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| Simon Magus, who sought to purchase from St. Peter |
What is Simony?
A sacrilege that
consists in buying and selling what is spiritual in return for what is
temporal. In simony the person tries to equate material things, such as money,
with spiritual things, such as divine grace, and treats the latter as though he
or some other human being had full ownership of what really belongs to God.
The term "simony"
originated with the biblical account of Simon Magus, who sought to purchase
from St. Peter the spiritual power derived from the imposition of hands and the
invocation of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:18).
Simony includes
both agreements that are illicit by divine law and those which the law of the
Church forbids as greater protection and reverence for spiritual goods. Thus to
promise prayers only in exchange for a certain sum of money is simony forbidden
by divine (natural) law.
To confer sacred
orders or obtain some position of authority in the Church in return for money
or its equivalent is simony forbidden by ecclesiastical law.
When simony is against
the divine law, it is always a grave sin. Its gravity in other cases depends on
the serious nature of what is bought or sold, and on the degree of scandal
given. (Etym. Latin simonia, after Simon Magus.)
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