Folia Theologica et Canonica 11. 33/25 (2022)

Sacra theologia

FOLIA THEOLOGICA ET CANONICA (2022) 99-107

Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi, O.Praem.

THE ECCLESIOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF SAINT JEROME AND THEIR CANONICAL IMPACT*

Introduction; I. The Patristic Literature as the Fundamental Source of the Ecclesiological Contents of the Collections of Ecclesiastical Discipline; II. The Ecclesiological Standpoint as Reflected within the Canonical Collections of the High Middle Ages; Conclusion

Keywords: patristic sources, medieval ecclesiology, canon law history, ecclesiastical hierarchy

Introduction

Until the middle of the 20th century, patristic and canon law studies did not pay sufficient attention to the ecclesiastical influence of the writings of the church fathers on the disciplinary material of the canonical collections of the different periods. However, in contrast to the corpus of papal and conciliar decrees, these writings contributed primarily to the firm establishment of the ecclesiological concept of the very periods. A major change in this approach was introduced by the comprehensive work of Professor Charles Muni er in 1957 (Mulhouse* 1)- His research was followed by the research of Professor Roger E. Reynolds (f2014) from the mid-1970s, which was summarized firstly in 1981 (Toronto, Canada)2; then the general and detailed research, as well as statistical studies by professors Jean Gaudemet (t2001) [Paris, 1998]3 and Peter Lan* This article is the revised and supplemented English version of my Hungarian presentation at the conference Ama scientiam Scripturarum (Budapest, October 1st 2020). It was written in the International Canon Law History Research Center (Budapest), then supplemented in the British Library (London, UK) and in the Wilmington Community of St. Michael ’s Abbey of the Norbertine Fathers (Los Angeles, CA).

1 Munier, Ch., Les sources patristiques du droit de l’Eglise du VHP au XIIIe siede, Mulhouse 1957.

2 Reynolds, R. E., Basil and the Medieval Latin Canonical Collections, in Fed wicks, P. J. (ed.), Basil of Caesarea. Christian, Humanist, Ascetic (A Sixteen-Hundredth Anniversary Symposium), II. Toronto 1981. 513-532.

3 Gaudemet, J., Les sources du Décret de Graden, in Revue de Droit Canonique 48 (1998) 247- 261.