Franciscan Studies

THE LITANY OF THE SALNTS IN THE BREVIARY OF THE ROMAN CURIA AND THE FRIARS MINOR BEFORE HAYMO OF FAVERSHAM The ordinary of Innocent III, which has been preserved in a 14th century copy now in the Bibliodièque Nationale of Paris, Iat. 4162a,1 prescribes among other things as a pensum for Lent the seven penitential psalms with the litany of the Saints. They were to be said according to the following rubric, which is found after Lauds of Ash Wednesday (fol. 20™) :2 Et ab isto die post laudes, defunctorum. prostartis in terra clericis cotidie fiant letanie cum vij. psalmis specialibus.3 et versiculis et orationibus. et in letanía, cum oramus. Sánete iohannes baptista. Sánete petre et Sánete paule. duabus vicibus. dicimus4 similiter, cum dicitur. Ut do[m]num apostolicum et omnes ecclesiasticos. et post letaniam. 1 Cf. M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical Romain au Moyen Age. Tome II. Le Pontifical de la Curie Romaine au XUIe siècle, in Studi e testi, vol. 87, Città del Vaticano 1940, 87 ff. 2 According to Ralph of Tongres, De canonum observantia, prop. 21, in Maxima bibliotheca Patrum XXVI, Lugduni 1677, 312a: lnnocentius HI mandavit suis capelUnis ut solum in quadragesima diceretur [litania cum psalmis]. However, the 12th century Ordo of the Lateran basilica, ed. L. Fischer, Bernhardt cardinalis et Lateranensis ecclesiae prioris Ordo Officiorum ecclesiae Lateranensis, München 1916, 31, ?. 84, shows clearly that the limitation of the penitential psalms to Lent only was already « Roman tradition at least half a century before Innocent III. 3 For psalmi speciales instead of psalmi penitentiales, which is to be found in the corresponding rubric of Haymo's ordinary, see Tommasi, Opera omnia IV, Romae 1686 . . . (antiphonal of St. Peter); Muratori, Scriptores rerum Italicarum III, Mediolani 1723. 415. Breviary of S. Sophia di Benvento); lnnocentius III, De sacro altaris mysterio, PL 217, 972. 4 The usage of repeating the invocations of the Patron Saints was very common, for instance, in the 12th century: St Benedict of Polirone (O.S.B. near Mantua) in Gradenigo , Calendario polironiano, 70: S. Benedicte.ij.ora..... S. Symeon.ij.ora.; cod. Padua, biblioteca universitaria, n° 1047 (Congreg.O.S.B. of Montevergine) : Per gratiam Spiritus sancti paracliti.libera. In pentecoste bis pronuntietur. In the 13th century: PL 138, 953: S. Albane.ij.ora.; cod. Padua, biblioteca del seminario , n° 72: S. Marce.ij.ora.; Paris, bibliothèque Mazarine, lat 347: Omnes sancti.ij. orate.; Oxford, Bodleian library, Rawl. C. 939 (Sum. Cat. 12770), (Canons of St Augustine, Osney near Oxford) : S. Augustine.i).ora . . . Omnes sancti.ij.orate.; The Dominicans doubled St Dominic's name and, probably before Humbert de Romans, also that of St. Augustine, cf. W. R. Bonniwell, O. P., A History of the Dominican liturgy (1215-1945), New York 1945, 37, 233, and G. Solch, O.P., in Ephemerides liturg. LIV, 1940, 173. In the 14th century: cod. Arezzo, biblioteca capitolare, Capitularium of the cathedral: S. Donate.ij.ora. In the 15th century: cod. Pavía, biblioteca universitaria, n° 127 (O.S.B. of Salzburg ) : S. Bénédicte, ij.ora See also V. Leroquais, Les Breviaries II, 450 and Andrieu, Le Pontifical U, 519, the variants. 426 THE LITANY OF THE SALNTS427 Pater noster private. Et ne nos. ?[s]. Domine [sic] deus in adiutorium. tutum. [sic - totum] cum Gloria patri et Sicut erat. Cap[itula]. Salvos jac ser{vos) Deus meus. Esto nobis domine turris. A jatte inimici. Nichil proficiet. [sic] Et filius. Domine non secundum peccata. Neque secundum iniqui{tates). Oremus pro pontífice, nostro. Dominus conservet. Oremus pro benefactoribus nostris. Retribuere. Oremus pro omnibus jidelibus. Requiem eternam. Requiescant im [sic] pace. Amen. Pro fratribus. Salvos jac. Miete eis domine. Et de syon t{uere}. Domine exaudi. Et clamor. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Oratio. Deus cut proprium. Exaudi quesumus domine supplicum. Inefjabilem [sic] nobis domine. Deus qui [fol. 20r"b] culpa offenderis. Omnipotens sempiterne deus miserere. Deus a quo sancta desideria. Ore igné saneti Spiritus. Fidelium deus. Actiones nostras. Omnipotens sempiterne deus que vivorum. Per dominum. Dominus vobiscum. Et cum spiritu tuo. Exaudiat nos omnipotens et misericors dominus. Amen. Of course the litany here mentioned is not...