Textmanuscripts - Les Enluminures
i+208+i folios on parchment, complete, in regular quires of 8 (collation: i-xxvi8[quire 20 with f. 154 partly torn with loss to Life of Wenceslas]), no catchwords, modern quire signatures in pencil in lower right-hand corner, ruled in lead, some prickings still visible, in two columns (justification 180 x 126 mm), written in brown ink in a highly abbreviated textualis script, 43 lines, instruction for the rubricator visible in margins, rubrics in red, paragraph marks in red, some majuscules touched in red, 2 to 3-line red ink initials, some flourished in red, contemporary marginal corrections or addenda, some contemporary textual corrections in black ink, overall in excellent condition. Late twentieth-century binding in vellum with two clasps, fore edges dyed blue (some folios cut short, affecting some marginal annotations). Dimensions 165 x 220 mm.
This selection of 100 lives of the saints taken from Jacobus of Voragine’s Golden Legend and entitled Novum passionale (“New Passional”) by the scribe presents a distinctive grouping of saints, different from that in the Golden Legend, specially honored in the diocese of Passau and of particular interest to the Cistercians. An eighteenth-century provenance placing the manuscript in the library of the celebrated Cistercian Abbey of Säusenstein (diocese of Passau) located in Ybbs-an-der-Donau could reflect the manuscript’s original provenance.
1.Both the script and the selection of saints suggest a South German or Austrian origin for this manuscript. Five additional saints either not included in the Legenda aurea or placed out of order at the end of the sequence include the following: St. Virgilius, bishop of Passau, 31 January (see Grotefend, II, 148); the Cistercian St. Bernard; St. Altman of Westphalia, bishop of Passau, 8 August (died 1091; see Grotefend, II, p. 60; Acta SS. Augusti…tomus II, pp. 366-378); St. Benedict, also venerated by the Cistercians who followed the Benedictine Rule; St. Achatius, 22 June, venerated in Passau (see Réau I, pp. 13-14; and Grotefend, II, 149). Among these, St. Altman is especially noteworthy because he is so uncommon. Other saints honored in Passau and present in this selection are: Stephen (twice) [Cathedral St. Stephen in Passau], Valentine, Odilia (see Grotefend, II, p. 151), and Gertrude of Nivelles. Loosely based on the order of the Legenda aurea, the selection of saints follows that of the calendar for the diocese of Passau, with numerous southern German saints also included such as Ulrich (Ulrich of Augsburg; also Ulricus II Alhartingensis was abbot of the Cistercian Abbey of Säusenstien [1363-1370], honored in Passau, 4 July, see Grotefend, II, p. 149), Oswald, Afra of Augsburg, Wenceslas, Othmar of Saint-Gall (honored in Passau, 16 November, see Grotefend, II, p. 150). Amongst the selection of lives chosen from the Legenda aurea, appear a number of typically Cistercian saints, such as Scholastica, Elizabeth (twice) of Schönau [?] and of Hungary, whose feast was adopted by the Cistercians in 1236, Benedict, and of course Bernard (twice), as well as Stephen (twice), Ludger, and Brice. The relatively unrefined quality of the parchment, full of parchment repairs, is typical of Cistercian manuscript production. Also typically Cistercian are the monochromatic initials in red, some with characteristic ink flourishing (especially the opening initial ‘A’).
2.Later inscription (18th century?) in the upper margin of the first folio (partially cut but confirmed on the first folio of a sister manuscript that includes a similar selection of lives loosely following the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine and described on this site as TM 144: “Catalogo Monasterii B.V. in Valle Dei inscriptus [Catalog of the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin, copied in Valle Dei].” This monastery is identified as that of Vallis Dei or Säusenstein (also written Sewsenstain), near the town of Ybbs-an-der-Donau (Niederösterreich)[see Cottineau, II, col. 2960: Sausenstein, Vallis Dei, abbaye de Cisterciens, fondée en 1338, diocese de Passau, près de Ybbs, Autriche inférieure; on this monastery see Austria sacra (1780-1788), VIII, 226; L. Janauschek, Originum Cisterciensium tomus I, Viennae, 1877, p. 271; J. Stulz, Geschichte des Cistercienser-Klosters, Linz, 1840, 46, 587]. At least from the time of the eighteenth century, the two legendaries were considered to be a pair; TM 144 is now in Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles. Other manuscripts with the same Cistercian provenance and the same eighteenth-century inscription are described in Lackner,1988, no. 42: “Iste liber pertinet ad monasterium Vallis Dei alias Sewsenstain Cisteriensis ordinis Pataviensis diocesis 1539 [This book belongs to the monastery of Vallis Dei, otherwise known as Säusenstein, of the Cistercian order in the diocese of Passau],” no. 47, no. 94 and no. 105. These manuscripts are in the libraries of Herzogenburg and St.-Pölten (see Winner [Herzogenburg],1978, pp. 112-113 and 132; Winner [St-Pölten],1978, pp. 120ff).
