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LAMBESA (240). [Concilium Lampesanum.] Held in 240, at Lambese, or Lambesse, in Numidia, composed of ninety bishops, who condemned Privatus, the Bishop of the See, accused of heresy and other crimes.—Cyp. Ep. 39, adv. Corn. Tom. i. Conc. p. 650.

LAMBETH (1261). [Concilium Lambethense.] Held May 13, 1261, by Archbishop Boniface. Twenty constitutions were published.

1. Forbids prelates to appear before any secular court, when called there by the king’s letters to answer upon matters which are known to concern merely their office and court ecclesiastical; directs them in such cases, either in person or by letter, to inform the king of their inability to obey his order; declares that any sheriff or bailiff making any such attachment, &c., shall be excommunicated (or suspended, if a clerk). This constitution contains much more on the same subject.

2. When a man has recovered his right of advowson in the king’s court, the bishop shall admit the clerk presented by him, if the living be vacant; if not, he shall excuse himself to the king accordingly.

3. Forbids lay investitures; excommunicates and deprives, ipso facto, those who have been admitted to benefices by laymen, &c.

4. Directs that excommunicated persons, who have been released from prison by the civil powers without due satisfaction made to the Church, shall be again solemnly excommunicated with bells tolling and candles lighted; also that the officer who released them shall be excommunicated, or otherwise punished, at the discretion of the ordinary; also directs that when the king shall refuse to execute a writ “de excommunicato capiendo,” after a monition from the bishop, all his cities, castles, &c., in that diocese, shall be put under an interdict.

5. Orders that those who, when required by the ordinary to do so, refuse to surrender clerks of known good character accused of any crime, shall be excommunicated; and that the places where such clerks are so detained shall be put under an interdict.

Enacts the same with respect to wandering clerks unknown, who are so seized; forbids prelates to compel clerks to pay fines inflicted by secular judges; pronounces censures upon those who caused clerks to be hanged, or shaved their heads whilst in custody, in order to erase the marks of their clerkship.

6. Relates to the evasion of contracts made by laymen with the clergy, by means of the king’s prohibition, &c.

7. Directs that Jews offending against ecclesiastical things and persons, shall be compelled to answer before an ecclesiastical judge, by being forbidden to traffic or converse with the faithful.

8. Forbids to hinder necessary food from being brought to those who have taken refuge in a church; enacts that they who drag such persons from their sanctuary, or kill them, shall be punished with all the punishment of sacrilege. Forbids any lay power to set guards over them that have fled for refuge into a church.

9. Relates to the invaders and disturbers of Church property.

10. Declares that frequently the houses of the clergy, though within sanctuary, were seized by the great men, their servants driven out, their goods consumed, &c. Enacts that all such offenders shall be excommunicated until they have made restitution.

11. Relates to the plunder of vacant Churches in the king’s guardianship, made by his escheators and bailiffs, and orders the prelates who have the jurisdiction, publicly and solemnly to forbid such acts, and to excommunicate all offenders; and adds further, “if our lord, the king, upon a monition, do not make, or cause to be made, competent restitution for the damages done by his officers, let him be proceeded against as hath been ordained in other cases touching the king (see Constitution 1).

12. Permits archbishops and bishops to appear by their attorneys when summoned to attend the king’s justices, and orders that if any justice shall condemn any such prelate on account of his not appearing in person, the attachers and distressors shall be proceeded against. Also relates to the case of prelates and clergymen called upon to show by what right they use the liberties long enjoyed by their Churches, &c.

13. Enacts that those lay persons shall be visited with Church censures who endeavour to compel the clergy holding lands in Frank Almoigne, to do suit and service for the same.

14. Relates to the case of judges who defrauded Churches, &c., of their possessions, by perverse interpretations of the original deeds of gift.

15. Relates to the effects of a deceased person, wills, and their administration. Forbids any religious to act as executor of a will without licence of the ordinary; excommunicates a man hindering any woman, married or single, or his own wife, from making her will.

16. Excommunicates persons making false suggestions to the king against prelates and ecclesiastical judges, whereby the latter receive damage.

17. Declares that the king and other great men did often hinder the prelates from doing their duty against offenders, by forbidding laymen to take the oaths for speaking the truth, and by refusing to permit the said prelates to impose corporal or pecuniary punishment on their vassals; declares that they who do so shall be coerced by sentences of excommunication and interdict; and that they who refuse to take the oaths shall be excommunicated.

18. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, to hinder any one who desires it, from having the sacrament of confession and penance administered, especially forbids so to hinder its administration to prisoners.

19. Forbids the beadles and apparitors of deans and archdeacons, when in execution of any order they enter the houses of any of the clergy, to exact any procurations, &c., and orders them to receive thankfully what is given to them; also forbids them to employ any sub-officials, and to pass sentence of excommunication, interdict, or suspension, of their own mere will.

20. Orders that bishops in their synods, and archdeacons in their chapters, and all parochial clergy, shall three times a year give public notice that all clerks must be decently clipped, and have a shaven crown.

21. “With a special injunction,” ordains that there shall be two prisons in every diocese, sufficiently large and secure for the incarceration of refractory and immoral clerks, and for the perpetual imprisonment of such of them as have committed crimes for which they would have forfeited their lives if laymen.

Some copies add another constitution, concerning the conferring the benefices of the holy water upon poor clerks, and directs that such benefices shall be in the gift of the rectors, or vicars, of the respective parishes, and not the parishioners. There is a doubt whether this is not to be attributed to Archbishop Winchelsea.—Johnson, Ecc. Canons. Tom. xi. Conc. p. 803.

LAMBETH (1281). Held October 11th, 1281, by John Peckham, Archbishop. In this council the acts of the Council of Lyons (1274), the constitutions of the Council of London (1268), and those of the preceding Council of Lambeth (1261), were confirmed, and twenty-seven fresh canons were published.

1. Orders that all priests shall consecrate at least once a week; that the holy sacrament shall be kept in the pyx locked up in the tabernacle; that a bell shall be sounded at the elevation of the host, that those who cannot attend mass may kneel, whether they be at home or abroad, and that the people shall be taught that Christ is entire in either species.

2. Relates to masses for the dead.

3. Forbids to baptise those who have received the right form of baptism at the hands of laymen or women; permits the conditional form to be used where the priest doubts whether the true form was employed; forbids lascivious names to be given to children, and directs that when such has been the case the bishop shall change them at confirmation.

4. Denies the holy communion to persons not confirmed.

5. Forbids to confer on any one holy orders at the same time with the four lesser orders; and desires that when it may be, the lesser orders shall not be received at one and the same time.

6. Denies absolution to hardened sinners (while they continue in sin), and to those who persist in holding more than one benefice. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, any one to hear confessions without the licence of the bishop.

7. Orders public penance for notorious sins, reserves the absolution of wilful murder to the bishop only.

8. Renews the regulation directing that in each deanery there shall be a general confessor for all the clergy.

9. Treats of the instruction to be given by the clergy to their flocks, and directs them to explain four times a year, in the vulgar tongue, the creed, the ten commandments, the two evangelical precepts, the seven works of mercy, the seven mortal sins, the seven cardinal virtues, and the seven sacraments. Then follows a brief exposition of them all.

10. Orders the publication of sentences of excommunication published by Archbishop Peckham and his predecessor.

11. Orders rectors to exercise due hospitality, at least to relieve the extreme necessities of the poor and those who travel to preach the word of God (i.e., the friars).

12. Relates to the certificates given by the rural deans.

13. Is directed against the fraudulent methods employed to get possession of benefices during the absence of their possessors.

14. Relates to the same.

15. Renews the sixteenth canon of Langton, at Oxford, 1222, against farming churches.

16. Orders all the houses of Augustines to assemble together in the general chapter.

17. Excommunicates those who attempt the chastity of nuns.

18. Forbids nuns to stay more than three days together in any house, even in that of their parents, and then requires that they shall have a sister nun with them. Declares that both nuns and monks who have observed for a year the monastic life, and have worn the habit, shall be considered ipso facto professed.

19. Provides for the reclamation of relapsed religious.

20. Forbids monks to become executors to wills.

20. Strictly forbids clergymen to dress like soldiers and laymen, and to wear coifs or hairlaces in order to hide the crown upon their heads.

22. Forbids the sons of rectors to succeed immediately to their fathers in churches where they ministered.

20. Orders bishops to give to every clerk upon his admission to a benefice, letters patent testifying his admission, &c.

24. Forbids pluralities; and orders those who possess more than one benefice to resign them within six months.

25. Relates to the office of advocate.

26. Orders that when an archbishop, or bishop, dies, every priest, regular or secular, under his jurisdiction shall say one mass for his soul; and the other bishops in their next congregation say an office for the dead in his behalf.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 1156. Johnson, Ecc. Canons.

LAMBETH (1330). Held in 1330, by Simon Mepham, archbishop. Ten canons were published.

1. Provides that the linen used at the altar shall be frequently washed; that the priests shall not proceed to say mass until they have said matins, lauds, prime, and tierce; that no clerk shall serve at the altar during mass without a surplice, and that mass shall not be said without one or two lights.

2. Prescribes rules for the regulation of confessions.

3. Forbids priests guilty of mortal sin to celebrate the holy communion before having confessed, and orders that there shall be a confessor for the clergy in every deanery.

4. Directs that the holy chrism shall be reverently carried to the sick, and shall be kept under lock and key.

5. Relates to marriage and the publication of banns.

6. Relates to the conferring of holy orders and to the examination of candidates.

7. Forbids the alienation of Church property by laymen without the bishop’s sanction.

8. Forbids to let benefices to lay persons to farm; also forbids the clergy to build houses for their children or concubines upon a lay fee, out of the revenue of the church.

9. Forbids any person to embrace a recluse life without the bishop’s permission.

10. Orders a publication, three or four times a year, of the general sentence of excommunication against sorcerers, perjurers, incendiaries, usurers, thieves, &c.—Tom xi. Conc. p. 1784. Johnson, Ecc. Canons, A.D. 1330.

