In order to liberate the soul, and thereby to achieve salvation, it was necessary to undergo a ceremony known as the consolamentum. After a probationary year of fasting and instruction the believer would be baptised by those who had already received the consolamentum. S/he would then make a vow to be celibate, not to own property, not to go to war and not to eat any food that that resulted from coition.
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/christ/west/cathar.html
http://www.pbs.org/inquisition/pdf/TheCatharHeresy.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism
