precept of hoping in GOD

Dubitatio VI: Whether* the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING *corresponds to the sixth beatitude, namely, Blessed are the clean of heart, etc.

Dubitatio VII: Whether* to the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING *there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Ghost, Faith

Dubitatio I: Whether* KNOWLEDGE *is a gift of the Holy Ghost