Collectio Dionysiana II

General

Dionysius Exiguus soon after he had compiled the first version of the Dionysiana felt the need to improve on his first translation. He improved his translation of the Greek councils, added more material, renumbered the canons, and wrote a new preface. In three manuscripts, this conciliar material is combined with the decretal collection Dionysius compiled, containing a total of 38 decretals (of popes Siricius, Innocent I, Zosimus, Bonifacius I, Celestinus I, Leo I, Gelasius I, and Anastasius II) and one imperial rescript. The preface is dedicated to a priest named Julian in the monastery of Saint Anastasius.

Normally the Dionysiana II is assumed to have contained both parts from the outset. Following Fowler-Magerl's decision, who based her analysis on Juret's edition (on which see below) and hence the assumption that both councils and decretals were an integral part of the Dionysiana II, this definition is retain here, too; however, Firey pointed out that there are only three manuscripts containing the second version of the councils and the decretal collections, and that this may well be the result of a later combination of the materials rather than reflecting Dionysius' original plan.

Content and structure

In the copy of this second version of the Dionysiana in the Ms Oxford, Bodleian Library, e Mus. 103 (9th century, northeastern France) and in separate copies of the prologue in the Mss Paris, BnF, lat. 1451 and 3846 and Cologne, Erzbischöfliche Diözesan- und Dombibliothek 212 the introductory letter is directed to a bishop Stephan of Salona on the Dalmatian coast. In the Bodleian copy the letter is followed by a capitulatio with rubrics for all of the canons in the collection. The Greek canons from the councils of Nicaea through Constantinople are numbered without interruption from 1 to 165. Dionysius says that the collection he was using as his source also numbered them so. The canons of Chalcedon are numbered separately and so are the canons of Sardica. Following Sardica is a group of canons from three brief African collections: the Brevarium Hipponense of 397, the Codex Apiarii Causae of 419 and the Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta. Dionysius entitled this group of canons Synodus apud Carthaginem Africanorum quae constituit canones CXXXVIII and numbered the individual canons accordingly from 1 to 138. The compilers of the Hispana would take these texts from the Dionysiana.

Copies similar to that in the Bodleian manuscript are found in the Mss Paris, BnF, lat. 1536 (10th century) and 3848 (13th century) and in the Ms St. Petersburg, Publičnaja Biblioteka im. M. E. Saltykova-Ščedrina, F.v.II.3 (7th century, Burgundy).

The editions

The editio princeps of the Dionysiana II was published by Christophe Justel in 1628, using the Bodleian manuscript. As Firey points out, Justel must have used a different source for the decretal part. This edition was reprinted with minimal changes in 1643, and again in 1661 as part of the Bibliotheca iuris canonici veteris, edited by his son Henri together with Guillaume Voel. The 1661 edition in turn was reprinted in Migne PL 67.137–230 (councils) and 230–316 (decretals).

The present analysis is based on Migne PL 67. For the conciliar canons, only the material not in the first version has been entered in the database with the key DY. For the conciliar canons which were rearranged, no separate entry was created; insted, the numbering of Juret (as found in PL 67) is given in the location column of the decretal part of the fist version (search DY in the "Location" like here). The „African canons“ are listed separately with the same key. The decretal part of the second version was entered into the databased from Migne PL 67. The decretals of each pope are divided into paragraphs and these are numbered separately for each pope, not separately for each letter. The key is DX.

• Codex canonum ecclesiasticorum Dionysii Exigui, ed. Christophe Justel (Paris 1628 and 1643).
• Bibliotheca iuris canonici veteris [...] vol. 1, ed. Guillaume Voel and Henri Justel (Paris 1661), 97–180. Online at https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_dozp_JFtZCgC/page/n6/mode/1up
• PL 67, col. 137–316. Online at https://archive.org/details/patrologiaecurs108unkngoog/page/n76/mode/1up

Literature

See Dionysiana I. - The Brevarium Hipponense of 397, the Codex Apiarii Causae of 419 and the Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta after 419 were edited by Charles Munier, Concilia Africae A. 345 – A. 525 (CCL 149, Turnhout 1974), pp. 22–53, 98–148 and 173–247 respectively. For a description of these texts see F. L. Cross, History and Fiction in the African Canons, Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 12 (1961), pp. 227–247. – For the source of the decretals used by Dionysius Exiguus see Wurm, Studien und Texte, pp. 108 ff. Also Jasper, The Beginning of the Decretal Tradition, pp. 28 n. 111, 35 f, 50 f, 53 and 60 n. 249. – Kéry, Canonical Collections, pp. 11–21; for the Quesnelliana pp. 27–29.

Categories

• key is DX
• key is DY
• belongs to: Dionysiana group
• small (100 to 500 canons) collection
• from Rome
• saec. VI
• Collection
• based on Migne
• Collection only partly in database (only additional material not in Dionysiana I, location colum used to indicte rearrangements)
• Perhaps split the article (see discussion page)?

DEFAULTSORT "Collectio dionysiana 02"