{"id":7126,"date":"2021-01-08T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=7126"},"modified":"2021-01-14T19:41:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T00:41:28","slug":"ambrosiana-ms-b44-inferiore-and-an-easter-homily-of-maximus-of-turin-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2021\/01\/08\/ambrosiana-ms-b44-inferiore-and-an-easter-homily-of-maximus-of-turin-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambrosiana MS B44 Inferiore and an Easter Homily of Maximus of Turin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


MS B44 Inferiore of Milan\u2019s Ambrosiana Library is an unstudied aestivial (summer season) homiliary from the thirteenth century. It is an exceptionally large manuscript, measuring approximately 40cm by 30cm. An eighteenth-century librarian of the Ambrosiana marked it as a homiliary of the \u201cAmbrosian rite,\u201d which is not a description meaningful for ascertaining the paradigms on which the homiliary\u2019s structure is based. The invocation of the \u201cAmbrosian rite\u201d does, however, point to peculiarities in the Lombard region\u2019s liturgical calendar which B44 might reflect. The homiliary\u2019s reflection of local liturgical traditions could best be judged through a study of its \u201csanctorum\u201d portion; this, however, was not the focus of my time with the manuscript. Despite its large size and length, the homiliary only spans the summer part of the liturgical year. Its de tempore <\/em>section begins with the Easter Vigil and ends with the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin. The Feast of Mary\u2019s Nativity was locally important since the Milanese Duomo was dedicated, from at least the eleventh century, to the Blessed Virgin\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            To familiarize myself with the manuscript\u2019s structure and homiletic content, I surveyed the sermons it included for the Easter season (1v-52r), noting sermon incipits from Easter until Pentecost. Though for the sanctorale <\/em>section, there are a wide variety of authors, the Easter de tempore <\/em>section largely consists of homilies from Sts. Ambrose, Bede, Gregory, and Augustine. The sermon choices are, however, eclectic, and do not match the arrangement of the paradigmatic homiliaries summarized by R\u00e9ginald Gr\u00e9goire in his still-unsurpassed Hom\u00e9liaires Liturgiques M\u00e9di\u00e9vaux.<\/em> In short, MS Inf. B44\u2019s Easter sermons do not match those included in the Roman and Toledan homiliaries, nor those in the collections of Pseudo-Fulgencius, Paul the Deacon, or Romain d\u2019Agimond. As far as contemporary homiletic developments go, Inf. B44 also is far removed from the pocket-manuscript homiliaries popular among the mobile mendicants; more generally, the patristic collection of Easter homilies here does not reflect high medieval developments in preaching. No \u201cscholastic\u201d sermons based around themae <\/em>are included, nor is there any trace of the politically and socially-charged \u201cactivist\u201d preaching of mendicants like Giordano da Pisa (1255-1311) or Remigio de Girolami (d. 1319). In short, though Inf. B44 compiles an eclectic set of sermons, it is a conservative exemplar of the homiliary genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The description of the eighteenth-century Ambrosiana librarian on the manuscript\u2019s first folio also notes that B44 Inf. was acquired for the Ambrosiana in the seventeenth century, when it was removed from Milan\u2019s cathedral. It is unknown if the homiliary had been a possession of the cathedral from the outset, and, if not, why or when it was moved to the cathedral. Judging by the highly moralizing and interior-focused content of the Easter sermons, it is possible that the homiliary had been used by the cathedral canons or a northern Italian monastic community. From its large size, it seems the homiliary likely would have stayed in one place, for use in private mediation or as an aid for the composition of monastic sermons. If we seek a more specific paradigm, it should be noted that B44 Inf. shares basic similarities with high-medieval Cistercian homiliaries copied in northern Italian and Burgundian monasteries, such as the house of Morimondo near Milan. These Cistercian homiliaries were usually fairly large, written in twelfth-century miniscule, and included sermons of Augustine, Bede, Ambrose, and Gregory\u2014all characteristics that B44 Inf. shares.[1]<\/a> However, further study of the Cistercian homiliaries of northern Italy is necessary to ascertain whether these and our manuscript conform to a common paradigm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
Saint Maximus of Turin<\/em>, Anonymous (Italian, Piedmontese), Carte Sciolte, n. 390, Archivio Storico della Citt\u00e0, Turin, from Codice degli Statuti di Torino o <\/em>“Codice della Catena<\/em>,” 1360.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            Particularly interesting among Inf. B44\u2019s Easter sermons is the second entry for the fifth day after Easter, located between ff. 16v and 17v. This homily, misattributed in the manuscript to St. Ambrose (probably as a result of local enthusiasm for that venerable bishop), is actually a probable composition of St. Maximus of Turin, and its main theme\u2014defending oneself from lustful temptations\u2014coheres well with the manuscript\u2019s probable monastic origin. However, how the sermon conveys this theme is in no way typical, as it does so by extended engagement with the story of Ulysses and the Sirens. Though in Late Antiquity, scientific exegesis of Greek mythology was very common in neo-Platonic circles, Christocentric engagement with a mythological text is a rare phenomenon, even within Maximus\u2019 own homiletic corpus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            To provide a brief analysis of the sermon: Maximus begins by recalling the passage of Ulysses\u2019 ship past the isle of the Sirens, whose lusty song is irresistible to the sailors. Because Ulysses knows that the ship will be lost if it is captured by the siren song, he ties himself to the mast. For Maximus, the mast and the ship to which the sailors cling are figures of the cross of Christ, on which all sin is expiated. Maximus soon moves from the example of Ulysses\u2014whose story he calls \u201cfictive and not factual\u201d\u2014to Moses\u2019 healing of his people by means of a snake affixed to a staff. Unlike the Ulysses example, the history of the Jewish people is factual, and so truly <\/em>prefigures Christ\u2019s sacrifice. It can be argued that Maximus\u2019 Christocentric interpretation of Ulysses\u2019 binding to the mast is inspired by Christian exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures, the methods of which Maximus then applies to Greek myth. There is, after all, a strong exegetical tradition, beginning already with the second century Christian apologist Justin Martyr, which sees ships\u2014specifically Noah\u2019s ark\u2014as a figure of the cross. From there, the paradigm might be easily transferred even to the ships of Greek myth. But transference is not all that Maximus is doing, notwithstanding his curt dismissal of Ulysses\u2019 story. For later in the sermon Maximus encapsulates salvation-history thus: \u201cFittingly is he crucified on wood so that, since man was deceived in paradise by the tree of desire, he might now be saved by the same tree of wood; and the matter which was the cause of death might be the remedy of health.\u201d In Maximus\u2019 thought, nature itself\u2014here instantiated in wood\u2014constitutes the means of salvation, providing remedies for the bodily weakness of humankind. Since Ulysses\u2019 salvation came directly through divinely-created nature, his tale is not just some forgettable fable. In this conception, however subtly stated, pagans and non-Christians are not outside the economy of salvation, for they, too, exist within a grace-filled nature which can proffer the remedies for their ailments.

