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Pope Leo IV, mainly known from his defence of Rome against the Saracens, was also a Benedictine monk and a Church disciplinarian. At a Synod in 850 AD he laid down many prescriptions for the clergy. Some were excellent. Others reflect the ethics of his time.
Priests should not drink alcohol or attend dog races, bird fights or enter pubs (canon 17). They must always wear clerical dress (37). They should not take part in wedding celebrations (42). They should know the prayers of Mass and the psalms by heart (47). He also displayed the usual distrust of women.
Pope Leo's instructions were widely distributed and imposed by many bishops on the clergy of their own dioceses.
Source: MIGNE, PL 115, cols. 675-684 No women to live in a priest's home
Canon 1. "In primis admonemus ut vita et conversatio vestra irreprehensibilis sit, scilicet ut cella vestra sit iuxta ecclesiam et in domo vestra feminas non habeatis." No access of women to the altar
Canon 7. "Nulla femina ad altare accedat nec calicem Domini tangat." No singing by women in church Canon 39. "Cantus et choros mulierum in Ecclesia vel in atrio Ecclesiae omnino prohibete."
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