CANONS
283
CANONS
from previous compilations, hence certain omissions,
winch need not arouse any suspicion of the authen-
ticity of documents not quoted. In spite of its de-
fects this collection far surpassed all previous efforts
of the kind, not alone by its good order, but also by
the clear, intelligible text of its version, and by
the importance of its documents. Very soon it super-
seded all earlier collections and was much used (celebe-
rimo usii), especially in the Roman Church, says Cas-
siodorus. It became popular in Spain and Africa and
even before Charlemagne had found its way into Gaul
and Britain. It was the medium by which the Afri-
can canons reached the East. Copyists used it to cor-
rect the text of the other collections, a fact not to be
lost sight of at the risk of taking an interdependence
of manuscripts for an interdependence of collections.
Despite its authority of daily use and its occasional
service in the papal chancery, it never had a truly
official character; it even seems that the popes were
wont to quote their own decretal letters not from
Dionysius, but directly from the papal registers. In
time the "Collectio Dionysiana", as it came to be
known, was enlarged and some of these additions
entered the "Collectio Hadriana", which Adrian I
sent (774) to Charlemagne, and which was received
by the bishops of the empire at Aix-la-Chapelle
(Aachen) in 802. It is none other than the "Collectio
Dionysiana", with some additions in each of its two
parts. In this shape it acquired and kept the title
of "Codex Canonum". Neither the action of Pope
Adrian nor the acceptance by the Synod of Aix-la-
Chapelle conferred on the book an official character,
or made it a code of universally obligatory laws; with
much greater reason may it be said that it did not
thereby become an exclusively authoritative code of
ecclesiastical law. It was first printed in the first
volume of Voel and Justel (op. cit.), re-edited by
Lepelletier (Paris, 1687), and reprinted in P. L.,
T.xV TT A new and more satisfactory edition is that
of Cuthbert Hamilton Turner, in "Ecclesue Occiden-
talis Monumenta Juris Antiquissima" (Oxford, 1899-
1908), vol. II, fasc. II.
(5) The "Avellana" Collection, so-called because its oldest known manuscript was bought f or t he abbey of Santa Croce Avellana by St. Peter Damian (d. 1073). The collection probably dates from the mid- dle of the sixth century. It. follows neither chronolog- ical nor logical order, and seems to have grown to its present shape according as the compiler met with the materials that he has transmitted to us. Neverthe- less, the Ballerini pronounce it a very valuable collec- tion because of the great number of early canonical documents (nearly 200) that are found in no other collection. All it's texts are authentic, save eight letters from divers persons to Peter, Bishop of Anti- och. The " Avellana " has never been edited as such, though all its documents have passed into the great works of Sirmond, Constant, Baronius, and Foggini, with the exception of two letters whose text is given by the Ballerini, in whose work, quoted above, are also indicated the places where tin- \:irioiis texts of the "Avellana" may be read.
(6) Various Other Collections. — Despite the excep- tional popularity of Dionysius Exiguus, which caused the previous compilations to be disused and soon for- gotten, several of them were preserved, as also were some other contemporary collections — among them several thai still offer a certain interest. See the above-quoted dissertation of the Ballerini. II, iv, and Maassen (op. cit., 476, 526, 721). It will suffice to mention the collection known as the "Chieti" or "Vaticana Regime", through which a very old and distinct version of the decrees of the Council of Niciea has reached us. It has been edited bv the Ballerini (P. 1,.. IA'I. B18).
CoBectitm of the African Church. — (1) Canons of the African Councils. — From the Eastern Church North-
ern Africa received only the decrees of Nicrca (325),
which it owed to Cajcilianus of Carthage, one of the
Nicene Fathers. The African Church created its do-
mestic code of discipline in its own councils. It was
customary to read and confirm in each council the
canons of preceding councils, in which way there grew
up collections of conciliar decrees, but purely local in
authority. Their moral authority, however, was
great, and from the Latin collections they eventually
made their way into the < ireek collections. The best-
known are: (a) the Canons of the Council of Carthage
(Aug., 397) which confirmed the "Breviarium" of the
canons of Hippo (393), one of the chief sources of
African ecclesiastical discipline; (b) the Canons of the
Council of Carthage (419), at which were present 217
bishops and among whose decrees were inserted 105
canons of previous councils.
(2) "Statuta Ecclesia? Antiqua". — In the second part of the "Hispana" (see below) and in other col- lections are found, together with other African coun- cils, 104 canons which the compiler of the "Hispana" attributes to a Pseudo-Fourth Council of Carthage of 398. These canons are often known as "Statuta Ec- clesia? Antiqua", and in some manuscripts are entitled "Statuta antiqua Orientis". Hefele maintains that in spite of theirerroneous attribution, these canons are authentic, or at least summaries of authentic canons of ancient. African councils, and collected in their pres- ent shape before the end of the sixth century. On the other hand, Maassen, Mgr. Duchesne, and Abbe Malnory believe them a compilation made at Aries in the first part of the sixth century; Malnory specifies St. Cresarius of Aries (q. v.) as their author.
(3) The "Breviatio Canonum" of Fulgentius Fer- randus. — It is a methodical collection and under its seven titles disposes 230 abridged canons of Greek (" Hispana" text ) and African councils. It was com- piled towards 546 by Fulgentius, a deacon of Carthage and a disciple of St. Fulgentius of Ruspe; the text is in P. L.,LXVII.
(4) The "Concordia" of Cresconius. — This writer, apparently an African bishop, compiled his collection about 690. It is based on that, of Dionysius Exiguus; only, in place of reproducing in full each canon, it cuts it up to suit the demands of the titles used; hence its name of "Concordia". Between the preface and the text of the collection the writer inserted a resume of his work. This took on the name of "Breviatio Ca- nonum" which led some to imagine that the latter title implied a work other than the "Concordia", whereas it mean! only a part or rather the preamble of the latter, whose text is in P. L.. LXXXVIII.
Collections of the Spanish Church. — Under this heading the historian of canon law generally under- stands the collections that arose in the lands once under Visigothic rule — Spain, Portugal, and Southern Gaul. In this territory councils were very frequent,
especially after the conversion of King Eteccared
(587), and they paid much attention to ecclesiastical discipline. Naturally the need of canonical collec- tions was soon felt. As a rule, such collections con- tain, besides the decrees of Spanish synods, the canons also of Nic:ea and Sardica (accepted in the Spanish
( 'I lurch from the beginning I, those of the Greek coun- cils known through the " Itala". and those of the Gal- lican and African Councils, quite influential in the formation of Spanish ecclesiastical discipline. Three of these collections are importanl
(1) The "Capitula Martini". -It is divided into two parts, one dealing with the bishop and his clergy, the other relative to the laity: in both the author
classifies methodically the canons of the councils in
eighty-four chapters. He says himself in the preface
that he does Tint pretend to reproduce the text liter- ally, but with set purpose breaks up. abridges, or
glosses the same, in order to make it more intelligible to "simple people"; possibly he has occasional!}
