Brief of Pope Urban VIII to the Cantor and Custos of Przemyśl regarding the St. Lazarus Hospital in Lviv

POPE URBAN VIII Beloved sons, greetings and apostolic blessing. Beloved sons, the chapter of the church of Lviv, recently submitted to us that formerly, when a dispute and case was initiated in the first instance by beloved sons, the prior and brothers of the [monastery] of St. Dominic in Lviv of the Order of Preachers and their other supporters, opponents of [the chapter], regarding the administration of the assets and the hospital of St. Lazarus in the same city of Lviv, as well as the receipt of calculations and accounts from the provisors of the said hospital, and other matters brought forth in the acts before our beloved son and Nuncio of the Apostolic See residing in the Kingdom of Poland – the same Nuncio or his auditor issued a final judgment, as invalid as it was unjust, in which he ruled that the administration and rights to the said hospital belong to the preaching brothers and their aforementioned supporters, and that the petitioners have no right. From this judgment, the party of those petitioners filed an appeal and raised an objection of invalidity, and the case was entrusted by apostolic authority to your prudence. You, proceeding jointly in the second instance, annulled the said judgment and ruled in your own judgment, as they say, that the administration and other rights to the said hospital belong to the above-mentioned petitioners, to the exclusion of the said opponents. This judgment, due to the failure to file an appeal within the time prescribed by law, has obtained the authority of a thing adjudged. However, since, as was added in the same submission, it means little to possess a judgment and a thing adjudged if they are not carried out to proper execution, the said petitioners humbly begged us that we might graciously provide for these matters with apostolic kindness. We, therefore, recognizing the state and essence of these matters and each of them individually as fully and sufficiently expressed in this letter, hereby absolving the petitioners themselves and each of them from all sentences of excommunication, suspension, and interdict, and other ecclesiastical penalties and censures imposed by law or by man for any occasion or cause, insofar as they are in any way bound by them – solely for the purpose of achieving the effects of this letter – and considering them absolved, acceding to these requests, we entrust and command your prudence through this letter, considering that – as the same petitioners claim – it has not been established that this case has been entrusted to anyone else: that you or one of you, having summoned those who should be summoned, and having set a short and peremptory deadline for the said opponents to prove an appeal and its legal pursuit, and after its expiration, if nothing significant is proven, having established the existence of a thing adjudged or that there is otherwise a basis for execution, execute the said judgment and order and bring about its execution. Assess and moderate the costs legally incurred therein, for the reimbursement of which the opposing party has been sentenced, and issue, proclaim, and bring to execution all orders that are in accordance with the law. For we grant to you and to each of you individually, by apostolic authority and by the power of this letter, full and unhindered power to summon, issue prohibitions, and to do, perform, and enforce everything that is necessary and appropriate in the above matters. Notwithstanding the above and apostolic constitutions and ordinances, as well as all other contrary provisions. Given in Rome at St. Peter's, under the Ring of the Fisherman, on the third day of February 1644, in the twenty-first year of our pontificate. [Signature on the fold:] A. Bondonatus [Second side:] [Address:] To our beloved sons the Cantor and Custos of the church of Przemyśl or one of them. [Date:] February 3, 1644. [Executive/notarial note:] In the year of our Lord 1644, on the 25[...] of March [...] [Seal: trace of a red wax seal – under the Ring of the Fisherman] [Former signature:] L. IV / 8.

