Presentation of the veneration and cult of saints in medieval Piacenza, with a specific focus on the patron saints Antoninus and Justina, based on the edition of the Sanctorale part of the Lectionarium Placentinum (Firenze: SISMEL 2018)

Description of four of the manuscripts and documents in the catalogue for the exhibition "I misteri della cattedrale. Meraviglie nel labirinto del sapere" in the cathedral of Piacenza

The Lectionarium Placentinum is contained in four parchment manuscripts, Piacenza, Biblioteca Capitolare codices 60-63, which have been dated to the second half of the twelfth century and form part of a collection of liturgical manuscripts produced in that period. The lectionary is divided in two parts, each consisting of two manuscripts: the Temporale contained in Pia 61-60, and the Sanctorale in Pia 62- 63. The four manuscripts contain around 250 Gospel incipits and 700 texts. While the majority of the texts in the Temporale are sermons written by Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo and the popes Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, the major part of the texts in the Sanctorale are anonymous saints’ vitae and passion stories. Like the Temporale edition, the Sanctorale edition is divided in two volumes, the first including an introduction to hagiography, a description of the manuscripts and their contents, and the second an inventory, bibliography and indices. The first part of the edition covers the period from Stephen protomartyr (December 26) to Bishop Germanus (July 31) and the second part the period from Peter in Chains (August 1) to Victoria (December 23). Both parts moreover contain an appropriate commune sanctorum section. The lectionary provides information on the reception and liturgical use of texts of the patristic and early medieval church fathers in the twelfth century and presents an instrument for further studies to scholars in various fields of research. The edition might be a useful tool to liturgists investigating the contents and structure of the medieval office as well as to scholars investigating and/or analysing the Latin language, liturgical literature, biblical exegesis and commentaries, theology, hagiography, history of ideas and mentality, as well as Latin translations of Greek texts.

The Lectionarium Placentinum is contained in four parchment manuscripts, Piacenza, Biblioteca Capitolare codices 60-63, which have been dated to the second half of the twelfth century and form part of a collection of liturgical manuscripts produced in that period. The lectionary is divided in two parts, each consisting of two manuscripts: the Temporale contained in Pia 61-60, and the Sanctorale in Pia 62- 63. The four manuscripts contain around 250 Gospel incipits and 700 texts. While the majority of the texts in the Temporale are sermons written by Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo and the popes Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, the major part of the texts in the Sanctorale are anonymous saints’ vitae and passion stories. Like the Temporale edition, the Sanctorale edition is divided in two volumes, the first including an introduction to hagiography, a description of the manuscripts and their contents, and the second an inventory, bibliography and indices. The first part of the edition covers the period from Stephen protomartyr (December 26) to Bishop Germanus (July 31) and the second part the period from Peter in Chains (August 1) to Victoria (December 23). Both parts moreover contain an appropriate commune sanctorum section. The lectionary provides information on the reception and liturgical use of texts of the patristic and early medieval church fathers in the twelfth century and presents an instrument for further studies to scholars in various fields of research. The edition might be a useful tool to liturgists investigating the contents and structure of the medieval office as well as to scholars investigating and/or analysing the Latin language, liturgical literature, biblical exegesis and commentaries, theology, hagiography, history of ideas and mentality, as well as Latin translations of Greek texts.

The Lectionarium Placentinum contains in its Sanctorale (Piacenza,Bibl. Capitolare 62) two unknown sermons ascribed to Augustine, one of which is assigned tothe feast of the four Roman martyrs Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and Nazarius (f. 141-143r, inc.:Beati martyres ut securi), the other one on Peter’s walking on the sea (f. 182-182v, inc.: Nulluspotest esse securus navigator). In this joint study, we provide a critical edition and examinetheir authenticity. As a result, the sermon on the martyrs is proved authentic (Augustine, Sermo335N), the other one certainly spurious. In addition, a previously neglected fragment quoted inAmbrosius Autpertus’ Sermo de Mathia can be assigned to Augustine as well (Augustine, Sermo112B).

