Those who issue dimissory letters contrary to the form of this decree, shall be ipso jure suspended from their office and benefices for one year. |
Refractories who refused it were to be ineligible for benefices under the new order. |
All chapters and other benefices without cure of souls were now abolished. |
While still only a deacon Becket received many ecclesiastical benefices, including the archdeaconry of Canterbury. |
After a papal bull of 1558 all such former monks were ordered to return to their monasteries, under threat of losing church benefices. |
It is also possible that, as later in the middle ages, the numbers of deacons and priests ordained outstripped the availability of benefices. |