Canon 85 of the collection known as Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua (compiled in Gaul, ca AD 475) forbids ordaining to the clergy someone who married a widow or wife rejected by her husband or took a wife for the second time.
Intended for scholary use. For credentials see Bibliography
85 (LXIX). Si uiduam aut repudiatam uxorem quis acceperit.
Simili sententiae subiacebit episcopus, si sciens ordinauerit clericum eum qui uiduam aut repudiatam uxorem habuit uel secundam.
(ed. Munier 1963: 180, 188)
85 (LXIX). If someone would accept as a wife a widow or a woman who was rejected by her husband.
A bishop would be punished with similar sentence [he will be deprived of the power to ordain to the clergy, see [1217]], if he will knowingly ordain as a cleric someone who married a widow or wife rejected by her husband or took a wife for the second time.
(trans. J. Szafranowski)
Discussion:
In contrary to the preceding canon 84 of the same compilation (see [1217]), the punishment for the ordained cleric is not described, but we can assume that it was demotion as well.
Place of event:
Region
Gaul
City
Marseille
About the source:
Title: The Ancient Statutes of the Church, Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua Origin: Marseille (Gaul) Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
This corpus of canons was published by earlier editors (Labbe-Cossart, Hardouin, Mansi) as the acts of the supposed IV Council of Carthage (AD 398). It is, however, of a clearly Gallic, and not African, character; some scholars attributed it to Caesarius of Arles. It seems that these canons originated from multiple synods, above all Gallic ones. Since canons of the council of Vaison (AD 442) are quoted and the canons of the council of Agde (AD 506) are not, the original compilation known now as Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua must have been prepared at some time in the period flanked by these two synods. Munier suggested that the text was compiled by Gennadius of Marseille, in ca 475 (Munier 1960). The version of the text from the Collectio Hispana was the one most widely used in the Middle Ages.
The titles of the canons are taken from the Codex Parisiensis Lat. 3846, fol. 136. Numbers in brackets in Latin numerals indicate the position of the canon in the Collectio Hispana.
Edition:
Ch. Munier ed., Concilia Galliae a. 314-a. 506, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148, Turnhoult 1963.
Bibliography:
Ch. Munier, Les Statuta ecclesiae antiqua, Paris 1960.
Categories:
Described by a title - Clericus
Impediments or requisits for the office - Marriage
Public law - Ecclesiastical
Please quote this record referring to
its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
J. Szafranowski, Presbyters
in the Late Antique West, ER1218, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1218
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