CANONS
281
CANONS
The critical text of the Apostolic Canons is that of the late
F- X. ton Funk, a monument of exact scholarship: DiJascalia
el Constitutional Apostotorum (Paderborn, 1906), I, 565-95,
with valuable notes. The best historical study of their origin
and nature is also owing to Von Funk, Die apostnlisehen Knn-
nen (Rottenburg, 1891), ISO- 206; Ihem, Dae achte Buck
. Konstitutionen und die veneandtcn Sehriftcn
(Tubingen, lN'Jo). and his Ktrcheiujcsehieldlietie Ahhandl unoen
(Paderborn. 1vi;i, nm\ II. 369-72, III, 355 sqq. He was
preceded in the nineteenth century by Sebastian Drey (like
i professor of the Catholic faculty m theology in the Uni-
versity of Tubingen, where the study of thea ancient texts has
become an academic heirloom 1 , \em I ■ '■ ■ ■■;,>, '., .■■.(;,
Constitulionen und Kanones iter Apostel • I ■ ' m ■■■n. 1s:;lm, and by the learned J. W. Bickei.l, Ceseli d. Kirehenreehts (Giessen,
Among the older erudite researches into the history and
study of the Apostolic Canons honour is due especially to the
Anglican savant G. Beyeridge, Sijriodieon sire PandecttB can-
onum sanctorum Aposlalorem et conciliorum ab eeelese
reecplarum (Oxford, 1672-S2; see /\ (/.. C.WXVII, 36-217,
for the Apostolic Canons, text and commentary of Beveriooe);
JuBTEL, Codex eanonum eeelesur uin<'crsre a J ustiniano impera-
tnre eoufirniatus . . . . 0. Jiustcl) lalinum fecit el iiolisiltustravit
I610-161S; re-edited by Vcellus as Bibliotheca juris
■ veteris, Paris, 16611; De Marca, Die: < etaiie ,/, veterum
m coUectionibw in his Opuscula (Paris, 1681); Gallant,
. ■/Iletje [Venire,
]77N\ See MacNat.i.ay, 77/. ■ eon* in Creek,
(London. 1867); LlGHTFOOT, St.
Clement nf Rome (London, 1890), I. 111. 187,368; Ladchert,
1 < n t <n,edien. if
Knnnnes i I .i-ii c/ei, Is'.iro; Nav, Canons des
in DiW. de thiol cath. (1905 , II. .", 12; Hefei.e, tr.
luction francaise
.. me id . all, me: ,
ii. i. ii, 1203-21, with
Unit bibliography, 1216 21; AcHELiain Real-Encyc.f.
■ ■.I. „„d Kirehe (Leipzig, 1896), I, 734-41, s. v. Apns-
Kan'mcs; BardEnhewer, Patrologic (Freiburg, 1901),
310-14. „, _
Thomas J. Shahan.
Canons, C'ollf.ctioxs of Ancient. — While the es- sential principles of the constitution and government of ilio Church were immutably fixed by her Divine Founder, ecclesiastical legislation, emanating as it does from the authority established by Christ in His
. lias shared all the vicissitudes of the latter. This means that it was nut a finished product from tlio beginning, but rather a gradual growth, each |.l ise of which was dictated by the ecclesiastical wis- dom nf the time. This is especially true of the earlier Christian centuries, when as yet the Church lived largely on tradition and custom, and when such writ- ten laws as existed were not originally universal laws, l.ut local or provincial statutes. t.> which later a
i obligation was added through the express or tacit approbation of the legitimate authority. Hence arose the necessity of collecting, or in a way codify- ing, such legislation. These ancient collections may ified either according to their historical avihor- tty or according to the method of the compiler.
ider only their historical authority these collections are genuine (e. g. the io IIispaniea">, or apocryphal, i. e. made with the help of documents forged, interpolated, wrongly attributed, or otherwise defective (e. g. the Pseudo Isidore collection). If wo consider their juridical authority tiny are official, authentic, i. e. promul- gated by competent authority, or private, the work of individuals, and owning no value other than their intrinsic worth or that derived from habitual usage.
