Letter 50086: I am writing briefly about the matter you raised — the case of the man who wishes to enter the clergy but whose past...
Augustine of Hippo→Caecilian|c. 405 AD|Augustine of Hippo
donatism
Augustine to Caecilian, greetings.
I am writing briefly about the matter you raised — the case of the man who wishes to enter the clergy but whose past life includes serious moral offenses.
The principle is clear: the clergy must be held to a higher standard than the laity. Not because clergy are inherently better people — God knows they are not — but because the office they hold makes them examples, and an example stained by well-known past sins undermines the authority of the office and scandalizes the faithful.
This does not mean that a converted sinner can never serve God. Far from it — the whole point of grace is that it transforms. But there is a difference between being forgiven and being fit for public office. A man whose past is widely known for serious sins may serve the Church in many ways — through prayer, through charity, through the witness of a changed life — without occupying a position that invites constant comparison between what he was and what he now claims to be.
This is not a punishment. It is prudence. And the man who accepts it with humility demonstrates more holiness than the one who demands a position as proof of his rehabilitation.
Farewell, brother.
Letter 86 (A.D. 405)
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To My Noble Lord Cæcilianus, My Son Truly and Justly Honourable and Esteemed in the Love of Christ, Augustine, Bishop, Sends Greeting in the Lord.
The renown of your administration and the fame of your virtues, as well as the praiseworthy zeal and faithful sincerity of your Christian piety — gifts of God which make you rejoice in Him from whom they came, and from whom you hope to receive yet greater things — have moved me to acquaint your Excellency by this letter with the cares which agitate my mind. As our joy is great that throughout the rest of Africa you have taken measures with remarkable success on behalf of Catholic unity, our sorrow is proportionately great because the district of Hippo and the neighbouring regions on the borders of Numidia have not enjoyed the benefit of the vigour with which as a magistrate you have enforced your proclamation, my noble lord, and my son truly and justly honourable and esteemed in the love of Christ. Lest this should be regarded rather as due to the neglect of duty by me who bear the burden of the episcopal office at Hippo, I have considered myself bound to mention it to your Excellency. If you condescend to acquaint yourself with the extremities to which the effrontery of the heretics has proceeded in the region of Hippo, as you may do by questioning my brethren and colleagues, who are able to furnish your Excellency with information, or the presbyter whom I have sent with this letter, I am sure you will so deal with this tumour of impious presumption, that it shall be healed by warning rather than painfully removed afterwards by punishment.
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Augustine to Caecilian, greetings.
I am writing briefly about the matter you raised — the case of the man who wishes to enter the clergy but whose past life includes serious moral offenses.
The principle is clear: the clergy must be held to a higher standard than the laity. Not because clergy are inherently better people — God knows they are not — but because the office they hold makes them examples, and an example stained by well-known past sins undermines the authority of the office and scandalizes the faithful.
This does not mean that a converted sinner can never serve God. Far from it — the whole point of grace is that it transforms. But there is a difference between being forgiven and being fit for public office. A man whose past is widely known for serious sins may serve the Church in many ways — through prayer, through charity, through the witness of a changed life — without occupying a position that invites constant comparison between what he was and what he now claims to be.
This is not a punishment. It is prudence. And the man who accepts it with humility demonstrates more holiness than the one who demands a position as proof of his rehabilitation.
Farewell, brother.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.