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ID
ER 742
According to Canon 86 of the Breviary of Ferrandus of Carthage (North Africa, AD 523/546, repeating earlier norms) those who were baptised while ill cannot be ordained presbyters unless for their good life and a shortage of clergy.
Canon 86
 
Vt qui in aegritudine fuerit baptizatus non ordinetur presbyter, nisi forte propter uitam bonam aut hominum raritatem.
Concilio Nouacaesariensi, tit. 11.
 
(ed. Munier 1974: 294)
Canon 86
 
If someone was  baptised while ill, he shall not be ordained presbyter unless for his good life or a shortage of [suitable] men.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The canon repeats Canon 12 of the Council of Neocaesarea in Pontus (314/319 AD). It was always possible to baptise the sick without the proper preparation, however such people were deemed to be inadequate to become presbyters. Two questions can be asked here: firstly, why the presbyterate is specifically mentioned here? Was not such a situation an impediment to becoming ordained in the first place? And secondly, was no presbyter required to be proven 'of good life', and so what, in fact, was the practical use of this norm.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
  • East
City
  • Carthage
  • Neocaesarea

About the source:

Author: Ferrandus of Carthage
Title: Breviary of Ferrandus, Breviatio Canonum, Breuiatio Canonum Breuiatio Canonum
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa), Neocaesarea (East)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Ferrandus was a deacon of Carthage; he died before 546. His "Breviary" is the first systematic collection of canons produced in Africa. It contains the titles (not the entire text) of 232 canons of different councils (not only from Africa), treating mainly the duties of various clerical offices (1-144), ecclesiastical delicts (145-198), and liturgical norms (199-232).
Edition:
C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 284-311.  
 
Bibliography:
J. Gaudemet, Les Sources du droit de l’Église en Occident du IIe au VIIe siècle, Paris 1985.

Categories:

Reasons for ordination - Pastoral needs of the Christian community
    Impediments or requisits for the office
      Shortage of clergy
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER742, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=742
        Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
        last edited: 2017-04-06 11:27:37
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