The Council of Elvira (the first in Spain) met in the year 324 to regulate sexuality, marriage and clerical celibacy. As a result, 81 'Canons' were issued, including:-

7. If a Christian completes penance for a sexual offence and then again commits fornication, he or she may not receive communion even when death approaches.

8. Women who without acceptable cause leave their husbands and join another man may not receive communion even when death approaches

9. A baptized woman who leaves an adulterous husband who has been baptised, for another man, may not marry him. If she does, she may not receive communion until her former husband dies, unless she is seriously ill.

10. If an unbaptised woman marries another man after being deserted by her husband who was a catechumen, she may still be baptised. This is also true for female catechumens. If a Christian woman marries a man in the knowledge that he deserted his former wife without cause, she may receive communion only at the time of her death.

11. If a female catechumen marries a man in the knowledge that he deserted his former wife without cause, she may not be baptised for five years unless she becomes seriously ill.

12. Parents and other Christians who give up their children to sexual abuse are selling others' bodies, and if they do so or sell their own bodies, they shall not receive communion even at death.

13. Virgins who have been consecrated to God shall not commune even as death approaches if they have broken the vow of virginity and do not repent. If, however, they repent and do not engage in intercourse again, they may commune when death approaches.

14. If a virgin loses her virginity but then marries the man involved, she may commune after one year, without doing penance, for she has broken only the laws of marriage. If she has been sexually active with other men, she must complete a penance of five years before being re-admitted to communion.

15. Christian girls are not to marry pagans, no matter how few eligible men there are, for such marriages lead to adultery of the soul.

16. Heretics shall not be joined in marriage with Catholic girls unless they accept the Catholic faith. Catholic girls may not marry Jews or heretics, because they cannot find a unity when the faithful and the unfaithful are joined. Parents who allow this to happen shall not commune for five years.

18. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons, once they have taken their place in the ministry, shall not be given communion even at the time of death if they are guilty of sexual immorality. Such scandal is a serious offence.

19. Bishops, presbyters, and deacons shall not leave the area where they work, or travel in the provinces, in order to engage in profitable ventures. If it is an economic necessity, let them send a son, a freedman, an employee, a friend, or someone else. They should engage only in business activities within their own area.

27. A bishop or other cleric may have only a sister or a daughter who is a virgin consecrated to God living with him. No other woman who is unrelated to him may remain.

30. Those who sinned sexually as youth may not be ordained as subdeacons. This will guard against their being promoted to higher offices later on. If they have already been ordained, they shall be removed from their office.

31. Young men who have been baptised and then are involved in sexual immorality may be admitted to communion when they marry if they have fulfilled the required penance.

33. Bishops, presbyters, deacons, and others with a position in the ministry are to abstain completely from sexual intercourse with their wives and from the procreation of children. If anyone disobeys, he shall be removed from the clerical office.

36. Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration.

44. A former prostitute who has married and who seeks admission to the Christian faith shall be received without delay.

47. If a baptised married man commits adultery repeatedly, he is to be asked as he nears death whether or not he will reform should he recover. If he so promises, he may receive communion. If he recovers and commits adultery again, he may not commune again, even as death approaches.

52. Anyone who writes scandalous graffiti in a church is to be condemned.

61. A man who, after his wife's death, marries her baptised sister may not commune for five years unless illness requires that reconciliation be offered sooner.

63. If a woman conceives in adultery and then has an abortion, she may not commune again, even as death approaches, because she has sinned twice.

64. A woman who remains in adultery to the time of her death may not commune. If she breaks the relationship, she must complete ten years' penance before communing.