Lateran Council
### First Lateran Council
The First Lateran Council (I Lateran Council) is the ninth ecumenical council (the first in the West), held on March 18–27 (28), 1123, by Callistus II (v.), almost as a ratification of the Concordat of Worms (September 23, 1122), which concluded the Investiture Controversy (v.). Numerous bishops and abbots attended, and 22 disciplinary canons were promulgated to restore unity and peace to the Church after the struggles of previous decades and the schism of the antipope Burdinus (Gregory VIII, v.), whose acts and ordinations were annulled (canons 5, 22).
The Council condemned any form of simony (canons 1, 22) and concubinage among the clergy (canons 7, 21) and rejected any lay interference in the appointment of bishops (canons 3, 22); bishops were granted exclusive rights to select sacred ministers for the care of souls and the administration of ecclesiastical benefices (canons 4, 6, 18), with absolute exclusion of laypersons, even if religious or powerful (canons 4, 8, 9, 22). Other canons regulated relations between secular clergy and monks (canon 18), between clergy and bishops, to whom it was forbidden to incardinate priests excommunicated by their own ordinary (canons 1, 2). Additional canons addressed the observance of the Truce of God (canon 13), inheritance (canon 14), protection of pilgrims (canon 17), condemnation of usurers and forgers (canon 16), marriages between blood relatives (canon 17), and encouragement of crusades and sacred pilgrimages (canons 12, 13). No dogmatic definitions were issued.
### Second Lateran Council
The Second Lateran Council (II Lateran Council) is the tenth ecumenical council, held in April 1139 by Innocent II (v.) after the death of the antipope Anacletus II (v.). Between 500 and 1,000 bishops attended. The Pope, particularly severe with the partisans of the schism, excommunicated Roger II of Sicily and deposed Cardinal Peter of Pisa, though the latter had repented through the efforts of St. Bernard. Besides the schism, the Church was troubled by heresy. The Council therefore condemned the IBN RUŠD (v.) and Henry known as of Cluny (v. ENRIQUEZ, ENRICO) regarding infant baptism, the Eucharist, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
Those who did not repent were handed over to the secular arm: this is the first mention of the Inquisition. Brescia (v.), not yet condemned for his opposition to the Church’s right to property, preaching was forbidden and exile imposed for having incited Brescia against the bishop. Other conciliar provisions, condensed into 30 canons (mostly contained in Gratian’s Decree), substantially reiterated the decisions of the previous First Lateran Council and those of Clermont (1130) and Reims (1131). Sanctions were renewed against simoniacs (can. 2, 24), clerical concubinage, whose children were barred from holy orders (canons 6, 7, 8, 21, 26, 27), lay investiture (can. 25), and lay persons who seized and administered ecclesiastical goods (canons 10), whose inheritance was forbidden (canons 16). The clergy were prohibited from practicing law or medicine (canon 9), and the privilegium canonis was affirmed in their favor (canon 15). Sanctions protecting the common good were also renewed. It is uncertain whether provisions were made for the election of the Roman pontiff, reserving it to the cardinals without the vote of the Roman clergy and people.
The spirit of the Gregorian Reform continued, albeit with diminished results, given the Pope’s capture by Roger II and the proclamation of the Roman Republic prepared by Arnold of Brescia.
Vito Zollini
### Third Lateran Council
The Third Lateran Council (III Lateran Council) is the eleventh ecumenical council, held on March 5–19, 1179, by Alexander III (v.) to conclude the struggle against Frederick Barbarossa (v.). Over four hundred bishops attended; all the nations of Europe and the dioceses of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem were represented; the representative of the Eastern schismatic Church was also present, but without any result. The most important decisions were juridical and disciplinary (Pope Alexander III [Roland Bandinelli] was one of the greatest canonists of the era).
First among these was the decree on the election of the Roman pontiff, reserved to the college of cardinals, with no participation by the Roman clergy, people, or the emperor. For an election to be valid, a two-thirds majority of the cardinals’ votes was required, and those who proceeded otherwise were to be excommunicated; this closed the door to new schisms. Conditions of age, birth, and cultural preparation for the election of bishops were established (canon 3); the ordination *sine titulo* (canon 5) and the accumulation of benefices (canons 13, 14) were forbidden, and their conferral was entrusted to higher authority if not granted within the proper time by those to whom it belonged (canons 3, 8, 17); the conversion of ecclesiastical goods to profane uses was prohibited (canon 15). No less important were the dogmatic canons: the doctrines and excesses of the Cathars (v.), Patarenes (v.), and Albigensians (v.) were condemned, and a crusade was proclaimed against them—the first example of a crusade within the Church itself. The Waldensians (v.), due to their ignorance, were forbidden to preach, but were not condemned at this time. A series of public and social provisions concluded the conciliar canons. Notably, this Council issued sanctions against Jews and Saracens who held Christian slaves (canon 26), and against Christians who aided Saracen piracy (canon 24). Provisions were also made for lepers (canon 23) and for the establishment of free schools alongside cathedrals and monasteries (canon 18).
This was the complete success of the Gregorian Reform, the culmination of the long struggle against civil power, from which the Church definitively freed itself; it may be added that this prepared the reversal of roles, for the time was not far off when the pope would become the true arbiter of Europe’s destiny.