Saga - 1977, Side 33

GAMALT BISKUPSBRÉF KEMUR í LEITIRNAR
27
de eo nobis et sedi apostolice
reseruetur. Nam id tantum
nobis ob reuerentiam ordinis
episcopalis reseruantes. Ce-
tera concedimus fratemitati
tue, vt et inquirat de eo et
processu canonice facto ad
nos referat postmodum juxta
juris ordinem in eum decr
(sic). Si quid autem est aliud
in quo fraternitati tue cum
Deo gratificarj possimus, et
episcopum et eius ecclesiam
... Datum Rome etc. vltima
Octobris 1524 anno primo L.
sanctorum 4.or
dómur um hann áskilinn
oss og postullegu sæti, því
að það áskiljum vér oss
einum sakir virðingar fyr-
ir stétt biskupa. Að öðru
leyti leyfum vér þínum
bróðurleika að rannsaka
mál hans og að lokinni
málsmeðferð samkvæmt
kirkjurétti skjóta málinu
til vor. Gert í Róm o.s.frv.
síðasta okt. ár 1524.
SUMMARY
In 1973 an early episcopal letter, believed lost, was located in the
Vatican Archives by the Rev. Frank E. Bullivant at the request of
the author of the present article. It was from Ögmundur Pálsson,
bishop of Skálholt, addressed to Pope Clement VII and dated from
Skálholt, 4th July 1524.
After the customary opening, Bishop Ögmundur asks the pope
to grant him the power to give dispensations, in the first place to
the illegitimate, allowing them to be admitted to holy ordination,
owing to the shortage of priests and clerics, and in the second
place for marriages between relatives by blood and marriage in the
fourth degree. Finally he requests the pope to allow him jurisdiction
over a priest, Jón Arason, who in spite of admonitions has refused
to appear before him to answer certain charges, having fled the
country in secret. The bishop considers it just that he be granted
this jurisdiction although the said Jón has received episcopal con-
secration, since his intended see was founded from ”our church”,
as Bishop Ögmundur puts it, i.e. from the church of Skálholt. The
bishop considers it neither just nor reasonable for a daughter to
rise up against her mother and engage in dispute.
In his search for this letter, and its later treatment, Father