CODE OF ORIENTAL CANON LAW. — Just as with the codification of Latin canon law, so too proposals for the compilation of a Code of Oriental Canon Law were advanced during the preparatory meetings of the Vatican Ecumenical Council, specifically at the VI Congress of the Commission for Missions and Oriental Churches, based on votes expressed by some Oriental prelates. Already on 19 August 1858, Pius IX had entrusted the Benedictine G. B. Pitra (later a cardinal) with the task of collecting the texts of the sources of Oriental canon law; and in a similar manner, he entrusted the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide with the affairs of the Oriental Rite in the apostolic letter of 6 January 1862, by which it was constituted.
Meanwhile, petitions from various quarters reached the Holy See urging it to proceed with the codification of Oriental canon law, requests that became particularly pressing after the promulgation of the *Codex Iuris Canonici*. In December 1929, Pope Pius XI established a commission of four cardinals (presided over by Cardinal Pietro Gasparri) for the preparatory studies of the Oriental codification (*AAS*, 21 [1929], p. 669); the commission was assisted by experts (jurists and historians), particularly knowledgeable in various Oriental matters, most of whom were Orientals (delegated by their respective Ordinaries) belonging to the different rites.
At the same time, the Holy See ensured that Oriental canon law would become better known by introducing it as an optional subject in faculties of canon law, under the title *Ius Ecclesiasticum Orientale*, entrusted to professors of specific competence (cf. *S. Congr. de Seminariis et Studiorum Universitatibus*, *Ordinationes*, 12 June 1931, art. 27 and app. I; *AAS*, 23 [1931], p. 282).
In 1935, a new cardinalatial commission was constituted, charged with preparing drafts of the Code and, taking into account the opinions sent by the Ordinaries, with drafting the Code itself (v. PONTIFICAL COMMISSIONS, no. 3).
The work of codification is now nearly complete; to date, 33 volumes of sources used in this work have been published (v. PONTIFICAL COMMISSIONS, no. 3).
Following the example set during the work for the codification of Latin canon law (v. CODEX IURIS CANONICI), it seems that the intention is to follow the practice of promulgating some preliminary fruits of the Code of Oriental Canon Law as well: indeed, with the motu proprio *Crébre alla lente* of 22 February 1949 (*AAS*, 41 [1949], pp. 89-119), all the norms on marriage have been published, which entered into force on 2 May of the same year (as can be seen from an examination of their text, the *Codex Iuris Canonici* was widely used in them, particularly with regard to legislative technique).
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**CANON LAW CODE:** V. CODEX IURIS CANONICI.