The Presbyters Project

Canon 13

Episcopus coniugem ut sororem habeat et ita conuersatione sancta gubernet domum omnem tam ecclesiasticam quam propriam, ut nulla de eo suspitio quaqua ratione consurgat. Et licet Deo propitio clericorum suorum testimonio castus uiuat, quia cum illo tam in cella quam, ubicumque fuerit, sui habitant eumque prosecuntur et presbiteri et diaconi uel deinceps clericorum turba iuniorum Deo adiutore conuersantur: sic tamen propter zelotem Deum nostrum tam longe absint mansionis propinquitate diuisi, ut nec hi, qui ad spem recuperandam clericorum seruitute nutriuntur, famularum propinqua contagione polluantur.

(ed. de Clercq 1963: 180–181)

Canon 13

A bishop should consider his wife a sister and govern the whole house, both ecclesiastical and his own, in such a sanctified way that no suspicion would arise in this regard. And he should live in chastity by the favour of God and by the testimony of his clerics, as they live with him in his cell. And wherever he would come, they follow, and he is accompanied with God's help by presbyters, and deacons, and the multitude of junior clerics. Their residences, due to the jealousy of our God, should be divided by a distance from other [living quarters] large enough that even those who are nourished to gain the hope to serve as clerics [i.e. candidates for clergy], will not be polluted by close contact with the servant girls.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Tours

About the source:

Title: The Second Council of Tours, Concilium Turonense II anno 567
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

This council, the second one held in the city of Tours, gathered under the auspices of Charibert I on 18 November 567, in the last year of his reign. The list of subscribers for that synod is quite short as it holds only eight signatures. Suprisingly, it lacks even the bishop of Tours himself, Eufronius, or any bishop from his metropolitan province. Most probably, the original list was substantially longer.

Edition:

C. de Clercq ed., Concilia Galliae a. 511-a. 695, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148 A, Turnhout 1963.

Translation:

J. Gaudemet, B. Basdevant, Les canons des conciles mérovingiens VIe-VIIe siècles, Sources chrétiennes 353, Paris 1989.

Categories:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Type of housing

Travel and change of residence

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Described by a title - Clericus

Monastic or common life - Clerical community

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1468, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1468