Magister Disciplinae

Magister Disciplinae (master of discipline) was the title of a certain ecclesiastical officer in the ancient Church. It was a custom in Spain, in the time of the Gothic kings, about the end of the 5th century, for parents to dedicate t heir young children to the service of the Church. They were taken for this purpose into a bishop's family, and educated, under his supervision, by a discreet and grave person, who was generally a presbyter, and was called magister disciplinae. The second and fourth councils of Toledo prescribed the duties of this master, the chief of which were, that he should vigilantly watch over the moral character and behavior of the young, and instruct them in the rules and discipline of the Church.