Canon XVII.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787) · The Seven Holy Ecumenical Councils
That he shall not be allowed to begin the building of an oratory, who has not the means wherewith to finish it.
Nic2 10.17.2
Certain monks having left their monasteries because they desired to rule, and, unwilling to obey, are undertaking to build oratories, but have not the means to finish them. Now whoever shall undertake to do anything of this sort, let him be forbidden by the bishop of the place. But if he have the means wherewith to finish, let what he has designed be carried on to completion. The same rule is to be observed with regard to laymen and clerics.
Nic2 10.17.3
Whoever wishes to build a monastery, if he has the wherewithal to finish it, let him begin the work, and let him bring it to a conclusion. But if not, let him be prohibited by the bishop of the place. The same law shall apply to laymen and monks.
Nic2 10.17.6
Van Espen refers to Gratian’s Decretum, Pars. III., De Consecrat., Dist. I., canon ix., et seqq.
Nic2 10.17.7