Arras, Médiathèque municipale, MS 450

Médiathèque Municipale
Ms. MS 450

Provenance:
12th cent., Saint-Vaast, Arras

Sigla:

• V = editio Bieler
• B = editio White (cf. Haddan)

Facsimiles available: 50v - 52v

(c) Médiathèque Municipale d'Arras

Content: ^

A collection of forty-four Lives of Saints, arranged in the order of the ecclesiastical calendar, from Silvester to Peter and Paul, with occasional disturbances. [...] The Confessio and Epistola of St Patrick are not found under his feastday (March 17)¹; they are inserted after the Life of St Fursa (January 22), who brought relics of St Patrick to his foundation Peronna ScottorumCf L. GOUGAUD Les saints irlandais hors d'Irlande (1936), 148.. The Patriciana occupy fol 50v-53r; two leaves are now missing², one between fol 51 and 52, the other between fol 52 and 53. They were still in their places when a copy was taken from this codex by A. Denis S. J. for the Bollandist Daniel Papebroch, who edited v these texts in 1668³. However, Papebroch has taken so great liberties with the text that his evidence, except for variants either explicitly acknowledged or confirmed by other witnesses, must be accepted with reserve.

The following table of content is taken from the recto of the first folio, written in a contemporanean handwriting, quoted from the Catalogue général⁴, and based on the description by Jules Quicherat:

XLIV Sanctorum Vitae
Hec sunt quae continentur in hoc volumine:

• Vita sancti Silvestri, pape;
  ('Incipit prologus in vita sancti Silvestri, papae. Hystoriographus noster Eusebius, etc.')
• Vita sancte Martine, virginis;
  
• Vita sancte Genovefe, virginis;
  
• Vita sancti Hylarii;
  
• Vita sancti Hugonis;
  
• Vita sancti Remigii;
  
• Vita sancti Mauri;
  
• Vita sancti Felicis;
  
• Passio S. Marcelli, pape;
  
• Passio sanctorum Marii, Marthe, Audifax et Abacus;
  
• Passio sancti Sebastiani;
  
• Passio sancte Agnetis;
  
• Passio sancti Vincentii et sermo;
  
• Vita sancti Fursei, abbatis;
  
• Vita Patricii;
  [The title 'Vita Patricii' indicates Saint Patrick's Confessio
  , foll. 50va - 52vb, and the Epistola
  , fol. 53ra-b.]
• Vita sancte Aldegundis, virginis;
  
• Passio sancti Ignatii;
  
• Vita sancti Eufrosine;
  
• Passio sancte Agathe;
  
• Passio sancti Blasii;
  
• Vita sancti Amandi;
  
• Passio sancte Juliane;
  
• Vita sancti Ambrosii;
  
• Passio sancti Georgii;
  
• Passio sancti Marci, evangeliste;
  
• Passio sancti Jacobi, apostoli, fratris Domini;
  
• Passio sancti Philippi, apostoli;
  
• Passio sancti Alexandri , pape, cum sociis suis;
  
• Inventio sancte Crucis;
  
• Passio sancti Gordiani;
  
• Passio sanctorum Nerei et Achillei;
  
• Passio sancte Petronille, virginis;
  
• Passio sancti Petri, exorciste;
  
• Vita sancti Medardi, cum miraculis;
  
• Passio sanctorum Nazarii et Celsi;
  
• Vita sancti Basilii;
  
• Passio sancti Viti;
  
• Passio sanctorum Gervasii et Prothasii;
  
• Passio sanctorum Johannis et Pauli;
  
• Passio apostolorum Petri et Pauli;
  
• Passio sancte Ursule et XI. M. virginum;
  
• Sermones et visiones cujusdam Elysabeth.
  [Incipit:] "Sermo Elizabet de undecim milibus virginum aliisque martiribus passis inter eas Colonie: Vobis qui pios affectus ad ea quae sancta sunt geritis, ego Elysabeth famula ancillarum Domini quae sunt in Sconaugia, etc...." [Edition: Elisabeth von Schönau, Liber revelationum Elisabeth de sacro exercito, in: Die Visionen der hl. Elisabeth und die Schriften der Aebte Ekbert und Emecho von Schönau, ed. F. W. E. Roth, Brunn: Verlag der Studien aus dem Benedictiner- und Cistercienser-Orden, 1884, I, p. 123. Engl. translation and emendations: The Complete Works of Elisabeth of Schönau, trans. Anne L. Clark, New York: Paulist Press, 2000.]
• Vita sancti Godehardi;
  
• Vita sancti Paponis, abbatis.
  [Desinit:] "... ad amorem sui conparant ita."

Physical description: ^

Vellum. Folio. 107 foll. double cols. 48 lines.

[Quote from Catalogue général, p. 176.:] Relié parchemin blanc. Nervures. Tranche rognée. Vélin jaune, gratté; tracé au crayon. Deux colonnes. Rubriques en onciales. Grandes lettres au vermillon et à l'outremer, ornées dans le style roman.

History: ^

[Quote from Bieler's introduction, pp. 8f]

Written in continental minuscule, saec. XII⁵, almost certainly in Northern FranceAmong the saints represented are Fursa, Amandus, Medardus, Remigius; the legend of St Remigius is placed between those of St Hilary (Jan. 13) and St Maur (Jan. 15), in accordance with the ecclesiastical calendar of Northern France, where the feast of St Remigius fell in the middle of January, not, as elsewhere in the Roman Church, on October 1. — The appendix contains a Vita s. Godehardi — probably a life of Godehard, bp. bishop of Hildesheim (d. 1028), who was canonized by Innocent II at the synod of Reims in 1132., but not necessarily at or for Saint-Vaast.

Bibliography: ^

• Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques des départements: Arras, Avranches, Boulogne. France, Ministère de l'éducation nationale 1872 (= Dep. 4° IV), p. 176, online version: http://www.archive.org/stream/cataloguegnrald03natigoog#page/n200/mode/1up
• cf. Daniel Papebroch, Acta Sanctorum Martii II, col. 0519E.
• N.P.D. White, The Latin writings ..., in: Proceedings of the RIA 25 C (1905), p. 203-205
• L. Bieler, Codices Patriciani Latini (1942), p. 3
• L. Bieler, Addenda et corrigenda (1945), p. 244
• L. Bieler, Introduction (1950), p. 8f. and p. 17f
• cf. L. Bieler, Libri Epistolarum Sancti Patricii Episcopi: Addenda (1966), p. 313.

Footnotes

Search results