Folio 389

Benedict XIV, 1740-1758

printed p. 357 · pdf p. 389

The Minister of Confirmation1

[From the Constitution, "Etsi Pastoralis," for Italian-Greeks, May 26, 1742]

1458. (3) Let Latin bishops unconditionally confirm infants or others baptized in their dioceses and signed on the forehead with chrism by Greek priests, since neither by our predecessors nor by us has the faculty been granted, nor is it granted to Greek priests in Italy and the adjacent islands to confer the sacrament of confirmation on baptized infants. . . .2

Profession of Faith which Is Prescribed for Orientals (Maronites)3

[From the Constitution, "Nuper ad nos," March 16, 1743]

1459. 5. . . . I, N., with firm faith, etc. I believe in one, etc., [as in the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, see n. 86, 994].

1460. I revere also and accept the universal Synods as follows, namely; The first Nicean [see n. 54], and I profess what has been defined in it against Arius of execrable memory, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, who is born of the substance of the Father, not made, that He is consubstantial with the Father, that those impious statements have been rightly condemned in the same Synod, such as: "That at some time He did not exist," or, "that He was made of those things which are not, or of some other substance or essence," or, "that the Son of God is mutable or changeable."

1461. The first Constantinople, second in order [see n. 85 f.], and I profess that which was defined in it against Macedonius of execrable memory that the Holy Spirit is not a servant but Lord, not a creature but God, and possessing the one divinity with the Father and the Son.

1462. The first Ephesian [see n. 111 a f.], third in order, and I profess that which was defined against Nestorius of execrable memory, that divinity and humanity by an ineffable and incomprehensible union in the one

  1. BB(M) 1, 352 [ed. old I, n. 57]; MBR 16, 96 b. ↩

  2. The same Benedict XIV in his work, "De Synodo diocesana" (l. VII, c. 8, n. 7: ed. Mchl. II 70), says: "But whatever there is about this difficult and very complex controversy, it is clear to all that confirmation conferred by a simple Latin priest through the sole delegation of the bishop would now be invalid, because the Apostolic See reserves this right to itself alone." According to a decree of the Holy Office, July 5, 1853 [Collect. S.C. de Prop. Fide I (1907), n. 1095], the power of confirming is taken away from Greek presbyters, whether uniate or schismatic, in Bulgaria, in Albania, in Cyprus, among the Maronites of Mount Lebanus, in Italy and the adjacent islands, but not in Walachia, Moldavia, and Asia. ↩

  3. BB(M) 2, 82 ff. [old ed. I n. 78]; NBR 16, 148 ff. ↩