3.Private continental collection.
ff. 1-1v, Table of contents with heading: “Hic incipit tabula super novum passionale”; table begins: “De sancto Andrea; De sancta Barbara; De sancto Nycholao; De sancta Lucia…Explicit tabula super novum passionale. Deo gratias. Amen”;
ff. 2-198, selection of the lives of the saints from Jacobus de Voragine [Jacopo da Varazze], Legenda aurea: beginning De sancto Andrea; incipit, “Andreis interpreto decorus vel virilis cuius inveni sic descriptam…” (Maggioni [1998], no. 2)...De sancta Katherina, incipit, “Katherina costi regis filia...” (Maggioni [1998], no. 172);
ff. 198-208, selection of lives of the saints from Cistercian and Passau calendars but not included in the Legenda aurea: ff. 198-200v, De sancto Virgilio episcopo, incipit, “Virgilius beatissimus in Hibernia insula…”; ff. 200v-204, De sancto Bernhardo, incipit, “Bernhardus in Burgundia castro…”; ff. 204-206v, De sancto Almano [Altmanno], incipit, “Almannus a Saxonibus originem traxit…”; ff. 206v-208, De sancto Benedicto, incipit, “Fuit vir vite venerabilis gratia dei…”; ff. 208-208v, De sancto Achacio, incipit, “Decem milia martyrorum sub Alexandro imperatore omnes uno die…Et his dictis circa horam novam spiritum emiserunt Christo kalendas iulii. Explicit novum passionale Deo gratias.”
A Passional, sometimes called a Legendary, contains a collection of lives of the saints recited and celebrated in the liturgy. Passionals vary widely in their selection of the saints and the texts devoted to them. They can contain narratives of variable length that recount the life, martyrdom (that is, the saints’ passions), translation of relics, and miracles of the saints, and their order normally follows that of the liturgical year. The present manuscript, which is entitled “Novum passionale” by the scribe, fits with a group of texts commonly referred to as “Legenda nova” or “Passionale novum” that developed between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries composed by specific authors who, rather than borrowing from the lives that circulated in written in written and oral traditions, wrote new versions. The most famous of these “new lives” (Legendae novae or Passionale novum) remains that of Jacobus de Voragine (see G. Philippart, 1977, p. 24).
The present Passional contains a selection from the complete collection of hagiographies or lives of saints assembled by Jacobus de Voragine. A Dominican friar of Italian origin, “Jacopo” or Jacobus de Voragine (1230-1298) was archbishop of Genoa and a renown hagiographer. Assembled c. 1264, his Legenda Aurea, or Golden Legend, remains a valued source for assessing the later cult of the saints in western Europe. Over one thousand manuscripts of the Legenda Aurea survive, and it was translated into most European languages, making this collection a veritable medieval best-seller.
With its selection of 100 chapters of lives of the saints taken from the 178 to 182 chapters of Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend, this copy offers an excerpted version of Voragine’s text tailored for local use. It omits all the stories tied to the Advent of the Lord and begins directly with the Life of Saint Andrew the apostle. Moreover, the concluding lives do not follow the sequence in the Golden Legend either. Following Saint Katherine and two chapters devoted to Saint Elizabeth (ff. 186-190), the present manuscript ends with a number of local or regional saints (see Provenance), as well as saints of Cistercian interest, which further define the distinctiveness of the present manuscript. Whereas recent scholarship on Jacobus de Voragine and the traditions of the lives of the saints (see Fleith and Morenzoni, 2001; Maggioni, 1998; and Boureau, 2004) has made great strides at unraveling the extensive manuscript tradition, much research remains to be done. In particular, the recensions of distinctly local or regional character, such as the present one, defy traditional editorial procedures and beg instead for independent study, which would evaluate them in the context of regional religious practices.
Acta sanctorum Augusti…tomus II…quae ex latinis et graecis aliarumque gentium antiquis monumentis collegit…Johannes Bollandus…, Paris, 1866, pp. 356-389 [Acta SS].
Cottineau, L.-H. Répertoire topo-bibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, Mâcon, 1935-1970.
Fleith, B. and F. Morenzoni. De la sainteté à l’hagiographie. Genèse et usage de la Légende dorée. Geneva, 2001.
Grotefend, H. Zeitrechnung des Deutschen Mittelalters und der Neuzeit…, Hannover, 1892.
Jacobus de Voragine. Legenda aurea. Iacopo da Varazze, ed. critica a cura di Giovanni Paolo Maggioni, Florence, 1998, 2 vol. [Maggioni].
Jacques de Voragine. La Légende dorée, ed. Alain Boureau, Paris, 2004 [Boureau].
Lackner, Franz. Datierte Handschriften in Niederösterreichischen Archiven und Bibliotheken bib zum jahre 1600 [Katalog der Datierten Handschriften in Lateinischer Schrift in Österreich], Vienna, 1988.
Philippart, G. dir. Hagiographies: histoire internationale de la littérature hagiographique latine et vernaculaire en Occident des origines à 1550. Turnhout, 1994-2001.
Philippart, G. Les légendiers et autres manuscrits hagiographiques, Turnhout, 1977.
Réau, Louis. Iconographie de l'art chrétien. Tome III, Iconographie des saints, vol. I, Paris, 1958-1959.
Winner, G. Katalog der Handschriften der Stiftsbibliothek Herzogenburg, St. Pölten, 1978.
Winner, G. Katalog der Handschriften der Diözesanbibliothek Polten, St. Pölten, 1978.
Selections from the Legenda Aurea
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/vorag.html
Index to the Legenda Aurea
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/voragine1.html
TM 1417
