LETTER
202
LETTERB
•* Principes et regies de la vie chr^tienne" (Paris, 1688) :
" Explication litt^raire et morale de T^pttre de S. Paul
aux Romains (Paris, 1695); '^Br^viaire Romain en
latin et franyais" (4 vols., Paris, 1687), condemned by
the archiepiscopal authorities because it was an in-
novation contrary to the spirit and practice of the
Church, and because it contamed much that was heret-
ical and much that was conducive to heresy and error.
Although the episcopal ban was subsequently re-
moved, and the work was never placed on the Roman
Index, the Jansenistic leanings of Ix^toumeux stand
conspicuous to-day in this as in the remainder of his
writmgs.
Diet, dea Hvrea Janainist., I, 63; II, 305: III. 307; Stb- Beuve, Port-Ropal, V, vi, 2; Chaudon et Delandine, Diet, untv. Hist., Cnt. et Bitliogr.; Mob£ri, Orand Did. Htstor.; JuNOMANN in Kirchenlex., 8. v.
Thomas Kennedy.
Letter, Ccmmendatory. See Letters, Ecclesi- astical.
Letterkenny. See Raphoe, Diocese of.
Letters, Apostolic. See Bulls and Briefs.
Letters, Dimissorial. See Dimissorial Letters.
Letters, Ecclesiastical (Litteile EccLEsiASTiCiG) , are publications or announcements of the organs of ecclesiastical authority, e. g. the synods, more partic- ularly, however, of popes and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters.
I. Letters of the Popes in tfie Period of the Early Church. — The popes began early, by virtue of the primacy, to issue laws as well for the entire Church as tor individuals. This was done in the form of letters. Such letters were sent by the popes either of their own will or when application was maae to them by synods, bishops, or individual Christians. Apart from the Epistles of the Apostle Peter the firat example of this is the Letter of Pope Clement I (90-99?) to the Corinthians, in whose community there was grave dis- sension. Only a few papal letters of the first three Christian centuries have been preserved in whole or part, or are known from the works of ecclesiastical writers. As soon, however, as the Church was recog- nized by the State and could freely spread in all direc- tions, the papal primacy of necessity began to develop, and from this time on the number of papal letters in- creased. No part of the Church and no question of faith or morals failed to attract the papal attention. The popes called these letters, with reference to their legal character, decreta: statuta: decretalia constittUa, even when the letters, as was often the case, were hortatory in form. Thus Siricius, in his letter of the year 385 to Himerius of Tarragona [JafF^, "Regesta Pontificum Romanorum" (2na ed., Leip- zig, 1885-88), I, no. 255]. Or the letters were called sententiw, i. e. opinions (Svn. Tur., II, an. 567, c. ii); prcDcepta (Syn. Bracar., 1, an. 501, praef.); auctori- tates [Zosimus, an. 417; Jaffd, "Regesta", 2nd ed., I, no. 3491. On the other hand more general letters, especially those of doginatic importance, were also called at times tomi; indicidi; commonitoria; epis^ tola tractoruB, or tractatorice. If the matter were important, the popes issued the letters not by their sole authority, but with the advice of the Koman presbytery or of a synod. Consequently such letters were also called epistolw synodicas (Syn. Tolet., Ill, an. 589, c. i). By epistola synodica, however, is also understood in Christian antiquity that letter of the newly elected bishop or pope by which he notified the other bishops of his elevation and of his agree- ment with them in the Faith. Thus an ejnsiola of this kind had a certain relationship to the liUera forrnaios by which a bishop certifiea. for pre- sentation to another bishop, to the orthouoxy and unblemished moral character of an ecclesiastic of his diocese. Closely related to the liUera formaUe arc
the liUercB dimissoriiB (dimissorials) by which a
bishop sends a candidate for ordination to another
bishop to be ordained. While these names indicate
sufficiently the legal character of the papal letters, it
is to be noted that the popes repeatedly demanded in
explicit terms the observance of their decrees; thus
Siricius, in his letter of the year 385 to Ilimerius
(Jaff^, "Regesta", 2nd ed., I, no. 255), and Innocent
I in his letter of the year 416 addressed to Deccntius
of Gubbio (JafT6, "R^esta", 2nd ed., I, no. 311).
In the same manner they repeatedly required from
the persons to whom they wrote that these should
bring the letter in question to the notice of others.
Thus tigain Siricius, in his letter to Himerius (Jafif^,
Regesta, 2nd ed., I, no. 255); and Pope Zosimus,
in the year 418 to Hesychius of Salona (Jaff4. " Re-
gesta, 2nd ed., I, no. 339). In order to secure such
knowledge of the papal laws several copies of the
papal letters were occasionally made and dispatched
at the same time. In this way arose the letters a
pari: a paribus uniformes, rd (ffa (Jaff^, "Regesta'^
2nd ed., I, nos. 331, 334, 373). FoUowing the ex-
ample of the Roman emperors the popes soon
established archives (scrinium) in whicn copies of
their letters were placed as memorials for further use,
and as proofs of authenticity. The first mention of
papal archives is found in the Acts of a synod held
about 370 under Pope Damasus I (Constant, "Epis-
tolaB Romanorum Pontificum '^^ Paris, 1721, 500).
Pope Zosimus also makes mention in 419 of the ar-
chives (Jaff^, " Regesta", 2nd ed., I, no. 350). Never-
theless, forged papal letters appeared even earlier
than this. By far the greater number of the papal
letters of the first millennium, however, have been lost.
Only the letters of Leo I, edited by the brothers Bal-
lerini, the "Registrum Epistolarum" of Gregory I,
edited by Ewalaand Ilartmann, and the "Rc^trum
Epistolarum" of Gregory VII, edited by Jaffd, have
been more or less completely preserved. As befitted
their legal importance, the papal letters were also soon
incorporated m the collections of canon law (Maassen,
Gcscliichte der Qucllen und Literatur des kanon-
ischen Rechts im Abendlande bis zum Ausgang des Mit-
telalters". Graz, 1870, 281 sqq.). The first to collect the
epistles ot the popes in a systematic and comprehen-
sive manner was the monk Dionysius Exisuus, at the
b^inning of the sixth century (Maassen, Geschichte
der Quellen ", 422 sqq.). In this way the papal letters
took rank with the canons of the synods as of equal
value and of equal obligation. The example of Diony-
sius was followed afterwards by almost all compilers
of the canons, Pseudo-Isidore and the Gregorian can-
onists, e. g. Anselm of Lucca, Dcusdedit, etc.
II. Letters of the Popes in the Medieval Period, — With the development of the primacy in the Middle Ages the papal letters grew enormously in number. The popes, following the earlier custom, insisted that their rescripts, issued for individual cases, should be observed in all analogous ones. According to the teaching of the canonists, above all of Gratian, every papal letter of general character was authoritative for the entire Church without further notification. The names of the letters of general authority were very varied: constitutio (c. vi, X, De elect., I, vi); edictum (c. unic, in Vlto, De postul., I, v); statutum (c. XV, X, De sent, excomm., V, xxxix); aecretum (c. i, in Vlto. De pra?b., Ill, iv); decretalis (c. xxix, in Vlto, De elect., I, vi); sanctio (c. unic, in Vlto, De cler. segrot., Ill, v). Decrees (decreta) was the name given especially to general ordinances issued with the advice of the cardinals (Schulte, *' Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des kanonischen Rechtes", Stuttgart, 1876, I, 252 s(i.). On the other hand ordinances issued for individual cases were called: rescriptcL^ responsa, mandata. Thus a constitution was always under- stood to be a papal ordinance which r^gulat^xl ec- clesiastical conditions of a general character judi
