This was one of the tenets of the then rising sect of the Fraticelli (Denzinger, Enchiridion, nn. 413, 414), repeated by Wycliffe: "If bishop or priest be in mortal sin, he neither ordains nor consecrates nor baptises" (ib. n. 480). It would be as wise to hold that all good men can sign cheques, and no bad men. To this day that notion is not uncommon in England that a Romish priest claims to absolve from sin in virtue of his own superabundant personal sanctity.

Of God and His Creatures: 4.77