LAMBETH (1351). Held in 1351, by Simon, archbishop and legate, to oppose the encroachments of the secular judges, who violated the privileges of the clergy, and condemned to death clerks found guilty of heavy crimes; at the same time severe rules were laid down for the treatment of guilty clerks handed over to the Church for punishment by the secular powers.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 1927. Johnson, Ecc. Canons.

LAMBETH (1362). Held in 1362, by Simon Islip, archbishop. A constitution was drawn up in condemnation of the avarice and idleness of the priests; at the same time the rate of payment for chaplains and curates having cure of souls, was fixed.—Johnson, Ecc. Canons, A.D. 1362.

LAMBETH (1367). Held about 1367, by Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury, probably at Lambeth. Three constitutions were published.

1. Relates to mortuaries.

2. Forbids scot-ales and drinking bouts; declares that when any number of men exceeding ten stay long together in the same house for drinking sake, it is a drinking bout. Offenders to be suspended from entrance into Church and participation in the sacrament till they should have humbly done penance.

3. Forbids any priest to celebrate mass twice a day, except on Christmas-day and Easter Sunday, and when he has a corpse to bury in his own church. Offenders to be suspended.

These three constitutions are attributed by Sir H. Spelman (vol. ii. p. 133) to Archbishop Langton, and are by him said to have been made A.D. 1206, and are so given in the Coll. Councils, Tom. ix. p. 30; but Johnson attributes them to the above Archbishop Langham, for this reason, that the first constitution refers to a statute previously made by “our predecessor Robert concerning mortuaries,” viz., Robert Winchelsea, A.D. 1305.—Johnson, Ecc. Canons, Preface to Langton’s Constitutions, A.D. 1222, and A.D. 1367.

LAMBETH (1368). Held by the same archbishop in 1368, in which thirty erroneous propositions were condemned. Tom. xi. Conc. p. 2034. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. iii. p. 75.

LAMBETH (1377). Held in 1377 (? early in 1378), at which Wiclif was called upon to give an account of his doctrine. The violence of the mob in his favour, and the menaces made by one Clifford, a gentleman supposed to have been sent by the court, seem to have prevented the bishops from proceeding to a sentence. Wiclif, however, very much moderated his opinions in the account he gave of them to the synod.

LAMBETH (1457). Held about 1457, by Thomas Bouchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, to make enquiry to the faith of Reginald Peacock, Bishop of Chichester, accused of heresy. The following propositions held by him were condemned.

1. That it is not necessary to believe that Christ descended into hell.

2. That it is not necessary to believe in the Holy Spirit.

3. That it is not necessary to believe in the Catholic Church.

4. That the universal Church may err in matters of faith.

5. That it is not necessary to hold and believe all that an œcumenical council and the universal Church hath determined or approved as being de fide.

Bale gives another version, viz., that Peacock was condemned to be burned, but recanted at St Paul’s, December 4, in the same year. His books were burned before his face, and he was compelled to resign his see.—Godwin, De Praes Aug. p. 511.

LAMPSACUS (364). [Lampsacenum.] Held by the Macedonians in 364, and lasted two months. The acts of the pseudo-council of Constantinople, under Acacius of Cæsarea and Eudoxius of Antioch, in 360, were annulled. The Creed of Antioch (A.D. 340) was confirmed, and that of Ariminum condemned. It was further ordered that the bishops who had been deposed by the Anomœans (Arians) should be re-established in their sees. Eudoxius and Acacius were cited to appear, and upon their refusal were deposed.—Tom. ii. Conc. p. 829.

LAMPSACUS (366). Many synods were held about this time by the Macedonians, persecuted in the East by the Emperor Valens, lately converted to Arianism. Having resolved to seek the protection of Valentinian in the West, and therefore to receive the Orthodox faith, they held these synods, and gathered the results into a book, which they sent to Pope Liberius by the hands of Eustathius of Sebastia, Silvanus of Tarsus, and Theophilus. In this they declare that they hold and keep the Catholic faith as confirmed at Nicaea in the time of Constantine, and condemn Arius and his doctrine with the heresies of the Patroperosians, Sabellians, Photinians, and others.

LANGEIS (1278). [Concilium Langesiense.] Held in 1278, by John de Montsoreau, Archbishop of Tours, in which sixteen canons were published.

8. Forbids to let out benefices to farm without the consent of the diocesan.

9. Forbids to excommunicate generally all persons communicating with the excommunicated.

12. Forbids to receive into any religious house more inmates than its funds will maintain.

13. Orders that there shall be more than one monk in each priory.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 1038.

LANGRES (859). [Concilium Lingonense.] Held on April 9, 859, Remigius of Lyons and Agilmar of Vienne presiding. Sixteen canons were drawn up, which were read and approved at the Council of Savonieres, or Tousi, in the same year (which see).—Tom. viii. Conc. pp. 673, 690.

LAODICEA (in PHRYGIA) (314–372). [Concilium Laodicenum.] The year in which this council was assembled is disputed. Baronius and Binius assign the year 314; Pagi, 363; Hardouin places it as late as 372, and others even in 399. Beveridge adduces some probable reasons for supposing it to have been held in 365. Thirty-two bishops were present, from different provinces of Asia, and sixty canons were published, which were received into the code of the universal Church.

1. Permits the holy communion to be administered to those persons who have married a second time, after they shall have spent some time in retreat, with fasting and prayer.

2. Directs that the holy communion shall be given to those who have completed their course of penance (Exomologesis).

3. Forbids to raise neophytes to the sacerdotal order.

4. Forbids usury amongst the clergy.

5. Forbids to confer holy orders in the presence of those who are in the rank of hearers.

6. Forbids all heretics to enter within the Church.

7. Directs that when any of the Novatians, Photinians, or Quartodecimani are to be received into the Church, they shall be made to abjure every heresy, be instructed in the true faith, anointed with the holy chrism, and afterwards be admitted to communion.

8. Orders that all Cataphrygians or Montanists shall be instructed and baptised before they are received.

9. Excommunicates those of the faithful who go to the places of worship or burial grounds of heretics.

10. Forbids the faithful to give their children in marriage to heretics.

11. Forbids the ordination of priestesses (πρεσβύτιδες).

12. Orders that the bishops shall be appointed by the metropolitan and his provincials.

13. Forbids to give the election of priests to the people.

14. Forbids to send the holy things (i.e., the consecrated elements) into other parishes at Easter by way of eulogiæ.

15. Directs that only those chanters whose names are inscribed in the church roll shall ascend the pulpit and chant.

16. Directs that the Gospels shall be read as well as the other books of Scripture on Saturday.

17. Directs that a lesson shall be read between each psalm.

18. Directs that the same prayer shall be repeated at nones as at vespers.

19. Directs that after the bishop’s sermon, shall be said separately the prayers for the catechumens, then those for the penitents, and lastly, those of the faithful; after which the kiss of peace shall be given, and after the priests have given it to the bishop, the lay persons present shall give it to each other; and that ended, the administration of the Holy Eucharist shall proceed. It orders further, that none except the priests shall be permitted to approach the altar in order to communicate.

20. Forbids a deacon to sit in the presence of a priest without permission of the latter. The same conduct is enjoined to subdeacons and all inferior clergy towards the deacon.

21 and 22. Forbid the subdeacon to undertake any of the functions of the deacon, to touch the sacred vessels, or to wear a stole.

23. Forbids the same to chanters and readers.

24. Forbids all the clergy, and those of the order of ascetics, to enter a tavern.

25. Forbids the subdeacon to give the consecrated bread and to bless the cup.

26. Prohibits persons not appointed thereto by a bishop, to meddle with exorcisms.

27. Forbids the carrying away of any portion of the agapæ, or love-feasts.

28. Forbids the celebration of the agapæ, or love-feasts, in churches.

29. Forbids Christians to observe the Jewish Sabbath.

30. Forbids Christian men, especially the clergy, to bathe with women.

31. Forbids to give daughters in marriage to heretics.

32. Forbids to receive the eulogiæ of heretics.

33. Forbids all Catholics to pray with heretics and schismatics.

34. Anathematises those who go after the false martyrs of heretics.

35. Forbids Christian persons to leave their church in order to attend private conventicles in which angels were invoked; and anathematises those who are guilty of this idolatry.

36. Forbids the clergy to deal in magic; and directs that all who wear phylacteries be cast out of the Church.

37. Forbids to fast with Jews or heretics.

38. Forbids to receive unleavened bread from Jews.

39. Forbids to feast with heathen persons.

40. Orders all bishops to attend the synods to which they are summoned, unless prevented by illness.

41 and 42. Forbid clergymen to leave the diocese to travel abroad, without the bishop’s permission and the canonical letters.

43. Forbids the porter of the Church to leave the gate for a moment, even in order to pray.

44. Forbids women to enter into the sanctuary.

45. Forbids to receive those who do not present themselves for the Easter baptism before the second week in Lent.

46. Orders that all catechumens to be baptised shall know the Creed by heart, and shall repeat it before the bishop or priest on the fifth day of the week.

47. Those who have been baptised in sickness, if they recover, must learn the Creed.

48. Orders that those who have been baptised shall be anointed with the holy chrism, and partake of the Kingdom of God.

49. Forbids to celebrate the holy Eucharist during Lent on any days but Saturdays and Sundays.

50. Forbids to eat anything on the Thursday in the last week of Lent; or during the whole of Lent, anything except dry food.

51. Forbids to celebrate the festivals of the martyrs during Lent; orders remembrance of them on Saturdays and Sundays.

52. Forbids to celebrate marriages and birth-day feasts during Lent.

53. Enjoins proper behaviour at marriage festivals, and forbids all dancing.

54. Forbids the clergy to attend the shows and dances given at weddings.

55. None of the clergy or laity to club together for drinking parties.

56. Forbids the priests to take their seats in the sanctuary before the bishop enters, except he be ill or absent.

57. Directs that bishops shall not be placed in small towns or villages, but simply visitors, who shall act under the direction of the bishop in the city.

