AVELLANA, COLLECTION. – This is a compilation compiled by an unknown author in Rome in 553 or shortly thereafter, containing various documents from the years 367–553, especially papal letters (decretals) and imperial rescripts or constitutions, as well as some other documents from lower-ranking ecclesiastical or lay authorities. It is of great interest for ecclesiastical history and, to a lesser extent, for canon law, especially because the text of many—about 200—of the documents it contains is not found in any other surviving collections, nor is it otherwise known (it is likely that the compiler drew, not only from lost private sources or collections, but also directly from the papal archives); and moreover because a large part of them constitutes precious documentation on matters of great historical importance: such as, for example, the exile of Pope Liberius, the Ursinian schism, the question of Caelestius, and the question of the Three Chapters. Notable too are groups of letters from the popes Simplicius, Gelasius I, and Hormisdas.
It is believed that all the documents contained in this compilation are authentic, with the exception of letters 71–78, which purport to be addressed to Bishop Peter of Antioch.
The collection has been preserved in eleven manuscripts: two parchment codices from the 11th century; the others paper, from the 15th–17th centuries. The name A. was given to this collection by the Ballerini brothers, who believed that the most authoritative manuscript was the one found in the monastery of Santa Croce at Fonte Avellana (diocese of Gubbio): a parchment codex, perhaps from the first half of the 11th century (now Vatican codex 4961). This opinion remained unchallenged for a long time until Guglielmo Meyer, and more recently Otto Günther, demonstrated instead that the oldest and most authoritative is codex Vat. lat. 3787, probably from the beginning of the 11th century.
Many incomplete editions were produced, the first of which in 1591 in Rome, edited by Cardinal Antonio D’Aquino (later completed by Baronius in vols. IV–VII of his Annales); the only complete and critical edition is that of O. Günther, in vol. XXXV of the Corpus scriptorum ecclesisticorum latinorum (Vienna 1895–98).