A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

§ 73. Sole Authority of the State Church 411to the second degree, as the order is in succession to goods. Yet itshall be so that we suffer the right to receive the goods to belongto them, only if they themselves are not in the same way pollutedin their conscience. And it is our will that they be deprivedof every grant or succession from whatever title derived. Inaddition, we do not leave to any one convicted of this crime theright of giving, buying, selling, or finally of making a contract.The prosecution shall continue till death. For if in the case ofthe crime of treason it is lawful to attack the memory of thedeceased, not without desert ought he to endure condemnation.Therefore let his last will and testament be invalid, whetherhe leave property by testament, codicil, epistle, or by any sortof will, if ever he has been convicted of being a Manichæan,Phrygian, or Priscillianist, and in this case the same order is to befollowed as in the grades above stated; and we do not permit sonsto succeed as heirs unless they forsake the paternal depravity;for we grant forgiveness of the offence to those repenting. Wewill that slaves be without harm if, rejecting their sacrilegiousmaster, they pass over to the Catholic Church by a more faithful [376]service. Property on which a congregation of men of this sortassemble, in case the owner, although not a participator in thecrime, is aware of the meeting and does not forbid it, is to beannexed to our patrimony; if the owner is ignorant, let the agentor steward of the property, having been punished with scourging,be sent to labor in the mines, and the one who hires the property,if he be a person liable to such sort of punishment, be deported.Let the rectors of provinces, if by fraud or force they delay thepunishment of these crimes when they have been reported, orif conviction have been obtained neglect punishment, know thatthey will be subject to the fine of twenty pounds of gold. Asfor defensors and heads of the various cities and the provincialofficials, a penalty of ten pounds is to compel them to do theirduty, unless performing those things which have been laid downby the judges in this matter, they give the most intelligent care