58. Forbids both bishops and priests to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in private houses.

59. Forbids to sing uninspired hymns, &c, in church, and to read the uncanonical books.

60. Declares which are the canonical books of Scripture. In this list the books held to be Apocryphal by our Church, and the Book of the Revelation are omitted.—Tom. i. Conc. p. 1495.

LATERAN (649). [Concilium Lateranense.] Also known as the Council of Rome, held in 649, against the heresy of the Monothelites, and its promoters, Cyrus, Sergius, Paul, and Pyrrhus. The Pope St Martin was present, as was also the celebrated St Maximus, Abbot of Chrysopolis, near Constantinople, who had lately confuted the Monothelite leader Pyrrhus, and presided over about one hundred and four bishops from Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. They held five sessions (or secretarii), the first being on the 5th October, and the last on the 31st of the same month.

In the first session, October 5, St Martin explained the errors of Monothelism, introduced eighteen years back by Cyrus of Alexandria, and approved by Sergius of Constantinople, Pyrrhus, and Paul, who taught that there is in our Lord Jesus Christ but one operation of the divinity and humanity.

In the second session, October 8, the petition of Stephen, Bishop of Doria, was read. Several Greek abbots, priests, and monks, who were at Rome, came forward and demanded that the type or formulary of Constans should be anathematised, in which they declared that the Lord Jesus Christ was represented as being without operation and without will, in fact, without a soul.

In the third session, October 17, the writings of the accused parties were produced, and amongst others the book of Theodorus, Bishop of Pharan, in which he taught the doctrine of one operation only, asserting the Divine Word to be the source, and the humanity only the instrument.

St Martin refuted these errors, and showed with exactness the meaning of the term “theandric operation,” which he said implied plainly two operations of one person; and he stated that St Dionysius had used it only to express the union of them in one and the same person, adding that the property of that union is to perform humanly divine actions, divinely human actions.

In the fourth session, October 19, the definitions of the five œcumenical councils upon the subject were read, and the “type” of Constans examined and condemned.

In the fifth session, October 31, the passages from the fathers relating to the matter were read; the tricks and shifts of the Monothelites were exposed, and the Catholic doctrine soundly and luminously set forth. The Ecthesis of Heraclius was condemned as impious.

The council, after having cited a large number of passages gathered from the fathers, pronounced its judgment in twenty canons, in which it condemns all who do not confess in our Lord Jesus Christ two wills and two operations.

The acts of this council were transmitted by St Martin to all Catholic bishops, with a synodical epistle addressed to all the faithful. The council was received everywhere with the five œcumenical councils.—Tom. vi. Conc. p. 75.

LATERAN (861). At which John, Archbishop of Ravenna, who rejected the jurisdiction of the holy see, was condemned; he was afterwards reconciled.

LATERAN (1105). Held in Lent, 1105. Pascal II. excommunicated in this council the Count de Meulan and his confederates, who were accused of confirming and encouraging the King of England in his conduct concerning the investitures. It was also probably in this council that Pascal reprimanded Bruno of Treves for having received investiture at the hands of the Emperor Henry. It does not appear that the pope complained of Bruno’s attachment to Henry, excommunicated though the latter was; this, amongst other examples, shows that men were not esteemed worse Catholics, even by the holy see, for not executing in all their rigour the judgments pronounced against heresy; in other words, that the pope’s power in temporal matters was at that time by no means an article of faith, but in order to be a good Catholic it needed only to obey the pope in spiritual and the king in temporal matters.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 741.

LATERAN (1112). A numerous council was held on the 28th March 1112, composed of about one hundred bishops, several abbots, and an innumerable multitude of other clergy and of laymen. Pascal II. here revoked the right of investiture which the Emperor Henry V. had the year before forced him, whilst a prisoner, to grant to him. He also cleared himself from the suspicion of heresy, which some had attempted to fix upon him, by making open confession of his faith before the council. The emperor was excommunicated.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 767.

LATERAN (1116). Held March 6th, 1116. In this council Pascal II. again revoked the privilege which the emperor had extorted from him; the emperor himself was not excommunicated in this council, but the acts of the several councils held by the pope’s legates, in which this sentence had been passed upon him, were approved; the prohibition to give or receive investiture was renewed.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 806, and Appendix, 1834.

LATERAN (1123). Held in 1123, March 25, under Calixtus II., and composed of more than three hundred bishops and six hundred abbots; the ambassadors of the Emperor Henry were also present.

For the sake of peace it was agreed that the emperor should no longer give investiture by ring and staff, but that the bishop or abbot, having been freely elected, should receive from him only the investiture of the fief, by the baton or sceptre. The indulgence granted by Urban II. to those who proceeded to the assistance of the Christians oppressed by the infidels, was renewed, and twenty-two canons were published.

1. Forbids simony.

3. Forbids the clergy to have wives, to keep mistresses, or to live with any women, except as specified by the canon of Nicea.

4. Forbids princes, and any of the laity, to take upon themselves to dispose of Church property.

7. Forbids all persons to give a cure of souls or prebend without the bishop’s consent.

9. Forbids to receive into communion persons who have been excommunicated by their own bishop.

10. Forbids to consecrate a bishop elected uncanonically.

11. Grants indulgences to those who should assume the cross for the Holy Land; places their persons, property, and families under the protection of the blessed apostle St Peter and the holy Roman Church; enjoins all who, after having assumed the cross, either for the Holy Land or for Spain, have laid it aside, to resume it and to begin their voyage within the year, under pain of excommunication, and, if the offenders be princes or lords, of having their lands placed under an interdict.

14. Forbids the laity, under pain of excommunication, to appropriate to their own use offerings made to the Church, and to shut up the approaches to churches (ecclesias incastellari).

15 and 16. Excommunicate those who made or passed bad money, and who pillaged pilgrims.

17. Forbids abbots and monks to administer penance publicly, to visit the sick, to administer extreme unction, or to sing solemn and public masses; it also enjoins them to receive from their bishop the holy chrism and oils, and their orders.

19. Orders that monasteries shall continue to render to the bishops the same services and dues as have been rendered since the time of Gregory VII.

21. Declares the marriages of priests, deacons, sub-deacons, and monks, to be null and void.

22. Declares all alienations of Church property, and all orders conferred by intruding bishops, simoniacally obtained, or not conferred according to the canons, to be null and void.

None but bishops of the Latin Church were summoned to this council, nor have its decrees ever been received in the East as œcumenical.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 891.

LATERAN (1139). Convened by Pope Innocentius II., who presided at it, in 1139 (April 2). About one thousand prelates (i.e., archbishops, bishops, and abbots) were present. In this council the Anti-pope Peter (Anacletus II.) and Arnold of Brescia were condemned; the last, who was a disciple of Abelard, for his violent declamations against the pope, the bishops, the clergy, and the monks, maintaining that the clergy who held any estates or property must be damned, and that Rome must be restored to her primitive liberty, by the expulsion of the pope and cardinals. Certain bishops, who had been schismatically ordained by Anacletus, were deposed; the pope calling them by name, and taking from them the crozier, ring, and pall, after having addressed them upon the grievousness of their fault, with an acrimony which St Bernard condemned. Thirty canons of discipline were published.

1 and 2. Deprive all ecclesiastics simoniacally ordained.

3. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, to receive those who have been excommunicated by their bishop.

4. Directs that ecclesiastics who, after monition from their bishop, do not reform their costume, and dress decently, shall be deprived of their benefices.

6. Is directed against the marriage and concubinage of subdeacons.

7. Forbids to hear mass celebrated by a married priest, or by one living with a mistress; and declares the marriages of priests, as well as those of monks and canons, to be null and void, and orders them to separate from their wives.

9. Forbids regular canons and monks to learn civil law or medicine, for profit, and excommunicates bishops, abbots, and priors, who give them permission to do so.

10. Orders lay-persons possessed of Church tithes, to restore them to the bishop under pain of excommunication; and warns them that they are guilty of sacrilege, and liable to eternal damnation.

11 and 12. Relate to the Trève de Dieu.

13. Condemns usury.

14. Forbids tournaments and military combats, and orders that persons killed in such melées be denied Christian burial.

15. Excommunicates, without permitting the bishops to absolve them, persons who maltreat clerks or monks: also forbids to touch those who have sought an asylum within a church or in a churchyard, under pain of excommunication.

18 and 19. Relate to incendiaries and their abettors, whom they sentence to excommunication, and to go to the Holy Land or to Spain to serve the cause of the Church.

21. Forbids to confer holy orders upon the sons of priests, except they bind themselves to a monastic or regular life.

23. Condemns the heresy of the Manichæans.

27. Forbids nuns to be present in the same choir with the monks and canons, at the chanting of the holy office.

28. Directs that no bishopric shall be permitted to remain vacant for more than three months.

29. Anathematises slingers and archers who exercise their profession against Christians.

30. Annuls all the ordinations made by Peter of Leon (Anacletus II.), and other heretics and schismatics.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 999.

This council has no title to be considered as œcumenical, for the reasons mentioned in the last.

LATERAN (1168). Held by Alexander III. against the Emperor Frederick, who had espoused the cause of the Anti-pope Victor III. Frederick was condemned, and deprived of his empire, and a decree passed deposing all the schismatical prelates.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 1449.

LATERAN (1179). Held March 2, 1179, under Pope Alexander III., who presided, at the head of two hundred and eighty bishops, collected from many countries: from the East a few Latin bishops, with the Abbot Nectarius, attended, but none from the orthodox Eastern Churches. The object of the council was to correct abuses which had sprung up during the long schism, then just brought to a close by the treaty of peace between Alexander and the Emperor Frederick, at Venice, in 1177. It consisted of three sessions; the first, March 5; the second, March 14; and the third, March 19. Twenty-seven canons were published, of which the following are the chief.

1. Declares that from that time the election of the pope should be confined to the college of cardinals, and that two-thirds of the votes should make a lawful election.

