''Collectio Avellana'' (the "Avellana Compilation") is a collection of 244 documents, dating from AD 367 to 553. It includes many imperial letters written to

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

s and others, imperial acts, papal letters and other documents that were gathered just after the mid-6th century. Many of the documents have not been preserved in any other collection and contemporary copies have not survived The oldest and best manuscript is in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

, Vat. lat. 3787 (XI). It was this text which was edited by O. Guenther, and published as ''Epistolae Imperatorum Pontificum Aliorum Inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque DLIII datae Avellana Quae Dicitur Collectio'', in ''Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum'', Vol. 35, in 2 parts (Prague/Vienna/Leipzig, 1895). The compiler(s) of ''Collectio Avellana'' aimed to fill the gaps of previous compilations. The author or authors must have had access to archives of the

See of Rome The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, since they incorporated into the collection a variety of papal documents not in the ''

Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (867� ...

'' and imperial acts. The documents include; *CA 1-40 (regarding the papal elections of 366-367 and 418-419 ( Bonifatius and

Eulalius Antipope Eulalius (died 423) was antipope from December 418 to April 419. Elected in a dual election with Pope Boniface I, he eventually lost out to Boniface and became bishop of Napete. History Upon the death of Pope Zosimus on December 26, ...

); *CA 41-50 (regarding

Pope Zosimus Pope Zosimus was the bishop of Rome from 18 March 417 to his death on 26 December 418. He was born in Mesoraca, Calabria. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the See of Arles over that of Vienne ...

and the

Pelagian Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the original sin did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius ( – AD), an ascetic and philosopher from t ...

controversy); *CA 51-56, (regarding the church in Alexandria in June 460); *CA 56-104 (regarding the start of the

Acacian schism The Acacian schism, between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, lasted 35 years, from 484 to 519 AD. It resulted from a drift in the leaders of Eastern Christianity toward Miaphysitism and Emperor Zeno's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile th ...

, with letters from Simplicius, Zeno, Acacius, Gelasius, Anastasius, Symmachus, Vigilius, Agapitus and

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

dated to 540) *CA 105-243, (regarding the end of the Acacian schism, with letters between

Pope Hormisdas Pope Hormisdas (450 – 6 August 523) was the bishop of Rome from 20 July 514 to his death. His papacy was dominated by the Acacian schism, started in 484 by Acacius of Constantinople's efforts to placate the Monophysites. His efforts to resolve ...

, the senate of Rome and the emperor Anastasius, among other documents). The collection was given the name ''Avellana'' by the Ballerini brothers, after a Vatican manuscript, which was once held in the Santa Croce monastery in Fonte Avellana. In 2010, the Avellana Project was launched, with a view to completing a systematic study of the documents. The project was led by Dr. Alexander Evers, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies and Ancient History at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

.Loyola University Chicago website
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External link

Fourth Century website, Wisconsin Lutheran College (link to the Guenther edition from Google books)

External link

References

Further reading