SYNOD  Of

AGDE (Concilium Agathense).—With the permission of the West Goth Alaric II. thirty-five bishops of southern Gaul assembled in person or sent deputies to Agde on the 11th of September 5o6 . Caesarius, bishop of Axles, presided . The forty-seven genuine canons of the synod deal with discipline, church life, the alienation of ecclesiastical property and the treatment of Jews . While favouring sacerdotal celibacy the council laid rather rigid restrictions on monasticism . It commanded that the laity communicate at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide . The canons of Agde are based in part on earlier Gallic, African and Spanish. legislation; and some of them were re-enacted by later councils, and found their way into collections such as the Hispana, Pseudo-Isidore and Gratian . See Mansi viii . 319 ff . ; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, 2nd edition, ii . 649 if . (English translation, iv . 76 ff.); Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, i .

242 .