3. Directs that a person to be elected to a bishopric, shall be not less than thirty years of age, legitimate by birth, and well spoken of as to learning and morality; also that no benefice, having cure of souls, shall be given to an ecclesiastic under twenty-five years of age.

4. Regulates the number of horses, &c., which a prelate might take with him, when visiting his diocese; allows the archbishop forty or fifty, cardinals twenty-five, bishops twenty or thirty, &c.

7. Forbids any fee to be taken for inducting to a living, burying the dead, blessing the newly married, or administering the sacraments.

8. Forbids to present to, or even to promise, benefices before they are vacant; and directs collators to present within six months after vacancy.

9. Forbids the Knights Templars and other fraternities to receive tithes, churches, &c., from any lay hand, without the authority of the bishop; to receive excommunicated persons, &c.

10. Forbids to receive monks into monasteries for money; forbids monks to possess property under pain of excommunication.

11. Forbids ecclesiastics to retain women in their houses, or to frequent nunneries, without necessary cause.

13 and 14. Forbid pluralities, and order residence.

15. Orders that the property of ecclesiastics, saved out of their church-preferment, shall, at their death, go to the particular church they have served, whether they have otherwise disposed of it by will or not.

18. Orders the appointment of a school-master in all cathedral churches, who may instruct the youth and the poor clergy.

20. Condemns tournaments, &c.

21. Enjoins, under pain of excommunication, the observation of the “Trève de Dieu” (Treuga Domini).

23. Grants to lepers the privilege of having a church, churchyard, and priest, where they are in sufficient numbers, to demand it, and provided they do not injure the parochial rights of the mother-church.

24. Excommunicates those who in any way assist the Saracens with weapons, &c.; and also those who make away with the property of shipwrecked persons.

25. Directs that usurers shall be shut out from communion during life, and forbidden Christian burial when dead.

27. Is directed against the Albigenses.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 1503.

This council was not œcumenical in its convocation, nor was it ever received as such by a large portion of the Catholic Church.

LATERAN (1215). Held 11th November 1215, under Pope Innocentius III.; who, in his bull of convocation, declares his reasons for assembling the council, viz., the evils of the Church, and the great depravation of morals, of which he draws a lively picture. The council commenced its sittings on the 11th November, and ended on the 30th of the same month. Four hundred and twelve bishops, eight hundred abbots and priors, the ambassadors of many Catholic princes, were present; also two Latin patriarchs from the East, viz., Gervais of Constantinople and the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The pope opened the assembly with a sermon upon St Luke 22:15, relating to the recovery of the Holy Land and the reformation of the Church.

Subsequently seventy chapters, which Innocentius himself had drawn up, relating to the extirpation of heresy, the reform of the Churchy peace between Christian princes, the succour of the Holy Land, and the re-union of the Greek and Latin Churches, were read. These chapters are to be regarded simply as the constitutions of Innocentius himself, who drew them up; no debate followed upon them, and the silence of the bishops was taken for their assent: not having been made in the council, nor discussed “conciliariter,” they are, therefore, not entitled to the same respect with synodal canons. They are, indeed, spoken of rather as the decrees of Innocentius than as those of the council of Lateran, and were not published as the canons of Lateran for more than three hundred years afterwards, viz., by Cochlæus in 1538.

Chapter 1. Contains an exposition of the Catholic faith, principally with reference to those sects who still retained the Manichæan heresy: it sets forth that there is but One God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who at the first made all things, both spiritual and material, out of nothing, not excepting the devils themselves, who at the first were created good. In order to establish the authority of the Old Testament, which these heretics rejected, it asserts that the same God who at first delivered to mankind the doctrines of salvation by Moses, and the prophets, afterwards more clearly pointed out the way of life by His Son, whom He caused to be born of the Virgin.

It further declares that there is but one universal Church, out of which there is no salvation; that there is but one sacrifice, viz., that of the mass; that in it Jesus Christ Himself is both the Priest and the Victim; that “His Body and Blood, in the sacrament of the altar, are truly contained under the species of bread and wine; the bread being, by the Divine Omnipotence, transubstantiated into His Body, and the wine into His Blood; that for completing the mysterious union between Christ and His Church, we may receive His Human Nature, as He was pleased to take ours.” That this sacrament can only be celebrated by a priest, lawfully ordained, in virtue of that ecclesiastical power granted by our Lord to His Apostles and their successors. It then declares the efficacy of baptism both of infants and adults; and that they who fall after baptism, may be restored by the sacrament of penance.

Chapter 2. Condemns the treatise of the Abbot Joachim on the unity of the Trinity, in which he favoured the Tritheistic doctrine and inveighed against Peter Lombard as a heretic, for his opinions on the subject of the Blessed Trinity, which encouraged Tritheism; also, it condemns the errors of Amauri. (See C. PARIS, 1210; C. ARLES, 1261.)

Chapter 3. Anathematises all heretics who hold any thing in opposition to the preceding exposition of faith; and enjoins that after condemnation, they shall be delivered over to the secular arm; also excommunicates all who receive, protect, or maintain heretics, and threatens with deposition all bishops who do not use their utmost endeavours to clear their dioceses of them.

Chapter 4. Exhorts the Greeks to unite with, and conform to, the Roman Church.

Chapter 5. Regulates the order of precedence of the patriarchs:—1. Rome. 2. Constantinople. 3. Alexandria. 4. Antioch. 5. Jerusalem. And permits these several patriarchs to give the pall to the archbishops of their dependencies, exacting from themselves a profession of faith, and of obedience to the Roman see when they receive the pall from the pope.

Chapter 6. Enjoins ordinaries to be careful in reforming their clergy.

Chapter 7. Orders that provincial councils be held every year.

Chapter 8. Regulates the manner of proceeding against ecclesiastics.

Chapter 9. Orders bishops to provide that all in their dioceses shall use the same rites.

Chapter 10. Directs that bishops shall be careful to provide the churches of their dioceses with persons capable of preaching the Word of God.

Chapter 11. Confirms and extends the canon of the Council of Lateran (1179), which provides for a school-master in every cathedral church, to teach the poor clerks and others.

Chapter 12. Enjoins that abbots and priors shall hold chapters every three years, without prejudice to the rights of the bishops of the dioceses.

Chapter 13. Forbids the establishment of new religious orders; also forbids an abbot to preside over more than one religious house.

Chapters 14, 15, and 16. Forbid to the clergy incontinence, drunkenness, hunting, keeping sporting dogs or birds, secular pursuits, attendance at plays or farces, and frequenting of taverns (excepting when travelling); also orders propriety of apparel, and the tonsure suitable to their rank.

Chapter 17. Forbids feasting.

Chapter 18. Forbids the clergy to be present at the execution of criminals, to pronounce any judgment tending to the shedding of blood, to fight duels, and to give the blessing for the ordeal by hot or cold water, or hot iron.

Chapters 19 and 20. Relate to churches and their proper vessels, order that chrisms be kept locked up.

Chapter 21. Enjoins all the faithful of both sexes, having arrived at years of discretion, to confess all their sins at least once a year to their proper priest, and to communicate at Easter.

Chapter 22. Orders all medical persons to warn the sick to send for the priest before prescribing for them.

Chapter 23. Orders that no cathedral nor regular church shall remain vacant more than three months, after which time the right of presentation to lapse to the immediate superior.

Chapters 24, 25, and 26, relate to elections.

Chapter 27. Forbids to ordain illiterate persons.

Chapter 28. Declares that they who have asked leave to resign their benefices, shall be compelled to do so.

Chapter 29. Confirms the canon of the third council of Lateran, which forbids pluralities.

Chapter 30. Forbids to give benefices to incapable persons.

Chapter 31. Excludes bastards from benefices.

Chapter 32. Orders patrons to find a sufficient maintenance for the curates.

Chapters 33 and 34. Restrict episcopal and archidiaconal procurations when in visitations.

Chapters 35 to 44. Relate to appeals, the procedure of ecclesiastical judges, &c.

Chapters 45 and 46. Provide for the discharge of the goods and persons belonging to the Church.

Chapters 47 and 48. Regulate the form of excommunication.

Chapter 49. Regulates that of recusancy.

Chapters 50, 51, and 52. Relate to matrimonial impediments, &c.

Chapters 53, 54, 55, and 56. Provide for the preserving and enjoying of the tenths, even upon monks’ lands.

Chapter 57. Restrains the privilege of regulars being always buried in holy ground.

Chapter 58. Allows the clergy and monks to celebrate divine service in their churches in a low voice during an interdict, providing that no bells be rung and no excommunicated or interdicted persons be allowed to be present.

Chapter 59. Forbids the religious to borrow or to become sureties without the abbot’s leave.

Chapter 60. Restrains the encroachments of abbots.

Chapter 61. Confirms the twenty-fifth canon of the Council general of Lateran (1139).

Chapter 62. Forbids to exhibit relics already recognised out of their shrines (extra capsam), to sell them, and to honour new ones except they be first approved by the pope.

Chapters 63, 64, and 65. Abolish certain abuses.

Chapter 66. Forbids all fees for burials, marriage blessings, &c., without prejudice, however, to existing customs and pious usages.

Chapter 67. Is directed against the excessive usuries of the Jews.

Chapter 68. Directs that Saracens and Jews shall wear a peculiar kind of dress, to distinguish them from Christians, and orders princes to take measures to hinder the utterance of blasphemies against our Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 69. Forbids to give any public office or situation to Jews and Saracens.

Chapter 70. Directs that converted Jews be prevented from observing Jewish ceremonies.

After these canons of Innocentius had been read, the council proceeded to publish a decree for the crusade to the Holy Land, in which the time of rendezvous was fixed for the first day of June, and the place Sicily.

Whilst treating of the question of the Albigenses, the affairs of Raymond, Count of Toulouse, were discussed.

The Count himself appeared, accompanied by his son and the Count de Foix, to demand the restitution of his lands, which had been taken from him by the crusaders. His request was refused, and his territory declared to be alienated from him for ever. His wife, however, was permitted, on account of the high reputation which she enjoyed, to retain the lands forming her dowry. Lastly, in this council the union of the Maronites with the Roman Church was discussed: Jeremiah, or Jonah, their patriarch being present.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 117.