For my transcription, translation and recitations (in Modern English and Latin), see my multimedia edition of Maximus of Turin’s homily<\/a> for the fifth day after Easter in Ambrosiana MS B44 Inferiore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mihow McKenny
PhD Candidate in History
University of Notre Dame<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Mirella Ferrari, \u201cDopo Bernardo: biblioteche e \u2018scriptoria\u2019 cisterciensi dell\u2019Italia settentrionale nel XII secolo,\u201d in Pietro Zerbi, ed., San Bernardo e l\u2019Italia<\/em>. Milan, 1993, pp. 253-306.

\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Avray, D. L. The Preaching of the Friars: Sermons Diffused from Paris before 1300<\/em>. Oxford: Clarendon, 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Lubac, Henri. Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture<\/em>. 3 volumes. Translated by Mark Sebanc and E. M. Macierowski. Eerdmans, 1998-2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferrari, Mirella. \u201cDopo Bernardo: biblioteche e \u2018scriptoria\u2019 cisterciensi dell\u2019Italia settentrionale nel XII secolo.\u201d In Pietro Zerbi, ed., San Bernardo e l\u2019Italia<\/em>. Milan, 1993, pp. 253-306.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gr\u00e9goire, R\u00e9ginald. Hom\u00e9liaires liturgiques m\u00e9di\u00e9vaux : analyse de manuscrits<\/em>. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’Alto Medioevo, 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long\u00e8re, Jean. La Pr\u00e9dication M\u00e9di\u00e9vale<\/em>. Paris: \u00c9tudes Augustiniennes, 1983.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximus of Turin. Maximi episcopi taurinensis sermones<\/em>.Edited by A. Mutzenbecher. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, vol. 23. <\/em>Turnhout: Brepols, 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahner, Hugo, S.J. Greek Myths and Christian Mystery<\/em>. Translated by Brian Battershaw. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MS B44 Inferiore of Milan\u2019s Ambrosiana Library is an unstudied aestivial (summer season) homiliary from the thirteenth century. It is an exceptionally large manuscript, measuring approximately 40cm by 30cm. An eighteenth-century librarian of the Ambrosiana marked it as a homiliary of the \u201cAmbrosian rite,\u201d which is not a description meaningful for ascertaining the paradigms on … <\/p>\n

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