The Presbyters Project

Canon 10

De damnatione filiorum qui ex sacerdotibus et ministris geniti comprobantur.

Cum multae super incontinentiam ordinis clericorum usque hactenus emanauerint sententiae Patrum et nullatenus ipsorum formari quiuerit correctio morum, usque adeo sententiam iudicantium protraxere commissa culparum, ut non tantum ferretur ultio in auctoribus scelerum, uerum et in progenie damnatorum. Ideoque quilibet ab episcopo usque ad subdiaconum deinceps uel ex ancillae uel ex ingenuae detestando connubio in honore constituti filio procrearint, illi quidem ex quibus geniti probabuntur, canonica censura damnentur; proles autem tali nata pollutione non solum parentum hereditatem nusquam accipient, sed etiam in seruitutem eius ecclesiae de cuius sacerdotis uel ministri ignominia nati sunt, iure perenni manebunt.

(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1992: 503-504)

Canon 10

On the damnation of children who are proven to be begotten by priests and ministers

Because many decrees of the Fathers were issued up to this time concerning the incontinence of the clerical order, and still were not able to correct their morals, the condemnation of the sins was extended so that the punishment should be incurred not only on the perpetrators of the crime, but also on the offspring of the condemned. Therefore, if anyone from bishop to subdeacon begets a child from a detestable marriage to a slave or a free woman while holding the office, then these children who are proven to have been begotten by them shall be punished by the canonical law. The offspring begotten from such a pollution shall never receive an inheritance from their parents, but, what is more, they shall remain forever in the service of the Church to whose disgrace they have been begotten by its priest or minister.

(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Title: Ninth Council of Toledo, Concilium Toletanum nonum a. 655, Concilium VIIII Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum VIIII, Concilium IX Toletanum, Conciliu Toletanum IX
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Ninth Council of Toledo assembled in November 655 during the reign of King Reccesvinth (653-672). It was presided over by Eugenius II of Toledo. It was attended by fifteen other bishops, abbots, representatives of absent bishops, and lay palatine office-holders (comites), similarly to the previous council in AD 653, but then the representation of ecclesiastics and laymen were significantly more numerous (see discussion in [650]).

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:

Family life - Marriage

Family life - Concubinage

Family life - Permanent relationship after ordination

Family life - Offspring

Sexual life - Sexual activity

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Described by a title - Clericus

Economic status and activity - Inheritance

Relation with - Wife

Relation with - Children

Relation with - Slave/Servant

Relation with - Woman

Sexual life - Marital

Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Private law - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER738, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=738