On This Day, November 30, 1215 AD 4th Council of the Lateran concluded

The 4th Council of the Lateran ended on this day (November 30) in 1215 AD.

This was the Council that officially declared that the wafer literally changes into the flesh of Jesus during holy communion. (Canon 1)

Canon 3 was the biggie for Christians. It gave them the OK to kill heretics without fear of punishment: Catholics who have girded themselves with the cross for the extermination of the heretics, shall enjoy the indulgences and privileges granted to those who go in defence of the Holy Land.

And there were finacial rewards for the church as well: As to the property of the condemned, if they are laymen, let it be confiscated; if clerics, let it be applied to the churches from which they received revenues.

In later years the Dominican Order used Canon 3 to their advantage by digging up corpses; finding them guilty of heresy, and then confiscating all the property belonging to the heirs of the heretic. (Good old days!)

Canon 53 noted that some Christians used creative bookkeeping methods in order to avoid paying their tithes and the Council declared that the practice should stop immediately.

It was also noted (in Canon 54) that some businessmen were calculating tithe payments based on after tax profits. The Council declared that in future all tithes had to be based on gross income before tax.

In Canon 68 it was pointed out that Jews  and  Muslims (Saracens) wore the same clothes as real people, and sometimes good Christian men were accidentally tricked into having sex with non-Christian women. It was decided to stop the horror by forcing Jews and Muslims to wear distinctive clothing so that no accidents would occur in the future. (A similar edict was issued by another European dictator about 700 years later.)

They were thinkers though - the bishops at the 4th Council. They foresaw a problem when Christians would be wearing their mourning clothes (mourning the death of Jesus at Easter time) while the uppity Jews and Muslims would be poncing around town in their very distinctive clothing - so it was ordered that all Jews and Muslims had to remain indoors throughout the Easter period.

In Canon 69 it was declared that Jews could not hold hold public office. If a Jew was appointed to public office then the person who appointed him was to be prosecuted.

Oh yes, one other thing, the 4th Council of the Lateran set the date for the beginning of the Fifth Crusade: June 1st, 1217 AD.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.asp