Toulououse, Councils of (Concilium Tolosanum)

Toulououse, Councils Of (Concilium Tolosanum)

These councils were held in Toulouse, a city of France, capital of the department of Haute-Garonne, arid situated on the Garonne. It has in it the very remarkable Church of St. Sernin, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, recently restored by Viollet Leduc. The Church of the Cordeliers was erected in the 13th century, and destroyed by fire in 1871.

I. The first Council of Toulouse was held Sept. 13. 1056, eighteen bishops being present. Rambaldus, archbishop of Arles, and Pontius, archbishop of Aix, presided. Thirteen canons were-published.

1. Forbids simony.

3. Forbids any fees for consecrating a Church.

4. Forbids all buying and selling of Church prefeirmeut.

5. Enacts that, if a clerk have entered upon the monistic state in order to, obtain an abbacy, he shall be compelled to continue the religious life, but shall be entirely excluded from the honor he coveted.

6. Orders abbots to see that their monks follow the rule of. St. Benedict in their manner of life, food, dress, etc. Any abbot or monk altering (corrigentes) these institutions to be corrected, by his own bishop.

7. Enjoins celibacy upon priests, deacons, and other clerks holding ecclesiastical dignities; offenders to be deprived.

8. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, lay persons to apply Church property At their own use.

9. Forbids the laity to plunder the effects of dead persons.

10 and 11. Relate to the payment of Church dues and tithes.

13. Forbids, under pain of excommunication, all intercourse with heretics and excommunicated persons, unless for the purpose of converting them and bringing them back from their evil Ways.

In this council Berenger, viscount of Narbonne, made complaint of the conduct of archbishop Guifroi, accusing him of giving away the lands appertaining to the Church of Narbonne to those who had borne arms for him. The event of his complaint is unknown. S See Mansi, Coiciltix, 1084.

II. The second council was held July 15,1119, pope Calixtus II presiding, assisted by his cardinals; and the bishops and abbots of Languedoc, Gascony, and part of Spain. Tencanons were published.

1. Is directed against the buying and selling of holy orders or livings

3. Is directed against, the followers of Peter de Bruis, a sect of Manichteans, ordering that the secular, authorities shall repress those who affect an extreme piety, condemn the holy sacrament of Christ's body and blood, infant baptism, the priesthood, and other ecclesiastical orders, and lawful matrimony; directs that they shall be drivel out of the Church as heretics.

5. Forbids to make slaves of free persons.

10. Excommunicates monks, canons, and other clerks who quit their profession, or who allow their beard and hair to grow after the fashion of the people of the world. See Mansi, 10,-856.

III. Held in 1161, convoked by the kings of France and England, who were present. One hundred bishops and abbots of the two kingdoms attended, and solemnly recognized Alexander III as pope, to the exclusion of Victor II. See Mansi, 10:1406.

IV. The Fourth Council of Toulouse was held in September, 1229. The archbishops of Narbonne, Bordeaux, and Auch were present, with many other bishops and abbots. Raymond, count of Toulouse, with several lords, attended; also the seneschal of Carcassone, and the two consuls of Toulouse. Forty-five canons were published for the extinction of heresy and the re-establishment of peace.

The first five enact that the archbishops, bishops, and exempted abbots shall appoint in every parish a priest and two or three laymen of good character, who shall take an oath constantly and minutely to search for heretics in houses, caves, and every place in which they may he hidden; and, having taken precautions that those whom they have discovered shall not escape, to report the fact to the bishop, the lord of the place, or his bailiff.

6. Orders that the house in which, any heretic shall be discovered be destroyed.

8. Forbids to punish any one as a heretic before the bishop has given his sentence.

10. Orders that heretics who have of their own accord recanted shall not be suffered to remain in their own villages, but shall be carried to some place free from all suspicion of heresy; orders them, to wear two crosses upon their dress; forbids to entrust them with any public office, etc.

11. Orders that such as pretend to he converted through fear of death, or from any other motive, shall be shut up, in order, that they may never again corrupt others.

12. Orders every man above fourteen years of, age, and every ,woman above twelve, to abjure heresy, to make open profession of the Romish faith, and to swear to hunt out the heretics. This to be repeated every two years. Recusants to be looked upon as heretics.

13. Requires all persons arrived at years of discretion to confess to their own priest three times a year, and to receive the holy communion at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunmide; those who neglect to do so to be considered as heretics.

14. Forbids the laity to have in their possession any copy of the books of the Old and New Test. except the Psalter and such portions of them as: are contained in the Breviary: or the Hours of the Blessed Virgin; most strictly forbids these works in the vulgar tongue.

16. Declares all wills to behold which are not made in the presence of the priest or his vicar.

25. Forbids to absent, one's self from church on Sunday.

26. Declares the, following to be festival days, viz. all Sundays; Christmas- day; feasts of St. Stephen, St, John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, St. Sylvester, the Circumcision, the Epiphany; feasts of the Purification, the Annunciation, the Assumption, and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Easter; the two days after Easter; the three Rogation days; Whit- Sunday; the two days after Whit-Sunday; feasts of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and the Invention and Exaltation of the Holy. Cross; the. feasts, of the twelve apostles; feasts...of St. Mary Magdalene. St. Lawrence, St. Martini, St. Nicholas, and the: Dedication of St. Michael;

and the feasts of the dedications of every church and of all saints to whose honor-churches have been built.

42. Forbids women possessed of castles and other fortified places to marry men who are enemies to the faith and to peace.

43. Forbids judges to receive bribes. 44. Orders that counsel be provided gratis for the poor. See Mansi, 11:425.

V. This council was held in May, 1590, by the cardinal de Joyeuse, archbishop of Toulouse, assisted by the bishops of St. Papoul, Rieux, and Lavaur, and the deputies of the bishops of Lombez, Pamiers, Mirepoix, and Montauban. Various regulations were made relating to the duties of bishops, chapters, beneficed clerks, priests, and others; they also embrace the following subjects: the holy sacraments, relics, indulgences, festivals, vows, seminaries, hospitals, excommunications, residenice, etc. Mansi; 15:1378. See Landon, Manual of Councils, s.v.; Hagenbaich, Hist. of Doctrines, 1, 143.