QUESNELLIANA COLLECTIO

Shortly after 1670, Pasquier Quesnel, the Oratorian priest and Jansenist, was preparing a complete edition of the works of Pope Leo the Great. In the course of his work he came upon an old, unedited canonical collection that he believed to be the oldest existing code that had been used by the Roman Church. Quesnel published this collection in his compilation of Leo's works, and it thereafter became known as the Collectio Quesnelliana. A printed edition of this work may be found in Migne, Patrologia Latina 56, 358–747.

There have been several studies of this collection since the time of Quesnel. It is presently believed to have been compiled between 494 and, at the latest, 523. There is still considerable discussion as to its exact place of origin. There are some who believe that it originated in Gaul and very likely at Arles. This contention is principally based on the fact that all 15 of the existing manuscripts of this collection originated in France, and Arles is known to have been an important center for Canon Law at that time. However, the more general belief is that this collection originated in Italy, most likely at Rome. The principal reason for this contention is that it is a collection with a universal outlook in contrast to the local collections that emanated from places such as Arles. Moreover there are positive indications that the papal archives were directly consulted in its compilation. There are no positive indications as to the identification of the author of this collection. There is a theory of W. M. Peitz that attributes this collection to Dennis the Little, but this theory has not found general acceptance.

The Collectio Quesnelliana consists of excerpts from various oriental councils—Chalcedon, Nicaea, Ancyra, Neocaesarea (apparently at the same time trying to avoid including anything that might be a source of friction between the Oriental and Roman churches); excerpts from African councils; certain writings in regard to the Acacian schism, Pelagianism, Eutychianism; decretals of Popes Innocent I, Zosimus, Siricius, Leo I; and finally a large number of letters of Leo I. There is no strict logical or chronological order in the arrangement of these materials. The author apparently wished to replace former collections, which contained only one type of these materials, e.g., the Greek councils, with a collection containing a compilation of the various materials available. This was the time of the Gelasian Renaissance, when there was a serious attempt to codify and centralize ecclesiastical discipline.

The Collectio Quesnelliana is important for the history of the sources of Canon Law. In itself it represents an important step in canonical compilation, and it provides valuable information concerning the life of the Church at the time. Furthermore, it was the principal collection used in Gaul until the mid 8th century. Finally, some of its contents passed into later collections that played an important role in the history of medieval Canon Law, such as the hadriana collectio, the hispana collectio, and the Capitularies of benedict the levite.

Bibliography: l. lefebvre, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz, 7 v. (Paris 1935–65) 7:434–440. a. van hove, Commentarium Lovaniense in Codicem iuris canonici I v. 1–5 (Mechlin 1928–) 1:151. h. wurm, Studien und Texte zur Dekretalensammlung des Dionysius Exiguus (Bonn 1939). c. silva-tarouca, "Nuovi studi sulle antiche lettere dei Papi," Gregorianum 12 (1931) 3–56, 349–425, 547–598, a. m. stickler, Historia iuris canonici latini v. 1 Historia fontium (Turin 1950) 41.

[j. m. buckley]