Mommsen Catalogue

An early canon of biblical books, known also as “the Cheltenham List.” Discovered by Theodor Mommsen in 1885 at Cheltenham, England, in a tenth-century Latin manuscript, it was first published in Hermes XXI (1886), pp. 142-56. It dates from 359 and appears to come from Africa. The OT list counts the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus among Solomon's books, and includes Maccabees, Tobit, Esther, and Judith. It has 151 Psalms. In the NT, four gospels are accepted in the order Matthew, Mark, John, Luke. Hebrews, James, and Jude are omitted, but Revelation is included. The scribe seems to demur at the assignment of three epistles to John and two to Peter, adding after the enumeration which he found “una sola” (“one only”). According to the number of verses indicated, three Johannine epistles and two Petrine were in the original list. The canon is thought to be of Western origin.