Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 14 (Seven Ecumenical Councils)

of Old and New Rome; [Styled by some the "Eighth Œcumenical Synod."] to which is added the Letter of the Blessed John, Pope of Rome, to the most holy Photius, Archbishop of Constantinople.
An Index of Things and Words of both volumes.
Beveridge's own Notes on the Canons of the Councils.
An Index of Things and Words of the Notes.

Such are the contents of Bishop Beveridge's great work, and it is impossible to exaggerate its value. But it will be noticed that it only covers the disciplinary action of the Councils and does not give the dogmatic decrees, as these were excluded from the author's plan.

Before leaving the collections of the canons, we must mention the great work of Justellus (the Preface and notes of which are reprinted in Migne's Pat. Lat., Vol. LXVII.); Canons of the Universal Church, Greek and Latin, with Preface and Notes by Christopher Justellus.

The author was a counselor and secretary to the King of France; he was born in Paris in 1580 and died in 1649. After his death, there appeared at Paris in 1661 a work in two folio volumes with the following title: Ancient Library of Canon Law . . . from the ancient manuscript codices of the Library of Christopher Justellus . . . by the work and study of Gulielmus Voellus and Henricus Justellus.

The Church in Paris had the honor of having among its Cathedral clergy the first scholar who published a collection of the Acts of the councils. James Merlin was Canon and Grand Penitentiary of the Metropolitan Church, and the first edition of his work was published in 1523 in one folio volume. This work passed through several editions within a few years but soon gave place to fuller collections.I am indebted to Hefele, History of the Councils, Vol. I, p. 67 ff., for this account of Merlin's Collection, as also for most of the statements that follow. Hefele says: "The longest details on Merlin's edition are found in a work of Salmon, Doctor and Librarian of the Sorbonne, Treatise on the Study of the Councils and their Collections, etc. Paris, 1726."

In 1538, the Belgian Franciscan Peter Crabbe (Pierre Grable) issued at Cologne an enlarged collection in two volumes, and the second edition in 1551 was expanded to three folio volumes. Besides these, there was Lawrence Surius's still more complete collection, published in 1557 (4 folio vols.), and the Venice collection compiled by Dominick Bollanus, O.P., and printed by Dominic Nicolini, 1585 (5 folio vols.).

But the renowned collection of Professor Severin Binius surpassed all its predecessors, and its historical and critical notes are quoted with respect even today. The first edition, in four folio volumes, was issued at Cologne in 1606, and later editions, better than the first, appeared in 1618 and 1636. This last edition was published at Paris in nine volumes and made use of the Roman collection.

To the learned Jesuit Sirmond belongs the chief glory of having compiled this Roman collection, and the "Introduction" is from his pen. The work was undertaken by the authority of Pope Paul V, and much of the Greek text, copied from manuscripts in the Vatican Library, was now for the first time given to the reading public. This collection contains only the Ecumenical Councils according to the Roman method of reckoning, and its compilation took from 1608 to 1612.

No collection appeared from this date until the "Collectio Regia," a magnificent series of thirty-seven folio volumes at the royal press at Paris in 1644. But while it was superb in appearance, it left much to be desired critically, for many faults of the Roman edition already pointed out by Sirmond were not corrected.

And now we have reached the time when the first really great Concilia (Councils) appeared, which, while only filling seventeen folio volumes, was yet far more complete—Hefele says twenty-five percent more complete—than the great Collectio Regia just described. This edition was the work of Philip Labbe (Labbeus in Latin), S.J., and was completed after his death in 1667 by Father Gabriel Cossart of the same Society. "Almost all the French savants quote from this edition of Labbe's with Baluze's supplement,"Hefele, Hist. Councils, vol. I, p. 69. and I have followed their lead, availing myself of the corrections.