m Nicenam congregatis ejusdem Provinciae Episcopis jurgium terminetur:
nec alicui liceat, [4] Romanae Ecclesiae, cujus in omnibus causis debet
reverentia custodiri, relictis his sacerdotibus, qui in eadem Provincia Dei
Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad alias convolare Provincias. Quod siquis
forte praesumpserit; & ab officio Clericatus summotus, & injuriarum reus
judicetur. Si autem majores causae in medium fuerint devolutae, ad Sedem
Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, & beata consuetudo exigit, post judicium
Episcopale referantur_. By these Letters it seems to me that _Gallia_ was
now subject to the Pope, and had been so for some time, and that the Bishop
of _Rouen_ was then his Vicar or one of them: for the Pope directs him to
refer the greater causes to the See of _Rome_, according to custom. But the
Bishop of _Arles_ soon after became the Pope's Vicar over all _Gallia_: for
Pope _Zosimus_, A.C. 417, ordaining that none should have access to him
without the credentials of his Vicars, conferred upon _Patroclus_ the
Bishop of _Arles_ this authority over all _Gallia_, by the following
Decree.

_Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias & septem
Provincias constitutis_.

_Placuit Apostolicae Sedi, ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum parte sub
quolibet ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romae venire contendit, vel alio
terrarum ire disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Metropolitani Episcopi
Formatas acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum vel locum ecclesiasticum quem
habet, scriptorum ejus adstipulatione perdoceat: quod ex gratia statuimus
quia plures episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes, quia
nullum documentum Formatarum extat per quod valeant confutari, in nomen
venerationis irrepunt, & indebitam reverentiam promerentur. Quisquis
igitur, fratres charissimi, praetermissa supradicti Formata sive episcopus,
sive presbyter, sive diaconus, aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos
venerit: sciat se omnino suscipi non posse. Quam auctoritatem ubique nos
misisse manifestum est, ut cunctis regionibus innotescat id quod statuimus
omnimodis esse servandum. Siquis autem haec salubriter constituta temerare
tentaverit sponte sua, se a nostra noverit communione discretum. Hoc autem
privilegium Formatarum sancto Patroclo fratri & coepiscopo nostro,
meritorum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus_. And that the Bishop
of _Arles_ was sometimes the Pope's Vicar over all _France_, is affirmed
also by all the Bishops of the Diocess