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. 1252 (?). [Nicosia]. Regulations of the church of Nicosia [established by Archbishop Hugo (Ugo da Fagiano)]. (I) Since bishops are to hold councils twice a year, all Latin priests, deacons, and subdeacons in the city and diocese of Nicosia shall attend the synod in the church of Nicosia every year on the Friday after the Octaves of Epiphany and on the Wednesday after the Octaves of Pentecost. Anyone neglecting to come will be punished severely, unless he is legitimately detained, in which case he must send a letter or a messenger excusing himself. (II) Attendees shall conduct themselves respectably in walk, dress, and behaviour and avoid suspect lodgings and company, or suffer canonical punishment. (III) On the day of the synod, all shall gather in the Great Church in the morning before the ringing of the bell ceases, or otherwise be punished. All shall wear respectable dress, in their overcoat or, in winter, closed or choir cape. They shall sit in places according to their order and person, and listen calmly and quietly, because the archbishop will not tolerate noise. No one shall leave before the end, unless he is compelled by the needs of the body. (IV) All clerics shall live in moderation, purely and chastely, or be punished. (V) Clerics shall not become drunk and no one shall be encouraged to drink, on pain of punishment. (VI) Clerics shall not keep company with women or cohabitate with them, since this is suspect and dangerous. Those who go against this, or live incontinently, or lose their good name thereby, or talk with women about whom they have been warned, shall be punished canonically or according to the legate's regulations, depending on the severity and circumstances, as the superior judges deem fit. (VII) Clerics shall not visit nuns without good reason and without the archbishop's permission, or they shall be punished canonically and as the superior decides in addition. (VIII) Clerics shall not hold secular offices or engage in business, especially dishonest business; attend the performances of mimics, jokers, and actors; frequent taverns unless necessary while traveling; gamble or play at dice or be present at such games. They shall maintain a becoming crown and tonsure and study the divine offices and other good subjects diligently. They shall wear outer clothing closed at the top and not too short or long, not wear red or green garments, and not have curiously sewn sleeves or pointed shoes. They shall not have gilded bridles, saddles, pectoral ornaments [for horses], spurs, or other superfluous things. At the divine offices they shall not wear long-sleeved cloaks, and priests and dignitaries should not wear them elsewhere unless for a good reason or fear they have to change their habit. They shall not wear brooches or sashes with gold or silver ornament or rings, except as befits the dignity of their office. (IX) Sons of priests shall not minister to their fathers in divine offices nor stay with their fathers who have care of souls or assizes in the church of Nicosia. Priests shall not admit laymen or women to serve at the altar, but only clerics with tonsures and suitable habits. (X) Priests without care of souls are forbidden from hearing confessions, loosing, and binding in the city and diocese of Nicosia without the archbishop's permission, except in case of unavoidable necessity. The canon Omnis utriusque sexus (of Lateran IV, quoted in full) shall be observed, such that all persons having reached the age of discretion shall confess their sins in private to their own priests at least once a year and try their best to fulfil the penance enjoined on them. They shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at Easter, unless their own priests advise abstinence for a time for good reason. Otherwise they should be kept from entering church and deprived of Christian burial. This statute shall be announced publicly in the churches frequently to avoid the excuse of ignorance. If one wishes to confess to an alien priest for good reason, permission must first be sought and obtained from one's own priest, otherwise one cannot be loosed or bound. Priests shall be discreet and cautious like experienced doctors and investigate circumstances diligently to apply the proper remedy. They shall be careful not to reveal confessions in any way, on pain of being removed from the priesthood and sent to a monastery (end quotation). (XI) Clerics of the city and diocese of Nicosia, except for dignitaries, canons, and other clerics of the Great Church, shall confess their sins to one or more confessors whom the archbishop shall appoint. Attention shall be given to those who do not confess at least once a year, and the canonical punishment shall be applied. (XII) When people become ill, if they are of sound mind, they shall summon a doctor of souls, confess their sins, and receive the Eucharist. The priest so summoned shall go without delay, for if anything bad happens because of delay or neglect he shall be punished severely. Laymen should be warned to summon the priest quickly, on the same day, before the illness worsens, lest the person die without confession, in which case the guilty shall be punished harshly. (XIII) Doctors of the body shall not prescribe anything that endangers the soul, so Christians shall avoid soothsayers and diviners, lest they be deemed members of the Devil's school. (XIV) Christians shall not summon infidel physicians, namely Jews and Saracens, or receive any medicine from them, since it is against the canons and Jews and Saracens come to view Christianity with contempt, since they themselves avoid Christian doctors and medicines