Chalons

Chalons, a town in France, on the Saone, on the site of the ancient Cabillonum. SEE FRANCE.

Several provincial COUNCILS were held here during the Middle Ages, of which the most important was that of A.D. 813, ordered by Charlemagne. It published sixty-six canons, of which the first eleven relate to bishops, and direct that they shall read the holy Scriptures, the councils, and the pastoral of St. Gregory; that they shall preach to their people and edify them, establish schools, etc. The twenty-seventh forbids the repetition of confirmation. The thirty-second declares that spiritual sins must be confessed, as well as bodily sins. The thirty-sixth declares that almsgiving avails only to release from venial sins, arising from frailty, and reproves those who go on in sin, thinking to escape punishment for their much almsgiving. The forty-ninth orders prayers for the dead to be said at every mass, and declares it to be an ancient custom in the Church to commend to the Lord the spirits of those asleep. The forty-third declares the ordination of certain priests and deacons conferred by certain Scotch bishops to be null and void, being done without the consent of their diocesans, and with I suspicion of simony. The forty-fifth condemns pilgrimages made in order to obtain remission of sins, which, on that pretext, the persons about to make the pilgrimage go on committing more freely; pilgrimages made from proper devotional motives are commended. The forty-seventh orders all Christians to receive the holy Eucharist on Maunday Thursday. Labbe and Cossart, Concil. t. 7, p. 1270; Landon, Manual of Councils, s.v.