# Canons of the Council of Vaison (442)

- Author: Anonymous
- Latin title: *Concilium Vasense I*
- Date: 442 (certain)
- Source: Hermann Theodor Bruns, ed., Canones apostolorum et conciliorum veterum selecti, vol. 2 (Berlin: Reimer, 1839); text read from the archive.org OCR (Latin text: Bruns (1839), OCR of the archive.org scan)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: Hermann Theodor Bruns, ed., Canones apostolorum et conciliorum veterum selecti, vol. 2 (Berlin: Reimer, 1839); Charles Munier, ed., Concilia Galliae, A. 314 - A. 506, CCSL 148 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1963); Friedrich Maassen, ed., Concilia aevi Merovingici (Hannover: Hahn, 1893)
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/
- Passages: 10

## Canon 1

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-1
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Bishops travelling within the Gallic provinces need not be examined if no one has barred them from communion.

### Latin text

Placuit ergo tractatu habito episcopos de Gallicanis provinciis venientes intra Gallias non discutiendos, sed solum sufficere si nullus communionem alicujus interdixerit; qui, inter circumhabitantes ac sibi pene invicem notos non tam te,tm,ulo iodig,t piK,bi, quan dfenotatiooe c dmulioiafiidnibiil depravati.

### English translation (Claude)

It was decided, then, after discussion, that bishops coming from the Gallic provinces within Gaul are not to be examined, but that it is enough if no one has forbidden communion with any of them; since among those who live around one another and are almost all known to each other … .

### Translation notes

- The first council of Vaison, 13 November 442. The Latin of the digitization is very poor; clear OCR slips are corrected by logged corrections, unreadable passages are marked "…", and leftover heading words at the opening of the canon are removed.
- The end of the canon is unreadable in the digitization.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 1 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-1).

## Canon 2

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-2
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Penitents who die suddenly before reconciliation are to have their offerings received and to be commemorated in the liturgy.

### Latin text

Pro his qui poenitentia accepta in bonae vitae cursu satisfactoria compunctione viventes, sine communione, inopinato nonnunquam transitu, in agris aut in itineribus praeveniuntur, oblationem recipiendam et eorum funera ac deinceps memoriam ecclesiastico affectu prosequendam; quia nefas est eorum commemorationes excludi a salutaribus sacris, qui ad eadem sacra fideli affectu contendentes, dum se diutius reos statuunt, indignos salutiferis mysteriis judicant ac dum purgatiores restitui desiderant, absque sacramentorum viatico intercipiuntur, quibus fortasse nec absolutissimam reconciliationem sacerdos denegandam putasset.

### English translation (Claude)

For those who, having received penance and living in the course of a good life with satisfying compunction, are sometimes overtaken by an unexpected death, without communion, in the fields or on journeys, their offering is to be received, and their funerals and afterwards their memory are to be attended with the church's affection; for it is wrong that their commemorations be excluded from the saving rites, who, striving toward those same rites with faithful affection, while they judge themselves guilty for a longer time, judge themselves unworthy of the saving mysteries, and, while they desire to be restored more cleansed, are cut off without the viaticum of the sacraments, to whom perhaps the priest would not have thought even the fullest reconciliation should be denied.

### Translation notes

- "Their offering" (oblatio): the gift offered in their name at the Eucharist.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 2 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-2).

## Canon 3

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-3
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Presbyters are to fetch the chrism each year before Easter from their own bishop, in person or through a subdeacon.

### Latin text

Per singula territoria presbyteri vel ministri ab episcopis, non prout libitum fuerit a vicinioribus, sed a suis propriis per annos singulos chrisma petant, appropinquante solemnitate paschali, nec per quemcumque ecclesiasticum, sed si qua necessitas aut ministrorum occupatio est, per subdiaconem quia inhonorum est inferioribus summa committi; optimum autem est, ut ipse suscipiat, qui in tradendo usurus est. Si quid obstat, saltem is cujus officii est sacrarium disponere et sacramenta suscipere.

### English translation (Claude)

In each territory the presbyters or ministers are to seek the chrism from the bishops, not from the nearer ones as they please, but from their own, every year, as the paschal feast approaches; and not through any church officer whatever, but, if there is some necessity or the ministers are occupied, through a subdeacon, because it is unbecoming to entrust the highest things to inferiors. But the best is that the one who will use it in conferring it should receive it himself. If anything prevents, then at least the one whose office it is to arrange the sacristy and to receive the sacred things.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 3 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-3).

## Canon 4

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-4
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Those who withhold bequests made by the dead to the church are excommunicated as defrauders of the poor.