as an offense to their law. (XV) All heretics shall be denounced frequently as excommunicates, heretics being those who believe or preach other than what the Roman Church preaches and observes concerning the sacraments and who do not believe that the Roman Church is the head and mistress of all churches and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter and the vicar of Jesus Christ on earth. Christians who sell iron and timber to the Saracens or hold the post of shipmaster or control or have an office on Saracen pirate ships or other vessels [shall also be proclaimed excommunicated]. (XVI) Those who contract, take part in, or furnish advice in clandestine marriages are also to be denounced frequently, as are those who cheat in paying tithes or abandon their religious order without permission. Priests who celebrate clandestine marriages, perform the Mass, or give blessings shall be incarcerated perpetually, and every Christian has the authority to capture them and bring them to the archbishop, without whipping or bodily injury. It shall also be announced that laymen involved in clandestine marriages will be published more severely, since fear of God or financial punishment does not restrain them. (XVII) Laymen shall be taught that, when necessary, a man or a woman present should say the name of the child and say, ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.’ If the child survives, the child should be brought to a priest to supply whatever is missing. Laymen are admonished to receive the sacraments of confirmation and, when sick, extreme unction. (XVIII) Priests shall not celebrate Mass before hearing or saying Matins and Primes, except on Christmas. Unless compelled by necessity, priests shall celebrate Mass only once in a day. (XIX) Priests shall teach their people often that when the host is raised in Mass, they should bow in reverence, and they should do the same when the priest carries the host to the sick, which he should do in a fitting habit, carrying it on a clean piece of linen, before his chest, openly and with honour, reverence, and respect. The priest shall also say or sing some Psalms so that he is heard, and a cleric should respond, with the [candle] light always going in front, representing the eternal light. Those who disobey shall be punished severely. All people in front of whose houses the Eucharist is carried shall light candles before their houses until the priest has passed, if they want to be considered faithful and catholic. For the salvation of their souls and the honour of the Christian faith, all Greeks prelates or priests and those of other nations who cherish the name of the Christian religion shall admonish their people to show reverence to the host when it is raised at the altar in the churches of the Latins, bowing and uncovering their heads, doing the same when the priest brings the host to the sick and when they read the Gospel. (XX) A destructive sickness, close to infidelity, is strong in these parts whereby in funeral rites in houses, churches, and cemeteries flute players called ‘singing women’ are summoned to play the mourning tune. They disturb the divine service and, with vain words and incantations like in pagan and Jewish rituals, they provoke other women to wail and beat and wound themselves. This is prohibited on pain of excommunication, and priests and clerics are forbidden from taking part or celebrating the office or having the cross borne, if they know there are singing women present. If these women go against this, they shall be captured, beaten, put on the rack, and thrown in prison until they learn the extent of their transgression and abstain. Men and women are prohibited from summoning them or paying them for this. Women are prohibited from gathering in cemeteries or houses to wail, because this is the infidel way and gradually leads to infidelity. (XXI) The ordinances or regulations of [Cardinal-]Bishop Odo (Eudes de Châteauroux) of Tusculum (Frascati), papal legate, shall be observed without violation. (XXII) All priests who say or will say Mass in the city or diocese shall have these regulations in writing within a month, to avoid the excuse of ignorance, and they shall read them to themselves once a month. Nor shall any priest dare to celebrate Mass in the city or diocese without having shown the archbishop or his predecessors fitting obedience. (XXIII) All priests who have received payment for perpetually performing an anniversary or other service are prohibited from committing to performing another similar or other service concurrently. If one does so, he shall return what he was paid and pay the same amount in alms. (XXIV) Priests who perform services for knights and ladies shall announce to them the days that the Church has designated for fasting, shall fast themselves, and shall severely reprimand those who do not. They shall induce them to pay their tithes in full the first week in Lent, on pain of excommunication. (XXV) Priests or clerics who receive wicks or wax candles for services for the dead shall wait until the end of the service or return double what they received. No cleric shall grab candles from the hands of those giving them at the funeral, violators to be punished according to the archbishop's judgment. (XXVI) Clerics are prohibited from going out at night, especially after the third toll of the bell. If they are found, the keepers of the city may seize them without harming them and detain them until morning, presenting them to the archbishop as quickly as possible. Since women still gather in houses and cemeteries for the mourning song, clerics are prohibited from celebrating Mass in their presence, or be punished severely.