Note 307 — IX. THE CARLOVINGIANS.

Quid enim est gravius carnale delictum admittere sine quo in multis pauci inveniuntur, an Dei filium timendo negare? in quo uno ipsum beatum Petrum apostolorum principem, ad cujus nunc corpus indigni sedemus, lapsum esse cognoscimus, sed post negationem pœnitentia secuta, et post pœnitentiam misericordia data.—Pseudo-Gregor. Epist. ad Secundinum.

Isidor Mercator also includes two canons from the sixth century forgery of the Roman Council said to have been held under Silvester I. (see p. 122). Of these, one prohibits bishops from celebrating the marriage of nuns under seventy years of age; the other forbids priests from marrying, under a penalty of ten year’s suspension, with a threat of perpetual deprivation for contumacy. (Constit. Pseudo-Silvestri cap. x. xix.) The adoption of these in the False Decretals would seem at least to be superfluous.