Third Lateran Council
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3rd Council in Lateran 5. – 19. (22nd?) March 1179 |
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| Accepted by | |
| Convened by | Pope Alexander III |
| Bureau | |
| Attendees | about 300 bishops |
| subjects |
Election of the pope , ecclesiastical discipline, independence of the church, teachings of the Cathars |
| Documents | |
|---|---|
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27 canons |
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The Third Lateran Council (also Third Lateran Synod ) was in March 1179 in the Roman Lateran of about 300 bishops under the chairmanship of Pope Alexander III. celebrated. In the Roman Church this council is considered the 11th ecumenical council . In addition to some representatives from the Latin East , an envoy from the Greek Church was also present.
The council was preceded by a decade-long schism , which began when a minority of cardinals with the support of Emperor Barbarossa first Octavian of Monticelli in 1159 , then Guido of Crema in 1164 and finally John of Struma as counter-popes against Pope Alexander III in 1164 . had set up. In the end, however, this prevailed and promised in the Treaty of Venice in 1177 that a synod would be called to heal the internal church consequences of the split.
Apart from the resolutions passed, no further acts of the council have survived, but contemporary chronicles and historical works allow a certain reconstruction of the circumstances.
decisions
After three meetings on March 5th, 14th and 19th, 27 canons were passed:
- Canon 1 sets the two-thirds majority of the cardinals as the quorum for the election of the Pope .
- Canon 2 cancels the appointments of the antipopes Victor IV and Calixt III .
- Canon 3 sets the minimum age for bishops to be 30 years.
- Canon 4 sets upper limits for the effort of the clerical succession and calls for moderate levying of taxes and inclines.
- Canon 5 determines the bishop's maintenance obligation for consecrated persons without benefices .
- Canon 6 calls for deadlines to be observed both in the imposition of the excommunication and in the appeal against it.
- Canon 7 forbids the charging of fees for funerals , weddings and administering other sacraments . In addition, no new levies may be levied, nor may those that have already been introduced be increased.
- Canon 8 prohibits the granting of entitlements to benefices while they are still occupied. After completion, however, they should be filled by the bishop within six months, otherwise the chapter should fill the position.
- Canon 9 affirms the episcopal authority over the knightly orders of the Templars and hospital knights , from which the orders seek to evade by abusing their privileges .
- Canon 10 forbids monks to own private property or to enter a monastery in exchange for money.
- Canon 11 threatens concubinaries among ordained ministers with the withdrawal of their prisons and expulsion from the clergy or fines in the monastery . The bishops should also prevent any unnecessary visits by their clerics to women's convents.
- Canon 12 forbids clerics from the subdeacon upwards, as well as members of the lower degrees of ordination who live on their benefice, to act as lawyers in court or as legal guardians.
- Canon 13 prohibits the accumulation of benefices and requires the residence obligation for holders of clerical positions.
- Canon 14 explains the granting of ecclesiastical offices by secular persons and the levying of spiritual charges for offenses worthy of excommunication.
- Canon 15 forbids the alienation of church property and the transfer of the administration of episcopal jurisdiction to so-called deans.
- Canon 16 opposes the blocking of appointments by minorities and declares majority decisions to be binding without the right of appeal.
- Canon 17 gives the episcopal authority final decision-making power in the event of disputes in the exercise of the right of presentation or patronage .
- Canon 18 orders the recruitment of teachers at episcopal churches and monasteries who teach clerics and poor scholars free of charge.
- Canon 19 turns against attacks by secular governments on the church ("worse than it was under the Pharaoh ") and against access to church property to finance military measures.
- Canon 20 forbids the organization of knightly tournaments . Anyone who dies in the process may not be buried in church.
- Canon 21 enforces the observance of God's peace every Wednesday evening until Monday morning as well as during the entire Christmas period and Easter Lent until White Sunday .
- Canon 22 demands security for traveling clergy, pilgrims, merchants and farmers on the way to their fields and their cattle and freedom from private road tolls without royal approval .
- Canon 23 permits the establishment of churches and the employment of priests for communities of lepers .
- Canon 24 imposes a strict arms embargo on the Saracens and forbids Christians to hire Saracen pirate ships, to ambush Christian ships themselves or to rob shipwrecked Christians.
- Canon 25 forbids the committed crime of taking interest (“as if they were allowed to practice it”) with the penalty of excommunication. Clergymen burying usurers are immediately suspended .
- Canon 26 forbids Jews and Saracens from keeping Christian slaves under their roof to care for their children or to perform other services. Anyone who lives in their houses will be excommunicated. The testimony of a Jew in court must not be preferred to that of a Christian. Jews are only tolerated on the basis of pure humanity. Converted Jews, on the other hand, have to protect the secular authorities in their property rights.
- Canon 27 outlaws the Cathars in the south of France and similar movements and their supporters. All believers are called to defend Christianity by force of arms in order to forgive their sins. Princes are free to enslave heretics and confiscate their goods . Participation in a crusade shortens the penalties and guarantees special papal protection.
See also
literature
- Giuseppe Alberigo , A. Duval (ed.): Les Conciles œcuméniques. 2 volumes: L'Histoire and Les Décrets. (= Collection Le magistère de l'Église). Editions de Cerf, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-204-04446-6 and ISBN 2-204-05011-3 .
- Raymonde Foreville: Lateran I – IV. (= History of the Ecumenical Councils; Volume 6). Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1970 (translation of the French original, Paris 1965)
- Conciliorum oecumenicorum Decreta, ed. by Giuseppe Alberigo et alii, Bologna 1973³, 205-225.