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On August 18th, 1289, Pope Nicholas IV signed a Papal Bull named 'Supra montem catholice fidei' (Upon the mountain of Catholic faith). It was addressed to the brothers and sisters of the order founded by the Blessed Francis. This papal document established the legitimacy and canonical structure of the Order of Penance, granting its founding to Francis, then deceased for the better part of a century. This order has survived in the Catholic world as the Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, a separate entity from the of the Friars Minor.

This short work by the Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini deals with the triumph of the Republic of Venice, then its its economic and political zenith. He extols the republic for its industry and for clearing the seas of pirates. He noted of the rights bestowed on average citizens and the antiquity of the state, which by then spanned back until the early Carolingian era. His praises have clear political overtones for the age he lived in, as republican fervor was gripping many Italian city-states, who sought to create greater distance between themselves and the Imperial administration in Germany.

Cunigunde of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Germany, and Nun, was canonized by Pope Innocent III in Rome on March 29th, 1200, 53 years after the canonization of her husband, the Emperor Henry II. To prepare a case for canonization her biography was compiled by Papal authorities looking to clarify the sentinel events of her life. This is the Papal bull for her canonization, which states several instances of supernatural occurrences and miracles which are said to be directly related to the intervention of the Empress.

This work, a letter from St. Aelfric to Wilfinus, bishop of Sherborne, is perhaps amongst the earliest works of Anglo-Saxon literature. He is writings to his episcopal peer relating some questions of church government which have been long standing in the English church. The canons themselves, thirty-five in total, relate the moral behavior of the clergymen, and what behavior should be officially sanctioned by the English Church, and what requires discipline on the part of the local bishop. This work included both the English translation and the original medieval Latin text.

This is a short collection of the ecclesiastical works of the emperor Charles II the Bald during his Carolingian reform of the Frankish church. This includes documents relating to the coronation of the Emperor Judith, a charter for royal national synod, and chapters of French church law.

During his tenure of the English church, king Egdar sought sweeping reforms to the bishoprics and royal monasteries under his dominion. What follows here in this work is a collection of documents from his reign interceding directly with the governance of the English church and the establishment of monastic communities, as well as correspondence between the king as his senior advisor, St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Upon the ascension of Edgar to the Anglo-Saxon throne, he immediately sought to reform the English church with the assistance of St. Dunstan, the former bishop of London. He held this council to alter several policies regarding the governance of the English church, and to push the growing centralization of ecclesiastical power into the See of Canterbury. Edgar's reforms would have a long lasting impact on the Church of England, and to some degree, remain active to the current day.

With the ascension of the Capetian dynasty in 987, certain church reforms took place to address some of the concerns relating to the various ecclesiastical institutions in the kingdom. At the forefront of this was the senior French churchmen, Abbo of Fleury, was able to lead changes to the various royal monasteries and bishoprics. This, at times, caused issues of royal prerogative over the French church, which resulted in this document, where Abbo offers explanation for some of his reforms to the royal court.

Alfred the Great, during his tenure over the kingdom of Wessex, sough to reform and strengthen the English church through parochial and scholarly reform. Unlike most kings of the dark ages, Alfred the Great, lead this scholarly reform himself, writing and translating great works of the church himself. This work is the short collection of reforms that were put forward to offer some self of revival to the English church following its decimation by the Viking invasions.

This is a small library of the ecclesiastical documents issued by the German king, Louis II, during his tenure over the eastern Frankish realm. This includes his work on Ecclesiastical Constitution, Chapters of law for the German church, and Chapters for the church in France and Aquitaine. These works represent a snapshot of the state of the Western church during the height of the Carolingian period.

In nomine Domini is a papal bull written by Pope Nicholas II. The bull was issued on 13 April 1059 and caused major reforms in the system of papal election, most notably establishing the cardinal-bishops as the sole electors of the pope, with the consent of minor clergy. It also start to help define the relationship that existed between the bishops of Rome and the Holy Roman Emperor.

