Gerundense / Gerona (Girona)
Provincial Council in Ostrogothic / Visigothic Hispania; 517
The bishops met on 8 June 517 (era 555) in the seventh year on the reign of the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great during the consulate of Agapitus. This is the second council dated to the regnal year of Theodoric, the first being in Tarragona in 516. Seven bishops signed their names without their Sees but all of them were present in the previous council of Tarragona where we can match where their provenance. They were John, Metropolitan of Tarragona who presided who was accompanied by Frontinianus (Gerona), Paulus (Ampuria), Agric[p]ius (Barcelona), Cinidius (Ausona), Nibridius (Egara), and Oroncius (Elvira). There is a slight difference in the numbering of canons IX and X in Vives and Hispana editions. It is as follows in Vives IX, IX (bis), whereas in the Hispana it is rendered X, X (bis). In both versions there are ten canons notwithstanding how IX and X are numbered; even more important, the texts are identical in both editions.
Canon 1 – Ut unaquaeque provincia in officio ecclesiae unum ordinem teneat - was an attempt to establish a common liturgy for the entire province of Tarragona. Later under Visigothic rule, the Fourth Council of Toledo (633), under the presidency of Isidore of Seville, issued a series of canons to make the liturgy uniform for all of Hispania. Canons 2 and 3 established norms for the recitation of litanies. In Canon 2, when the solemnity of Pentecost ended, the following week from Thursday to Saturday litanies should be said and in those three days abstention was required. Canon 3 ordered that litanies should be recited at the beginning of November – De secundis letaniis faciendis calendarum novembrium. If it fell on a Sunday, it was delayed until the next week starting on Thursday and ending Saturday afternoon after Mass, while the faithful were required to abstain from wine and meat in those days.
Canons 4 and 5 sought to delineate some norms on the administration of Baptism. Canon 4 was straightforward, under normal circumstances Baptism is to be given during Easter and in the Nativity of the Lord with the exception of the sick (langore - weak) who could be baptized any time of the year as necessity required – Ut Pascha tantum et Natalis Domini babtismum detur, excepto his qui in langore consistunt. Canon 5 added that children having been just born could be baptized that same day if they were sick and refused to be breastfed (sign of illness).
Canons 6, 7, and 8 shifted the focus to co-habitation with women by married and unmarried clergy and extramarital affairs of laity. In Canon 6 from bishops to deacons who were already married when ordained were prohibited in using their wives to maintain the home or even to live with them except under a specific circumstance. The women could come to the home to maintain it (clean, cook, etc.) and live with them if a brother whose life was pure was present at all times. Canon 7 spoke to those who were ordained without being married. They were not allowed to hire a woman to maintain the home – non per quamquumque feminei sexus personam eius substantia gubernetur. A male servant or friend could be retained to do the work. They could also, if they had a sister or mother, offer them the task as had been established by prior canons (Nicaea, Canon 3 and Agde, Canon 10) – si vero matrem in domum habuerit aut sororem, secundum priorem canonum statuta. The unstated goal of these canons was to avoid placing clergy in situations of sexual temptation; it was to cut off at its source rumors of lapses with unrelated women. Canon 8 declared that any layman who after the death of his wife, had sexual relations with another woman, be they divorced or a widow, was to be denied admittance to the clergy.
Canon 9 was intended to clarify issues of penance, illness, the viaticum, mortal sin, and public confession. In the first part it identified those receiving the viaticum while gravely ill who did not make public penance in the church. Under this condition they could be admitted to the clergy. The second part of the canon dealt with different classes of penitents. The first type of penitent is the one in grave danger of death who accept penance without confessing any specific crime, only acknowledging they were sinners. If they recovered from their malady, they could present themselves to be admitted to the clergy. On the other hand, a penitent who confessed publicly guilt of a mortal sin, they were not allowed to join the ranks of the clergy. In Canon 10, the last one of this council, the bishops ordered that after daily Matins and Vespers were observed, the priest was to pray the oratio dominica (Lord’s Prayer) – Ut omnibus diebus vespertinis et matutinis oratio dominica dicatur.
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QQ.: Vives/Marín Martínez/Martínez Díez, Concilios Visigóticos e Hispano-Romanos, 39-41; Weckwerth, Clavis Conciliorum, 197.
Lit.: Orlandis/Ramos-Lissón, Concilios de la España Romana y Visigoda, 109-114; J. Boswell, The Council of Gerona of 517, in: Classical Folia 32 (1978) 131-134; N. M. Amich i Raurich / J. M. Nolla Brufau, 1.500 anys del concili de Gerunda (A. 517), in: Annals de l’Institut d’Estudis Gironins 58 (2017) 159-178.
Alberto Ferreiro
Mai 2026
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Ferreiro, Alberto, "Gerundense / Gerona (Girona): Provincial Council in Ostrogothic / Visigothic Hispania; 517", in: Lexikon der Konzilien [Online-Version], Mai 2026;
URL: http://www.konziliengeschichte.org/site/de/publikationen/lexikon/database/603.html
