Episcopal Intercession is the right of a church official to intercede on behalf of a

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

. It was granted by the secular power to the bishops of the

Early Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

. This right originated in the respect for the church in the early centuries of Christianity, rather than in a law or decree. Reference to its existence is made in the seventh canon of the Council of Sardica. It is also mentioned by

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

, St. Jerome, and by Socrates in his "Church History". St. Augustine repeatedly interceded for criminals with Macedonius, then governor of Africa.

Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...

interceded with Emperor Maximus for the imprisoned Priscillianists in 384-5. Bishop Flavian of Antioch interceded with Emperor Theodosius I in 387 on behalf of the inhabitants of Antioch, who had wantonly destroyed the imperial statues in that city. St. Ambrose induced Theodosius to enact a law which forbade the execution of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and the confiscation of property until thirty days after sentence had been passed. It was the purpose of this law to leave room for clemency and to prevent the punishing of the innocent. To enable them to exercise their right of intercession, the bishops had free access to the prisons. They were exhorted to visit prisoners every Wednesday and Saturday in order to investigate the cause of their imprisonment, and to admonish the supervisors of the prisons to treat those committed to their charge with Christian charity. In case the prison-keepers were found to be inhumane or remiss in their duty towards their prisoners, the bishops were to report these abuses to the emperor. The rights of the bishops were almost unlimited in this respect. They were somewhat regulated for the bishops of the

Eastern Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

; for the bishops of the Western Empire. The right of episcopal intercession was closely allied with the right of asylum or sanctuary. and the right and duty of the bishops to protect orphans, widows, and other unfortunates. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, interceded with

Empress Pulcheria Aelia Pulcheria (; grc-gre, Πουλχερία; 19 January 398 or 399 – July 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother emperor Theodosius II during his minority and then became wife to emperor Marcian from November 450 to he ...

in behalf of the poor of his diocese, who were overburdened with taxes. The

Third Council of Carthage The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Early centers of Christianity#Carthage, Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below. Synod of 251 In May 251 a synod, as ...

, held in 399, requested the emperor to accede to the wishes of the bishops by appointing advocates to plead the causes of the poor before the courts. The Council of Mâcon, held in 585, forbade all civil authorities to begin judicial proceedings against widows and orphans without previously notifying the bishop of the diocese to which the accused belonged.

References

{{reflist Catholic theology and doctrine Clemency