This week in Christian history: Isaac Watts ordained, Felix III becomes pope, First Lateran Council begins
First Lateran Council begins – March 18, 1123
This week marks the anniversary of the beginning of the First Lateran Council, a gathering of around 300 western church leaders at the behest of Pope Callistus II.
The Council to deal with a host of issues, among them reform measures, settling a disputed ownership of an episcopacy in Corsica, and the approval of several canons, including a ban on simony, support for Crusades, a rejection of incestuous marriage, among other issues.
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“Following the examples of the holy fathers and renewing them as we are bound by our office, by the authority of the apostolic see we altogether forbid anyone to be ordained or promoted in the church of God for money. If anyone indeed should have been ordained or promoted in the church in such a fashion, let him be utterly deprived of the office acquired,” declared one canon.
“To those who set out for Jerusalem and offer effective help toward the defense of the Christian people and overcoming the tyranny of the infidels, we grant the remission of their sins, and we place their houses and families and all their goods under the protection of blessed Peter and the Roman church, just as has been decreed by our lord Pope Urban,” stated another.