LATERAN (1512). Held in 1512, under Julius II. This council held its first session on the 10th day of May 1512, and was dissolved on the 16th March 1517, under Pope Leo X.

The opening was made May 3rd, the pope presiding at the head of fifteen cardinals, eighty Italian archbishops and bishops, and six abbots or generals of orders.

In the first session, May 10, the eleventh canon of Toledo was read, enjoining modesty, silence, and union in all ecclesiastical synods. The officers of the council were named.

The bull of convocation having been read, May 17, Cajetan, general of the Dominicans, spoke against the Council of Pisa, and an edict was promulgated annulling all its acts; also an edict postponing the third session to December, to allow time for the arrival of the Bishop of Guerk on the part of the emperor.

The third session was held on the third of December. The pope renewed his bull annulling all the acts of the Councils of Pisa and Milan, and placed the kingdom of France under an interdict. The Bishop of Guerk, on the part of the emperor, declared his approval of the council; about one hundred and twenty prelates attended this session.

The letters patent were read, December 10, which Louis XI. of France had formerly addressed to Pius II., by which the Pragmatic sanction was abrogated; by a bull its supporters were cited to appear before the council within sixty days, to show their reasons for opposing its abrogation. By another bull the council declared the abrogation of the Pragmatic sanction.

The pope being seized by illness, Cardinal St George, Bishop of Ostia, presided, February 16. A new citation to the same parties, for the purpose mentioned above, was decreed.

Pope Julius being dead, April 27, his successor, Leo X presided, who declared himself unwilling that the above citation should be carried into effect, and desired that all peaceable means should be first tried.

In the interval between this and the following session, ambassadors arrived from Louis XII., declaring in his name, that he would renounce the Council of Pisa, and adhere to that of Lateran, upon condition that the cardinals who had been degraded should be re-established, and the acts directed against his kingdom annulled.

The letters of the Cardinal Bernadin, of Carvajal, and Frederick, Cardinal of St Severin, were read, June 17, in which they renounced the schism, condemned all the acts of the Council of Pisa, approved those of Lateran, promised to obey Leo, and acknowledged that Julius had justly deposed them from their rank of cardinal; upon which they were restored to their office.

Another session was held on December 19. The pope presided; twenty-five cardinals and one hundred and twenty-two prelates attended. The act of Louis XII. was presented by his ambassador, by which he declared his adhesion to the present Council of Lateran, and revoked his approval of that of Pisa.

A petition having been presented against the parliament of Provence, accusing that assembly of interfering with the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome, and of setting itself up against the pope’s authority, a monitory letter was issued to the members of that parliament, requiring them to appear before the council within three months.

3. A decree was read directed against certain philosophers, who taught that the reasonable soul was mortal; and against others, who, allowing the immortality of the soul, asserted that there was but one soul pervading all human bodies.

4. It was ordered that no persons in holy orders should employ more than five years in the study of philosophy, without, at the same time, applying themselves to theology and the canon law, in order to correct the ill effects of such reading upon their mind.

5. Three bulls were published: 1. Exhorting to peace and unity amongst Christian princes. 2. Addressed to the Bohemians, and offering them a safe conduct to induce them to come to the council. 3. Directed against the exactions of the officers of the court of Rome, and relating to the reformation of the Church.

In the ninth session, May 5, 1514, an act of the French prelates, signed by five bishops, was read, in which they excused themselves for not attending the council, and renounced the Council of Pisa; besides this, a long decree was read concerning the reformation of the court of Rome.

The next session did not take place until the 4th of May in the following year. The pope presided; and twenty-three cardinals, together with several archbishops, bishops, abbots, and doctors, were present. Four decrees were read: 1. Approving of the “Monts de Piété” established in Italy and elsewhere; which were public offices, where money was lent for a specified time to persons in need, upon security of property deposited at the office, which property was sold when the time allowed had expired. 2. Relates to the clergy, and orders that the commissioners of the holy see shall punish those exempted chapters, which availed themselves of their privileges to commit irregularities with impunity; it also gives permission to the bishop of the diocese to visit once a year, nunneries under the immediate control of the holy see. 3. Orders that all books printed at Rome, shall be submitted to the revision of the pope’s vicar and the master of the palace; and that those printed in other places, shall be examined by the bishop of the diocese, or by some one appointed by him. 4. Relates to the Pragmatic sanction.

In the eleventh session, December 19, the Maronites were admitted to the pope’s obedience; and a confession of faith was read before the council, in which they recognised the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, &c.

Then the celebrated bull was read, which substituted for the Pragmatic sanction, the Concordat made between Leo X. and the King of France, Francis I., at Bologna. Several of the articles of the Pragmatic were retained, but most of them were altered, and some abolished altogether.

Article 1 was entirely contrary to the Pragmatic; the latter had re-established the right of election: the Concordat, on the contrary, declares that the chapters of cathedrals in France shall no longer proceed to elect in case of vacancy, but that the king shall name to the pope, within six months, a doctor or licentiate in theology, of at least twenty-seven years of age, whom the pope shall nominate to the vacant see; and that in case of the king’s persisting in the appointment of an improper person, the right of appointing shall lapse to the pope.

By this article the pope reserved to himself the right of appointing directly to bishoprics vacant “in curiâ” (i.e., becoming vacant by the death of the possessor whilst at Rome).

2. Declares the abolition of all expective graces and reservation of benefices. See C. BASLE.

3. Defends the rights of graduates, and enacts that all benefices falling vacant during four months in each year, shall be given to graduates. It also fixes the period of study necessary for attaining to the several degrees, viz., ten years for that of doctor or licentiate in theology; seven years for that of doctor or licentiate in canon or civil law, or for the degree of M.D.; five years for that of master or licentiate in arts; six for that of B.D.; and five for that of bachelor in civil or canon law. For noblemen three years only are required.

4. Gives to the pope, where a patron has ten benefices, the right of presenting to one of them; when he has fifty, to two; provided that they be not two prebends in the same Church.

5. Relates to suits and appeals, and resembles the regulation made in the Pragmatic; it declares that all suits shall be terminated on the spot by those judges who have the right, either by prescription or privilege, to take cognizance of them, except in certain cases, and forbids to appeal to the highest authority, “omisso medio.”

The four articles following are the same with those upon the like subjects in the Pragmatic, viz., these:—

6. Upon peaceable possession.

7. Upon concubinage amongst the clergy.

8. Upon intercourse with the excommunicated.

9. Upon interdicts.

10. On the decree “Sublatione Clementinæ Litteris.”

No mention is made in the Concordat of the articles in the Pragmatic, concerning the annates and the number of cardinals.

Subsequently the decree abolishing the Pragmatic sanction was read in the council, and was received by all but the Bishop of Tortona in Lombardy, who had the courage to oppose it; saying, that the respect due to the Council of Basle and the assembly at Bourges, ought to hinder them from touching upon a subject of such importance.

The opposition which the Concordat received from the Parliament, the universities, and the Church at Paris, is well-known, as well as the disputes and divisions which its execution occasioned.

In this session, moreover, was read the bull relating to monastic privileges, by which the pope granted to all ordinaries the right of visiting all parish-churches in the hands of the regulars, and of celebrating mass in them; also the right of examining monks to be employed in the ministry. It also declared that those persons who should confess to monks approved by the ordinary, should be considered to have satisfied the canon “Omnis utriusque sexus.”

The last session was held on the 16th March, 1517. The Latin Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Aquilæa, eighteen cardinals and eighty-six archbishops, being present. A bull was published, confirming all the acts of the preceding sessions, and granting a subsidy of a tenth on all ecclesiastical property in aid of the war against the Turks.—Tom. xiv. Conc. p. 1–346. L’Hist. de la Prag. S. et Concordat, par Pithon.

LAUSANNE (1449). [Concilium Lausanense.] Held in 1449. Felix V., who had been elected to the pontificate by the fathers at Basle, having renounced the popedom, April 9, 1449, they reassembled at Lausanne, in continuation of the Council of Basle. Here they ratified by two decrees his resignation, with all the clauses and conditions which had been agreed on between himself and Nicholas V. The pope, on his side, by a bull given at Spoleto, June 18, declared that God having restored peace to the Church, and his venerable and very dear brother Amadeus, premier cardinal of the Roman Church, known as Felix V., in his obedience, having renounced all claims to the sovereign pontificate, and those who had assembled at Basle, and afterwards at Lausanne, under the style of an œcumenical council, having decreed and published that Nicholas V. should be henceforth obeyed as the sole and indubitable pontiff; and having at length dissolved the aforesaid Council of Basle, therefore, continues the pope, wishing, as far as God gives us the power, to procure peace amongst all the faithful, we do ourselves approve the same, and for the good and the unity of the Church, of our plenary apostolic power, with the counsel and consent of our brethren, we do ratify and confirm all elections, confirmations, provisions, and benefices whatever.… made or given on account of persons, and in places in the obedience of Felix V., and those who were assembled at Basle and Lausanne, as well as all that the ordinaries may have done by their authority.

By a second bull Nicholas re-established all persons of whatsoever state or condition, who had been deprived of their benefices or jurisdiction by Pope Eugenius, on account of their adherence to Felix and the Council of Basle. And again, in a third bull, he declares all that had been said or written against Felix or the Council of Basle, to be null and void.—Tom. xiii. Conc. p. 1335.

LAVAUR (1213). [Concilium Vaurense.] Held at Lavaur, in Languedoc, in 1213, by the Archbishop of Narbonne, Legate, to consider the demand of Peter, King of Arragon, that the lands taken from Raymond, Count of Toulouse, and the Counts of Foix and Comminges, should be restored to them. The decision of the council was against the demand.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 81.

