The Presbyters Project

Canon 19

Multa quidem eueniunt et, dum leuia minime corriguntur, saepius maiora consurgunt. Valde omnibus nuscetur esse decretum, ne per dedicationes basilicarum aut festiuitates martyrum ad ipsa solemnia confluentes obscina et turpea cantica, dum orare debent aut clericus psallentes audire, cum choris foemineis, turpia quidem, decantare uideantur. Vnde conuenit, ut sacerdotes loci illos a septa basilicarum uel porticus ipsarum basilicarum etiam et ab ipsis atriis uetare debiant et arcere et, si uoluntarie noluerint emendare, aut excommunicare debeant aut disciplinae aculeo sustinere.

(ed. de Clercq 1963: 307)

Canon 19

It often turns out that when light [offences] are not sufficiently corrected they many a time grow to be of substantial nature. It is strongly decreed for everyone to know, that no obscene or indecent songs should be sung by those gathered for the ceremonies of the dedication of basilicas or feasts of martyrs, when they are accompanied by a group of women, which is indeed indecent, when the spectators should pray or listen to the clerics singing psalms. Therefore, it is fitting that the priests of those places should prevent such people access and keep them away from the confines of the basilicas or from the porticos of those basilicas, and also from their atria. And if they will be unwilling to correct themselves voluntarily, they should be either excommunicated or restrained with the discipline of the scourge.

(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Chalon

About the source:

Title: Council of Chalon, Concilium Cabilonense anno 647/653
Origin: Chalon (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Council of Chalon was convoked by Aega, mayor of the palace of King Clovis II, on the 24th of October. The termini post quem (647) and ante quem (653) of the council are derived from the episcopal signatures (in 647 Vulfoleudus became the metropolitan bishop of Bourges and in 654 new bishops were appointed in Lyon and Vienne). The synod was attended by six metropolitan bishops (from Lyon, Vienne, Rouen, Sens, Bourges, and Besançon), thirty-three other bishops, and one archdeacon and five abbots representing their absent bishops. Attached to the council acts is also the letter sent by the synodal fathers to Theudorius, metropolitan bishop of Arles, in which they deprive him in his episcopal rank.

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:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Described by a title - Clericus

Ritual activity - Celebrating feasts

Ritual activity - Divine office/Liturgy of the hours

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Peasant

Relation with - Townsman

Relation with - Woman

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Administration of justice - Corporal punishment

Devotion - Veneration of saints and relics

Ritual activity - Chanting

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1620, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1620