From the Council of Carthage, A.D. 398

Canon XIII. The bridegroom and bride, when they are to be blessed by the priest, are to be offered by their parents or paranymphs. When they have received the blessing, they will remain in virginity on that same night, out of reverence for that blessing itself.

Cf. Canon I of Laodicea. Namely, it is supposed that marriage must be contracted publicly in the face of the Church.

Canon CIV. If any widows, however much still placed in lesser years and left by a husband at mature age, have devoted themselves to the Lord and, having cast off lay clothing, have appeared in religious habit under the testimony of the bishop and the Church, but afterwards have passed over to secular nuptials, according to the Apostle they will have condemnation, because they have dared to make void the faith of chastity which they vowed to the Lord. Therefore let such persons remain without the communion of Christians, and let them not even communicate in banquets with Christians. For if adulterous wives are bound by guilt to their husbands, how much more will widows who have changed religious life be marked with the crime of adultery if by lustful pleasure they have corrupted the devotion which, of their own accord and not compelled, they offered to God, and have made a passage to second nuptials? And if they have been seized beforehand by someone with violence rushing in and afterwards by delight of the flesh and of lust have consented to remain in marriage with the abductor or violent man, they will be held liable to the condemnation comprehended above.

If religious widows who pass over to secular nuptials are judged adulteresses, it is evident what these Fathers thought concerning the value of marriage of this sort. Yet this canon, which is said to have been issued with Augustine present, does not sufficiently agree with his opinion. Cf. Thesis XXIX, III.

Is the canon supposititious, or indeed the Synod supposititious, which is variously named? Among some the title is, for example, Statutes of the Easterners. But even if it is denied that this Synod was held, still the canons concerning the mode of conferring orders, which are attributed to the same, are received by all. Likewise Canon 76 concerning the penance of the sick, and others. Perhaps this cited canon is more recent than Augustine, pertaining to another Council.