LAVAUR (1368). Held July 6, 1368; Peter, Archbishop of Narbonne, presiding, at the head of thirteen bishops. They published one hundred and thirty-three canons, a great part of which are taken from the acts of the Councils of Avignon in 1326 and 1337. Amongst other things, it is ordered that every priest saying mass in his church, shall be attended by at least one other clerk in a surplice; that every collegiate and cathedral church shall send two of its body to study in canon law or theology, who shall not by such absence be deprived of their share of the distributions. Many of the other articles relate to the temporalities of the Church, her rights and jurisdiction, &c.

The second and six following articles relate to the order and ceremonies to be observed in the celebration of the provincial councils.

In the 90th canon, all clerks are warned to abstain from flesh on Saturdays, in honour of the blessed Virgin Mary.

By canons 123, 124, indulgences were granted to those who attended the mass of the blessed Virgin on Saturdays, who prayed for the pope. An indulgence was also granted to such persons as contributed to the Church of Lavaur.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 1957.

LEIGHLIN (630). A great synod was held in the White Field, in March 630, when St Laserian, afterwards first Bishop of Leighlin, and St Munnu had a contest about the time of celebrating Easter. The synod broke up without any settlement of the question.

LEON (in SPAIN) (1020). [Concilium Legionense.] Convoked by King Alfonso V. and his wife, who were present. Forty-nine statutes were drawn up, seven only of which relate to ecclesiastical subjects. The first of these orders that matters relating to the Church shall be discussed first in councils. This council was, strictly speaking, a mixed assembly, in which both spiritual and temporal matters were transacted.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 817. Esp. Sag., tom. xxxv.

LEON (in SPAIN) (1090). Held in 1090, by Regnier, Cardinal and Legate for Spain, and Bernard, Metropolitan of Toledo. Various regulations relating to the rites and offices of the Church were made; amongst others, it was ordered that divine service should be celebrated throughout Spain, according to the use of St Isidore, and that all writers of church books should thenceforth use the Gallic character instead of the Gothic, which was in use at Toledo.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 482. Esp. Sag., tom. xxxv. p. 348.

LEON (1114). Esp. Sag. xxxv. p. 352. (See COMPOSTELLA, 1114.)

LERIDA (524). [Concilium Ilerdense.] Convoked in 524, by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths; eight bishops were present, who published sixteen canons. (Esp. Sag., tom. xlvi. p. 170, app. xxix. Sub anno 546.)

1. Suspends and deprives for two years ecclesiastics who shed human blood under any pretext whatever; assigns them two years of penitence, and forbids their elevation to any higher order.

2. Assigns seven years’ penitence to adulterers; if clerks, deprives them for ever of exercising their functions.

3. Renews the canons of Agde and Orleans, A.D. 511, concerning monks.

4. Forbids persons living in incest to remain in church after the dismissal of Catechumens; forbids Christians to eat with them.

8. Deprives of their rank, until they should have done penance, those of the clergy who have seized or ill-used their slaves, who have fled to a church for asylum.

9. Following the canon of Nicea, assigns seven years of penance among the Catechumens, and two years amongst the faithful, to those who had been re-baptised in heresy.

13. Rejects the offerings made by Catholics who suffer their children to be baptised by heretics.—Tom. iv. Conc. p. 1610.

LERIDA (1418). Adamaro, Cardinal of St Eusebius, held a council here. Esp. Sag., tom. xliv. p. 80. Diary of Selva D. Basch, unpublished.

LEYRE (1068). [Leyreuse.] No such council was ever held. Esp. Sag., tom. iii. p. 294.

LILLE (1251). [Concilium Insulanum.] A council was held at Lille, in Provençe, in 1251, by Jean de Beaux, Archbishop of Arles, and his suffragans, in which thirteen canons of discipline were drawn up; amongst which,

1. Orders the frequent preaching of the Catholic faith

3. Makes over to the bishop the property of heretics.

6. Directs persons to make their wills in the presence of the parish priest (probably to hinder them from benefiting the cause of the heretics by legacies).

13. Forbids clandestine marriages.—Tom. xi. Conc. Appen. 2348.

LILLE (1288). Held in 1288, by Rostang, Archbishop of Arles, and his suffragans. Eighteen canons were published, of which the first thirteen are but a repetition of those of the preceding council.

14. Is directed against those who give poisons or drugs to procure abortion.

15. Forbids to carry wheat before the tithe be paid.

17. Directs that in order to hinder the great expense ordinarily made at baptism, by which many persons were induced to leave their children unbaptised (who consequently often died without that sacrament), it should not be lawful in future to give anything beyond the white dress or albe.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 1335.

LILLEBONNE (1080). [Concilium Juliobonense.] Held at Whitsuntide, in 1080, by order and in the presence of William the Conqueror. William, Archbishop of Rouen, presided, at the head of the bishops and abbots of Normandy. Thirteen canons were published. They enforce the observance of the Trève de Dieu; order that if a church be given to any monastery, a sufficient allowance shall be provided out of the revenue for a priest, and the proper celebration of divine service; inflict penalties upon those who marry their relations, upon persons guilty of simony, &c., &c.—Tom. x. Conc. p. 391. Bessin in Conc.: Normaniæ. Mart., Thes. Anec. tom. iv. col. 117.

LIMA (in PERU) (1583). A council was held at Lima in 1583, under the Archbishop Mögroveyo. Several canons of discipline were published. At the same time a certain professor of theology was condemned, who, allowing himself to be deceived by a woman whom he believed to be possessed, declared that he was visited by a familiar angel, who told him all things; that he had often conversed with the Almighty, that he should be pope, and would transfer the holy see to Peru.—Acosta, l. 2, de noviss. c. 2.

LIMOGES (1029). [Concilium Lemovicense.] Held August 4, 1029, to decide the question whether the title of “apostle” ought to be given to St Martial of Limoges, as the Limosins desired, or that of “confessor,” as others maintained. The decision of the council appears to have been that St Martial was an apostle.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 860.

LIMOGES (1031). Held November 18, 1031, under Aymon de Bourbon, Archbishop of Bourges, who presided, upon the same subject. Nine bishops were present. The acts of St Martial, which at this time passed for genuine, were read, and in them St Martial was declared to have been baptised by St Peter, and to have received the Holy Spirit with the apostles on the day of Pentecost. The apostleship of St Martial was again confirmed.

After this Jordan, Bishop of Limoges, made heavy complaints against the great men and the military in this diocese, whereupon the council established the “Trève de Dieu,” as had been already done in many other councils. A terrible sentence of excommunication was pronounced against those who would not preserve the peace and act justly, according as the council had prescribed.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 869.

LINLITHGOW (1553). Held by Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, in 1553, in which all who maintained opinions contrary to the teaching of the Roman Church were condemned, and the decrees of the Council of Trent [made during the pontificate of Paul III.] were received. Some acts were also passed for reforming the corrupt lives of the clergy.—Bishop Skinner, Ecc. Hist. Scot. vol. ii. p. 40. Wilkins’ Conc. vol. iv. p. 78.

LIPTINÆ see LESTINES (745). [Concilium Liptinense.] Held in 745, by order of Carlomans, Bonifacius (Winfrid, an Englishman, afterwards Archbishop of Mayence) presiding. Four canons were published. The second sanctions the erection of lay commendams or the appropriation by the prince of the revenues of churches or abbeys under peculiar circumstances, such as in time of invasion, &c., sufficient maintenance being left for the church or monastery. The bishops, earls, and governors promised in this council to observe the decrees of the Council of Germany (see C. GERMANY, A.D. 742). Clement, an Irishman, was condemned here on account of schism and heresy (see C. ROME, 745). All the clergy, moreover, promised obedience to the ancient canons; the abbots and monks received the order of St Benedict, and a part of the revenue of the Church was assigned for a time to the prince, to enable him to carry on the wars then raging. Mansi gives 744 as the date of this council.—Tom. vi. Conc. p. 1537.

LLANDAFF (560 or 597). [Concilium Landavense.] About the year 560 three councils were held by Oudoceus, third Bishop of Landaff, in one of which he excommunicated Mouricus, King of Glamorgan.—Tom. v. Conc. p. 828–830. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 17.

LLANDAFF (895 or 887). Held about the year 895. The number of bishops present is unknown, but they appear to have been men of bold and intrepid spirit, neither cloaking the vices of their great men, nor sparing the infliction of canonical censures which their sins had deserved. Thus a certain petty king called Theudur was excommunicated by Gurvanus, tenth Bishop of Llandaff, for homicide and perjury, in this or some other synod held about this time.—Pagi, note vi., Baron, A.D. 805. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 196.

LLANDAFF (950 or 955). Held about the year 950, by Peter, Bishop of Llandaff, in the case of a deacon who, after murdering a peasant, had fled to the altar for sanctuary, and was there put to death.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 637. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 222. Godwin, De Præs. Ang. (ed. Richardson) p. 599.

LLANDAFF (988 or 982). Held in 988, in which a certain King Arthmailus, who had killed his brother, was excommunicated, until he should have performed the required penance. Gucaunus, Bishop of Llandaff, presided.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 732. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 264. Godwin, p. 600.

LLANDAFF (1056 or 1059). Held in 1056, by Hergualdus, twenty-ninth Bishop of Llandaff, in which the family of King Cargucaunus was excommunicated, on account of some violence offered by them to a nephew of the bishop, a physician, whom they cruelly treated during the festival of Christ’s nativity, when they were in a state of intoxication.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 1083. Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 314.

LOMBEZ (1176). [Concilium Lumberiense.] Held at Lombez, probably in the diocese of Alby in Languedoc, in 1176, by the Archbishop of Narbonne, against the sect called “Bonshommes” [boni homines], who were Manichæans.—Dom Vaissette Hist. de Languedoc, tom. 3. l. 19. No. 1 and note. Tom. x. Conc. p. 1470.

LONDON (1143). Held in 1143, on the Monday after the octave of Easter, by Henry, Bishop of Winchester, legate a latere. Two constitutions were published.

1. Declares that none who violated a church or churchyard, or laid violent hands upon a clerk or religious person, should be absolved by any person but the pope.

