Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 809
Canon 5 of the Tenth Council of Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 656) makes priests responsible for the disciplinary order of widows.
Canon 5
 
De remotis excusationibus uiduarum transgressionem sequentum.
 
Omnes feminae quae iam in praeteritum religionis ueste fuisse probantur indutae, nihil ad excusationem ualeat oppositionum quaelibet obiectio, quamuis diuersis aut callidis adumbrare se uelint fallaciae argumentis; sed ad sacratissimas sanctiones disciplina sanctior eas teneat religatas atque subnixas. Commoneatur sane sacerdotis auctoritate ut sponte redeant; quae, si redire noluerint, impulsu sacerdotis ad religionis habitu reducantur, et in monasteriis redactae excommunicationis condignae sententia feriantur. Hic idem quoque ordo in illarum condemnatione manebit quae, quamlibet a sacerdote uel ministro sanctimoniae uestem non accepissent, ipsae tamen aut indutae sunt aut illo indui habitu consenserunt qui religionis esse cultus ab intuentibus crederetur, sicque coram ecclesia uel sacerdote aut etiam competentibus testibus quandoque indutae uisae certis indiciis aut testimoniis approbantur. Omnes hae tamen, seu uenientes ad primam religionem seu post transgressum resumenter iteratam conuersionem, sicut premissum est, et palleo capita contegant et conscriptam roboratamque professionis faciant scripturam, per quam ulterius non sinantur relabi ad praeuaricationis audaciam. Quae uero ex omnibus his fuerint repertae animum aut uestem in transgressione dedisse, et excommunicationis sententiam ferant et rursum mutato habitu in monasteriis, donec diem ultimum claudant, sub aerumnis arduae paenitentiae maneant religatae.
 
(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1992: 527-530)
Canon 5
 
On removing the excuses of widows that commit offences
 
For all women of whom it is determined that they have in the past been clothed with religious garment, let no sort of opposing objection be valid as an excuse, even if they try to give a false idea of themselves with various crafty and deceitful arguments; but rather the holy discipline shall hold them bound and subject to the most sacred ordinances. The authority of the priest shall admonish them plainly to return willingly; if they do not want to return, at the priest's prompting they shall be led back to the habit of religion, and when back in their monasteries, they shall be punished by the deserved sentence of excommunication. This same rule will be observed in condemning those who, even if they did not receive the habit from a priest or deacon, but were either clothed or had agreed to be clothed in a habit that by those who see it is a religious garment, and who are thus proved by clear evidence and testimony as having been clothed in the presence of the church or a priest or competent witnesses. All of them, either assuming for the first time the religious habit or repeating the conversion after having transgressed, as it is decreed, will cover their head with a veil and will sign and confirm the written profession so that they would no more fall into audacity of transgression. If any one of them will be found to lapse and abandon her veil, she will be punished with the sentence of excommunication and, clothed again in the habit, will remain closed to her last day in the monastery in the hardship of severe penance.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Toledo

About the source:

Title: Tenth Council of Toledo, Concilium Toletanum decimum a. 656, Concilium X Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum X, Concilium X Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum X
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Tenth Council of Toledo assembled in December AD 656 during the reign of king Reccesvinth (653-672). It was presided by Eugenius II of Toledo. It was attended by nineteen other bishops, and five representatives of the absent bishops.
Edition:
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.
Bibliography:
R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford 2004.
J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Die Synoden auf der Iberischen Halbinsel bis zum Einbruch des Islam (711), Paderborn 1981.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
    Public law - Ecclesiastical
      Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης
        Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
          Ritual activity - Blessing virgins/widows
            Legal practice
              Administration of justice - Imprisonment
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER809, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=809