simony

Dante speaks to Pope Nicholas III, committed to the Inferno for his simony, in Gustave Doré's wood engraving, 1861. (portrait of the Third Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell)

Abbot practising simony (France, 12th century)

Simony (pron. [ˈsaɪ.mə.niː] or [ˈsɪ.mə.niː]) is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24. Simon Magus offers the disciples of Jesus, Peter and John, payment so that anyone on whom he would place his hands would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the origin of the term simony;^[1] but it also extends to other forms of trafficking for money in "spiritual things".^[2][3] Simony was also one of the important issues during the Investiture Controversy.

History

Simony is an offence against the law of the church. In the canon law the word bears a more extended meaning than in English law. Simony according to the canonists, says John Ayliffe in his Parergon,

is defined to be a deliberate act or a premeditated will and desire of selling such things as are spiritual, or of anything annexed unto spirituals, by giving something of a temporal nature for the purchase thereof; or in other terms it is defined to be a commutation of a thing spiritual or annexed unto spirituals by giving something that is temporal.

In the Corpus Juris Canonici the Decretum^[4] and the Decretals ^[5] deal with the subject. The offender whether simoniacus (one who had bought his orders) or simoniace promotus (one who had bought his promotion), was liable to deprivation of his benefice and deposition from orders if a secular priest - to confinement in a stricter monastery if a regular. No distinction seems to have been drawn between the sale of an immediate and of a reversionary interest. The innocent simoniace promotus was, apart from dispensation, liable to the same penalties as though he were guilty.

Certain matters were simoniacal by the canon law which would not be so regarded in English law.^[6] So grave was the crime of simony considered that even infamous persons could accuse of it. English provincial and legatine constitutions continually assailed simony.

Church of England

The Church of England also struggled with the practice after its separation from Rome. While English law recognized simony as an offence,^[7] it treated it as merely an ecclesiastical matter, rather than a crime, for which the punishment was forfeiture of the office or any advantage from the offence and severance of any patronage relationship with the person who bestowed the office. The cases of Bishop of St. David's Thomas Watson in 1699^[8] and of Dean of York William Cockburn in 1841 were particularly notable.^[9]

As of 2011^[update], simony remains an offence.^[3][10] An unlawfully bestowed office can be declared void by the Crown, and the offender can be disabled from making future appointments and fined up to £1000.^[11] Clergy are no longer required to make a declaration as to simony on ordination but offences are now likely to be dealt with under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003,^[12] r.8.^[10]

Girolamo and cardinal Marco Corner investing Marco, abbot of Carrara, with his benefice, Titian, ca 1520

Secular

In secular contexts, this same crime is known as barratry.
For the purposes of English law, simony is defined by William Blackstone as the corrupt presentation of any person to an ecclesiastical benefice for money, gift or reward.^[13] The offence is one of purely ecclesiastical cognizance, and not punishable by the criminal law. The penalty is forfeiture by the offender of any advantage from the simoniacal transaction, of his patronage by the patron, of his benefice by the presentee; and by the Benefices Act 1892, a person guilty of simony is guilty of an offence for which he may be proceeded against under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892. An innocent clerk is under no disability, as he might be by the canon law. Simony may be committed in three ways - in promotion to orders, in presentation to a benefice, and in resignation of a benefice. The common law (with which the canon law is incorporated, as far as it is not contrary to the common or statute law or the prerogative of the Crown) has been considerably modified by statute. Where no statute applies to the case, the doctrines of the canon law may still be of authority. Both Edward VI of England and Elizabeth I promulgated statutes against simony.

See also

Look up simony in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Concordat of Worms
• Gregorian Reform
• Civil law (common law)
• Law of the United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

•  "Ayliffe, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Lord Mackay of Clashfern (ed.) (2002) Halsbury's Laws of England, 4th ed. Vol.14, "Ecclesiastical Law", 832 'Penalties and disability on simony'; 1359 'Simony' (see also current updates)
• Smith, W. (1880). A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities: Being a Continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible'. J.B. Burr Pub. Co.. pp. "Simony". 
• Weber, N. A. (1913) "Simony", Catholic Encyclopaedia'