MANY, SÉRAPHIN. - Canonist, b. at Gespunsart (Reims) on 30 Dec. 1847, d. at Fiesole on 19 Aug. 1922. Ordained priest and appointed parish priest of the very modest parish of Sy, he devoted himself to profound juridical training at the wish of Icard, superior of the Society of St Sulpice, to which Many had given his name. He studied law in Rome at the Apollinare. He taught canon law at Paris in the Seminary of St Sulpice from 1878 to 1898, when he succeeded Msgr. Gasparri in the teaching of law at the Faculty of Canon Law.
In 1906 he was called to Rome and by Msgr. Gasparri
the Horace of 1501, the Dante of 1502, etc., enjoyed immense success and found admirers and counterfeiters (despite papal privileges
he was entrusted with an important part in the drafting and subsequent revision of the canons of the future Code of Canon Law. Appointed auditor of the Rota in 1908, he became its dean in 1920.
He published: Le règnement of the Officiality of Paris, a precise summary of the then current judicial and disciplinary procedure; De Missa (Paris 1903); De locis sacris (ibid. 1904); De sacra ordinatione (ibid. 1905): three works which represent the fruit of more than 20 years of labour and reveal a rigorous critical study of sources, a strong theological and juridical maturity, characterized by deep analysis of the principles of law and by reasoned use of rules of interpretation.
