The Presbyters Project

Canon 10

De incestis coniunctionibus. Si quis infra prescriptum canone gradum incestuoso ordine cum his personis, quibus a diuinis regulis prohibitum est, coniunx est, usquequo paenitentiam sequestratione testentur, utrique communione priuentur et neque in palatio habere militiam neque in forum agendarum causarum licentiam non habebunt. Nam quomodo predicti se incestuose coniuncxerint, episcopi seu presbyteri, in quorum diocisi uel pago actum fuerit, regi uel iudicibus scelus perpetratum adnuntient, ut, cum ipsis denuntiatum fuerit, se ab eorum communione aut cohabitatione sequestrent. Res autem eorum ad proprios parentes usque ad sequestratione perueniant sub ea conditione, ut, antequam segregentur, per nullum ingenium neque per parentes neque per emtionem neque per auctoritatem regiam ad proprias perueniant facultates, nisi prefatum scelus sequestrationis separatione et paenitentia feriatur.

(ed. de Clercq 1963: 293)

Canon 10

Regarding incestuous unions. If someone, against the canonical decree, marries in an incestuous way a person with whom it is prohibited [for him to marry] by divine rules, they should be both deprived of communion and forbidden to serve in palace (palatio) or to present cases at court (forum), until they demonstrate their penitence, having separated from each other. When the aforementioned are married in an incestuous way, bishops or presbyters in whose diocese or district (parish? pagus) it has been done, should notify the king or judges that a crime has been committed, so that after they have been denounced, [other people] can separate from communion with them or from joint living. Their property should be given to their kin until the separation, on this condition that until they separate from each other they should not enter their property, neither by some trick nor by using their kin, nor by pretending to just pass through, nor by royal authority, unless the crime is struck with complete separation and penance beforehand.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Clichy

About the source:

Title: Council of Clichy, Concilium Clippiacense anno 626/627
Origin: Clichy (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Council of Clichy was convoked by King Chlotar II on the 27th of September. It is quite problematic to establish the exact year of the council. The acts mention that the bishops gathered in the 43rd year of Chlotar`s rule, but since Chlotar became king either in the end of September or the beginning of October, this could mean either 626 or 627. The synod in Clichy was much smaller in scale than the Fifth Council of Paris called by Chlotar some twelve years earlier. Forty bishops attended the council, and two more sent their representatives, which were one abbot and one deacon.

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:

Functions within the Church - Parish presbyter

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Ritual activity - Blessing marriages

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, ER1604, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1604