### Latin text

Qui oblationes defunctorum fidelium detinent et ecclesiis tradere demorantur, ut infideles sunt ab ecclesia abjiciendi, quia usque ad exinanitionem fidei pervenire certum est hanc divinae pietatis exacerbationem, qua et fideles de corpore recedentes votorum suorum plenitudine, et pauperes collatu alimoniae et necessaria sustentatione fraudantur. Hi enim tales quasi egentium necatores, nec credentes judicium dei habendi sunt. Unde et quidam patrum hoc scriptis suis inseruit congruente sententia qua ait: Amico quippiam rapere furtum est, ecclesiam fraudare sacrilegium.

### English translation (Claude)

Those who keep back the offerings of deceased faithful and delay handing them over to the churches are to be cast out of the church as unbelievers, since it is certain that this provocation of the divine goodness goes as far as emptying out the faith, by which both the faithful departing from the body are defrauded of the fulfilment of their wishes and the poor of the gift of food and necessary support. For such persons are to be held as murderers of the needy, and as not believing in the judgment of God. Hence also one of the fathers inserted this in his writings with a fitting sentence, where he says: "To take something from a friend is theft; to defraud the church is sacrilege."

### Extrabiblical texts

- Jerome, Ep. 52.16 (Letters): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The saying is from Jerome, Letter 52.16 (to Nepotian).

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 4 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-4).

## Canon 5

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-5
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: One who rejects his bishop's sentence may appeal to the synod.

### Latin text

Si quis episcopi sui sententiae non acquiescit, recurrat ad synodum.

### English translation (Claude)

If anyone does not accept the sentence of his bishop, let him have recourse to the synod.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 5 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-5).

## Canon 6

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-6
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: The council adopts from the letter of Clement to James the rule that the faithful should shun those whom their bishop treats as enemies, even without being told.

### Latin text

Ex epistola sancti Clementis utilia quaeque praesenti tempore ecclesiis necessaria sunt honorifice proferenda, et cum reverentia ab omnibus fidelibus ac praecipue clericis percipienda: ex quibus quod specialiter placuit, propter venerandam antiquitatem statutis praesentibus roboramus, quod suprascriptus beatus martyr de beatissimi apostoli Petri institutione commemorat dicens: Quaedam autem etiam ex vobis ipsis intelligere debetis, si qua sint quae ipse propter insidias hominum malorum non potest evidentius et manifestius proloqui. Verbi gratia, si inimicus est alicui pro actibus suis, vos nolite expectare ut ipse vobis dicat: Cum illo nolite amici esse; sed prudenter observare debetis et voluntati, ejus ^bseomidbre, et aTerli ab 00 oui ipetitn MHttift mivwmain ed: mc -loqoi tm qutbes ipse lum loqoitur; mt aiutiiquieqae qui ia.cid|iR eBt, duin capit 'omniuni vestniiii sibi giutiaBi repaiiir, fealiaet citioB recon<^arr ei qui oBnibiis praeest. nt per hoo redeat ad 'sahitem cum obedire oeeperit nienitis pmeridean tis; et cetera quae in consequentibus denotant amicos eeraof qui TlDrilKtis O iminiei eunt. > Spiat Uaque ' AwHseps' clerus ad Tealom, sed et.populae fideliini ad ^pMi sibi adscribendum, 81 quis beein vitio f) malorum cenfinrtator <et dis(rip4i iae subversor agnoscatur. ' r

### English translation (Claude)

From the epistle of Saint Clement, all the useful things that are necessary to the churches at the present time are to be brought forward with honour and received with reverence by all the faithful, and above all by the clergy; of which, what has especially pleased us, because of its venerable antiquity, we confirm by the present statutes: what the above-named blessed martyr records of the institution of the most blessed apostle Peter, saying: "Some things too you ought to understand of yourselves, if there are any which he cannot speak out more plainly and openly because of the snares of evil men. For example, if he is hostile to someone because of his deeds, do not wait for him to say to you, 'Do not be friends with that man'; but you ought wisely to observe and … his will, and turn away from him … ." …

### Translation notes

- The quotation is from the Letter of Clement to James (Ps.-Clement, Ep. Clem. 18), prefixed to the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions in Rufinus's Latin. A note of the edition's apparatus that leaked into the text ("although it is addressed to James, and Rufinus translated it into Latin") is removed. The rest of the quotation and the council's conclusion are unreadable in the digitization and are marked "…".

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 6 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-6).

## Canon 7

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-7
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Bishops are to restrain accusations against one another: a bishop may be entreated to forgive a brother after rebuke, but a charge of crime must be properly examined.

