View source for Second Council of the Lateran

{{short description|12th-century Christian church council}}
{{Infobox ecumenical council
| council_name = Second Council of the Lateran
| council_date = 1139
| accepted_by = [[Catholic Church]]
| previous = [[First Council of the Lateran]]
| next = [[Third Council of the Lateran]]
| convoked_by = [[Pope Innocent II]]
| presided_by = [[Pope Innocent II]]
| attendance = 1000
| topics = [[Papal schism of 1130|schism]] of [[Antipope Anacletus II]]
| documents = Thirty canons, mostly repeating those of the First Lateran Council, clerical marriage declared invalid, clerical dress regulated, attacks on clerics punished by [[excommunication]]
}}
{{Ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church}}

The '''Second Council of the Lateran''' was the tenth [[ecumenical council]] recognized by the [[Catholic Church]]. It was convened by [[Pope Innocent II]] in April 1139 and attended by close to a thousand clerics. Its immediate task was to neutralise the after-effects of the schism which had arisen after the death of [[Pope Honorius II]] in 1130 and the [[Papal election, 1130|papal election]] that year that established Pietro Pierleoni as the [[antipope]] [[Anacletus II]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reich |first1=Herb |title=Numberpedia: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (and a Few Things You Didn't) About Numbers |date=2011 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1616080846 |pages=512}}</ref>

==Tenth Ecumenical Council==
After the death of Honorius II, Petrus Leonis, under the name of [[Anacletus II]], was elected as Pope by a majority of the cardinals and with the support of the people of Rome on the same day as a minority elected [[Pope Innocent II|Innocent II]]. In 1135, Innocent II held a [[Council of Pisa (1135)|council at Pisa]], which confirmed his authority and condemned Anacletus. Anacletus's death in 1138 helped largely to solve the tension between rival factions. Nevertheless, Innocent decided to call the Tenth Ecumenical Council.<ref name="ce">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Second Lateran Council (1139)}}</ref>

The council assembled at the [[Lateran Palace]] and nearly a thousand prelates attended. In his opening statement Innocent deposed those who had been ordained and instituted by Anacletus or any of his adherents. King [[Roger II of Sicily]] was excommunicated{{sfn|Houben|2002|p=70}} for maintaining what was thought to be a schismatic attitude. [[Arnold of Brescia]], too, was removed from office and banished from Italy.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lateran Councils|display=Lateran Councils § 2|volume=16|page=240|first=Carl Theodor|last=Mirbt|author-link=Carl Mirbt}}</ref>

The council also condemned the teachings of the Petrobrusians and the Henricians, the followers of [[Peter of Bruys]] and [[Henry of Lausanne]]. Finally, the council drew up measures for the amendment of ecclesiastical morals and discipline which the council fathers considered had grown lax. Many of the canons relating to these matters were mostly a restating of the decrees of the [[Council of Reims]] and the [[Council of Clermont (1130)|Council of Clermont]].<ref name="ce" />

==Select canons==
The most important results of the council included:
* Canon 4: Injunction to bishops and ecclesiastics not to cause scandal by wearing ostentatious clothes but to dress modestly.
* Canons 6, 7: Repeated the [[First Council of the Lateran#Text of the Council|First Lateran Council's condemnation of marriage and concubinage]] among priests, deacons, subdeacons, monks, and nuns.
* Canon 10: [[Excommunication#Catholic Church|Excommunicated]] laity who failed to pay the [[tithe]]s due the bishops,
* Canon 12: Fixed the periods and the duration of the [[Truce of God]].
* Canon 14: Prohibition, under pain of deprivation of Christian burial, of [[Jousting|jousts]] and [[Tournament (medieval)|tournaments]] which endangered life.
* Canon 20: Kings and princes were ordered to dispense justice in consultation with the bishops.
* Canon 23: Forbade the condemnation of legitimate marriages.
* Canon 25: Forbade any cleric to accept a benefice from a layman.
* Canon 27: Nuns were prohibited from singing the [[Liturgy of the Hours|Divine Office]] in the same choir with monks.
* Canon 28: No church was to be left vacant more than three years from the death of the bishop; secular canons who excluded regular canons or monks from episcopal elections were condemned.<ref name="ce" />
* Canon 29: The use of [[crossbow]]s and [[bow and arrow|bows]] against Christians was prohibited.<ref>The sources are collected in [[Karl Josef von Hefele|Hefele]], Histoire des conciles d'apres les documents originaux, trans. and continued by H. Leclerq 1907-52., 5/1, 721-722; but see also, Bernhardi Jahrbuecher der deutschen Geschichte, I Leipzig 1883, 154-160.</ref><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran2.html |title=Tenth Ecumenical Council: Lateran II 1139 |access-date=5 May 2007 |date=1 November 1996 |publisher=Internet Medieval Source Book}}</ref>

Another decision confirmed the right of religious houses of a diocese to participate in the election of the diocese's bishop.<ref name=Burton77>{{cite book |title= Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain: 1000-1300|url= https://archive.org/details/monasticreligiou00burt|url-access= registration|last=Burton |first=Janet |year= 1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=Cambridge Medieval Textbooks |location=Cambridge UK |isbn=0-521-37797-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/monasticreligiou00burt/page/77 77]}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Houben |first=Hubert |translator-first1=Graham A. |translator-last1=Loud |translator-first2=Diane |translator-last2=Milburn |title=Roger II of Sicily: Ruler between East and West |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Second_Lateran_Council|Text of the Second Lateran Council}}
*[http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/faith/ECUM10.HTM Second Lateran Council; English text]
*[http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/es/index3.htm Second Lateran Council; Latin text]

{{Ecumenical councils}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Second Council Of The Lateran}}
[[Category:Catholic Church ecumenical councils|Lateran 2]]
[[Category:1139 in Europe]]
[[Category:12th century in the Papal States]]
[[Category:Lateran councils|2]]
[[Category:12th-century Catholic Church councils|Lateran 2]]