The Synodal Canons of Peter Bishop of Exeter in the Year 1287.
PEter Bishop of Exeter held a Synod of his Clergy at Exeter in the Year 1287, wherein he drew up * 1.1 an Instruction for his Clergy about the Seven Sacraments; the Building of Churches and their Ornaments; the Church-yards; the Immunity of Churches; the Life, Conduct, and Residence of Clergy-men; the Divine Service; the Assisting at the Parochial Mass on Sundays and Holy Days; the Festivals which ought to be Celebrated; the Trades, Trafficks and Employments Prohibited to the Clergy; the Chapters; the Rural Deans; the Provisions of Benefices; the Visitations of Arch-dea∣cons and their Dues; the Immunities of Clerks; the Celebration of Marriage; Appeals; Questors; the Relicks of the Saints; Last Wills and Testaments; Mortuaries; Tithes; Offerings; Excom∣munications; and several other Points of Discipline compriz'd in fifty five very large Articles, and which contain several remarkable things.
There is at the end of this Synod an Instruction about the manner of Confessing and imposing Pennances, which is suppos'd to have been made by the same Bishop. Therein are explain'd the Points upon which the Penitent ought to be examin'd; the Cases reserv'd to the Pope and the Bishop; the Temper in which the Penitent ought to be; the Pennances which the Confessor ought to inflict; and the things he ought to instruct his Penitent in.