We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
Councils of Orléans
FREE Catholic Classes
Six national councils were held at Orléans in the Merovingian period.
I. — At the first, convoked by Clovis (511), three-three bishops assisted and passed thirty-one decrees on the duties and obligations of individuals, the right of sanctuary, and ecclesiastical discipline. These decrees, equally applicable to Franks and Romans, first established equality between conquerors and conquered. The council claimed the right of sanctuary in favour of churches and ecclesiastical residences; it stipulated that ecclesiastics need not produce the culprit, if the pursuer would not swear on the Gospels to do him no injury. It settled the conditions of freedom for a slave upon whom Holy orders had been conferred; ruled that freemen should not be ordained without the kings consent or authorization of the judge; determined the immunities of ecclesiastics and church property and committed to bishops the welfare of the sick and the poor ; settled relations of monks with their abbots and of abbots with the bishops. The practice of divination was forbidden. Clovis approved the decrees of the council, which thus appears as the first treaty between the Frankish State and the Church.
II. — The second national council, held under Childebert (June, 533), attended by twenty-five bishops, decreed that, conformably to the earnest desire of Pope Hormisdas , annual provincial councils should be held; further, that marriage could not be dissolved by will of the contracting parties for infirmities consequent on the contract ; forbade the marriage of Christians and Jews ; and excommunicated those who partook in flesh offered in sacrifice to idols.
III. — The third national council (May 538) attended by thirteen bishops, determined the impediments of marriage; pronounced excommunication against ecclesiastics in the higher orders who lived incontinently; decreed that the archbishops should be elected by the bishops of the province, with the consent of the clergy and citizens; the bishops by the archbishop, the clergy, and the people of the city.
IV. — The fourth national council (541) assembled thirty-eight bishops, and maintained the date fixed by Pope Victor for Easter, contrary to Justinian's ordinances, and ordered those who had or wished to have a parish church on their lands to take the necessary measures for the dignity of Divine worship. Finally it perfected the measures taken by the Council of 511 relative to the emancipation of slaves ; slaves emancipated by bishops were to retain their freedom after the death of their emancipators, even though other acts of their administration were recalled; it authorized the final ransom of Christians who had fallen into the power of Jews but had invoked the right of sanctuary to recover their freedom; in declared that Jews who exhorted Christian slaves to become Jews in order to be set free should be forbidden to own such slaves.
V. — The fifth national council (October, 549) assembled nine archbishops and forty-one bishops. After defending Mark, Bishop of Orléans, from attacks made upon him, it pronounced an anathema against the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches, it prohibited simony, prescribed that the election of bishops take place in all freedom, with the consent of the clergy, the people, and the king, and that no bishop be consecrated until he had been one year in the clergy. It censured all who attempted to subject to any servitude whatsoever slaves who had been emancipated within the church, and those who dared take, retain, or dispose of church property. It threatened with excommunication all who embezzled or appropriated funds given by King Childebert for the foundation of a hospital of Lyons, and it placed lepers under the special charge of each bishop.
VI. — The sixth national council, held under Clovis II about 638 or 629, at the request of Sts. Eloi and Ouen, condemned and expelled from the kingdom a Greek partisan of Monothelitism, at the request of Salvius, Bishop of Valence. VII. — The seventh national council, held in 1022 under Bishop Odolric, proceeded against the Manichæans and their few adherents in the city. In September, 1478, Louis XI held at Orléans a fruitless assembly of the clergy and nobility to discuss the Crusade, the necessity for a general council, and the re-establishment of the "pragmatic sanction".
![Little girl looking](https://www.catholic.org/files/images/media/2024/17141839075_150.jpg)
We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.
Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.Help Now >
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
-
Mysteries of the Rosary
-
St. Faustina Kowalska
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
-
Saint of the Day for Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023
-
Popular Saints
-
St. Francis of Assisi
-
Bible
-
Female / Women Saints
-
7 Morning Prayers you need to get your day started with God
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Ray Dalio Warns of Potential Civil War, Advises Moving Assets Abroad
-
Understanding Pentecost: A Celebration of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Tradition
-
Did you know the Catholic Church has a birthday?
-
Catholic Bishops Call for Civil Dialogue Amid Church Polarization
-
Pope Francis Emphasizes Charity as the Pinnacle of Christian Love
Daily Catholic
Daily Readings for Monday, May 20, 2024
St. Bernardine of Siena: Saint of the Day for Monday, May 20, 2024
Prayer to St. Gabriel, for Others: Prayer of the Day for Friday, May 10, 2024
- Daily Readings for Sunday, May 19, 2024
- St. Celestine: Saint of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2024
- Prayer for Travelers: Prayer of the Day for Thursday, May 09, 2024
Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.