The Patrologia Latina (Latin for The Latin Patrology) is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques-Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published between 1862 and 1865. It is also known as the Latin series as it formed one half of Migne's Patrologiae Cursus Completus, the other part being the Patrologia Graeca of patristic and medieval Greek works with their (sometimes non-matching) medieval Latin translations.
Although consisting of reprints of old editions, which often contain mistakes and do not comply with modern standards of scholarship, the series, due to its availability (it is present in many academic libraries) and the fact that it incorporates many texts of which no modern critical edition is available, is still widely used by scholars of the Middle Ages and is in this respect comparable to the Monumenta Germaniae Historica .
The Patrologia Latina includes Latin works spanning a millennium, from Tertullian (d. 230) to Pope Innocent III (d. 1216), edited in roughly chronological order in 217 volumes; volumes 1 to 73, from Tertullian to Gregory of Tours, were published from 1841 to 1849, and volumes 74 to 217, from Pope Gregory I to Innocent III, from 1849 to 1855. Although the collection ends with Innocent III, [1] Migne originally wanted to include documents all the way up to the Reformation; this task proved too great, but some later commentaries or documents associated with earlier works were included.
Most of the works are ecclesiastic in nature, but there are also documents of literary, historical or linguistic (such as the Gothic bible in vol. 18) interest.
The original printing plates for the Patrologia were destroyed by fire in 1868. However, with help from the Garnier printing house they were restored, and new editions were printed beginning in the 1880s. The content within these reprints is not always identical to the original series, in either quality or internal arrangement. The new editions have been described as "inferior in a number of respects to Migne's own first editions". [2]
The Patrologia Latina contains authors of the 2nd to 13th centuries, in roughly chronological order, in 217 volumes: 2nd–4th c.: 1–19; 4th–5th c.: 20–63; 5th–6th c.: 64–72; 6th–7th c.: 74–88; 7th–8th c.: 89–96; 8th–9th c.: 97–130; 9th/10th c.: 131–136; 10th/11th c.: 137–149; 11th/12th c.: 151–174; 12th c.: 175–205; 12th/13th c.: 206–217.
Pope Agapetus II was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 10 May 946 to his death. A nominee of the princeps of Rome, Alberic II of Spoleto, his pontificate occurred during the period known as the Saeculum obscurum.
Pope Marinus II was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 30 October 942 to his death. He ruled during the Saeculum obscurum. He was also erroneously called Martin III leading to the second pope named Martin taking the name Martin IV.
Pope Benedict IX, born Theophylactus of Tusculum in Rome, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States for three periods between October 1032 and July 1048. Aged about 20 when first elected, he is the youngest pope in history. He is the only person to have been Pope more than once and the only person ever accused of selling the papacy.
Pope Callixtus I, also called Callistus I, was the bishop of Rome from c. 218 to his death c. 222 or 223. He lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue list his episcopate as having lasted five years (217–222). In 217, when Callixtus followed Zephyrinus as Bishop of Rome, he started to admit into the Church converts from sects or schisms. He was killed for being Christian and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Pope Urban II, otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening the Council of Clermont which ignited the series of Christian military expeditions known as the Crusades.
Jacques Paul Migne was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood.
Pope Benedict IV was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 900 to his death. The tenth-century historian Flodoard, who nicknamed him "the Great", commended his noble birth and public generosity.
Ælfric of Eynsham was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian, Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist. In the view of Peter Hunter Blair, he was "a man comparable both in the quantity of his writings and in the quality of his mind even with Bede himself." According to Claudio Leonardi, he "represented the highest pinnacle of Benedictine reform and Anglo-Saxon literature".
Ado was a Frankish churchman and writer. He served as the archbishop of Vienne from 850 until his death and is venerated as a saint. His writings include hagiography and historiography.
Anastasius Bibliothecarius was the librarian (bibliothecarius) and chief archivist of the Church of Rome and also briefly a claimant to the Papacy.
The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J.P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique, Paris.
The Archdiocese of Lyon, formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon are also called primates of Gaul. An archbishop is usually elevated by the pope to the rank of cardinal.
Geoffrey of Vendôme was a French Benedictine monk, writer and cardinal. He was born and died at Angers.
Hugh of Fleury was a French Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical writer. He is known only by his works.
Henry of Marcy, or Henry de Marsiac, was a Cistercian abbot, first of Hautecombe in Savoy (1160–1177), and then of Clairvaux, from 1177 until 1179. He was created Cardinal Bishop of Albano by Pope Alexander III at the Third Lateran Council in 1179.
Hugh or Hugo was a Benedictine monk and historian. He served as abbot of Flavigny from 1097 to 1100.
The Breton and French Catholic diocese of Dol, situated in the northern part of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, 6 km (3.8 mi) from the English Channel coast and 22 km (14 mi) southeast of Saint-Malo, existed from 848 until the French Revolution. It was suppressed by the Concordat of 1801.
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel OSB was a Benedictine monk of Saint-Mihiel Abbey near Verdun. He was a significant writer of homilies and commentaries.
Virgilius of Arles was Archbishop of Arles in Gaul.
The Archdiocese of Carthage, also known as the Church of Carthage, was a Latin Catholic diocese established in Carthage, Roman Empire, in the 2nd century. Agrippin was the first named bishop, around 230 AD. The temporal importance of the city of Carthage in the Roman Empire had previously been restored by Julius Caesar and Augustus. When Christianity became firmly established around the Roman province of Africa Proconsulare, Carthage became its natural ecclesiastical seat. Carthage subsequently exercised informal primacy as an archdiocese, being the most important center of Christianity in the whole of Roman Africa, corresponding to most of today's Mediterranean coast and inland of Northern Africa. As such, it enjoyed honorary title of patriarch as well as primate of Africa: Pope Leo I confirmed the primacy of the bishop of Carthage in 446: "Indeed, after the Roman Bishop, the leading Bishop and metropolitan for all Africa is the Bishop of Carthage."