The canons of the church council of Agde (southern Gaul) of 506 record that it met in the basilica of *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288); one of its canons forbids the celebration of the major feasts of the Christian year in rural oratories, another condemns the use of the Sortes sanctorum. Written in Latin in Agde, 506.
E08392
Canonical and legal texts
Canons of the Council of Agde 506
Summary:
The preface to the canons states that the council met in sancti Andreae basilica ('in the basilica of saint Andrew').
Canon 21 allows the celebration of mass in a rural oratory (oratorium in agro), except on the major feasts of the Christian year, which are listed as follows: Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, the Ascension of the Lord, Pentecost and the birth of *John (the Baptist, S00020). On these days mass must not be celebrated, except 'in the cities or in countryside churches' (in ciuitatibus aut in parrociis). Priests who celebrate mass on these feast days in an oratory without episcopal permission are to be excommunicated.
Canon 42 condemns use of the divinatory text known as the Lots of the Saints (Sortes sanctorum), reproducing its condemnation by the earlier Council of Vannes (461/491) more or less word for word.
Text: Munier 1963, 192 and 202-3.
Summary: Bryan Ward-Perkins.
Cult building - independent (church)
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismCondemnation of other activity associated with cult
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
The council of Agde was a general council of the catholic church within the Visigothic kingdom, summoned in 506 by Alaric II in an attempt to bolster support in the face of a growing Frankish threat.Discussion
The basilica of Andrew was an extramural church, that must have been of some size to accommodate this large council. Gregory of Tours tells us that Agde had important relics of Andrew, though he says they were in the intramural cathedral (E00625).The council of Agde was one of four Gallic church councils in the 5th and 6th centuries which condemned the divinatory text known as the Lots of the Saints (Sortes sanctorum). For discussion see Klingshirn 2002, 86-7, and E08513.
Bibliography
Edition:Munier, C. (ed.), Concilia Galliae A. 314 - A. 506 (Corpus Christianorum, series latina 148. Turnhout, 1963), 189-228.
Further reading:
Février, P.-A., "Agde", in: N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard (eds.), Topographie chrétienne des cités de la Gaule des origines au milieu du VIIIe siècle, vol. 7: Province ecclésiastique de Narbonne (Narbonensis Prima) (Paris, 1989), 45-49.
Bryan Ward-Perkins
07/02/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes Baptista | Certain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andreas | Certain | S00518 | Saints, unnamed | Certain |
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Bryan Ward-Perkins, Cult of Saints, E08392 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08392