Franciscan Studies

SOME MANUSCRIPTS OF THE EARLIEST FRANCISCAN LITURGY* Chicago, Newberry Library, 24 (23817)** Parchm., 266 fol., 2 paper fly leaves, 200 ? 140 mm. Two central Italian hands. The psalter, 2 col. of 48 lines, 135 ? 98 mm., followed by a litany and kalendar (fol. 4'"—33vb), as well as the collection of Offices on fol. 215—26 are without musical notation and added to the original volume in the last quarter of the 13th century. The bulk of the manuscript, written in 2 col. of 62 lines or 16 staves, 136 ? 105 mm., may go back to the 2nd quarter of the century, though not beyond 1232, for the name of St Dominic , canonised that year, occurs in the pre-Haymonian litany (fol. 86vb). Small script, rubrics in red, Beneventan notation, etc. as in the Assisi manuscripts 693 and 694. Late 13th and 14th-century additions, corrections and marginal notes throughout. Many of these indicate that, at least from the eighties, the book was used in a Franciscan friary at Perugia; several notes are from the hand of friar Bartholus Blancellus, who, according to his own information, entered into the Order on April 10th, 1289 (fol. 2 ). In this pre-Haymonian noted breviary many rubrics of the temporale and sanctorale are erased and rewritten with those of Haymo's Ordo breviarii. Others are added in the margins. In the sanctorale marginal additions refer to later Offices, collected on fol. 215—26, i. e. after the Office of St Francis. Some of these additions seem to be from the pen of friar Blancellus. Even the kalendar, though written at a much later date, see above, was copied from a pre-Haymonian exemplar. Many items, however, of the Haymonian prototype (1260) are entered by the scribe, such as the Translation of St Francis, the feasts of St Anthony (no octave), St Clare, St Bernard and the octave of the Nativity of the Virgin. Later hands added entries from the martyrology, among others that for the four martyrs of Morocco.1 Among the local feasts added later are: Apud spoletum s. pontiani mart. (21 Jan.),2 Fulgini s. feliciani epi et mart. (24 Jan.),3 * Continuation of Franciscan Studies (FS) xiv, 1954, 225—64. ** My knowledge of this manuscript is based on a photographic reproduction (film strip), kindly provided by the librarian in exchange for an offprint of this article. The folios are not numbered; the present foliation is based on the film strip. 1 Fol. 3iv: Apud Marochium passio .v. sanctorum martirum de ordine fratrum minorum scilicet bernardi de cariis . . . qui passi sunt tempore federici secundi imperatoris. Quos b. franciscus direxerat ad predicandam fidem catholicam saracenis.2 MR 28: 19 Jan.3 MR 34. 60 Earliest Franciscan Liturgy61 St Constantius, bishop and martyr of Perugia (29 Jan.),4 Translation (1 March) and Decollation (7 Nov.) of St Herculanus, bishop and martyr of Perugia,5 Obitus s. fratris Egidifi] (21 April), companion of St Francis of Assisi.8 The manuscript came into the library from the collection of Henry Probasco , where it was dated 1 Dec. 1890. — Seymour de Ricci, 'Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada' i, New York 1935, 524, no. 23817. fol. ?G. Benedictione perpetua . . . Unigenitus . . . Spiritus sancti . . . Deus pater . . . Christus . . . Ingnem sui amoris . . . Evangélica lectio . . . Cuius festum . . . Ad societatem . . . Ille nos . . . Divinum auxilium . . . Per evangélica dicta . . . Verba sancti evangelii . . . Addition on a blank leaf. Blessings at matins, copied from the Ordinationes divini Officii; see H fol. i79ra. On the same page a short extract: St prudens esse cupis in futurum prospectum intende . . . Hec. Bernardus de quatuor virtutibus . fol. iv. Infrascripte indulgentie date sunt a diversis summis pontificibus in locis fratrum minorum . . . Item Nicholaus quartus concessit unum annum et xl. dies in dominica congregationis . . . Addition, as above. The indulgence of Nicholas IV (1288—92) is the last item written by the scribe Blancellus but at a later date. The subsequent indulgences, though given by the same pope, are by another hand. On the same page, written by other hands, are: Anno domini M ccc xlvi [?] dominica ? post penUcost[en] ii feria obiit frater . . . sporas . . . Anno domini M ccc ... frater, pelegrinus . . . A recipe and, at...