COLLATIO

A term having several meanings in ecclesiastical contexts, especially the following: (1) The light meal permitted on days of fasting in addition to the full meal. (2) The lives of the Fathers, especially as arranged for public reading in monastic establishments of the Middle Ages; a usage deriving, perhaps, from the Collationes Patrum of John cassian. (3) A sermon or exposition of a passage from Scripture, the religious rule, or a patristic writing, common in houses of friars in the 13th and 14th centuries (e.g., the Collationes in Hexaemeron of St. bonaventure); sometimes only an outline or plan is meant. (4) In some 13th-century scholastic circles, the inductive stage of philosophical investigation. (5) Formerly in Canon Law, the act of conferring an ecclesiastical benefice or office (collatio tituli ) on a designated person or presentee, whether by right ordinary jurisdiction (e.g., a bishop) or of a prerogative arising out of a lawful title, custom, or privilege (e.g., patronage). See 1917 Codex iuris canonici (Rome 1918; repr. Graz 1955) cc. 1431–47.

Bibliography: j. leclercq, "Recherches sur l'anciens sermons monastiques," Revue Mabillon 36 (1946) 1–14. j. g. bougerol, Introduction à l'étude de Saint Bonaventure (Paris 1962) 178–192. m. d. chenu, "Notes de lexicographie philosophique médiévale," Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 16 (1927) 435–446. e. f. regatillo, Institutiones iuris canonici (6th ed. Santander 1961) 1:228–245. g. barraclough, Papal Provisions (Oxford 1935); "Praxis Beneficiorum," Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung 27 (1938) 94–134. g. mollat, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz (Paris 1935–65) 2:413–431. n. del re, a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico (Turin 1954–58) 1:663. f. l. cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (London 1957) 310. a. sturm, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiberg 1957–65) 3:3.

[l. e. boyle]