Note 198 — VII. MONACHISM.
Reading edition
The lamentations of St. Cyprian have already been alluded to. In 305 the council of Elvira found it necessary to denounce perpetual excommunication against the “virgines sacratæ” who abandoned themselves to a life of licentiousness, while those guilty only of a single lapse were allowed restoration to communion on the deathbed, if earned by continual penitence (Concil. Eliberit. c. 13).