Method. — Ii we consider the method of the com- piler, these collections an- chronological, in case their laws are classified according to the time of promulgat- or systematic (logical, methodical), if the col- lection follow a rational order. .Naturally, in the earlier centuries the collections are briei and contain few laws chronologically certain. ( inly with the in- crease of legislation did a methodical classification
become necessary, or at leas! the addil ion of method- ical tahles (see below, African and Spanish collec- tions).
In this article we shall describe the ancient collec- tions of canons (1) From the earliest Christian times to the period of the apocrypha] collections (middle of the ninth century); (2) Front the end of the ninth
century to the Deeretum of Gratian (1139-50). The
forged collections of the middle of the ninth century
will be treated in the article, F'alse Decretals.
Much of our knowledge of these matters is owing to
the historical researches begun at the end of the six-
teenth century, whence issued the critical editions of
the Fathers, the councils, and the papal decretals.
We are particularly indebted, however, to two works
of primary importance: (1) the dissertation (P. L.,
LVI) of (he Ballerina brothers of Verona (eighteenth
century) "Concerning the ancient collection and col-
lectors of Canons as far as Gratian" — a study quite
unique for its erudition and critical acumen; (2) the
history of the sources and literature of canon law by
Frederic Maassen (Gesehichte der Quellen und Liter-
atur des Canonischen Rechts, Gratz, 1870, vol. I), in
which the learned professor of Gratz took up this
subject where the Ballerini had left it, but with a far
richer supply of documents. Unfortunately he stops
at Pseudo-Isidore.
From the Earliest Times to the Apocryphal Collections. — Collections of the Apostolic Period. — The Apostles certainly issued disciplinary regulations, either as inspired authors (Divine Apostolic law, per- taining to the immutable deposit of faith), or simply as ecclesiastical legislation (human Apostolic law). In the primitive Christian ages there were current divers collections attributed to the Apostles. These collections were apocryphal, although there may be in it some regulations of really Apostolic origin. It is all very interesting, partly because of the vestiges it offers of the earliest Christian life, and partly be- cause, tie facto, many of these regulations were long considered truly Apostolic and. as such, influenced seriously the formation of ecclesiastical law. The most important of these collections are the Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles (q. v.), the Apostolic Consti- tutions (q. v.), and the Apostolic Canons (see Canons Apostolic). The Apostolic Constitutions, though, originally accepted throughout the Orient, were de- clared apocryphal in the Trullan (Quinisext) Council of 692; they were never accepted as ecclesiastical law in the West. The Apostolic Canons (eighty-five) were, on the other hand, approved by the above- mentioned Trullan Council. Dionysius Exiguus, a Western canonist of the first half of the sixth century, noted that "many accept with difficulty the so-called canons of the Apostles". Nevertheless he admitted into his collection the first fifty of these canons. The so-called Deeretum Gelasianum, de libris non recipi- endis (about the sixth century), puts them among the apocrypha. From the collection of Dionysius Ex- iguus they passed into divers Western collections, though their authority was never on one level. We find them admitted at Home in the ninth century in ecclesiastical decisions; in the eleventh century Car- dinal Humbert accepts only tin- lust fifty (Adversus Simoniacos, I, S, and Contra Nicajtam, Mi P. L., CXLIII). (inly two of them (20,29) found their way into the Decretals of Gregory IX.
Papal Decretals. — In primitive Christian centuries the pope carried on ecclesiastical government by means of an active and extensive correspondence. We learn from a synod of the year 370, under Pope Damasus, that the minutes of their letters or decre- tals (q. v.) were kept in (he papal archives. These archives (see Vatican Archives) have perished up to the time of John VIII (d. 882). In the eighteenth ami nineteenth centuries attempts ware made to recon- struct them; the most successful is that of Jaffe ("Regesta RR. Pont.". 2nd ed., ISN.I; ef. the impor- tant revision of Jat'fe by I', lviir, " Italia Pontificia", Berlin, 1906 sqq.). During the period under discus- sion (i. e. to the middle of the eleventh century) we shall note a constant use of the papal decretals by the compilers of canonical collections from the sixth cen- tury on.
