LIBER DIURNUS ROMANO-RUM PONTIFI-CUM

LIBER DIURNUS ROMANORUM PONTIFICUM. — This title (not original) designates a collection of formulae for ecclesiastical documents, largely papal, preserved in two different versions in three manuscripts from the 9th century. It provides singularly important information on the administration and discipline of the Church in the 6th–9th centuries.

It was once believed to be a formulary of the papal Chancery, used daily for drafting documents; very recent studies have shaken this conviction, and although research is still ongoing, it is now generally considered a private canonical collection, which in no way diminishes the documentary value of the individual texts.

Summary:

I. Discovery and first edition

II. Manuscripts

III. The text

IV. Date of the collection and date of the individual formulae

V. Nature of the work

VI. Editions.

I. Discovery and first edition

In 1646, the celebrated Vatican librarian Luca Holste discovered in Rome, among the codices of the monastery of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, an ancient manuscript whose exceptional importance he immediately grasped. On the very day of its disc