Canon xxxi. of this council provides, that “_if any Jew shall bring a
slave to be a proselyte to his religion, or make a Jew of a Christian
slave, or take as his companion a Christian female slave, or induce a
slave born of Christian parents to become a Jew under the influence of a
promise of emancipation, he shall lose the title to every such slave.
And further, that if any Christian slave shall become a Jew for the sake
of being manumitted with condition, and shall continue to be a Jew, the
liberty shall be lost and the condition shall not avail him._”
Canon xxxii. provides, that the “_descendants of a slave, wherever they
may be, even after a long lapse of time, though there should be neglect,
if found upon the land or possession upon which their parents were
placed, shall be held to the original conditions established by the
deceased proprietor for the deceased parents, and the priest of the
place shall aid in enforcing the fulfilment, and any persons who shall
through avarice interpose obstacles, shall be placed under church
censures_.”
The doctrine and discipline of the church of the Franks were like that
of other churches in the several regions of Christendom at this period.
A fifth council was held at Orleans, in the year 549, the thirty-eighth
of King Childebert. The sixth canon of this council relates to the
improper ordination of slaves, and also exhibits distinctly the freedmen
_under condition_, classing them in the same category with slaves.
Canon vi. Ut servum, qui libertatem a dominis propriis non acceperit,
aut etiam jam libertum, nullus episcoporum absque ejus tantum voluntate,
cujus aut servus est, aut eum absolvisse dignoscitur, clericum audeat
ordinare. Quod si quisquam fecerit, si qui ordinatus est a domino
revocetur, et ille qui est collator ordinis, si sciens fecisse probatur,
sex mensibus missas tantum facere non præsumat. Si vero sæcularium
servus esse convincitur, ei qui ordinatus est benedictione servatâ,
honestum ordini domino suo impendat obsequium. Quod si sæcularis dominus
amplius eum voluerit inclinare, ut sacro ordini inferre videatur
injuriam, duos servos sicut antiqui canones habent, episcopus qui eum
ordinavit domino sæculari restituat; et episcopus eum quem ordinavit ad
ecclesiam suam revocandi habeat potestatem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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