Gallia et Frankia >> Concilia >> Council of Orléans III
Summaries by Deanna Forsman
1. Each Metropolitan must summon a council each year; if two years pass without a council, the metropolitan cannot say mass
2. Clergy are not to have wives; if they are married when they are ordained, they are to abstain from having relations with their wife.
3. Metropolitans should be ordained by another metropolitan in the presence of the bishops of their Ecclesiastical province. (This canon includes other instructions regarding the election of metropolitans.)
4. Neither prelates nor clergy are permitted to have women in their home.
5. Offerings made to a basilica in a city go to the support of a bishop. The disposal of offerings made to a basilica or parish in the country should follow the practice of the region.
6. Clergy are not to be ordained until one year passes following their conversion. No deacon can be ordained before age 25; no priest can be ordained before age 30. No man who has married twice or has married a widow can be ordained, even if he does penance. Any bishop who knowingly ordains such a man will lose is office for six months . . .
7. Clergy who marry after ordination are to be deposed, and excommunicated along with their wives . . .
8. Regarding adultery among major clergy: they are to be deposed, forbidden communion, and locked up in a monastery for the remainder of their lives.
9. Regarding theft or other crimes committed by the major clergy: they are to be deposed. Any clergyman who commits perjury is to be excommunicated for two years.
10. Those who have children by concubines when they have a legitimate wife (even if she has died), are not to be ordained. Any such man who has been ordained in ignorance should not be removed from his position, but he should not receive higher clerical positions.
11. Degrees of forbidden incestuous relations: with Godparents, the widow of a father, the daughter of a wife, the widow of a brother, the sister of a wife, with a cousin or a child of a cousin, the widow of a paternal or maternal uncle. Those who engage in such relations are to be excommunicated . . .
12. Those clergy who disobey their bishop must leave the company attached to the church, without their belongings or payment.
13. Bishops may not alienate or sell church property.
14. Christian slaves of Jews must be forgiven sins forced upon them by their masters. If they flee their masters, the bishop should purchase their freedom at market value. Christians who marry Jews are to be excommunicated. Christians are forbidden to eat with Jews.
15. Regarding the celebration of the Mass
16. Bishops should not interfere in parishes that are not under their authority, nor should they ordain clergy there.
17. If clergy move to a parish under the authority of another bishop, they can not be promoted in the clergy without the written consent of their bishop.
18. Clergy cannot travel without a letter from their bishop.
19. Those who ravish consecrated virgins are to be excommunicated. If the virgin was willingly ravished, she is also to be excommunicated.
33. Canon aimed at regulating the Jews.