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ID
ER 212
Canon 16 of the Council of Hippo (North Africa, AD 393), preserved in the "Breviarium Hipponense" (AD 397), prohibits the cohabitation of clerics with "extraneous women" (with some exceptions).
Canon 16
 
Vt cum omnibus omnino clericis extraneae feminae non cohabitent, sed solae matres, auiae, materterae, amitae, sorores, et filiae fratrum aut sororum, et quaecumque ex familia, domestica necessitate, etiam antequam ordinarentur, iam cum eis habitabant, uel si filii eorum, iam ordinatis parentibus, uxores acceperint, aut seruis, non habentibus in domo quas ducant, aliunde ducere necessitas fuerit.
 
(ed. Munier 1974: 38)
Canon 16
 
Extraneous women must not dwell with any cleric at all, exception granted only for mothers, grandmothers, aunts from both sides, sisters; or other women from the family who had already lived with them before they were ordained; or if their sons take wives after the ordination of the fathers; or if slaves cannot find whom to marry in the household, it may be necessary to bring them from other place.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

This is a very interesting canon: firstly, it tries to impose a taxative prohibition of the presence of any "extraneous women" in the houses of clerics, but then it enumerates so many exceptions that it can hardly be effective. The canon does not deal with the celibacy of clergy, although we may assume that it was aimed rather at the celibate clergy; the presence of women in their houses might have been giving more occasion to scandal.
The canon also shows us something of the large clerical households in which clerics were living together with their adult sons, their families, other relatives, and slaves. The last phrase shows that the household might have been large enough to arrange marriages among the slaves, although the canon concedes "bringing wives from other places" if this was not possible.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Carthage
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Title: Breuiarium Hipponense
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The bishops of Byzacena arrived too early for the African plenary council at Carthage in AD 397. Since they had to leave the city before the actual beginning of the proceedings Aurelius of Carthage charged them with editing the decisions of the Council of Hippo of AD 393. The document drafted in this way and accepted on 13 August 397 was called the "Breviarium Hipponense", and it was included later in the Canons in causa Apiarii from AD 419, Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta, Breviarium of Ferrandus and Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua.
Edition:
C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 23-53.  

Categories:

Family life - Unspecified permanent relationship
    Family life - Offspring
      Described by a title - Clericus
        Economic status and activity - Slave ownership
          Relation with - Father/Mother
            Relation with - Children
              Relation with - Other relative
                Relation with - Slave/Servant
                  Relation with - Woman
                    Family life
                      Food/Clothes/Housing
                        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER212, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=212
                        Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
                        last edited: 2019-03-27 15:30:36
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