Skip to main contentAccessibility feedback
Dear catholic.com visitors: This website from Catholic Answers, with all its many resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. A fully independent, lay-run, 501(c)(3) ministry that receives no funding from the institutional Church, we rely entirely on the generosity of everyday people like you to keep this website going with trustworthy, fresh, and relevant content. If everyone visiting this month gave just $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

Bartholomew of Brescia

Italian canonist (d.1258)

Click to enlarge

Bartholomew of Brescia, an Italian canonist, b. probably in the second half of the twelfth century at Brescia; d. 1258. He studied Roman and ecclesiastical law at Bologna, where he himself became a teacher. It is believed that he was murdered, when Ezzelino, the leader of the Ghibellines, captured Brescia (1258). His literary work consisted almost entirely in the revision of the productions of other writers. His “Brocarda”, or Canonical Rules (Lyons, 1519), were a working-over of those of Damasus (twelfth and thirteenth centuries); his “Casus decretorum” were a revision of the “Cases” of Benencasa (d. c. 1206); the “Historiae super libro Decretorum” reproduced the work of an unknown author. Both his “Casus” and “Historiae” derive their importance from their incorporation into the Paris edition (1505) of Gratian’s “Decretum”. The “Ordo Judiciarius” of Tancred (d. c. 1235) was also revised by Bartholomew. More important than the preceding works was his “Glossa Ordinaria” to the “Decretum” of Gratian, a correction of the “Glossa”, or “Apparatus”, of Johannes Teutonicus (thirteenth century). His only certain independent work was the “Quaestiones dominicales et veneriales”, lectures delivered on Sundays and Fridays.

N. A. WEBER


Did you like this content? Please help keep us ad-free

More from Catholic.com

Enjoying this content?  Please support our mission!Donate