Seven rules is an unusually theological work coming out of the Donatist church in North Africa. This is not a list of monastic rules, which would have been common for the period. Nor is it a list of moral precepts that should be obeyed by the faith. Instead this is a mystical treatise dealing with the nature of Christ's body, the presence of the devil in the world, and the utility of the scriptures. Among Ticonius' seven primary theses, he voices his believe in a textually literal reading of the Book of Revelation of St. John, and a cyclical understanding of the happenings therein.

During the Latin presence in the Holy Land in 12th and 13th century, contact was made between papal legates and the Armenian Apostolic Church in Cilicia (Armenia Minor). Among the various doctrinal exchanges that took place, and the brief lived union between Roman Catholics and Armenians, was this document, where common theological ground is specified by the reigning Roman Pope in Avignon. This theological common ground would be revisited during the Council of Florence in the 15th century, and again in the modern Armenian Catholic Church.

The Visigothic king, Sisebut, composed this short composition on the life of the Roman martyr, St. Desiderius, who was killed during the Diocletian persecution. What little historical information about the historic memory of this Italian martyr is relatively limited, but what is represented is the pious recollection of the Roman persecution of the church at its zenith. Curiously this text stands apart, as it is not composed by a clergyman or bishop, but by the Arian king of the Visigoths. He elected to composed this work in Latin, the language of the western church, and free from the hands of a church scribe, as its Latin grammar is very rough, and often confused. Here, presented for the first time in English, is a translation of this work of the ancient Visigothic church in Spain.

During the late Crusader period the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church attempted to establish an ecclesiastical union, under the auspices of similar doctrines and as a means of political alliance with the Latin held crusader states.This attempt at union was short-lived and merited little in terms of ecumenical dialogue. In 1341, Pope Benedict XII issues this document, serving as a polemic against members of the Armenian Church which did not see eye-to-eye with Rome in terms of doctrine and ecclesiology.

This 5th century work, likely composed by the Armenian saint, Mesrop Mashtots, illustrates the family dynamic and political conflict that surrounds both St. Gregory the Illuminator, and Nerses I the Great, both Catholicos of Armenia. The historicity of this text is obscured, as it appears to be a function of the 5th century, with larger later additions coming from the medieval period. It does offer some insight into the early Armenian church and the weave of familial ties that supported it in its earliest centuries.

Hilarion the Iberian, known by his native Georgian name, Ilarion Kartveli (ილარიონ ქართველი) was an Iberio-Byzantine monk from the Kakheti region of modern Georgia. During his lifetime, he was considered as the thaumaturgus, and subsequently is venerated as a saint within the Eastern Orthodox Church. This work, his vita was composed after his death on Mount Athos by his follower, St. Euthymius of Athos. The extant texts from his biography appear to be from 10th and 11th centuries and survive in both Greek and Latin. During his lifetime St. Hilarion sojourned Christendom, venturing away from his home in Iberia and going to the Imperial capital of Constantinople, the city of Rome, and the Holy Land.

The famous 14th century Byzantine monk, Nicephorus the Solitary, grants some insight into the nature of Hesychast mediation and the contemplative life of the Eastern Christian. His draws from several other sources in this short work to grant some insight into how the contemplative life might be attained through studied self-emptying oneself to the divine providence.

The Council of Shahapivan is the first surviving council of the Armenian Church, and has survived in various ecclesiastical sources. Convened in the year 444, after three consecutive councils in the city of Ashtishat, the Armenian clergy under Catholicos Hovsep I met in the township of Shahapivan (province of Ayrarat). Among those present was the governor, Vasak Siuni, and General Commander of the Army, Vartan Mamikonian. The purpose of the council was audit the functions of the clergy, and prohibit activities endangering the authority and integrity of the newly-established church.

This sixth ecumenical gathering of the Persian church at the Sassanian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was related directly to the question of the authority of the Catholicos over other bishops in the Persian church, the acceptance of the Councils of Nicaea I, and Constantinople I, and the security of the bishops from illegitimate entanglements in the Persian state and pagan practices. While long forgotten by western scholars, it represents the first effort of the Church of the East to address Christological concerns raised during Roman councils in the empire.

