Bernard of Pavia

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Bernard of Pavia (died 18 September 1213) was a noted Italian canonist and prelate. He was provost of the cathedral chapter of Pavia, and in 1190 promoted to the Bishopric of Faenza, became Bishop of Pavia in 1198.

About 1190 he compiled a work entitled "Breviarium Extravagantium" to complete and bring down to his own day Gratian's "Decretum". Bernard quotes authorities in an abbreviated form; hence the title. With the exception of a small fragment of a letter of St. Gregory the Great, he took nothing from Gratian. Later decrees and a few fragments of Roman and German civil law are found in the work. The "Breviarium" soon found favor in the University of Bologna, and from the time of Tancred (d. about 1235) was termed "Compilatio Prima", the first collection of canon law after Gratian's while other collections are styled "Compilatio Secunda", "Tertia" etc.

The "Breviarium" is divided into five books, the books into 152 titles, the titles into 912 chapters, the chronological order being observed as far as possible. The first book treats of persons who exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the second of civil judicial processes, the third of matters pertaining to clerics and regulars, the fourth of matrimony, the fifth of ecclesiastical crimes and criminal procedure. While no rubrics are prefixed to the books of Bernard, his titles and chapters have their own peculiar inscriptions. The "Breviarium" was published in a work entitled "Antiquae Collectiones Decretalium, cum Ant. Augustini, Episcopi Ilerdensis, notis" (Lerida, 1576, Paris, 1609); also in the work: "Ant. Augustini Opera" (Lucca, 1765-; 4 vols.) Joseph Anthony de Riegger, a professor in the University of Prague (d. 1795) published an incomplete edition of the "Breviarium" (Freiburg, 1778) in which he attempted to harmonize Bernard's work with the Decretals of Gregory IX.

Bernard wrote a "Summa Decretalium", a compendium of his "Breviarium", which for a long time constituted the chief text-book of the schools and was edited by Laspeyres (Ratisbon, 1860).

Bernard's first work was entitled: "Summa de Matrimonio", which was followed by another: "Summa de Electione". Both are short treatises (see Laspeyres, op. cit., 287-323).

His last work, begun in Faenza and finished after he became Bishop of Pavia, bears the title, "Casus Decretalium", part of which Laspeyres edited.

Bernard also wrote a glossary on his "Breviarium", a life of St. Lanfranc, Bishop of Ticino, and commentaries on the Old Testament book Ecclesiasticus and the Canticle of Canticles.