Page:Disciplinary Decrees of the General Councils.djvu/212

204 '''laws in the Old and New Testaments, and we deprive them of all ecclesiastical consolation, commanding that no archbishop, no bishop, no abbot of any order, nor anyone in clerical orders, shall, except with the utmost caution, dare receive usurers; but during their whole life let them be stigmatized with the mark of infamy, and unless they repent let them be deprived of Christian burial. '''

'Text. ''We condemn absolutely those detestable jousts or tournaments in which the knights usually come together by agreement and, to make a show of their strength and boldness, rashly engage in contests which are frequently the cause of death to men and of danger to souls. If anyone taking part in them should meet his death, though penance and the Viaticum shall not be denied him if he asks for them, he shall, however, be deprived of Christian burial. '''

''Comment. ''The tournament had its origin in France in the middle of the eleventh century, whence it found its way to Germany and England. While innocent enough a sport in its beginnings, it soon developed into a means of settling private grudges and satisfying revenge. It always endangered the life of the combatants and not infrequently ended in the death of one or more. Owing to these abuses, the Church took steps to end the excesses committed. The first ordinance against them was issued by the Synod of Clermont (1130) in canon 9, of which the present canon is a repetition. Though severer measures were adopted against them, especially by the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and by the Council of Lyons (1245), tournaments became more popular, and not till the middle of the sixteenth century did they disappear.

'Text. If anyone at the instigation of the devil incurs the guilt of this sacrilege, namely, that he has laid violent hands on a cleric or monk, he shall be anathematized and no bishop shall dare absolve him, except mortis urgente periculo'', till he be presented to the Apostolic See and receive its mandate. We command also that no''' ___