Explaining his methodology, Michiel Decaluwe wrote that:
I took all published versions of the first article of the decree
promulgated on March 30; we will refer to this decree as Haec sancta (1). Then,
I took the first two articles of the final Haec sancta, promulgated on
April 6, 1415; we will refer to this decree as Haec sancta (2). I
compared them with all the versions of the two decrees I could find in the Vatican
Library.11 This enabled me to conjecture a version of the two decrees that I consider
more trustworthy than the versions found in Mansi and COD. (Michiel Decaluwe, “Three
Ways to Read the Constance Decree Haec sancta (1415): Francis Zabarella,
Jean Gerson, and the Traditional Papal View of General Councils,” in The
Church, the Councils, and Reform: The Legacy of the Fifteenth Century, ed
Gerald Christianson, Thomas M. Izbicki, and Christopher Bellitto [Washington,
D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008], 125-26)
He then provided
the following reconstructed texts:
Fourth session, Haec sancta (1)
Et primo, quod ipsa synodus in spiritu sancto congregata legitime
generale concilium faciens, ecclesiam catholicam militantem repraesentans,
potestatem a Christo immediate habet, cui quilibet cuiuscumque status vel
dignitatis, etiam si papalis existat, obedire tenetur in his quae pertinent ad
fidem et extirpationem dicti schismatis et reformationem [generalem] ecclesiae
Dei in capite et in membris. (ibid., 126)
English
translation:
First, that the synod itself,
gathered in the Holy Spirit and legitimately constituting a general council,
representing the Catholic Church militant, has power immediately from Christ,
to which anyone of whatever rank or dignity, even if he be papal, is bound to
give obedience in those things which pertain to the faith and to the
extirpation of the said schism and the (general) reformation of the Church of
God in head and in members.
Fifth session, Haec sancta (2)
Et primo [declarat], quod ipsa in spiritu sancto legitime congregata
concilium generale faciens, et ecclesiam catholicam repraesentans, potestatem a
Christo immediate habet, cui quilibet cuiuscumque status vel dignitatis, etiam
si papalis existat, obedire tenetur in his quae pertinent ad fidem et
extirpationem dicti schismatis, ac reformationem dictae ecclesiae in capite et
in membris.
Item, declarat, quod quicumque cuiuscumque conditionis, status,
dignitatis, etiam si papalis (fuerit), qui mandatis, statutis seu
ordinationibus, aut praeceptis huius sacrae synodi et cuiuscumque alterius
concilii generalis legitime congregati, super praemissis, seu ad ea
pertinentibus, factis, vel faciendis, obedire contumaciter contempserit, nisi
resipuerit, condignae poenitentiae subiiciatur, et debite puniatur, etiam ad
alia iuris subsidia, si opus fuerit, recurrendo. (Ibid., 126)
English
translation:
And first, it [declares] that it,
legitimately assembled in the Holy Spirit, constituting a general council and
representing the Catholic Church, has power immediately from Christ, and that
everyone, of whatever condition, rank, or dignity — even if he be papal — is
bound to obey it in those matters that pertain to the faith, to the eradication
of the said schism, and to the reform of the said Church in its head and in its
members.
Likewise, it declares that
anyone, of whatever condition, rank, or dignity — even if he be (or should be)
pope — who stubbornly refuses to obey the commands, statutes or ordinances, or
the precepts of this holy synod, or of any other general council legitimately
assembled, issued or to be issued concerning the aforesaid matters, or
pertaining to them, shall, unless he repents, be subjected to appropriate
penance and duly punished, even by having recourse, if necessary, to other
remedies provided by law.
