Council of Avignon may refer to one of a number of councils of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, held in Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

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Eleventh century

Nothing is known of the council held there in 1060.

In 1080 a council was held under the presidency of Hugues de Dié, papal legate

Papal legate

A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....

, in which Aicard, usurper of the See of Arles, was deposed, and Gibelin put in his place. Three bishops-elect (Lautelin of Embrun, Hugues of Grenoble, Didier of Cavaillon) accompanied the legate to Rome and were consecrated there by Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

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Thirteenth century

In the year 1209 the inhabitants of Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

 were excommunicated by a Council of Avignon (two papal legates, four archbishops and twenty bishops) for failing to expel the Albigensian heretics from their city. The Count of Toulouse was forbidden, under threat of excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

, to impose exorbitant burdens on his subjects but persisted and was finally excommunicated.

• In the Council of 1270, presided over by Bertrand de Malferrat, Archbishop of Arles, the usurpers of ecclesiastical property were severely threatened; unclaimed legacies were allotted to pious uses; the bishops were urged to mutual support; the individual churches were taxed for the support of the papal legate; and ecclesiastics were forbidden to convoke the civil courts against their bishops. Christmas carol
  Christmas carol
  A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
  
  s were banned.
• The Council of 1279 was concerned with the protection of the rights, privileges and immunities of the clergy. Provision was made also for the protection of those who had promised to join the Crusade ordered by Gregory X, but had failed to go. It was also decreed that to hear confessions, besides the permission of his ordinary or bishop, a monk must also have that of his superior.
• In the Council of 1282 ten canons were published, among them one urging the people to frequent more regularly the parochial churches and to be present in their own parish churches at least on Sundays and feast days.

Fourteenth century

The temporalities

Temporalities

Temporalities are the secular properties and possessions of the Christian Church. It is most often used to describe those properties that were used to support a bishop or other religious person or establishment. Its opposite description would be the spiritualities.In the Middle Ages, the...

 of the Church and ecclesiastical jurisdiction occupied the attention of the Council of 1327. The seventy-nine canons of the Council of 1337 are renewed from earlier councils, and emphasize the duty of Easter Communion in one's own parish church, and of abstinence on Saturday for beneficed persons and ecclesiastics, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, a practice begun three centuries earlier on the occasion of the Truce of God, but no longer universal.

Fifteenth century

• The Council of 1457 was held by Cardinal de Foix, Archbishop of Arles and legate of Avignon, a Franciscan
  Franciscan
  Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
  
  . His principal purpose was to promote the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
  Immaculate Conception
  The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, according to which the Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin. It is one of the four dogmata in Roman Catholic Mariology...
  
  , in the sense of the declaration of the Council of Basle. It was forbidden to preach the contrary doctrine. Sixty-four disciplinary decrees were also published, in keeping with the legislation of other councils.
• A similar number of decrees were published in 1497 by a council presided over by the Archbishop Francesco Tarpugi (afterwards Cardinal). The sponsors of the newly confirmed, it was decreed, were not obliged to make presents to them or to their parents. Before the relics of the saints two candles were to be kept lighted at all times.

Later Councils

• Disciplinary measures occupied the attention of the Council of 1509.
• The Council of 1596 was called for the purpose of furthering the observance of the decrees of the Council of Trent
  Council of Trent
  The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
  
   (1545-63), and for a similar purpose the Council of 1609.
• The Councils of 1664 and 1725 formulated disciplinary decrees; the latter proclaimed the duty of adhering to the Bull of Clement XI against the Reflexions morales of Quesnel
  Pasquier Quesnel
  Pasquier Quesnel was a French Jansenist theologian.He was born in Paris, and, after graduating from the Sorbonne with distinction in 1653, he joined the French Oratory in 1657...
  
  .
• The Council of 1849 published, in ten chapters, decrees concerning faith and discipline.