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ER 1037
Canon 4 of the First Council of Orléans (Gaul, AD 511) forbids ordaining laymen without the consent of the king and the count. Only direct descendants of ordained clerics are excluded from this rule, and they seem to be bound to follow the vocation of their parents.
Canon 4
 
De ordinationibus clericorum id obseruandum esse censuimus, ut nullus saecularium ad clericatus officium praesumatur nisi aut cum regis iussione aut cum iudicis uoluntate; ita ut filii clericorum, id est patrum, auorum ac proauorum, quos supradicto ordine parentum constat obseruatione subiunctus, in episcoporum potestate ac districtione consistant.
 
(ed. de Clercq 1963: 6)
Canon 4
 
We have decreed that this should be observed concerning the ordinations of clerics that no layman should be promoted to the clerical office, unless either by command of the King, or with the consent of the count (iudex). However, the sons of clerics, that is the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, who are bound to follow the order of their parents, shall be in the power and at the discretion of the bishops.
 
(trans. Hillgarth 1986: 100, changed by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

 
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Orléans

About the source:

Title: First Council of Orléans 511, Concilium Aurelianense anno 511
Origin: Orléans (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The First Council of Orléans gathered on the 10th of July 511 under the auspices of King Clovis I four years after his conquest of Aquitaine from the hands of the Visigoths. It seems that Clovis wanted the bishops he convened to issue ecclesiastical laws that could apply to both his new and old subjects, people of Roman and Germanic descent alike. The 31 canons of this council are preceded with the letter from the bishops to Clovis in which they ask for his confirmation of the decrees. The council was attended by 32 bishops, including five metropolitans: Cyprian of Bordeaux (probably presiding), Tetradius of Bourges, Licinius of Tours, Leontius of Eauze, and Gildared of Rouen.
Edition:
C. de Clercq ed., Concilia Galliae a. 511-a. 695, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148 A, Turnhout 1963.
 
Translation:
J.N. Hillgarth, Christianity and paganism, 350-750: the conversion of Western Europe, Philadelphia 1986.
J. Gaudemet, B. Basdevant, Les canons des conciles mérovingiens VIe-VIIe siècles, Sources chrétiennes 353, Paris 1989.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Clerical family
    Family life - Offspring
      Described by a title - Clericus
        Reasons for ordination - Family/hereditary
          Impediments or requisits for the office - Social/Economic/Legal status
            Public law - Ecclesiastical
              Public law - Secular
                Patronage/Investiture
                  Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family
                    Relation with - Secular authority
                      Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1037, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1037
                      Record by: Jerzy Szafranowski
                      last edited: 2018-04-09 11:07:47
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