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Summa Theologiae · II-II, q. 185

Question 185. Of Things Pertaining to the Episcopal State

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Second Part of the Second Part. 8 articles.

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Text: Summa Theologiae, Project Gutenberg #18755, Second Part of the Second Part (Secunda Secundae), translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. The Second Part of the Second Part of the Summa in the English Dominican translation (first printed 1911 to 1925; second and revised edition from 1920). A sample check on 2026-11-09 against pre-1931 printings at the Internet Archive (first printings of 1915 and 1916 and the second and revised edition of the 1920s) found that the article text matches, with no 1947 introduction, synopsis, or index. Question and article numbers were added by the transcriber. Rights: Public domain (US)

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We must now consider things pertaining to the episcopal state. Under this head there are eight points of inquiry:

(1) Whether it is lawful to desire the office of a bishop?

(2) Whether it is lawful to refuse the office of bishop definitively?

(3) Whether the better man should be chosen for the episcopal office?

(4) Whether a bishop may pass over to the religious state?

(5) Whether he may lawfully abandon his subjects in a bodily manner?

(6) Whether he can have anything of his own?

(7) Whether he sins mortally by not distributing ecclesiastical goods to the poor?

(8) Whether religious who are appointed to the episcopal office are bound to religious observances?

Articles

  1. Whether It Is Lawful to Desire the Office of a Bishop?
  2. Whether It Is Lawful for a Man to Refuse Absolutely an Appointment to the Episcopate?
  3. Whether He That Is Appointed to the Episcopate Ought to Be Better Than Others?
  4. Whether a Bishop May Lawfully Forsake the Episcopal Cure, in Order to Enter Religion?
  5. Whether It Is Lawful for a Bishop on Account of Bodily Persecution to Abandon the Flock Committed to His Care?
  6. Whether It Is Lawful for a Bishop to Have Property of His Own?
  7. Whether Bishops Sin Mortally If They Distribute Not to the Poor the Ecclesiastical Goods Which Accrue to Them?
  8. Whether Religious Who Are Raised to the Episcopate Are Bound to Religious Observances?

Also online, linked only: the same translation at New Advent and the Latin text at Corpus Thomisticum. Neither is copied here.

Source: Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica, Second Part of the Second Part. Project Gutenberg #18755. Project Gutenberg record. Public domain in the USA. Outside the U.S., check local copyright rules. Project Gutenberg notices retained. The full Project Gutenberg license is kept in the hosted text.