View source for Religion:Simony

{{short description|Act of selling church offices and roles}}
[[File:DvinfernoPopeNicholasIII m.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Dante speaks to Pope Nicholas III, committed to the ''Inferno'' for his simony, in Gustave Doré's 1861 wood engraving (portrait of the Third Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell).]]

'''Simony''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|m|ə|n|i}}) is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus,<ref>''The Reader's Encyclopedia'' (1965), New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, vol.2, ''p''.932, "Simon."</ref> who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of [[Biography:Jesus|Jesus]] payment in exchange for their empowering him to impart the power of the [[Religion:Holy Spirit|Holy Spirit]] to anyone on whom he would place his hands.  The term extends to other forms of trafficking for money in "spiritual things".{{sfn|Smith|1880}}{{sfn|''Halsbury''|2002|loc='''832'''}}

==Origin ==
The purchase or sale of ecclesiastical office was condemned from the fifth century, but it was only in the sixth century that it was associated with the figure of Simon Magus in the Book of Acts.<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts of the Apostles|8:9–24}}</ref> Key in making this association was Pope Gregory I, who labelled such exchanges as the "simoniac heresy".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosé |first=Isabelle |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01822846 |title=Simon le Magicien hérésiaque ? |date=2017 |publisher=Presses universitaires de Rennes |isbn=978-2-7535-5904-2 |language=en}}</ref>

== Simony in the Middle Ages ==
{{canon law}}

Although considered a serious offense against canon law, simony is thought to have become widespread in the [[Organization:Catholic Church|Catholic Church]] during the 9th and 10th centuries.<ref>Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, edited by Wendy Doniger, 1999</ref> In the eleventh century, it was the focus of a great deal of debate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reuter |first=Timothy |date=2001-01-01 |title=Gifts And Simony |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004476400/B9789004476400_s011.xml |journal=Medieval Transformations: Texts, Power, and Gifts in Context |language=en |pages=157–168 |doi=10.1163/9789004476400_011|isbn=9789004476400 }}</ref> Central to this debate was the validity of simoniacal orders: that is, whether a cleric who had obtained their office through simony was validly ordained.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=West |first=Charles |date=2022 |title=The Simony Crisis of the Eleventh Century and the 'Letter of Guido' |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-ecclesiastical-history/article/abs/simony-crisis-of-the-eleventh-century-and-the-letter-of-guido/C915507B2324FC0A8EF03B99475202EA |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |language=en |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=229–253 |doi=10.1017/S0022046921000063 |s2cid=239635858 |issn=0022-0469}}</ref>


In 1494, a member of the Carmelite order, Adam of Genoa, was found murdered in his bed with twenty wounds after preaching against the practice of simony.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burckhardt |first1=Jacob |title=The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy |date=1878 |publisher=Vienna Phaidon Press |location=University of Toronto - Robarts Library |page=[https://archive.org/details/civilizationofre00burc/page/60 60] |url=https://archive.org/details/civilizationofre00burc |access-date=28 February 2019}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="180px">
File:Abbé pratiquant la simonie.jpg|Abbot practising simony (France, 12th century)
File:Tizian 109.jpg|Girolamo and cardinal Marco Corner investing Marco, abbot of Carrara, with his benefice, Titian, {{c.|1520}}
</gallery>

=== In literature ===
In the 14th century, [[Biography:Dante Alighieri|Dante Alighieri]] depicted the punishment of many "clergymen, and popes and cardinals" in hell for being [[Philosophy:Greed|avaricious]] or miserly.<ref>''[[Unsolved:Inferno (Dante)#Fourth Circle (Greed)|Inferno]]'', Canto VII, line 47, Mandelbaum translation.</ref>

He also criticised certain popes and other simoniacs:<ref>''[[Unsolved:Inferno (Dante)#cite ref-DLS18 77-4|Inferno]]'', Canto XIX, lines 2–6, Mandelbaum translation</ref>

{{poemquote|Rapacious ones, who take the things of God,
that ought to be the brides of Righteousness,
and make them fornicate for gold and silver!
The time has come to let the trumpet sound
for you; ...}}

== Roman Catholic Church ==
Simony remains prohibited in Roman Catholic canon law. In the Code of Canon Law, Canon 149.3 notes that "Provision of an office made as a result of simony is invalid by the law itself."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Code of Canon Law - Title IX - Ecclesiastical Offices (Cann. 145-196) |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib1-cann145-196_en.html#Art._1. |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>

==Church of England==

The Church of England struggled with the practice after its separation from Rome. For the purposes of English law, simony is defined by William Blackstone as "obtain[ing] orders, or a licence to preach, by money or corrupt practices"<ref>{{cite book|last=Blackstone|first=William|title=Commentaries on the Laws of England vol I|date=1765|pages=376–7|place=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|title-link=Commentaries on the Laws of England}}</ref> or, more narrowly, "the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for gift or reward".<ref>{{cite book|last=Blackstone|first=William|title=Commentaries on the Laws of England vol IV|date=1769|page=62|place=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|title-link=Commentaries on the Laws of England}}</ref> While English law recognized simony as an offence,<ref>'''3''' ''Coke's Institutes'' 153–156</ref> 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. Both Edward VI and Elizabeth I promulgated statutes against simony, in the latter case through the Simony Act 1588.  The cases of Bishop of St. David's Thomas Watson in 1699{{sfn|Handley|2004}} and of Dean of York William Cockburn in 1841 were particularly notable.<ref name="times410410">''The Times'', 10 April 1841, p. 6 col.b, reprinted from the ''Cambridge Advertiser''</ref>

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 [[Religion:Canon law|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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=133}}


==See also==
*Concordat of Worms
*Gregorian Reform
*Civil law (common law)
*Simony Act 1688
*Simony Act 1713
*[[Philosophy:Corruption#In religion|Corruption in religion]]
*For papal simony, see Papal selection before 1059 § Ostrogothic rule (493–537)

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite ODNB|last=Handley |first=S. |year=2004 |id=28868 |title=Watson, Thomas (1637–1717)}}
* {{citation |editor-first=Lord Mackay of |editor-last=Clashfern  |year=2002 |title=Halsbury's Laws of England |edition=4th  |volume=14 |ref={{Sfnref|Halsbury|2002}} }} "Ecclesiastical Law", '''832''' 'Penalties and disability on simony'; '''1359''' 'Simony' (see also current updates)
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Smith |first=W. |year=1880 |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities: Being a Continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible'|url=https://archive.org/details/adictionarychri04cheegoog |title=Simony |publisher=J.B. Burr Pub. Co.}}

'''Attribution:'''

==External links==
*{{cite DNB|ref=none |last=Macdonell |first=George Paul  |wstitle=Ayliffe, John |volume=2 |pages=279–281 |short=x}}
*{{cite CE1913|ref=none  |last=Weber |first=N.A. |wstitle=Simony |volume=14|short=x}}
*{{cite web|ref=none  |author=Thomas Aquinas |title=Summa Theologica: Simony (Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 100) | website=New Advent |url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3100.htm |access-date=21 June 2020}}

[[Category:Christian terminology]]

{{Sourceattribution|Simony|1}}