The Presbyters Project

Canon 20

De legitima aetate ordinandi presbyteri.

Si quis triginta aetatis suae non impleverit annos nullomodo presbyter ordinetur, etsi valde sit dignus, quia ipse Dominus tricesimo anno baptizatus est et sic coepit docere. Oportet ergo eum qui ordinandus est usque ad hanc aetatem legitimam conservari.

(ed. Barlowe 1950: 129-130)

Canon 20

On the legitimate age to be ordained a presbyter.

If someone is not yet 30 years old, he shall not be ordained a presbyter even if he is very worthy, because even the Lord himself was baptized in his thirtieth year, and only then He began to teach. The one who is to be ordained has to then wait until he is of a legitimate age.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Cf. canon 11 of the council of Neocaesarea in AD 315.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Braga

About the source:

Author: Martin of Braga
Title: Collectio orientalium canonum, seu Capitula Martini, Capitula Martini, Collection of the Eastern canons
Origin: Braga (Iberian Peninsula), Neocaesarea (East)

In the manuscript tradition the canons of the Second Council of Braga (Iberian Peninsula) in AD 572 are followed by the Eastern canons collected and translated into Latin by Martin of Braga (Iberian Peninsula). He was using a Greek collection, impossible to identify with any of the collections known today, which gathered the canons of the several Eastern councils. Martin quotes also the canons of the First Council of Toledo AD 400. Martin dedicated his work to Bishop Nitigisius of Lugo (Iberian Peninsula). Those two bishops met on the Second Council of Braga, and possibly the collection was composed for this occasion (Barlowe 1950: 84-87).

Edition:

C. Barlowe ed., Martini episcopi Bracarensis opera omnia, New Haven 1950.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Impediments or requisits for the office - Age

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1065, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1065