The Biography of Gratian, the Father of Canon Law

That Gratian was the author of the Concordia discordantium canonum; that he was a teacher at Bologna; that he was a monk; and that he was a Camaldolese are assertions made by all twentieth-century historians of canon law. That he was dead by 1159 is also often added as a fact, that his school was at the monastery of Saints Felix and Nabor is sometimes stated as certain or probable, and that he was born at Ficulle near Carraria or at Chiusi is occasionally noted as likely. An authoritative history adds that he was probably educated as a monk at Classe in Ravenna. From these statements, meager as they are, a distinct picture emerges of a scholar, bound to a particular monastic tradition, and circumscribed by particular places and dates.