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The second Council of Toledo. * 1.1
THe Bishop of Toledo, and seven others, held this Council in the Year 531, and made there five Canons.
The first concerns Infants which the Parents offer to be Clergy-men. It ordains that after they shall have cut off their Hair, or shall be plac'd among those who are to be chosen, they shall be educated in the Church-House in the sight of the Bishop, and under the Conduct of a Tutor: That after they have arrived at the Age of eighteen, they shall be asked in the presence of the Clergy and People, what is their design; and if they promise to observe Chastity, they shall be made Sub deacons at the Age of twenty: That if they discharge this Ministry well, they shall be promo∣ted to the Office of Deacon at five and twenty; but that good heed shall be taken that they do not marry, or that they keep not company with Women, and that if they be convicted of doing it, they shall be look'd upon as Sacrilegious Persons, and turn'd out of the Church. That as to those who will not oblige themselves to observe Celibacity, they shall be left to their liberty; but that they shall not be promoted to Holy Orders, until such time as they renounce the use of Marriage, after they are arriv'd at the Age of Maturity.
The second forbids Bishops to receive or keep Clergy-men who forsake their own Church to go elsewhere.
The third renews the Prohibitions so often made as to Clergy-men who keep Women in their Houses, other then their near Kinswomen.
The fourth is, That those who build Cottages, or plant Vineyards upon the Church-Lands, shall enjoy them during their Life; but that they cannot dispose of them, nor leave them after their death to any Person, unless they be given with a Charge to pay some Services, or certain Rents to the Church.
The fifth forbids Marriages among Kinsfolk within the prohibited Degrees.
The Bishops of this Council concluded with threatning Excommunication to that Bishop who shall violate these Canons, with obliging them to come to a Synod when they shall be summon'd by the Bishop of Toledo, with thanking King Amalaricus for the leave he had given them to meet toge∣ther, and with praying God that he may reign for many years.
After this Council there follow'd a Letter from Montanus to the Christians of the Territory of Palenza, against the Priests who thought fit to consecrate the Chrysm; wherein after he has pro∣pos'd to them the Examples of Corab, Dathan and Abiram, of Uzziah and Aza, who were pu∣nish'd for attempting to perform those Offices which did not belong to them, he declares, That since the Canons oblige the Priests of Parishes, to fetch every year a Chrysm, or to send the Church-warden to receive it of the Bishop, they cannot have the power to Consecrate it themselves. He threatens them therefore with an Anathema, if they undertake for the future to Consecrate it. He forbids them also to call in forreign Bishops to Consecrate the Churches in their Province; and ob∣serves, That tho all the Churches are united in Jesus Christ by one and the same Bond, yet they must preserve the Priviledges of the Provinces, and the Order of the Church; and therefore when there is any Church to be Consecrated, they ought to acquaint him, that the thing may be done either by himself, or by a Bishop of his choosing. Lastly▪ he reproves them for not having asuffici∣ent horror of the Sect of the Priscillianists, whom he accuses of many infamous things, which he says are prov'd in the Letter of Turribius to St. Leo. There is also another Letter from the same Person to Tarribius Governor of this Country, exhorting him to oppose the Disorders which we have mention'd, and to employ his Authority for abolishing these Customs which are contrary to the Discipline of the Church.