Lectionarium Placentinum Temporale. Edition of a Twelfth Centuy Lectionary for the Divine Office. Vol. I. Pars hiemalis. Vol 2. Pars aestiva (original) (raw)

Edited by Brian M. Jensen. 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. Following medieval conventions, this lectionary has been divided in two parts, each consisting of two volumes: the Temporale contained in mss. 61-60, and the Sanctorale in mss. 62-63. In total the roughly 1300 folios of the four manuscripts contain around 300 Gospel incipits and more than 700 texts. The majority are works by Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo and the popes Leo the Great and Gregory the Great. The edition is also divided in two parts as the four manuscripts get a volume each corresponding to two manuscripts. The first volume includes an introduction to the Temporale part of the lectionary and the edition covers the period from Advent to Easter, the pars hiemalis, whilst the second volume contains the lectiones of the pars aestiua from Easter Sunday and the remaining part of the liturgical year. The lectionary in itself provides information concerning the reception and liturgical use of numerous 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. It can be a useful tool not only to liturgists investigating the contents and structure of the medieval office, but also to scholars investigating and/or analysing the Latin language, liturgical literature, biblical exegesis and commentaries, theology, hagiography, philosophy, history of ideas and mentality, as well as Latin translations of Greek texts.