Legimus supra magistrum non esse discipulum: Pope Celestine I, the “Augustinian Controversy”, and the Clerical cursus honorum

Abstract

Pope Celestine’s handling of the Augustinian controversy in Southern Gaul avoided addressing theological matters to focus on two disciplinary issues, namely, the free preaching by the presbyters and the increasingly widespread phenomenon of direct ordination of laymen (mostly, monks) to the priesthood and the episcopate. Celestine seized the opportunity provided by this controversy to make an apology for the clerical cursus honorum as a means of transmitting, through proper theological training, the Apostolic, orthodox tradition within the Church.