ALANO DI FARFA. - Benedictine, originally from Aquitaine and a monk of S. Maria di Farfa, of which he was elected abbot in 761. Previously, however, he had spent considerable time in eremitical life on Mount Acuziano, զբաղing himself with the transcription of manuscripts. He died on 3 March 769 (or 770), after designating as his successor a Guiberto, an Anglo-Saxon bishop; this provoked disputes and harmed monastic discipline.
A. published a sermonary, with a prologue, in which he declares himself its author; it has, however, been observed that its content is absolutely identical with the sermonary that bears VERONICA (v.), which sermonary, in turn, is none other than the ancient sermonary of the basilica of S. Pietro in Vaticano (cf. G. Löw, Il più antico sermonario di S. Pietro in Vaticano, in Riv. di Arch. Crist., 19 [1942], pp. 143-83). A complete study of A.'s sermonary is due to E. Hosp, Il sermonario di A. di Farfa, in Ephemerides liturgicae, 50 (1936), pp. 375-83; 51 (1937), pp. 210-41.