The Presbyters Project

Canon 5

Vt nullus clericus sagum aut uestimenta uel calciamenta saecularia, nisi quae religionem deceant, induere praesumat. Quod si post hanc definitionem clericus aut cum indecenti uesteautcum arma inuentus fuerit, a seniorebus ita coherceatur, ut triginta dierum conclusione detentus aquam tantum et modeci panis usu diebus singulis sustentetur.

(ed. de Clercq 1963: 224)

Canon 5

That no cleric should dare to wear a cloak or lay clothes or shoes unless they are fitting to religion. If after this decree a cleric is found either in indecent clothes or bearing arms, he should be punished by his superiors in the following way: he ought to be detained for thirty days in custody and sustained every single day only by water and a moderate amount of bread.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

This canon may refer to the members of lower clergy, who are to be corrected by their superiors, often the presbyters.

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Mâcon

About the source:

Title: First Council of Mâcon, Concilium Matisconense I anno 581/583
Origin: Mâcon (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The First Council of Mâcon was called by King Guntram and gathered bishops from his entire realm: the metropolitans of Lyon, Vienne, Sens, Bourges, and Besançon, and sixteen other bishops. The exact dating of this synod is unsure as the acts give us both the date of 1st November of the twenty-second year of King Guntram`s rule (i.e. 583) and that of the fifteen indiction (i.e. 581).

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 - Clothes

Described by a title - Clericus

Attributes of clerical status

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Relation with - Deacon

Relation with - Lower cleric

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Corporal punishment

Administration of justice - Imprisonment

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1532, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1532