Decretales of Gregory IX, Book 3 Title 10 c.10

Köln, Erzbischöfliche Diözesan- und Dombibliothek 131, fol. 94v

Archbishops and bishops were not universally happy with the claims of chapters, and the issue was joined. In 1216 the archbishop of Sens refused to permit representatives of the cathedral chapters in Sens to participate in a provincial synod. The chapters appealed to Pope Honorius III. The pope supported their claim decisively in the decretal Etsi membra. The pope’s arenga was a stirring sermon on the corporate body of the Church and the interdependence of each individual member.