MURATORIAN CANON. - Fragment discovered by L. A. Muratori in a Latin codex of the 8th century, coming from Bobbio, preserved in the Ambrosian Library of Milan (I 101 sup.), and published by him in Antiquitates Italicae Medii Aevi (III, Milan 1740, pp. 851-54). It contains the list of the books of the New Testament (v. BIBLIA). In the first missing lines it must have spoken of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. There follow pieces of information on Luke (called the third Gospel), John, Acts, Epistles I-II Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Galatians, I-II Thessalonians, Romans, Philemon, Titus, I-II Timothy, Jude, I-II (III?) John, Revelation, I Peter (?). Missing are the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James and II Peter.

It permits the private reading of the Shepherd, of which it says: «Nuperrime, temporibus nostris, in Urbe Roma Herma conscripati, sedente cathedra urbis Romae Ecclesiae Pio episcopo fratre eius» (lines 74-76). From this chronological hint it follows that the document was written in the last part of the 2nd century A.D., probably in Rome (called simply «urbe» in lines 35-36), or in its vicinity (P. Battifol, O. Bardenhewer, R. Cornely-A. Merk, P. H. Höpfl-B. Gut). It does not follow, however, that it is an official document of the Roman Church, as A. Harnack thinks. According to many scholars (J.-B. Lightfoot, T. H. Robinson, Th. Zahn, S. Ritter, M.-J. Lagrange, etc.) its author would be St. Hippolytus of Rome (v.), according to others (L. A. Muratori) Caius Romanus. Others propose Melito of Sardis (V. Bartlet) or Polycrates of Ephesus (G. Kuhn) or Clement of Alexandria (J. Chapman). C. Erbes (Die Zeit des Muratorischen Fragments, in Zeitschr. für Kirchengeschichte, 35 [1914], pp. 331-62) maintains that its author is the anti-gnostic Rhodon (ca. 220), of whom Eusebius speaks (Hist. ecl., V. 13: PG 20, 460 ff.).

The original language would be Greek, according to A. Hilgenfeld, S. P. Tregelles, Th. Zahn, M. Schanz, A. Merk;

MURATORIAN, CANON - The first page of the M. Fragment (8th cent.) - Milan, Ambrosian Library, I, 101, sup.(phot. Ambrosian Library)

(phot. Alinari)

Latin, on the other hand, according to G. Rauschen, A. Harnack, J. Ruvet, B. Altaner, B. Steidle and many others. The codex has come down to us in a very incorrect vulgar Latin.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: S. Ritter, Il frammento muratoriano, in Riv. di arch. crist., 3 (1926), pp. 213-62 (photographic and critical edition, bibliography); an edition of the text with notes and bibl. is in the appendix to R. Cornely-A. Merk, Introductionis in S. Scripturae libros compendium, 10th ed., Paris 1929, pp. 1047-24; the fragments of the M. canon discovered at Cassino are published in Miscellanea Cassinense, II, 1, Montecassino 1897, pp. 1-5. Good bibliographical information in P. H. Höpf - B. Gut, Introductionis ... compendium, I, Rome 1940 (4th ed.), pp. 181-83.

Pietro De Ambrogi

@incollection{ec8_muratoriano_canone, author = {De, Ambroggi Pietro}, title = {Muratoriano, canone}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1527--1529}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/muratoriano-canone} }

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Muratorian Canon

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