After the signatures of the bishops follow the signatures of the abbates, here most probably the monastic superiors (for comparison see the signatures of the Eleventh Council of Toledo in 675 in which abbots are identified by their monastery). On the other hand, abbates named among the deputies of the absent bishops were probably members of the diocesan clergy (see canon 11 of the council of Merida in 666 [817] which puts abbates between presbyters and deacons in the clerical hierarchy). We do not know whether clerics with the title of abbas always had a presbyterial ordination, but it is very probable in the light of canon 3 of the Eleventh Council of Toledo in 675 AD [857] which mentions abbates who celebrate the Divine Office and the mass. It is possible that abbas was a title of a cleric in charge of a basilica (cf. the study of the "abbots of the basilicas" in sixth-century Gaul by Pietri 1983). Bishko 1941 acknowledge the difference between abbots present at the council at their own and those who were representatives of the bishops. He assumes, however, that both these groups belonged to the monastic milieu; he proposes that bishops from distant dioceses were asking the abbots of the monasteries from Toledo and its close proximity to represent them at the council, but there is no decisive argument backing his claim. It is, however, accepted by Orlandis 1986. For other cases of abbates representing the absent bishops see [541], [810], [1026].