VRBANVS PP. VIII Dilecti filij Salutem et a[pos]t[o]licam ben[edictionem]. Exponi nobis nuper fecerunt dilecti filij Capitulum Ecclesiae Leopolien[sis] q[uo]d al[ia]s introducta lite et causa in prima instantia per dilectos filios Priorem et f[rat]res Sancti Dominici Leopolien[ses] ordinis Praedicator[um] et alios sibi consortes adversarios super administra[ti]o[n]e bonor[um] et Hospitalis sancti Lazzari eiusdem Civitatis Leopolien[sis] ac receptione calculor[um] et rationu[m] a Provisoribus d[i]c[t]i Hospitalis rebusq[ue] alijs in actis deductis coram dilecto filio n[ost]ro et Sedis Ap[ostoli]cae Nuncio in Regno Poloniae commorante, Idem Nuncius sive eius Auditor non minus null[am] q[uam] iniustam providens diff[initiv]am per quam et[i]am administrationem et Jura d[i]c[t]i Hospitalis ad fratres Praedicatores et sibi consortes p[rae]d[ic]tos spectare atq[ue] nullum Jus ad d[ic]tos Exponentes pertinere declaravit sentiam [=sententiam] protulit, a qua pro parte eorundem Exponentiu[m] appellato et de nullitate d[i]c[t]o causamq[ue] discretioni v[est]rae Ap[ostoli]ca aucte [=auctoritate] commissa, vos coniunctim procedentes in secunda instantia d[i]c[t]am sentiam [=sententiam] revocastis atq[ue] administrationem aliaq[ue] Jura d[i]c[t]i Hospitalis ad Exp[onen]tes p[rae]d[ic]tos d[i]c[t]is adversarijs exclusis spectare declarastis per v[est]ram sententiam prout in ea contineri dicitur. Quae quidem sentia [=sententia] ob non interpositam ab ea infra leg[iti]ma tempora prout de Jure appellationem transitum fecit in rem iudicatam. Cum aut[em] sicut eadem expositio subiungebat parum sit sententiam et rem iudicatam habere nisi debitae demandentur exequ[ti]oni, Ideo nobis humil[ite]r supplicari fecerunt Exp[onen]tes p[rae]d[ic]ti ut eis in premissis oppor[t]une providere de benignitate Ap[ostoli]ca dignaremur, Nos ig[itu]r statum et merita ead[em] et ear[um] sing[ula] p[rese]ntibus pro plene et suff[icienter] expressis habentes ipsosq[ue] Exp[onen]tes et eor[um] singulos a quibusvis exco[mmunicati]o[n]is suspen[sionis] et interdicti alijsque eccl[es]iasticis sen[tenti]is cen[suris] et poenis a Jure vel ab ho[min]e quavis occ[asi]one vel ca[us]a latis siquibus quomodolibet innodati existunt ad eff[ect]um p[rese]ntium duntaxat consequen[dum] ha[c] seri[e] absolven[tes] et absolutum fore censentes h[uius]m[od]i supplica[ti]onibus inclinati eidem discretioni v[est]rae atte[nto] q[uo]d sicut iidem Exp[onen]tes asserunt ca[usa] h[uius]m[od]i ex adverso alteri commissa non reperitur per p[rese]ntes committimus et mandamus q[ui]bus vos vel alter v[est]rum vocatis ad id qui fuerint evocandi et prefixo d[ic]tis adversarijs aliquo brevi et peremptorio termino ad docen[dum] de appell[ati]one eiusq[ue] leg[iti]ma prosecu[ti]one eoque elapso et nihil relevanti docto constito de rei iudicata vel q[uo]d al[ia]s exequutioni locus sit d[i]c[t]am s[ente]n[ti]am exequamini ac exequi mandetis et faciatis expensasq[ue] in ea h[uius]m[od]i leg[iti]me factas et in quibus pars adversa condemnata reperitur taxetis et moderemini ac mandatum seu mandata quaecumque prout Juris fuerit decernatis et relaxetis ac exequi faciatis, Nos enim vobis et cuilibet vestrum citandi et inhiben[di] ceterisq[ue] in premissis n[ecessari]a et opportuna facien[di] exercen[di] et exequen[di] plenam et liberam Ap[ostoli]ca aucte [=auctoritate] tenore p[rese]ntium concedimus facultatem, Non obstan[tibus] premissis ac constitutionibus et ordinationibus Aplicis ceterisq[ue] contr[ariis] quibuscumque. Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum sub Annulo Piscatoris die Tertia Februarii MDCXXXXiiij Pontificatus Nostri Anno Vigesimoprimo. [Podpis na plice:] A. Bondonatus [Verso:] [Adres:] Dilectis filijs Cantori et Custodi Ecclesiae Premislien[sis] vel eor[um] alteri [Data:] 3 Febr: 1644 [Nota wykonawcza/notarialna:] Anno Domini 1644 Die 25[...] Martii [...] [Pieczęć: ślad po pieczęci z czerwonego wosku – sub Annulo Piscatoris] [Dawna sygnatura:] L. IV / 8.