A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

The fifth Council of Orleans.

THis Council was very numerous, and was held in the Year 549; 71 Archbishops or Bishops of France were present at it, who made 24 Canons.

The first condemns the Sect of Eutyches and other Hereticks.

The second forbids Bishops to Excommunicate for slight Causes.

The third is against the dwelling of Women with Clergy-men.

The fourth ordains that Clergy-men who are oblig'd to Celibacy, and do not observe it, shall be depos'd.

The fifth forbids Bishops to take or ordain the Clergy of their Brethren.

The sixth declares, That Slaves shall not be admitted into Orders without the leave of their Ma∣sters, and that the Bishops who shall do it, shall give two Slaves for one.

The seventh, That the Slaves to whom the Masters have granted Liberty, shall be defended and protected by the Church.

The eighth, That after the death of a Bishop, no other Bishop shall ordain Clergy-men, or Conse∣crate Altars in his Bishoprick, and that he shall take nothing of the Goods of the vacant Church, but a handsom Present.

The ninth, That none shall be promoted to a Bishoprick, unless he has liv'd a Clerical Life for a year at least.

The tenth, That none shall attain to a Bishoprick by Money or Sollicitation; but the Metropoli∣tan and Bishops of the Clergy shall consecrate him who shall be chosen by the Clergy and the People, with the consent of the King.

The eleventh▪ That such a Bishop shall not be set over the People whom they would not have; and that those who shall obtain a Bishoprick by Force or Interest, shall be depos'd.

The twelfth, That none shall be ordain'd Bishop in the room of a Bishop alive, unless he was de∣pos'd for a Capital Crime.

The thirteenth renews the Penalties decreed against those who retain the Goods given to Churches, to Monasteries, or Hospitals.

The fourteenth is against the Bishops or Clergy who demand the Goods belonging to another Church.

The fifteenth ordains, That neither the Bishop of Lyons, nor his Successors, shall have any share in the Possessions of the Hospital, which King Childebert and the Queen his Wife had founded in this City.

The sixteenth is against those who would deprive the Church of the Donations which are made to it. * 1.1

The seventeenth refers to the Metropolitan the Differences between Clergy-men and their Bi∣shop, and to a Synod of the Province, the Difference between a Bishop of the Province and his Metropolitan.

The eighteenth Suspends for the space of six Months, the Bishops who come not to the Synod of the Province, being cited thither by their Metropolitan.

The nineteenth ordains, That Women who come into a Monastery, shall continue one year with∣out taking the Habit, and three years, if the Monastery be not of the number of those in which they are shut up for their Life-time. After this they may take the Habit, and if after they have ta∣ken it, they return into the World, and marry, they shall be Excommunicated, together with those that marry them; but if they part and do Penance, they shall be restor'd to Communion.

The twentieth ordains Arch-Deacons to visit the Prisoners every Sunday.

The one and twentieth ordains Bishops to take care of the Leprous.

The two and twentieth contains the Canons concerning the Slaves who fly for Refuge into Churches.

The three and twentieth ordains the holding of the Provincial Synod every year.

The four and twentieth confirms the preceding Decrees.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The Coun∣cil of Ar∣vernia un∣der King Theodo∣bertus.