THE CANON OF AUTUN.

THIS Canon, enjoining upon the clergy the recitation of the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian, is known through two systematic collections of Canons, entitled, by way of distinction, the Angers and Herovall Collections, in which it finds a place.1 Of these the Angers is the earlier, the other being drawn largely from it. Of the six MSS. of the former, enumerated by Professor Maassen, in his work on 'Canon Law,' one is in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris; and four out of the seven MSS. of the latter, mentioned by the same authority, are deposited in that library. Having examined these Paris manuscripts with the view of obtaining authentic information respecting the Canon in question, which occupies an important place in the early history of the Quicunque vult, I proceed to state the results.

The Paris MS. containing the Angers Collection is numbered 1603, and is assigned by the present authorities of the manuscript department to the commence

Athanasian Creed: Examination of Recent Theories respecting its Date and Origin,' by G. D. W. OMMANNEY, pp. 250–257.

ment of the ninth century. Some record of its earlier history is supplied by two memoranda, one of which appears on the first page, "Codex Tellerianus Remensis, 264, Reg. 4483," i.e. it once belonged to Archbishop Teillier, of Rheims. The other, which is found on f. 7, the initial page of our collection, is of more interest, as showing the original ownership of this document, and probably the locality where it was written: "Pertinet monasterio S. Amandi in pabula ordinis Sancti Benedicti Tornacensis deocesis." Thus we learn that the MS. was originally the property of the Abbey of St. Amand, one of the most ancient and most illustrious Benedictine Abbeys in the Low Countries, situated between Tournay and Valenciennes. It may be mentioned that the first six leaves are evidently later written than the rest of the volume containing the collection, and could not have belonged to it originally-a fact which is apparent from the last-mentioned memorandum being written on the seventh folio, the first of the collection. Two distinct manuscripts have been united in one volume by the modern binder. At the commencement appears the list of the titles of the several chapters, the first being, "De fide catholica et symbolo." This is followed by the Rubric in capitals: Incipiunt Canones Agustodininsis hira prima; and then the Canon: "Si quis presbyter aut diaconus subdiaconus clericus symbolum, quod sancto inspirante spiritu apostoli tradiderunt et fidem sancti athanasi presulis irreprehensibiliter non recensiverit, ab episcopo condamnetur." Then the thirteenth Canon

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of Agde: "Simbolum etiam placuit ab omnibus ecclesiis una die, id est, ante octo dies dominice resurrectionis publice in ecclesia competentibus tradi." These two Canons constitute the first chapter. The forty-fifth chapter is "De clericis monachis abbatibus non manentes in suo proposito." It appears on f. 50, and among the Canons which it comprises are some disciplinary Canons of Autun, numbered respectively 1, 8, 6, 5, 10, 21, the first being introduced by the somewhat notable Rubric: "Canon Agustodoninsis hira. 1, leudegarii episcopi." This Canon is as follows:

"Primus titulus hic est monasterie disciplinae ut abbatis vel monachis peculiarem non abeant et monachi ab abbate victum et vestitum consuetum accipiant." The barbarisms are reproduced from the manuscript. The word "hira," or "hera," evidently means "number:" it is usually written in an abbreviation, hk, but in the Rubric in the first chapter, given above it is written in full. All the Autun Canons, which appear in the forty-fifth chapter, relate to monastic discipline. The sixty-third chapter gives a table of the Councils, at which the Canons contained in the collection were drawn up, with the respective numbers of the subscribing bishops, and in some instances their names. It has the title: "De episcopis qui suprascriptus kanones consenserunt et firmaverunt;" and contains twenty-six numbers, the last of which, numbered by mistake XXVII., gives simply the subscription of St. Leger, nothing else. It is as follows:-"Consensum domno leutgario episcopo agustiduninsis, Ego leutgarius acsi peccator cum

consensu fratrum meorum polliciti sumus et perpetualiter placuit conservandum." It may be interesting to compare with this the text of the same subscription, as edited by Professor Maassen, in his book on 'Canon Law,'1 from the Vienna MS. of the collection: "Consensum domni Leudegarii episcopi Agustuninsis: Ego Leudegarius, acsi peccator, Edue civitatis episcopus cum consensu fratrum meorum polliciti sumus et perpetualiter placuit conservandum." This is the only instance of the actual subscription of any bishop being given. The other numbers or paragraphs of the table are drawn in a different form, stating the number of the subscribing bishops, and some of their names. Thus the twenty-fourth, according to the Brussels MS., as printed by Maassen, is as follows:-"Canones Lugdunenses firmaverunt episcopi XIIII.: Philippus Viennensis, Nicetius Lugdoninsis, Siacrius duorum et reliqui." The probable inference from this notable difference is that the Canons of Autun were signed and confirmed by St. Leger on behalf of the bishops who were present, and with their consent an arrangement which might have been brought about possibly by his personal influence and character. This seems the most probable interpretation of the words, "cum consensu fratrum meorum polliciti sumus.' Had the Synod been diocesan merely, his subscription alone would have been sufficient and necessary. 2 Autun being the chief city of the Edui, its bishop was commonly

1 Vol. i. p. 971.

2 LAMBERTINI ' De Synodo Diocesana,' viii. 2, 1.

called, "episcopus Eduorum," or "Eduæ civitatis," as we see in the above instances.

The two most important and interesting MSS. of the Herovall Collection at Paris are those marked 3848 B (Baluze 180, Reg. 4241) and 2123 (Colb. 1655, Reg. 4240). As these two manuscripts have a significant bearing upon the history of the Athanasian Creed on other grounds besides the fact of their containing the Autun Canon, and have obviously a close mutual connection, a somewhat fuller account of their contents will be desirable. 3848 B, the earlier of the two, gives the most complete copy of the Herovall Collection, and is clearly the most trustworthy document for reasons which will transpire by-andby. This, then, calls for notice first. It is assigned by Maassen to the commencement of the ninth century. It commences with, "Cannones sancti Gregorii pape;" then on f. 14, "Ex opusculis sancti Agustini et sancti Ysidori de diversis heresibus; " then on f. 37, verso, we have in Rubric, as the titles generally are written, "Sermo antequam symbolum tradatur.” This 66 sermo' commences: "Queso vos, fratres karissimi, ut vobis reserantibus expositionem symboli adtentius audiatis, quia doctrina symbuli virtus est sacramenti, inluminatio anime, plenitudo credendi." This is also the commencement of the sixth "Sermo de Symbolo," or "Sermo" 242, in the fourth appendix to St. Augustine; but the two do not correspond throughout, as Dr. Swainson seems to suppose; for the Sermo in the Paris MS. 1 'Nicene and Apostles' Creeds,' p. 258.

1