The Presbyters Project

Canon 23

De poenitente non admittendo ad clerum.

Poenitens tantum si necessitas aut usus exegerit inter ostiarios prius deputetur vel inter lectores, ita ut Evangelia vel Apostolum non legat. Si qui autem ordinati sunt, inter subdiaconos habeantur, ita ut manum non imponant aut sacra non contingant. Ex poenitente enim dicimus de eo qui post baptismum pro homicidio aut pro diversis criminibus aut gravissimis peccatis publicam poenitentiam sub cilicio gerens divino fuerit reconciliatus altario.

(ed. Barlowe 1950: 130-131)

Canon 23

That a penitent shall not be admitted to the clergy.

If there is such necessity, a penitent may be classed among ostiarii or among lectors but will not read the Gospel or the Apostle. If, however, they are ordained, they shall remain among subdeacons, but will neither impose hands nor touch the sacred [things]. We call "a penitent" one who having commited a homicide or various other crimes and most serious sins after the baptism, did the public penance in the cilice, and was reconcilated to the divine altar.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Cf. canon 2 of the First Council of Toledo in AD 400 [97].

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)Toledo (Iberian Peninsula),
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

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:

Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1069, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1069