Sermon by Maximus of Turin
Bishop Maximus of Turin admonishes the congregation on the evil of breaking the fast during Lent. He declares that it is a wrongdoing not against a priest but against Christ who speaks through his priest.
Recto: Text in Latin written in two columns on high quality vellum in black ink in two sizes of an assured Gothic bookhand. Pricking marks on the right margin. Ruled in red, rubrics in red and some initials touched in yellow. Four exquisite two-line illuminated initials in pink and blue outlined in black and finished with fine white penwork. The initials are on highly burnished gold grounds and infilled with a variety of coloured foliate designs and have illuminations radiating into the margins of black tendrils bearing coloured acanthus and other flowers, green leaves and burnished gold ivy leaves and bezants.
Verso: As Recto, with a further four equally fine two-line illuminated initials.
Origin: Northern France/Flanders, for the Use of Sarum (Salisbury).
Date: c.1475
Content: The illuminated initial ‘A’ at the top of the left column on Recto begins a sermon by Maximus:
Atque ideo qui constitutum numerum una die manducando praeterit, non ut unius diei uiolator accusatur, sed ut totius quadragesimae transgressor arguitur. Vnde bonum est homini, ut ad diem sine labore ieiunet, et totius quadragensimae consequatur pariter sanctitatem.
(And therefore a person who fails to observe the established number by eating on one day is not accused of being the violator of one day but is charged with having transgressed the whole of Quadragesima. Hence it is good for a person to strive after the holiness of all of Quadragesima to an equal degree in order to fast without difficulty on a particular day.)
The next illuminated initial ‘H’ continues the sermon:
Hec autem non tam sacerdotum precepta quam Dei sunt, atque ideo qui spernit, non sacer- dotem spernit : sed Christum qui in suo loquitur sacerdote.
(These are not so much the commands of priests, however, as they are of God, and consequently the one who disdains them disdains not a priest but Christ, who speaks in His priest.)
Condition: The leaf is in pristine condition on clean, fine vellum and displays jewel-like illuminations as colourful and lustrous as the day they were done, well over 500 years ago. Archivally mounted. Unconditionally guaranteed genuine.
Notes: Saint Maximus (c.380 - 465 CE) is the first known bishop of Turin. He was a theological writer who made a great contribution to the spread and consolidation of Christianity in Northern Italy. Several hundred of his sermons and homilies are extant.
The term Quadragesima is derived from the Latin word for "fortieth", and is the term used by the Church for the 40 days of Lent. There are exactly forty days from Quadragesima Sunday (the first Sunday in Lent) until Good Friday.
Size: Leaf: approx. 190x140 mm. Please note that shipping is invoiced separately.
Item No: MOT105