### Latin text

Placuit praeterea accusandi licentiam etiam in nostri ordinis si qua existit levitate comprimere, ut se episcopus, si quem judicat abstinendum, et pro humiliatione et correctione fratris assurgit exorari a ceteris, acquiescat fratri de quo agitur, correptione et comminatione adhibita; sin autem de crimine aliquem putet esse damnandum, accusatoris vice discutiendum 'Mlliit; £m 6t enuii/iit quae tmi fnrebatituri probentut oinnibus. '

### English translation (Claude)

It was decided moreover to restrain the freedom of accusing, if there is any levity in it even in our order: so that a bishop, if he judges that someone should be kept from communion, and rises for the humiliation and correction of a brother, should allow himself to be entreated by the others and give way to the brother in question, rebuke and warning having been applied; but if he thinks that someone must be condemned for a crime, … .

### Translation notes

- The end of the canon is unreadable in the digitization (it seems to require that a bishop who presses a criminal charge act as accuser and prove it before all).

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 7 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-7).

## Canon 8

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-8
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: A bishop who alone knows of another's secret crime must not accuse him publicly while he cannot prove it, but should rebuke him privately.

### Latin text

Quod si se tantum episcopus alieni sceleris conscium novit, quamdiu probare non potest nihil proferat, sed cum ipso ad compunctionem ejus secretis correptionibus elaboret; qui 81 certe,tus peHinacior fuerit, et se communioni publicae ingesserit, etiamsi episcopi in redarguendo illo quem rcfum' jodieat piebaiionibas deficiat indmmaltts licet ab,-MsP qui mbil,sci,nt, sfcedere ad tempup pio pelsona majoris liucto-^ ritatis jubeatur, illo, quamdiu probari nSiii potest, iil' cQmauniQne oninium praeterquam cjue qui eum reuni gu,pft permapente.

### English translation (Claude)

But if a bishop alone knows himself to be aware of another's crime, as long as he cannot prove it let him bring nothing forward, but work with the man himself by secret rebukes for his compunction; and if he is more stubborn and thrusts himself into public communion, … .

### Translation notes

- The rest of the canon is unreadable in the digitization; compare the African rule in the Codex of the African Church, items 132–133.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 8 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-8).

## Canon 9

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-9
- Source: Bruns 2:127
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Whoever takes in an exposed infant is to proceed through the church, with a period of ten days from the exposure; the details are unreadable in the edition used.

### Latin text

De expositis, quia conclamata ab omnibus querela processit eos non misericordiae jam sed canibus exponi, quos colligere calumniarum metu quamvis inflexa praeceptis misericordiae mens humana detrectet: id servandum visum est, ut secundum statuta fidelissimorum, piissimorum, augustissimorum principum quisquis expositum colligit, ecclesiam PMiinn A\t jmUMter. aiutmitiel, ut Miat ooclf ia expottiianL mM cftMQftiMiiv>nt Joffla dies deoeni ^b expeeitioiiie die expaeitni icdpiat, ai ^inia 90 eoaiprobavent.agnoTisae,, qfdfeelori pio ipo,nHi dec, dienim jttiaaacQrdia,' pmii mahieBit, aui ad piaeeoBii ab JionuneJaot ia porpotmmi. omn.deo gratia persolr

### English translation (Claude)

Concerning exposed children: since a complaint has been raised by all that they are exposed no longer to mercy but to dogs, and that the human mind, though bent by the precepts of mercy, shrinks from taking them up for fear of false claims, it seemed that this should be observed: that, according to the statutes of the most faithful, most pious, and most august princes, whoever takes up an exposed child should … the church … within ten days from the day of exposure … .

### Translation notes

- Most of the procedure is unreadable in the digitization; only the reference to the church and to ten days from the day of exposure can be read.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 9 (Bruns 2:127; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-9).

## Canon 10

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-10
- Source: Bruns 2:129
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-10-17

Summary: Anyone who afterwards reclaims or slanders a foundling taken in under this procedure is punished as a murderer.

### Latin text

Sane si ^ma poal hand dittgentiesimam eanctioiiem eqpo aitotnmi boo ordine coUeclonmi n,potitor vel' cdmiiiiiator ex ^terit, ut homicida ecclesiastica districtione feriatur.

### English translation (Claude)

Indeed, if anyone after this most careful sanction … come forward as a claimant or slanderer of those taken up in this order, let him be struck with church discipline as a murderer.

### Translation notes

- Several words are garbled in the digitization; translated by sense.

### Citation (SBL)

Conc. Vas. I 10 (Bruns 2:129; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/council-vaison-442/1/#p-10).