ATTO, COLLECTION OF

A compendium of Canon Law, Breviarium, in 500 unnumbered Chapters, compiled in Rome c. 1075 by atto of milan, cardinal priest of St. Mark, to supply the needs of the clergy of his titular church. It stands among the first such works inspired by the program of Pope Gregory VII, to which the author was devoted, at least in its early stage. He aimed to present in brief the norms of law and morality that represented the discipline of the Roman Church, as found in the ancient papal decretals and conciliar canons, and constituted the basis of the gregorian reform. His chief sources were the false decretals, dionysius exiguus (for Oriental and African councils), and Pope Gregory I's letters (more than 100 excerpts). Material not previously in circulation came notably from Pope Gelasius I. The first series of texts embraces the decretals; the second, the councils—each in chronological order. Its influence was very limited, but it was used in the Collection of deusdedit and by Anselm of Lucca. The title Capitulare is a modern misnomer.

See Also: canonical collections before gratian.

Bibliography: a. mai, Scriptorum veterum noval collectio e Vaticanis codicibus edita (Rome 1825–38) 6.2:60–120, from the one known MS, now identified as Codex Vaticanus latinus 586. p. fournier and g. lebras, Histoire des collections canoniques en occident depuis les fausses décrétales jusqu'au Dét de Gratien (Paris 1931–32) 2:20–25. p. fournier, "Les Collections canoniques romaines de l'époque de Grégoire VII," Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres 41 (1918) 271–395, also pub. sep. (Paris 1918). a. m. stickler, Historia iuris canonici latini (Turin 1950) 166–167. r. naz, ed., Dictionnaire de droit canonique (Paris 1935–65) 1:1330–31.

[j. j. ryan]