Le Lectionarium Placentinum contient dans son sanctoral (Piacenza, Bibl. Capitolare62) deux sermons inconnus attribués à Augustin : l’un d’eux est consacré à la fête des quatre martyrsromains Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor et Nazarius (f. 141-143r, inc. : Beati martyres ut securi), l’autreà saint Pierre marchant sur les eaux (f. 182-182v, inc. : Nullus potest esse securus navigator).Dans l’étude présente, nous en procurons une édition critique et évaluons leur authenticité. Nousdémontrons l’authenticité du sermon sur les quatre martyrs (Augustin, sermon 335N), tandis quel’autre est certainement inauthentique. En addition au texte, un fragment jusqu’ici négligé, citédans le sermon de Mathia d’Ambroise Autpert, peut aussi être attribué à Augustin (Augustin,sermon 112B).

The traditional Christian concept of the “Babylonian captivity” being the point of departure,this study attempts to analyse views and connotations applied to Babylon (the city),Babylonia (the region), and the adjectives Babylonensis, Babylonicus and Babylonius in classicalLatin literature from Plautus to ca 200 AD. The analysis puts a specific focus on thefoundation and structure of Babylon, its founder Queen Semiramis, its magnificent textiles,and its legendary status as the centre of astronomy and astrology.

Pope Gregory the Great is one of the prominent Christian authors transmitted in the medieval manuscripts in the Biblioteca Capitolare in Piacenza. Among the 84 codices in this library one of the oldest contains his Regula pastoralis and another from c. 1215 the Moralia in Iob, but his authorship is especially represented in the twelfth-century sources for the celebration of both the mass and the divine office of the episcopal liturgy, revised in the wake of the Gregorian reform in the late 1070s.

In my contribution I analyse some mass chants in the Graduale part of the liturgical totum codex 65 from 1142, also known as the Liber magistri, e.g. the non-biblical introit antiphon Gaudeamus in domino which Gregory is said to have composed for the re-dedication of the former Arian church Agatha dei Gothi in Rome in 592, and the texts for the celebration of his feast-day on March 12, as well as various aspects of the liturgical use and reception of a large number of his homilies, especially the Homiliae in Euangelia, and some of the hagiographical texts from his Dialogi that had been selected and assigned as lessons in the full lectionary for the divine office.

Invited to Constantinople in the 1160’ies by the emperor Manuel I Komnenos to present the Western view on the Trinity in the so-called Demetrius of Lampe affair, the Italian theologian and diplomat Hugo Eterianus took part in the dogmatic discussions on the relation between the Father and the Son. Afterwards Hugo composed De sancto et immortali Deo to present the dogmatics of the Western church in both Greek and Latin, and sent the opus to pope Alexander in Rome and to the patriarch in Antioch. The accompanying letters and well as the treatise itself contain a number of attacks on the Greek theologians of the Byzantine period.

As exegesis of the Gospel readings, sermons, homelies and tractatus of the church fathers play an important pastoral part in the medieval mass. Moreover, such texts appear as lessons to be read at Matins of the divine office like they do in the 12th century Lectionarium Placentinum. A presentation of the two parts of this medieval lectionary (Temporale and Sanctorale) made for the cathedral of Piacenza as well as its contents of feasts, saints and texts for the liturgical year. The main focus will be on the Temporale with its more than 140 feasts with Gospel incipits and ca. 335 texts, the major part of which is attributed to the Big Four: Ambrose, Augustine, Leo Magnus and Gregory the Great. The second focus on the ca. 140 texts attributed to Augustine. Various authentic sermons and selected parts of tractatus in euangelium Iohannis constitute the major part of Augustine’s ”contribution” to the Temporale, but of greater interest for the conference will probably be the ones attributed to Augustine but now considered to be written by others and the ones attributed to other authors but now considered to be Augustinian texts. Finally, I present some texts attributed to Augustine which I have not been able to identify yet.