Édition électronique d'un corpus de sermons latins médiévaux
Reception of Voragine’s sermons in Central Europe – a few examples
Stanislava KUZMOVA (Central European University, Budapest)
Frequently sermon collections were compiled of model sermons by various authors, the primary criterion being utility of the copied texts. It is not surprising that widespread sermons by authors like Voragine appeared in collections side by side with model sermons and texts by other popular sermon authors or anonymous texts; this is the case of a number of codices from the region of Central Europe as well.
Different case is the use of parts of Voragine’s model sermons, i.e. distinctiones , in newly written models and sermons. Diffusion and general knowlegde of Voragine’s works were the prerequisites for this. In the fifteenth century, and especially in its second half, Voragine’s models were so widespread and well-known that distinctiones based on his sermons appeared as integral parts of manuscript sermon texts.
Scholars noticed that already Peregrinus of Opole (ca. 1260-1333) had probably known and made use of some Voragine’s homiletic models (and not only the legends) in terms of structural schemes and content of his sermons. For example, Peregrinus’ sermon for Nativity depended mainly on Voragine’s sermon and partially on the Legenda aurea (but he could have taken some material also from the Historia scholastica or the sermons of Pope Leo). Wolny maintained that although the content of the sermon depended on Voragine, Peregrinus’ selection and composition of motifs was original.1
Franz Adolph pointed out some textual analogies between the sermons from Voragine’s model collections and the so-called Greculus sermon collection. He noticed that the First Sermon for the First Advent Sunday in Greculus had almost the same three-part structure as the Second Sermon for the First Advent Sunday in Voragine’s de tempore collection, only substituting the word amicum for Voragine’s principem . Greculus made also use of other Voragine’s Advent sermons. In the rest of the sermon collection the use of Voragine is less frequent and it is completely absent from the Lent sermons, Adolph maintains.2
In the second half of the fifteenth century an author of a sermon for the feast of St Stanislaus of Cracow, a Polish martyr bishop, knew and incorporated whole divisions from Voragine’s model sermon collections into his own composition [Budapest University Library, Cod. Lat. 75, f. 450-451]. Interestingly, in this case the author did not take the material from a sermon for either the same liturgical occasion (which was a frequent pattern, but anyway was not possible in the case of St Stanislaus) or for an analogical liturgical locus (e.g. a feast of another martyr bishop). The author took the material from the models that were seemingly very distant in content from the feast of St Stanislaus. Nevertheless, the selected passages fitted very well into the author’s intentions. In one part of his sermon he chose to speak about the ways St Stanislaus imitated Christ in the sanctity of his life, in his death and in his suffering. He found the useful passages in two various sermon models, one in Voragine’s de tempore and another in his quadragesimale .
The material inspired by Voragine forms only one part of this sermon’s complex structure. The divisio thematis determines the main structure of the sermon texts as follows: first part deals with the dignity of the saint’s office, the second section with the sanctity of Stanislaus’ life; the third main structural part of the sermon text elaborates on the topic of the saint’s beatitude and his home in heaven ( excelsior celis factus ). The discussion of the ways St Stanislaus imitated Christ inspired by Voragine’s models appeared in this final part of the sermon. When speaking of the analogies with Christ’s passion, the author first listed the heritage that Christ divided in his spiritual testament to various people – a similar list is to be found in the sermon for Passion Sunday in Voragine’s de tempore collection, but the author might have taken the motif from other sources. Then the writer summarised that while Christ divided in his testament many things as a powerful lord, St Stanislaus, being a servant, did not have so much, but gave away everything he had, his life, his body and his property. The following section on the paralells in the suffering of the saint’s soul with Christ’s passion built again on a passage from Voragine’s First Sermon for Good Friday from Lent collection. It listed four philosophical opinions on the location of the soul in human body and then the ways the Jews struck these four places when they wanted to torment Christ’s soul. The discussion of individual points in the anonymous sermon is less developed than in Voragine’s text, but the parallel between the two texts is evident. The preacher added again the bridge to St Stanislaus: they tortured his soul in the identical four parts of his body: the head, the blood, the heart and the whole body.
