To the most beloved brothers in Christ Jesus, to all the bishops established throughout the various provinces.1

The following is decreed:
I. One who has been rebaptized is to be received through penance.
II. If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon has been rebaptized, let him receive lay communion only at the time of death.
III. If a cleric, monk, virgin of God, or layman has been rebaptized, let him hold to the sentence of the Nicene Council.
IV. Adults of both sexes are to come over through the imposition of hands.
V. Whoever has been rebaptized is not to be received into the clergy.
VI. A bishop is not to absolve or to receive the penitent of another [bishop].

Chapter I: The African Crisis, Rome’s Solicitude for the Souls of All Churches, and the Ministry of Our Disposition

How the devil’s cunning has raged against the Christian people in the regions of Africa, and has burst forth into manifold deception — so that it has plunged into the depths of death not only the unwary common people but even the priests themselves — every part of the world has groaned, no land has not known. Whence, placed in great sorrow, We cannot conceal the peril of souls perishing and of those that will be required from Us.2 Wherefore a fitting remedy must be applied to such wounds, lest a premature ease of healing avail nothing for those gripped by the deadly plague, but a perniciousness treated too slothfully involve both the wounded and the healers alike in the guilt of an unlawful treatment.

Therefore, first of all: the profession and person of the one deceived, coming to you and asking for a remedy, must be carefully examined, so that a congruent remedy may be presented. And let him who is to make satisfaction to God through penance, and has rightly grieved at having been rebaptized, be inquired of: whether he ran to this crime, or was driven to it by force. Knowing that he who deceives deceives himself (1 Pet. 5), and that nothing is to be detracted through Our leniency from the judgment of the most high tribunal — to which those things are ratified which are pious, true, and just; and that the account of necessity is to be treated one way, the account of the will another. But worse is the case of him who perhaps was induced by reward to perish. For the enemy leaves nothing unattempted; and that he not be allowed to rejoice in his capture, the ensnared must be succored, and the hunter’s snare must be crushed, so that a return may be made to the court they had left, for those lamenting openly, by the moderation of justice as much as by the compunction of piety. Nor let it shame them, or weary them, to obey when times of fasting and groaning have been declared, or to submit to other precepts of more wholesome observance — for grace is given to the humble, not to the proud (1 Pet. 5:5).

Let him therefore be prostrate in sorrow for his ruin, whoever seeks to be raised up in Christ; and through the ministry of Our disposition — which it is fitting for your charity to follow, and from which it is not lawful for anyone to wish or be able to deviate in the case of him who, against apostolic doctrine, has given himself to the most unhappy repetition of baptism, or of him who by some arguments has cunningly thought his own consent should be excused3 — let us treat [these cases] with priestly vigor and with humanity, so that in them the faith (which unless it is one is no faith at all) may be restored to salvation, with the help of the Lord the Judge, and without offense to Our operation. For when the sinner’s satisfaction is drawn out by Us, not without Our praise and joy is his mind found more purified for pardon.

And therefore remember that We hold this sentence in these matters: that with the distinction of sinners preserved, not all who have lapsed are to be weighed in the same scale — because the interest of a greater chastisement is to be required of him to whom the discipline of the Lord’s house has been entrusted.

Chapter II: Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons — Lay Communion Only at the Hour of Death

Therefore, that We may begin from the summits of the Church: those who it is established were bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and who — whether perhaps by their own choice, or under compulsion — are shown to have made shipwreck of that one and saving bath, and to have stripped off Christ (whom they had put on not only by the gift of regeneration but also by the grace of the honor received) — since it is established that no one could have come to a second dipping unless he openly denied himself a Christian and professed himself a pagan: and since this is to be execrated generally in all, it is proved much more horrendous in bishops, presbyters, and deacons, even to be heard or spoken of. But because the same Lord and Savior is most merciful, and wishes none to perish, it will be fitting that they lie in penance (if they come to their senses) until the day of their departure, and be not in any way present at the prayer — not only of the faithful but not even of the catechumens — to whom lay communion is to be rendered only at death. Which matter the care of a most-approved priest must diligently explore and carry out.

