CANONE

**CANON. — I. LAW.**

The term *canon* derives from the Greek *κανών*, which in its proper and original sense means a straight rod, a carpenter’s measuring tool, and by extension a rule or norm. The word *canon* entered the patrimony of the Latin language relatively late; Cicero still uses the Greek form.

In a transferred sense, the word *canon* was employed in grammar, literature (*canones* were the classical authors), art (*canon* of Polyclitus: Quintilian, *Inst. orat.*, X, 1, 54), matters of faith (Gal. 6:16), matters of morals (Phil. 3:16), and liturgy (St. Clement, *Ep. I Cor.*, I, 41).

The use of considering the Holy Scriptures as a rule of faith, or as having legal force, or as admitted by law or rule, led to their being designated as *canonical*. Subsequently, their list came to be called the *canon* (see BIBLE).

*Canon of the Mass* — *Te igitur*. Missal of the 21st century.
Property of the Counts Passerin d’Entrèves — Aosta.

Church laws, as rules of conduct, were already referred to as *κανών*, *κανονικός* in the early 4th century (Council of Ancyra, can. 24; Council of Nicaea, cann. 1, 2, 5, etc.), and thus distinguished from civil laws, called *νόμος*, as is evident from Justinian’s Nov. 137 and the collections of the *Nomocanons* (see). Initially, the term was used especially to designate the decisions of Eastern councils and the norms believed to have been given by the Apostles, and later all juridical or disciplinary norms issued by councils, or indeed all ecclesiastical laws. In the Middle Ages, a single ecclesiastical law was called *ius canonicum*, *ius canonum*, *lex canonica*, and the whole body of laws was termed *ordo* or *mos canonicus* (R. von Scherer, *Handbuch des Kirchenrechts*, I, Leipzig 1886-89, p. 111); it is in this sense that the word is used by Gratian in his *Concordia discordantium canonum*, by the Decretists, and by the Decretalists. Innocent III opposes *canon* to *consuetudo* (c. 11, X, I, 2). Often the collections of Church laws were called *Corpus canonum* or *Corpus iuris canonici* (see).

From the 15th century onward, in councils the term *canon* denotes dogmatic definitions, while disciplinary provisions are called *decrees*. At the same time, the word is applied to universal ecclesiastical laws in contrast to the provisions of particular councils. With the Pio-Benedictine codification, *canon* indicates the universal laws contained in the *Codex Iuris Canonici*.

Over the centuries, the term has also assumed other meanings: in antiquity it designated the list of clerics attached to the service of a church; in the Middle Ages it also came to mean a monastic rule or liturgical psalmody. Even today it can refer to a monetary or produce payment, whether temporary or perpetual (see CANONS AND CENSES).

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**II. MUSIC**

In the musical poetry of the Greek-Byzantine Church, with Andrew of Crete, the term *canon* came to denote a hymn composed of nine odes (originally: eight odes from the Old Testament plus the Magnificat), each consisting of 30-40 strophes, often interspersed with *troparia*. Notable *canonists* include John of Damascus and Cosmas of Jerusalem (7th–8th centuries).

Later, in both popular and religious music of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, *canon* came to signify a melodic line announced by one voice or part and rigorously imitated by several voices or parts, entering one after another at given time intervals, thus creating the impression of chasing one another; from this perhaps derive the names *rota*, *caccia*, and *fuga* given to certain imitative compositions from the 13th century onward.

The *canon* can be in unison, at the octave, fifth, third, or fourth (both higher and lower); it can be infinite or perpetual or circular; in inversion or contrary motion, retrograde or cancrizans, mirrored; by augmentation or diminution, etc. In antiquity, *canon* was sometimes written on a single staff (e.g., *L’homme armé* by J. Desprès). If the key to reading all other parts was contained in a riddle-like phrase, it was called an “enigmatic canon.” In the 14th century, the infinite canon was also written in a circular form. With the Franco-Flemish school, the canon reached its highest artistic development, even if fashion and manner sometimes complicated it to the point of absurdity. Notable examples, however, are known from the 12th and 13th centuries; from this arises that imitative style (motet, *canzona*, ricercar, fantasia) which would develop into the fugue of the 16th–17th centuries.

Canons are extremely frequent in Palestrina’s masses; they then appear in figured chorales for organ; Bach’s works, both vocal and instrumental, are filled with them; subsequently, German composers perpetuated their use up to the present day, especially in Protestant liturgical music.

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