Such use presupposes a better knowledge of Voragine, when a student of Voragine was able to recall and make use of distinctiones or sections from models for different liturgical occasions and then employ them as independent versatile units in newly composed sermons. It is a pattern similar to the functioning of distinctiones collections.
The sermon is included in a miscellaneous codex together with other widespread model sermons by Pope Gregory, Origen, Jerome, John Chrysostom and various theological treatises and aids. Various quires, which come from the period between 1467 and 1472, were bound together in the late fifteenth century. Various parts may be of Spiš (today’s Slovakia) or Polish provenance; in the late fifteenth century the volume belonged to John of Keszmargt (Kežmarok in today’s Slovakia), a parish priest in Menhartzdorff.1 The scribes may have been connected to the University of Cracow.
The author exploited also other sources for this sermon. He most probably knew Dominican’s Peregrinus of Opole (ca. 1260-1333) sermon for the feast of the same saint.2 The author used the same liturgical thema from the Epistle to the Hebrews [Heb 7.26] Talis enim decebat ut esset nobis pontifex , which was in general not frequently used in medieval homiletics, and a similar main division, although the structure of this sermon is much more complex than the Peregrinus’ one. Similarly to Peregrinus, he listed the phenomena that tested Stanislaus’ sanctity and the saint’s miracles in a section. Besides these sources, the preacher also made use of liturgical texts for this particular feast, esp. the historia rhytmica, quoted in the text.
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[Anonymous, sermon for the feast of St Nam in tribus sanctus Stanislaus imitatus est Christum. Primo in sanctitate vite. Nam Christus fuit martir et sic beatus Stanislaus, quia virgo per eum permansit; martir, quia pro Christo nomine sanguinem suum fudit. Unde quesivit predicator, quia verbo Domini multos viam veritatis et |
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[Voragine, de Tempore, T23, RLS 54] [...] |
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Secundo imitatus est Christum in morte, quia Christus in |
Sic Christus in cruce Auctor humani generis in cruce existens pietatis |
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primo apostolis persecutionem et pacem; Johannis |
persecutionem Apostolis, pacem discipulis, |
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Secundo corpus suum Iudeis; Isaie X.: Corpus |
corpus Judæis, |
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Tercio spiritum patri, cum dixit: Pater, in |
Patri spiritum, |
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Quarto matrem discipulo cum dixit: mater, ecce |
Virgini paranymphum, |
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Latroni Paradisum, |
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Quinto penitentibus crucem penitencie. Mt XVI. Si Sexto peccatoribus infernum; Propheta pc’ Septimo rectis et iustis regnum celorum; Mt XXV: Nam Christus tamquam potens Dominus multa et magna |
peccatoribus impœnitentibus Infernum. |
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Christianis pœnitentibus crucem pœnitentiæ |
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sed sanctus Stanislaus, tamquam servus non habebat, nisi sua |
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Tercio beatus Stanislaus imitatus est Christum, animam |
[Voragine, Quadragesimale, T26, RLS 283] [...] |
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quidam dixerunt eam esse in capite; propter i(llud) Johannis secundi dixerunt eam esse in sanguine; propter hoc tercii dixerunt eam esse in corde; propter illud Mt XV: |
Quidam Alii Alii |
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Quarti dixerunt eam esse in toto corpore et in qualibet |
?Alii dixerunt ipsam esse in |
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Et ideo Iudei, scientes hos opiniones, volentes animam Christi |
Judaei igitur, volentes animam |
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primo cruciaverunt eum in capite, cum |
Primo, ipsam animam |
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Secundo in sanguine, cum ei in manibus et pedibus venas Tercio in corde, cum ei latus lancea perforaverunt. |
Secundo, Tertio, cruciaverunt ejus |
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Quarto in toto corpore, cum totum corpus supplicys |
Quarto, afflixerunt animam |
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Sic anima sancti Stanislai in hys quattuor locis fuit cruciata: |
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