Chapter III: Clerics, Monks, Virgins, Laymen — According to the Nicene Canons

Concerning clerics, however, and monks, or virgins of God, or seculars [laymen], We command this course to be preserved which the Nicene synod established to be observed concerning those who have lapsed or shall lapse4: namely, that those who, with no necessity, from no fear or danger, gave themselves over impiously to the heretics to be rebaptized — provided they repent from the heart — let them be for three years among the hearers; and for seven years let them lie under the hands of the priests among the penitents; and for two years let them in no way be allowed to offer the oblations, but let them only be joined to the people in prayer. Nor let him be ashamed to bow his neck to God who did not fear to deny Him. But if (being mortal) the end of life should begin to press within the limits of the prescribed time, he who implores must be aided; and let the viaticum not be denied to him going forth from this world, whether by the bishop who gave the penance, or by another who has proved it to have been given, or likewise by a presbyter.

Chapter IV: Children, Emergency Cases, Catechumens, and Adults Under Violence — Imposition of Hands

But to boys — who, because they are still beardless, take their name from puberty — whether clerics or laymen, or likewise girls, for whom the ignorance of age speaks in their favor, held for some time under the imposition of hands, communion is to be restored; nor is the penance of those to be awaited whom censure exempts from coercion. Which We have providently determined, lest those in whom more or less of life remains from the stain of earthly contagion should, while yet in penance, perhaps commit acts requiring further penance. But if, before the predetermined time of penance, anyone — given up by physicians or pressed by evident signs of death — after receiving the grace of communion recovers, let us observe in his case what the Nicene canons ordained: that he be held among those who communicate only in prayer, until the space of time set for him is fulfilled.

Nor do We pass over Our catechumens who have been baptized under such a profession [of rebaptism]: because the case is not dissimilar (as the same holy canons ordained) of him who in any way has abjured the Christ whom he once confessed. Let them be for three years among the hearers, and afterwards, with the catechumens, through imposition of hands, receive the grace of Catholic communion — with only bishops, presbyters, and deacons excepted, whom We have already said are to be reconciled only at the hour of their death.

As for the others — that is, whether clerics, or monks, or laymen, persons of both sexes, whom it is established to have undergone rebaptism compelled by the dangers of violence, or who by some pretext have said they are not held by the guilt of that crime — We have decreed that penance last for these three years, and that they be received into the fellowship of the sacrament through imposition of hands.

Chapter V: None Rebaptized to Enter the Clergy

This being preserved above all: that none of those who at any age were either baptized or rebaptized elsewhere than in the Catholic Church be permitted ever to approach ecclesiastical service. To whom it should be enough that they have been received into the number of Catholics — since whoever violates this institute, or does not remove one whom he has come to know has crept in from among them to clerical ministry, will be seen to bring judgment upon his own rank and communion.

Chapter VI: Penitents Not to Be Received Without the Letters of Their Proper Bishop

But the greatest care must be taken, and it must be provided with every caution, that none of Our brothers and fellow-bishops, or even of the presbyters, should, in another’s city or diocese, receive a penitent, or one placed under a priest’s hand [for penance], or one who has said he has been reconciled, without the testimony and letters of the bishop or presbyter to whose parish he belongs. But if this is neglected through some dissimulation, the fault touches also the cleric who dwells in places where this has been less cared for.

Chapter VII: Closing — The Bishops’ Obedience and the Guidance of the Holy Spirit

These things, therefore, having been duly disposed, and brought to the notice of your Churches by Our deliberation, it is fitting that you obey. To whom, although nothing may seem wanting for the restoration of souls, nevertheless, if anything new — and which may have escaped Us — has been revealed to any one, then, according to the blessed apostle Paul, with the earlier speaker keeping silent (cf. 1 Cor. 14:30), let him suggest it confidently — because the Holy Spirit breathes where He wills, especially when His own cause is treated. Nor will it weary Us to hear; and if any things have been omitted, [We will] not arrogantly refuse them, but reasonably put them in order. May God keep you, most beloved brothers.

Given on the Ides of March (year of Christ 488), in the consulship of Dynamius and Siphidius, viri clarissimi.