The Council of Florence, held in 1437-1441, sought to heal the East-West schism that was present in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Papal political leverage afforded Eugenius IV the opportunity offer military aide to the deteriorating Roman Empire in exchange for ecclesiastical submission to the authority of Rome. The Emperor John VIII, and his delegates agreed, and a union was declared. Similarly, the heads of the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Armenian churches, also sent delegates to this convocation, perhaps the last council to truly call itself "ecumenical". In accord, they also signed bulls of Union with Rome, some of which remain in effect, some of which have been nullified in the subsequent centuries.

Anastasius Bibliothecarius, also known as Anastasius the Librarian, was an Antipope during the 9th century. He composed this short collection of documents regarding the first thirty forth Roman Popes. It spans the pontificate of St. Peter in the 1st century and the 4th century tenure of St. Sylvester. This text also contains the both the original Latin text, as well as the English translation.

Bessarion (sometimes with the prenomen John of Basil), the famous Greek Orthodox bishop who involved himself in ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church composed this work of apologetics, following the failed union of churches at the Council of Florence. He attempts to report on and display the common doctrinal ground that is at the root of East-West Christian dialogue to his fellow Greek bishops, many of whom were living in exile, or under Turkish domination. His primary opponent in this text is the Byzantine scholar Gregory Palamas, who firmly denied the validity of the Latin filoque.

The current Coptic Orthodox Monastery of St. Macarius the Great, which lies in Wadi Natrun, the ancient Scetis, 92 kilometers from the city of Cairo on the western side of the desert road to Alexandria, was founded in 360 A.D. by the saint, who during his lifetime was spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different nationalities - Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Cappadocians, Persians, Romans, Puns, and Spaniards. His rule remains in effect in that Coptic monastery for the last sixteen centuries.

Nestorius is one of the most infamous characters of the church of the 5th century. His fall from grace has been carried through the centuries by the communion of Catholic and Orthodox churches who have sought to distance themselves from him and his Christological opinions. However, despite this, some of his writings have survived within the Latin church, and the compilation of his various sermons was completed sometime in the late medieval period. This appears to have been done to create a bit of theological straw man, something which seminarians and professors of theology could use as a matter of pedagogy. Curiously, this works have not survived in the alleged "Nestorian" Church of the East, as they appear as an exclusive artifact of the Latin church.

St. Proterius remains a controversial figure in the history of Christianity. His election as the patriarch of Alexandria against Dioscorus, who had been deemed as a heresiarch by the Council of Chalcedon. His arrival in the Roman city resulted in a massive riot, as the Coptic church saw this as illicit Imperial intervention. For his part, St. Proterius sought to re-incorporate the Egyptian church into the other major Christian sees, including that of Rome. His letter here is directed to Pope Leo I regarding the political climate the was present in the church in the 5th century.

In the year 1166, the Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel I made a request of the head of the Armenian church to compose a short explanation to the history and constitution of their church structure, so that it might remain independent from the Imperial church in Asia Minor. The result of that request is this document, composed by the the contemporary Catholicos of All Armenian, Nerses IV, who explained the unique features of Armenian liturgy and ecclesiology, and how it differed from the more familiar Greek and Latin traditions.

Vigilius the Deacon, a Roman churchman who is believed to have been writing in the Frankish kingdoms during the 7th century, lists here the rules that are necessary for monastic discipline. Many of these are familiar to other monastic rules, including that of St. Pachomius and St. Benedict. Other rules appear specifically tailored to this Gallican community. Vigilius does appear to draw upon Egyptian monasticism specifically, and goes after far to reference these precepts as the "eastern rule".

The Apophthegmata (a collection of sayings) is a work long attributed to the Egyptian desert father, St. Macarius the Great, although it is almost certainly composed by one of his monastic disciples at Scetis. It contains 41 short saying, composed in remembrance of the old abbot. Most of these saying are imploring his listeners on the necessity of humility and the observance of virtue in daily life. Some autobiographical material is included in this work as well, giving some context into the origin and early life of St. Macarius. This work is derived from the surviving Latin text, which is included, as well as the English translation of this work.