The Presbyters Project

Chapter 17

De iis, qui seipsos abscidunt.

17. De his autem, qui semetipsos absicerint, paterni canones evidenter sequenda posuerunt; quorum tenorem sufficiat indidisse. Dicunt enim, talia perpetrantes, mox ut agniti fuerint, a munere clericali debere secludi. [...]

(ed. Thiel 1868: 361.372)

Chapter 17

Concerning those who castrate themselves.

17. But concerning those who have castrated themselves, the canons of the Fathers have clearly set down what is to be followed. Let it suffice that their contents should be imparted. For they say that those who have perpetrated such deeds should be excluded from clerical office as soon as they have been discovered. [...]

(trans. Neil - Allen 2014: 144.152)

Discussion:

Letter 14 of Pope Gelasius, written on 11 March 494, was addressed to the bishops of Lucania and Bruttium (ie. nowadays Calabria) and Sicily. They were under Gelasius' direct metropolitan jurisdiction. The long letter is a "decretal" and contains mainly various norms regulating the rights and obligation of clergy.

The regulation did not regard those who were emasculated accidentally, see [1962].

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Italy south of Rome and Sicily

City

Rome

About the source:

Author: Gelasius I
Title: Epistulae, Letters
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome between AD 492 and 496.

Edition:

Thiel A. ed., Epistulae Romanorum pontificum genuinae et quae ad eos scriptae sunt a S. Hilario usque ad Pelagium II, 1, Braunsberg 1868, 287-510.

Translation:

B. Neil, P. Allen edd., The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.

Bibliography:

B. Neil, P. Allen edd., The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.

Categories:

Impediments or requisits for the office - Physical incapacity

Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1960, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1960