Liberian Catalogue

In compiling the history of the Early Christian Church, the Liberian Catalogue (Catalogus Liberianus), which was part of the illuminated manuscript known as the Chronography of 354, is an essential document, for it consists of a list of the popes, designated bishops of Rome, ending with Pope Liberius (died 366), hence its name and approximate date. The list gives the lengths of their respective episcopates, the corresponding consular dates, and the names of the reigning emperors. In many cases there are other details. "The collection of tracts of which this forms a part was edited (apparently by one Furius Dionysius Philocalus) in 354" (CE). It now survives only in a copy.

The Liberian Catalogue is clearly the work of a compiler using earlier texts. It has been suggested that it is largely dependent on a work of Bishop Hippolytus of Portus (died 235), and is his lost Chronica. The character of the entries changes after Pontian. There are a number of "strange errors" (Edmundson 1913, lecture VIII) in the Liberian Catalogue, some of which may be the product merely of copyist errors (CE). The texts in the Chronography do display damage in transmission.