Consecration of bishops in Gaul in the sixth and seventh century were often depicted as an automatic conclusion to the appointment through ordination and election. This paper will examine and compare the evidence of consecration in church council canons and the contemporary narrative sources for the terminology and practice of episcopal consecration in Gaul.
With the brevity of the paper in mind the aim is to formulate some conclusions of the similarities or differences in consecration practice and language in the evidence from a variety of genres. Ordination and election and consecration of bishops were ineluctably connected to the establishment of the late antique church hierarchy and so most significant in the construction of a bishop’s legitimacy and authority. But it is also important to separate the three procedures and concentrate on one aspect at a time to try to gain a more informative picture of the practice of the period. The terminology and the procedures of the all three topics need to be examined separately to be able to eliminate confusion with language usage and practice.
While the normative evidence discloses the ecclesiastical ideal, it also depicts problems with a number of consecrations carried out by metropolitans and their bishops. For example when certain topics are repeated or reworded it may reveal contemporary concerns with a topic. The topic of consecration at church councils in the acta of the Concilia Galliae was of less interest compared to the topics of ordination or election. Was this because there was less interest or concern for the practice? Narrative accounts of the period refer to consecration of bishops in disparate accounts that reveal the attendant friction in the authority over consecration. The paper traces the role of consecration as one of three standard practices essential for entry into the episcopal hierarchy in late antique Gaul.
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