Marston MS 69     Northern Italy, s. XIII in
Sermons (in Lat.)                     Pl. 5

The first 112 sermons in this manuscript (beginning:  Dominica prima de 
Aduentu domini.  Secundum matheum.  In illo tempore.  Cum appropinquasset
ihesus...[Mat. 21.1].  Dominus ac redemptor noster fratres karissimi.  qui
semper est equalis deo patri...") constitute the "Homeliaire italien"
as defined and discussed by H. Barre, Les Homeliaires carolingiens de
l'ecole
d'Auxerre, Studi e Testi 225 (1962), see especially pp. 28-29.  Marston MS 69
is, however, missing nos. 31 and 73 and has ten additional sermons at the
conclusion for which we give complete incipits and explicits (we thank T. Amos
of the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library for his assistance with these texts):

113. ff. 176v-177r  De sancta maria Secundum lucam.  In illo tempore. Missus
est angelus gabriel...[Luc. 1.26].  Expositio.  Fratres karissimi multum
dilexit nos deus pro quibus tanta facere dignatus est.  Scimus quia diabolus 
per serpentem...decoraret uirginitatis excellentiam singularem.

Sermon also found in Paris, B. N. lat. 3576 (a copy of the Italian
Homiliary), on f. 107v, and Bibliotheque de l'Arsenal MS 1116 
(110 H. L.), part B of a composite manuscript, ff. 55v-56r,
where it follows the Elucidarium of Honorius Augustodunensis.

114.  ff. 177r-178v  Sermo de penitentia.  Deus et misericors fratres
karissimi per prophetam nos ammonet ad conpunctionem uel ad penitentiam
dicens Conuertamini ad me in toto corde...uoluptatibus huius seculi 
abnegati eternum premium consequi mereamur....

Ps.-Augustine, Sermo 66; PL 40.1352-53, cf. G. Morin, ed., CC ser. lat.
104, p. 980.  Sermon also found in Basel, Universitaetbibliothek, MS B VIII 6
(a copy of the Italian Homiliary), on f. 71v, with the incipit "Deus 
misericors...".

115. ff. 178v-179v  De penitentia.  Fratres karissimi qui egerit ueraciter
penitentiam et solutus fuerit a ligamento [?] quo erat constrictus et christi
corpore...apropinquare [corrected from:  apropingquante] designat 
dicens, Penitentiam agite apropinquabit enim regnum celorum Amen.

116. ff. 179v-180v  Item sermo de penitentia.  Miracula domini nostri
ihesu christi fratres karissimi que ipse fecit.  amirari et uenerari debemus
et qualem...audire. ut uitam eternam possimus cum sanctis habere....

Sermon also found in Fermo, Biblioteca Communale, MS 33 (4 C 1/33), ff.
4r-5r, and edited from this manuscript by S. Prete, Ordinatio palatii regis
Gundafohri dal ms. 33 della Biblioteca Civica di Fermo, in Miscellanea
Giulio Belvederi, coll. Amici d. Catacombe 23 (Vatican City, 1954) p. 512.

117. ff. 180v-181v  Sermo sancti ambrosii in xl.  Ecce nunc tempus 
acceptabile [ecce expunged] adest in quo et peccata
uestra confiteri deo et sacerdoti et per ieiunia...audire a domino.  Esuriui
enim et dedistis michi manducare sitiui et dedistis michi bibere.

Sermo VII of the Fourteen Homilies from Northern Italy, ed. P. Mercier,
XIV homelies du IX#e siecle, Sources chretiennes 161 (Paris, 1970) pp. 
186-95 (Marston MS 69 not cited).

118. ff. 181v-184v  Sermo in die dominico de lazaro.  Audistis fratres
karissimi in hoc sancto euangelio. quomodo saluator noster suscitauerit
quatriduanum Lazarum de monumento...digne ad susceptionem corporis et sanguinis
domini possit accedere....

119. ff. 184v-187v  Dominica in Ramis oliuarum.  Cognoscat dilectio
uestra amantissimi fratres quod hodie passio christi legitur in ecclesia in
qua narratur quomodo...penitentiam de peccatis uestris dignam facere. et sic
deo placere. ut ad eternam gloriam possitis ascendere....

120. ff. 187v-189v  In die Resurrectionis sermo.  Ista solempnitas quam
hodie celebramus pascha apellatur.  id est transitus quia sicut hodie est
transiit christus saluator noster de morte ad uitam...transeatis de hac
uita ad eternam gloriam....

121. ff. 189v-192r  Dominica ii post pascha Secundum lucam...Ego sum
pastor bonus...[John 10.11].  Fratres karissimi ihesus christus saluator
noster sicut audistis bonus et uerus pastor est quia pascit nos
corporaliter...quia in tribus uirtutibus eleuatur idem fide spe et caritate.
Quibus ornatus...in trinitate perfecta....

122. ff. 192r-193v  Feria ii Secundum iohannem...Duo ex discipulis ihesu
ibant...[Luc. 24.13].  Isti duo discipuli de quibus hoc sanctum euangelium
narrat non fuerunt ex duodecim apostolis sed ex septuaginta discipulis...
elimosinam. et ceteras uirtutes habere ut ad celi palatium possitis peruenire.  
Amen. 

No. 33 in the Italian Homeliary collection at the beginning of the,
manuscript, but with the incipit "Duo isti" and with a different explicit.
Art. 122 also found in Paris, B. N. lat. 3576, ff. 42v-43r, where it is
written as two sermons.

Parchment, ff. i (paper) + i (contemporary parchment) + 193 + i (paper),
234 x 163 (170 x 104) mm.  Written in 26 long lines.  Double outer and single
inner vertical bounding lines.  Ruled in lead.  Rulings for text often
extend through the outer margin.  Prominent prickings in upper, lower, and
outer margins.
I-XXIII 8, XIV 10 (-10).  Remains of catchwords in lower margin, near 
gutter, verso.  Quires signed with Roman numerals in center of lower margin.
Written in a nice large early gothic script, above top line.
Attractive pen-and-ink drawings throughout the manuscript, in red, 
though much of manuscript now stained.  Folio 1r with a partial border 
formed of fantastic beasts, dragons and grotesques. Other drawings in margins 
include a fantastic bird, f. 9r; a dragon with a human head issuing forth 
stylized scrolls, f. 40v; a scroll inhabited by a fantastic bird, f. 49r; a 
lizard-like creature, its tail forming a partial border, f. 53r; a grotesque, 
f. 73v.  Several drawings in the lower margin have been trimmed.  The style 
of the decoration is similar to but more modest in design than that appearing in 
Paris, B. N. lat. 16896, lat. 16894 and lat. 16911, all attributed to Bologna 
(Avril and Gousset, v. 2, p. 76, no. 93, p. XLIV; v. 2, p. 74, no. 88, pls. 
XLII-XLIII; p. 76, no. 92, pl. XLIV). Plain initials in red, some with penwork 
scrolls or simple flourishing.  Headings and underlining of Biblical passages 
in red.
Binding:  Italy [?], s. xix [?].  Brown leather case with title, in
ink, on spine:  "Homil. in Evangel."  Fragment of an unidentified
13th-century Latin document (monastic register?) bound in as second front
flyleaf.

Written in Northern Italy at the beginning of the 13th century;
provenance unknown.  Early inscription in lower margin, f. 193v, erased
and illegible.  "75" in ink on front pastedown.  Purchased from Leo Olschki of Florence in 1956 by L. C.
Witten (inv. no. 1320), who sold it in the same year to Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  remissionem

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 72, no. 69.

Barbara A. Shailor