Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 283
Canon 2 of the Council of Valencia (Iberian Peninsula, AD 546) forbids clerics to appropriate anything from the property of the bishop after his death.
Canon 2
 
Hoc etiam placuit, ut episcopo ab hoc saeculo, iubente Domino, arcessito clerici ab omni omnino supellectili uel quaecumque in domo ecclesiae uel episcopi in libris, in speciebus, utensilibus, uasculis, frugibus, gregibus, animalibus, uel omni omnino re, rapaces manus abstineant et nihil latronum more diripiant. Qui, si nec canonum auctoritate cohibiti fuerint, omnia quae peruaserint, metropolitani uel omnium comprouincialium sacerdotum districtione coacti, in pristinum statum redintegrare cogantur, ut nihil antestiti uel dispensatori futuro necessariorum sub hac iusta constitutione depereat. Quod ut confidentius iustitia manente seruetur, secundum Regiensis synodi constituta episcopo a corpore recedente uicinior illi accedat episcopus, qui ex more exsequiis celebratis, statim ecclesiae ipsius curam districtissime gerat, ne quid ante ordinationem futuri pontificis inhiantium clericorum subuersioni uel direptioni iam liceat, ita ut de repertis omnibus inspectior censitio discriptioque fidelissima, si fieri potest, infra octauas defuncti sub diligentia praesenti episcopi peragatur; dehinc ad metropolitani notitiam habita ordinatio uel discriptio deferatur, ut eius electione talis persona ordinandae domus ecclesiasticae procuretur quae ualeat, consueta clericis stipendia dispensata, creditarum sibi rerum, si forsitan tarditas in episcopo ordinando successerit, metropolitano congruis temporibus reddere rationem, ut sub hac salubri constitutione clerici stipendiis suis omnino contenti labores non diripiant episcopi decidentis, et ad uacuam ecclesiae domum futurus pontifex non sine dolore succedat, sed magis de praecessoris sui dimisso possit et ipse gaudere et aliis ministrare.
 
(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1984: 315-317)
Canon 2
 
That after the death of the bishop no one must take anything from the property of the bishop or the church
 
It pleased us that when the bishop is called from this world by the order of God, the clerics shall hold back their greedy hands from any utilities and properties of the house of the Church or bishop, from the books, precious objects, tools, vessels, people and animals, or any other thing, and they shall not steal anything like the bandits. Those who do not submit to the authority of the canons, shall be forced by the severe admonition of the metropolitan bishop and his suffragans to restore everything to its previous state, so that through this just order nothing will be taken from the things necessary for the future bishop and superintendent. For a greater justice also the canons of the Council of Riez shall be observed that after the death of a bishop, a bishop from the closest neighbourhood comes to celebrate his funeral according to the custom, and to take care of his church with severity, lest before the consecration of a new bishop the greedy clerics ruin and plunder the church. If it is possible, an inventory of the bishop's property shall be diligently drawn up under the care of a present bishop and sent to the metropolitan. After having paid the customary stipends to the clerics, the metropolitan shall appoint a capable person to administer the ecclesiastical house so that he will also at the proper time give account of the things entrusted to him to the metropolitan if the consecration of a successor is for some reason delayed. Under this salutary constitution clerics shall be content with their stipends and not plunder the fruits of the late bishop's labour, and a future pontiff shall not enter with distress to the empty house of the Church, but rather he shall be able to have a benefit of the property left by his predecessor and to serve others with it.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

See a similar canon from the Council of Lerida (AD 546) [252].

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Valencia

About the source:

Title: Council of Valencia 546, Concilium Valletanum a. 546
Origin: Valencia (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The date of the council is given in two different ways - the first is a date in the Spanish era which began in 38 BC, the second is a date according to the years of the reign of Theoderic. In the case of the council of Valencia the dates do not agree - year 587 in the Spanish era is AD 549 and 15th year of the reign of Theoderic is AD 525. The other provincial council held in Lerida was also dated to the 15th year of Theoderic, but the date in the Spanish era there is 584 (so AD 546). The scholars assumed that the name of a ruler was corrupt in the manuscript tradition and they proposed that we should read Theudis. King Theudis began to reign in AD 531, so the 15th year of his reign would be in AD 546 (with references to the early modern commentators Hefele 1895: 132; Orlandis, Ramos-Lissón 1986: 124-131).
Edition:
Editions:
J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 4, Madrid 1984.
Bibliography:
C.J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents, v. 4, trans. by W.R. Clark, Edinburgh 1895.
J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Historia de los concilios de la España romana y visigoda, Pamplona 1986.
M. Rodriguez Gil, ''Consideraciones sobre una antigua polemica: las Iglesias propias'', Cuadernos de Historia del Derecho 6 (1999), 247-272.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property
      Public law - Ecclesiastical
        Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
          Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
            Livelihood/income
              Administration of justice - Financial punishment
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER283, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=283