Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 210
Canon 3 of the Council of Lerida (Iberian Peninsula, AD 546) allows monks to be ordained, exempts the property of monasteries from the power of the bishop, and forbids laymen to build churches which falsely pretend to be monasteries, only to gain an exemption.
Canon 3
 
De monachis, ut clerici ordinentur cum uoluntate abbatis; et quae monasterio offeruntur, non auferantur; et de basilicis quas laici fecerint.
 
De monachis uero id obseruari placuit quod synodus Agatensis uel Aurelianensis noscitur decreuisse; hoc tantummodo adiciendum, ut pro ecclesiae utilitate quos episcopus probauerit, in clericatus offcio cum abbatis uoluntate debeant ordinari. Ea uero quae in iure monasterii de faculatatibus offeruntur, in nullo dioecesana lege ab episcopis contingantur. Si autem ex laicis quisquam a se factam basilicam consecrari desiderat, nequaquam sub monasterii specie, ubi congregatio non colligitur uel regula ab episcopo non constituitur, ea a diocesana lege audeat segregare.
 
(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1984: 300-301)
Canon 3
 
On monks that they can be ordained clerics with the consent of an abbot, and that what was offered to the monasteries cannot be taken away, and on the basilicas founded by lay people
 
We command that in regard to monks the decrees of the councils in Agde and Orleans should be observed. There is only to be added that those who have been proved worthy of clerical office by a bishop, should be ordained with the consent of the abbot. The things, however, which have been offered to the monastery, cannot be in any way at the disposal of the bishop according to diocesan law. If however a layman wants to consecrate a basilica he has built, it cannot be exempted from the diocesan law under the pretext that it is a monastic church while there is no congregation and no rule introduced by the bishop.
 
(trans. by M. Szada)
 
 

Discussion:

The third part of the canon was widely used and commented in regard to the issue of "private churches" in the Iberian Peninsula. The secondary literature on the topic is very vast. For a short survey of (mainly Spanish) historiography see (Rodriguez Gil 1999: 247-272).
 
The present canon refers to Canon 27 of the council of Agde in AD 506 [939] and Canon 19 of the council of Orleans in AD 511.
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Lerida

About the source:

Title: Council of Lerida 546, Concilium Ilerdense a. 546
Origin: Lerida (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 Lerida the dates do not agree - year 584 in the Spanish era is AD 546 and the 15th year of the reign of Theoderic is AD 525. The other provincial council held in Valencia was also dated to the 15th year of Theoderic, but the date in the Spanish era there is 587 (so AD 549). The scholars assumed that the name of the 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 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 5, Madrid 1966.
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.
M. Guallar Pérez, Los concilios tarraconenses celebrados en Lérida, (siglos VI-XV), Lérida 1975.
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:

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
    Relation with - Monk/Nun
      Monastic or common life
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER210, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=210