2. Declares that the plough and husbandman in the field should enjoy the same peace as if they were in the churchyard.

All who opposed these decrees were excommunicated with candles lighted.—Wilkins’ Conc., vol. i. p. 421. Johnson, Ecc. Canons. Tom. x. Conc. p. 1024.

LORRIS (844). [Concilium apud Lauriacum.] Held in October 844. Four canons only were published.

1. Anathematises those who despise ecclesiastical authority.

2. Anathematises those who conspire in any way against the royal dignity.

3. Anathematises those who refuse to obey the king.

4. Anathematises those who violate these canons.—Tom. vii. Conc. p. 1790.

LORRIS. Held in the same year and month as Thionville, 844. One in the kingdom of Charles and the other of Lothaire.

LOWITZ (1556). [Concilium Lovitiense.] Held September 11, 1556, at Lowitz, in Poland. Aloisius Lippomanus, Bishop of Verona and Apostolic Nuncio, and Nicolas Dziergowski, Archbishop of Gnesne, presiding. A Formulary of Faith and Doctrine, in thirty-six articles, was drawn up.

1. Receives the creeds of the apostles, Nicea, Constantinople, and St Athanasius.

2–5. Relate to the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity.

6. Receives seven sacraments of the Church as the institution of Jesus Christ.

9. Defines contrition.

10. Of confession.

12. Of free will.

13. Declares that before all things faith is required in an adult in order to justification, faith by which we believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our propitiation for our sins, in His blood, without which faith no works of our own and no penitence can justify us.

14. Declares that there is no authority in Holy Scripture for that faith which firmly believes and takes it for certain that our sins are remitted for Christ’s sake, and that we must, therefore, enter upon eternal life.

16. Declares that good works are required in all.

19. Declares that the bread and wine in the Holy Eucharist are converted into the Body and Blood of Christ.

20. That communion in both kinds is not necessary for lay persons.

25. Declares the Church to be One and Visible—that it receives and holds whatever hath been delivered by the chair of St Peter, and that it cannot err in matters of faith and religion.

27, 28. Of the Pope, that all controversies of faith are to be referred to him.

31. Of the invocation of saints.

34. Of purgatory.—Martene, Vet. Scrip. Coll. Tom. viii. col. 1445.

LUCCA (1062). [Concilium Luccense.] Held in 1062, by Pope Alexander II., who presided. The case of Eritta, abbess of the monastery of St Justina, at Lucca, was examined. She was accused of having introduced a clerk into her monastery, and of having had improper intercourse with him. Eritta was called into the assembly, and the charge carefully sifted and examined, when it proved to be groundless and calumnious. Her innocence being thus fully established, the women who had urged the accusation against her were, according to the canon, sentenced to receive the same punishment which would have been awarded her had she been found guilty, viz., they were dismissed from their convent and shut up in prison.—Mansi’s Supp. Coll. Conc. Tom. i. col. 1367.

LUCCA (1308). Held about 1308, under Henry, bishop of the diocese. Seventy-seven articles of regulation were published, many of which were entirely lost, and some partially. Amongst those which we have may be noticed the following:—

6. Directs that the host and chalice be incensed at mass.

9. Regulates the dress of ecclesiastics.

17. Is directed against those who being illegitimate have obtained orders by deceit, and against other abuses.

24. Forbids, on pain of suspension, a clerk to keep with him in his house any woman except his mother or aunt.

28. Excommunicates every ecclesiastic guilty of usury.

33. Forbids chapters, under pain of excommunication, to augment the prebends during the vacancy of the bishopric.

34. Forbids to elect to any ecclesiastical dignity a man ignorant of letters.

38. Prohibits the clergy to play at any game of dice within their own diocese.

39. Orders that those clerks should pay a fine who by any sign or gesture shall show disrespect to God or the saints.

40. Forbids the clergy to carry arms in the environs of their residence.

52. Excommunicates those who oppose the execution of the last wishes of the dying.

55. Excommunicates those who do violence to churches, tombs, religious persons, &c.

56. Not only prohibits usury, but forbids to hire a house of an usurer.

57. Orders that all the faithful, of fifteen years of age complete, shall make annual confession.

58. Directs that medical men shall warn the sick to take care of their spiritual sickness rather than that of the body.

65. Orders the residence of beneficed clerks.

68. Forbids all clerks to sell, or cause to be sold, bread or wine in the houses appertaining to their churches, or even in any other without the bishop’s special permission.

70. Forbids to absolve a public usurer even in death, except he will give security that he will make restitution of his usurious gains.

72. Forbids all assemblies of clergy except those made according to the will of the bishop.

76. Excommunicates those who intercept, or tear, or in any way offer indignity to the letters of bishops.—Mansi’s Suppl. Tom. iii. col. 307, &c.

LUGO (569 and 572). [Concilium Lucense.] Two councils were held at Lugo, one by King Theodomir, in 569, in which the division of Spain into dioceses and parishes was effected, and their respected limits assigned.

Another in 572, when eighty-four chapters or canons, sent by St Martin, Bishop of Braga, were read. These canons were chiefly taken from the Greek code, to which he added several made from Latin Synods.—Baronius. Tom. v. Conc. pp. 875 and 902.

LUGO (1062). See Esp. Sag. tom. ix. p. 151, &c.

LYONS (197). [Concilium Lugdunense.] Held about the year 197, by St Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, in which the decree was confirmed, which settled that the celebration of Easter-day should take place on the Sunday following the 14th day of the March moon. A letter was written by St Irenæus to Victor of Rome, in which he exhorted him to follow the example of his predecessors, and not to refuse communion with the Quartodecimani. (See C. NICEA.)—Tom. i. Conc. p. 598. Baluze.

LYONS (199). Two years after, viz., about 199, another council was held by St Irenæus, against the Valentinian heresy and the Marcionists.—Tom. i. Conc. p. 599.

LYONS (517). Held in 517. Viventiolus (or Avitus), Bishop of Lyons, presided at the head of ten bishops. A man named Stephen was condemned and excommunicated in this council, for an incestuous marriage with Palladia, his deceased wife’s sister. Six statutes were drawn up.

The first and the last relate to the case of Stephen mentioned above.

The fourth forbids all intermeddling on the part of the bishops with the concerns of other Churches.

The fifth forbids to aspire to any bishopric during the life-time of the actual bishop, and pronounces sentence of perpetual excommunication against those who are consecrated under such circumstances, and all who are concerned in such consecration.—Tom. iv. Conc. p. 1584.

LYONS (567). Held in 567, by order of King Guntram. The Archbishops of Lyons and Vienne presiding. Fourteen prelates, eight in person and six by deputy, attended. Salonius, Bishop of Embrun, and another were condemned, and six canons published.

1. Orders that the differences between bishops of the same province shall be settled by the metropolitan and other bishops of the province; but if the dispute be between two bishops of different provinces, the two metropolitans shall settle it.

4. Enacts that no one excommunicated by his bishop shall be received into communion until he be absolved.

6. Orders that Litanies shall be said in all churches and parishes in the first week in September, as in that before Ascension day.—Tom. v. Conc. p. 847.

LYONS (583). Held in 583, under King Guntrum; Priscus, Archbishop of Lyons, presiding; eight bishops and the deputies of twelve others were present; six canons were published, one of which enacts that bishops shall not celebrate the festivals of Christmas and Easter out of their own churches, except in case of sickness, or by the king’s order.—Tom. v. Conc. p. 973.

LYONS (1055). Held in 1055, by Hildebrand, Cardinal and Legate of Victor II. In this council an archbishop accused of simony, who could not pronounce the name of the Holy Spirit before the assembly, was deposed: and several other bishops, moved by this miracle, confessed the same sin and voluntarily resigned their sees.—Tom. ix. Conc. p. 1080. Fleuri. Pet. Dam. Opusc.

LYONS (1245). Held in 1245, by Pope Innocentius IV. The causes which led to its convocation were the following: Gregory IX. had excommunicated the Emperor Frederick, deposed him from the imperial dignity, and released his subjects from their oath of allegiance. The solemn publication of this sentence was made on Holy Thursday, 1239. The apparent cause of the pope’s anger against the emperor was the non-fulfilment of a vow made by the latter in sickness, to proceed to the aid of the Holy Land. After the death of Gregory, Innocentius IV. convoked this Council of Lyons, to which he invited all Christian princes, and at the same time cited the emperor to appear.

At the time appointed for the meeting of the council, the bishops assembled, to the number of about 140 (including archbishops and bishops): amongst them were the three Latin patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Aquileia; Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople, and Raymond, Count of Toulouse, were also present.

Besides the prelates who were present, deputies were sent by many of those who were absent, and from several chapters; amongst them was one from the abbey of St Alban’s, in England.

In a congregation held before the first session, the Ambassador of Frederick made ample offers to conciliate the pope, declaring his willingness to oppose the Tartars, the Corasmians, the Saracens, or any other enemies of the Church, or to go, at his own expense, to deliver the Holy Land from the hands of the infidels: all these offers were, however, rejected by the pope on the plea that no faith could be given to the emperor’s professions.

The pope having on his right hand the Emperor of Constantinople, June 28, made a speech concerning the irregularities of the bishops and people, the insolence of the Saracens, and the Greek schism, the cruelties of the Tartars, and the evil conduct of the Emperor Frederick towards his predecessor Gregory.

Frederick’s ambassador, Thaddeus of Suessia, in his answer most eloquently defended his master, and showed that the emperor was no longer bound by his promises, the pope having himself failed on his part to perform his engagements.

In the second session, July 5, several bishops, especially the Spaniards, spoke with great warmth against the emperor, and demanded his condemnation, but were shortly answered by Thaddeus. In the end a delay of twelve days was given him in which to appear.

In the third, July 17 or 18, it was decreed that the octave of the festival of the nativity of the blessed Virgin should be observed. Ten articles of regulation were drawn up, relating chiefly to judicial proceedings. The pope ordered that succour should be provided for the empire of Constantinople, and that a part of the revenue of all the benefices should be appropriated to that purpose.

