LIBERIAN CATALOGUE

A list of popes with dates from St. Peter to liberius (352–366), which forms a part of the compilation of chronological and liturgical data contained in the chronographer of 354. It is evidently the earliest version of the liber pontificalis and consists of two sections: one dating the pontificates from Peter to 231 (Pontianus 230–235), which was apparently constructed from authentic but faulty traditions; and one from 231–352, which seems to reflect official documentation. This list was probably prepared in 336 under Pope Mark and then revised and published under Pope Liberius as a section of the Chronographer of 354. The catalogue gives 25 years for the reign of St. Peter, and this is repeated by Eusebius-Jerome (Chronicon 2, ed. R. Helm, Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte 7:179). But all the dates down to Eleutherius (175–189) are conjectural at best.

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne (Paris 1886–92) 1:vi–x. t. mommsen, ed., Chronica minora, 3 v. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auctores antiquissimi 9, 11, 13; Berlin 1892–98) 1:73–76. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. carroll, h. leclerq, and h. i. marrou, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 9.1:527–530. g. bardy, Catholicisme 2:645. o. seeck, Paulys Realenzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, ed. g. wissowa et al. 3.2 (1899) 2477–81. Epigrammata Damasiana, ed. a. ferrua (Rome 1942) 21–45. h. stern, Le Calendrier de 354 … (Paris 1952).

[f. x. murphy]