The Fifth Council of Orléans (October, 549) assembled nine archbishops and forty-one bishops. Sacerdos of Lyon presided over this council. After defending Mark, Bishop of Orléans, from attacks made upon him, it pronounced an anathema against the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches, it prohibited simony, prescribed that the election of bishops take place in all freedom, with the consent of the clergy, the people, and the king, and that no bishop be consecrated until he had been one year in the clergy. It censured all who attempted to subject to any servitude whatsoever slaves who had been emancipated within the church, and those who dared take, retain, or dispose of church property. It threatened with excommunication all who embezzled or appropriated funds given by King Childebert for the foundation of a hospital of Lyon, and it placed lepers under the special charge of each bishop.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