Further, the English ambassadors, Hugo Bigod, William de Chanteloup, and Philip Basset, in the name of the whole kingdom, presented a written complaint relating to two grievances: First, “That King John had, contrary to the will of his people, made a donation of the kingdom of Ireland to the pope, which act they maintained to be altogether null and void. And second, That the most insupportable exactions were made by the legates, nuncios, and other ministers, whom the pope sent into England.” In the letter which they presented to the council, it was set forth that the predecessors of Innocentius, wishing to enrich the Italians, had presented them to benefices of which they took no sort of care, that they totally neglected the cure of souls, and the duties of hospitality and almsgiving; in short, that they thought only of enjoying the revenues of their preferments, and of carrying them out of the kingdom, to the great prejudice of the native clergy who ought to have possessed these benefices.

It stated that the sum thus carried out of England by these Italians amounted to more than 60,000 silver marks; and that in spite of these enormous exactions, the legate Martin, whom the pope had sent into England, was endeavouring to push matters further, and to dispose of other preferments in the same way, by reserving them for the disposal of the holy see when vacant; that he impoverished the monks by his excessive demands upon them, and lavished excommunications and interdicts upon all who attempted to oppose his proceedings; that it was impossible; to believe that he had the Pope’s sanction for so doing, and that they consequently implored the latter to take steps to check him.

When the reading of this letter was finished, all the bishops present maintained a deep silence; and the pope, being embarrassed, merely replied, that the question required mature consideration. Thaddeus then declared, that as the pope persisted in the proceedings against his master, he appealed to an Œcumenical Council. Then Innocentius, after asserting the present council to be œcumenical, pronounced against Frederick sentence of excommunication and deposition, depriving him of his kingdom, absolving all his subjects from their oath of allegiance, and threatening with excommunication all persons whatever who should give him help or counsel. The crimes imputed to this prince, as set forth in the sentence, were perjury, sacrilege, heresy, and felony. It is to be remarked, that the heading of this sentence does not state, in the usual form, that the sentence was passed with the approbation of the council, but simply, that it was done in the presence of the council; in fact, the prelates, there is reason to believe, took no share in the matter.

Seventeen other decrees were published.

1 and 2. Of rescripts.

3. Of elections.

4. Of the office and power of a judge-delegate.

5 and 6. Of judgments, &c.

7. Of contumacious persons.

8. Of rescripts.

9. Of those who are put into possession causa rei servandæ.

10. Of Confessions.

11. Of appeals, &c.

12. Of sentences of excommunication.

13. Of usurers.

14. Of aid to be given to the empire of Constantinople.

15. That prelates admonish their people as to the disposal of their property.

16. Of the Tartars.

17. Of the crusade.

This council was not received by the Eastern Church: and the question of its being œcumenical is disputed still amongst those of the Roman Church.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 633.

LYONS (1274). Convoked by Gregory X. of Rome, and held in 1274. Five hundred Latin bishops, seventy abbots, and about one thousand other ecclesiastics attended. The council was held in the metropolitan church of St John. The pope himself presided in full pontifical robes, assisted by several cardinals. The two Latin patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch had seats in the middle of the church; on one side sat the cardinal-bishops, amongst whom were St Bonaventura and Peter, Bishop of Ostia; and on the other side, the cardinal-priests; then the other prelates in order. There were also present ambassadors from France, England, Germany, Sicily, &c., the grandmasters of the Hospitallers and Templars, and the deputies of chapters.

In the first session, May 7, after the usual prayer, the Pope delivered a kind of sermon to the assembly, in which he explained the causes which had led to the convocation of the council, viz., the need of succour for the Holy Land, the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches, and the reformation of morals.

Between the first and second sessions, the Pope obtained from the bishops and abbots the grant of a tenth of the ecclesiastical revenues.

In the second session, May 18, were published certain constitutions concerning the faith, and the deputies of chapters, abbots, and other inferior prelates were discharged from attendance.

In the third session, June 7, twelve constitutions were published, relating to the election of bishops, the ordination of the clergy, and the moral conduct, &c., of the clergy generally.

In the fourth session, July 6, the ambassadors of the emperor, Michael Palæologus, were present, viz., Germanus, formerly patriarch of Constantinople, Theophanus of Nicea, George Acropolita, and many other persons of rank. The pope laid before them the three chief objects of the convocation of the council. The letter of the emperor was read, containing the profession of faith sent seven years before to him by Clement IV. “This faith,” the emperor writes, “we recognise as the true catholic and orthodox faith, and we promise to hold it inviolably, only we desire that our Church may repeat the creed as she did before the schism, and may retain her own customs.” After this, a letter from thirty-five Greek bishops was read, expressing their anxiety for unity, and recognising the primacy of Rome. This done, George Acropolita, in the name of the emperor, took an oath, by which he abjured the schism, received the Roman confession of faith, and recognised the primacy of the Roman see. Te Deum and the Creed having been chanted in Latin, the patriarch and the other Greek ecclesiastics also chanted them in Greek, the word “Filioque” being chanted twice over.

In the fifth session, July 16, fourteen constitutions were published; of these, one relates to the election of the Roman pontiff; others enact that persons who have married twice shall be shut out from the enjoyment of every ecclesiastical privilege; that usurers shall not be permitted in any Christian country; that nothing unbecoming the place shall be allowed in any church; that all things necessary and proper to excite piety, &c., shall be provided in them; that during divine service, at the name of Jesus every one shall bow the head; that they shall be censured who do not abstain from the company of excommunicated persons. And on the following day, in the sixth and last session, July 17, two others were drawn up, one of which was for the purpose of checking the multitude of religious orders; the other is lost. After which the pope addressed the assembly, saying, that as to the other objects proposed by holding the council, viz., the reformation of morals, if the bishops would correct themselves, it would be unnecessary to draw up any new constitutions upon the subject in council; that he was astonished at the conduct of some who persisted in an irregular course of life, and declared that if they did not correct their way of living, he would himself visit their conduct with severity, adding that the prelates were the cause of the depravity of the world; he also promised to remedy various other abuses; which promise, however, he forgot to perform. The affairs of the Holy Land were also discussed. The pope afterwards caused a collection of the constitutions made in this council to be drawn up in thirty-one articles, which were inserted in the text of the decretals.

1. Declares the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, as from one principle and by one only spiration.

2. Relates to elections to the papacy.

3. Directs that those who oppose any election shall give their reasons in their letter of appeal, and forbids them to bring forward others afterwards.

4–12. Relate to elections, &c.

13. Declares the collation of persons under twenty-five years of age to benefices to be null and void; obliges residence, and orders that all holders of benefices shall take priests’ orders within a year from their preferment.

14. Orders that no one be preferred who is not of the canonical age.

15. Suspends from the power of ordaining, those bishops who shall have ordained clerks belonging to another diocese.

18. Forbids pluralities.

21. Moderates the Clementine relating to livings vacated by the death of the incumbents whilst at the court of Rome, the collation of which belongs to the pope, by allowing ordinaries to confer them within a month.

23. Dissolves all begging orders established since the Council of Lateran (1215), under Innocentius III., unless they have received the pope’s approval.

26 and 27. Are directed against usury.

The last three relate to excommunication.—Tom. xi. Conc. p. 937.

This council was never considered as œcumenical in the East.

LYONS (1449). Held in 1449, by the Archbishop and his suffragans. Eighteen articles were drawn up.

1. Against blasphemers, orders that in extreme cases they shall be given over to the secular arm.

2. Orders that in future, to prevent the unlimited multitude of clerks (effrenatam multitudinem), none shall be admitted to the tonsure unless reason and law permit it.

12. Provides for the examination of persons to be appointed to any cure of souls, and their deputies.

13. None to be ordained without a title.

15. Declares that since incredible evils, both spiritual and temporal, have occurred to Christendom, through the execrable abuses of quæstors and indulgences, no one shall in future be permitted to carry relics through parishes for the sake of gain, nor to publish confraternities, nor to commit the authority to preach indulgences to sordid men, nor to let out such power to the highest bidder. Moreover, if on account of their antiquity and evident necessity, some very few be permitted to be preached, it shall be done by men of good character, appointed thereto by the ordinaries.

16. Forbids friars to whom, according to the Clementine “Dudum de sepultura,” it is permitted to hear confessions, to do so, until they have been really presented to the ordinary, and by him received and approved.

17. Relates to the dress of scholars at the universities, directs that they shall be compelled to abstain from extraordinary and unbecoming dresses, such as red caps, boots trimmed all round with velvet, &c.

18. Orders the observance of the statutes of the Holy Synods of Constance and Basle.—Mart., Thes. Anec., tom. iv. col. 375.

LYONS (1527). Held on Saturday, 21st March 1527, by Claudius de Longueville, Bishop of Maçon, vicar-general of the province, assisted by the proctors of the bishops of the province and others. Six canons were published.

1. Bids all the suffragans to be urgent, by all lawful means, to correct and punish all persons convicted of favouring the Lutheran heresy, as far as may be necessary, invoking the aid of the secular arm.

2. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, all persons whatever to follow, assert, teach, or defend the doctrines of Luther and his followers.

3. Forbids, under the same penalty, all persons, in any way, to draw away the people from the Catholic faith, from believing in the sacraments of the Church, from venerating the blessed Mother of God, ever Virgin, and the saints, from the observance of vows, from fasting and abstinence, prayers, intercession for the dead, and generally from the precepts and commands, &c., of the Church: forbids all persons to have or read the translation of the Gospels, Epistles of St Paul, Apocalypse, and other books of Holy Scripture, made by the Lutherans.

5 and 6 relate to the reformation of the church and clergy. Complain of the excessive multitude and unfitness of the clergy, and order that none shall in future be promoted to holy orders who are not fit for it, &c., &c.

A tax of four-tenths upon the clergy was also proposed for the ransom of the king (Francis I.) and for the redemption of his soul; this was, with some unwillingness on the part of the clergy, who had already been put to very heavy charges on political accounts, agreed to.—Martene, Thes. Anec., tom. iv. col. 397.