Homiliarium
Encyclopedia
A homiliarium is a collection of homilies
, or familiar explanations of the Gospels.
(see also Breviary
). That the custom was as old as the sixth century we know since St. Gregory the Great refers to it, and St. Benedict mentions it in his rule (Pierre Batiffol
, History of the Roman Breviary, 107). This was particularly true of the homilies of pope St. Leo I, very terse and peculiarly suited to liturgical purposes.
As new feasts were added to the Office, the demand for homilies became greater and by the eighth century, the century of liturgical codification, collections of homilies began to appear (Batiffol, op. cit., 108). Such a collection was called a homiliarium, or homiliarius (i.e. liber) doctorum. In the early Middle Ages numerous collections of homilies were made for purposes of preaching.
Many homiliaria have come down to us, and there are medieval references to many others. Mabillon (De Liturgia Gallicana) mentions a very old Gallican homiliarium. In a manuscript of the eighth century we find reference to a homiliarium by Agimundus, a Roman priest. The Venerable Bede compiled one in England. In the episcopal library at Würzburg
there is preserved a homiliarium by Bishop Burchard, a companion of St. Boniface. Alanus, Abbot of Farfa (770), compiled a large homiliarium, which must have been often copied, for it has reached us in several manuscripts. In the first half of the ninth century Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
compiled from the Fathers a book of homilies on the Gospels and Epistles for the whole year. Haymo, a monk of Fulda
and disciple of Alcuin
, afterwards Bishop of Halberstadt (841), made a collection for Sundays and feasts of the saints (Trithemius in Lingard, II, 313, note). Rabanus Maurus
, another pupil of Alcuin, and Eric of Auxerre compiled each a collection of homilies. All these wrote in Latin.
Perhaps the most famous homiliarium is that of Paul Warnefrid, better known as Paul the Deacon
, a monk of Monte Cassino
. It was made by order of Charlemagne
, and has been greatly misrepresented in recent times. Mosheim (Eccl. Hist., II, p. 471, London, 1845) and Neander (V, 174), followed by various encyclopedias and many Protestant writers, assert that the Emperor had it compiled in order that the ignorant and slothful clergy might at least recite to the people the Gospels and Epistles on Sundays and holidays. As a matter of fact, this particular collection was not made for pulpit use but for the recitation of the Breviary
, as even a cursory reading of the royal decree would at once show. Its liturgical character is corroborated by the fact that copies were made only for such churches as were wont to recite the Office in choir. Manuscript copies of this homiliarium are found at Heidelberg
, Frankfurt
, Darmstadt
, Fulda
, Gießen
and Kassel
. The manuscript mentioned by Mabillon, and rediscovered by Ranke, in Karlsruhe
, is older than the tenth century Monte Cassino copy. The earliest printed edition is that of Speyer
in 1482. In the Cologne
edition (sixteenth century) the authorship is ascribed to Alcuin
, but the royal decree alluded to leaves no doubt as to the purpose or author; Alcuin may have revised it. Though not intended expressly for preachers, the homiliarium of Charlemagne no doubt exercised an indirect influence on the pulpit, and as late as the fifteenth or sixteenth century served for homiletic purposes.
During the English Reformation
, Thomas Cranmer
and others saw the need for local congregations to be taught Anglican theology
and practice. Since many priest
s and deacon
s were still uneducated, semi-literate and tending toward Roman Catholicism
in their teachings and activities, it was decided to create a series of homilies to be read out during the church service
by the local Priest.
The First book of Homilies contained twelve sermons and was written mainly by Cranmer. They focused strongly upon the character of God
and Justification by Faith and were fully published by 1547.
The Second book of Homilies contained twenty-one sermons and was written mainly by Bishop
John Jewel
, and were fully published by 1571. These were more practical in their application and focused more on living the Christian
life.
The reading of the Homilies as part of the church service was supported by Article XXXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles
.
translated into Anglo-Saxon the homilies of Venerable Bede, and for the clergy the "Regula Pastoralis" of St. Gregory the Great. Ælfric
selected and translated into the same language passages from St. Augustine of Hippo
, St. Jerome, Bede, St. Gregory, Smaragdus and occasionally from Haymo
. His aim was to work the extracts into a whole, and thus present them in an easy and intelligible style (Lingard, II, 313). These translations held a prominent place in early English literature. The first German translation of this kind was due to Ottfried of Weißenburg.
Collections of the homilies of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers will be found in Migne's "Patrology". An account of the editions of their works, homilies included, is in Otto Bardenhewer
's Patrology (tr. Thomas J. Shahan, St. Louis, 1908). The Irish homilies that have come down to us are found principally in "The Speckled Book" (Leabhar Breac), which is written partly in Latin and partly in Irish (see extract "Passions and Homilies", ed. Atkinson, Dublin, 1887). It is largely taken up with homilies and passions, lives of the saints etc. The "Book of Ballymote" contains, amongst miscellaneous subjects, Biblical and hagiological matter; and the "Book of Lismore
" contains lives of the saints under the form of homilies (see Hull, "Text Book of Irish Literature", appendix).
The binding and illumination of gospels and homiliaria were both elaborate and artistic. They were frequently deposited in a highly wrought casket (Arca Testamenti), which in Ireland was called cumdach (shrine). Emperor Constantine the Great presented a text of the Gospels with costly binding to the church of St. John Lateran; and Queen Theodolinda made a similar presentation to the church at Monza
(Kraus, "Geschichte der Christlichen Kunst", I, 528).
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...
, or familiar explanations of the Gospels.
History
From a very early time the homilies of the Fathers were in high esteem, and were read in connection with the recitation of the Divine OfficeLiturgy of the hours
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited at the canonical hours by the clergy, religious orders, and laity. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns and readings...
(see also Breviary
Breviary
A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office...
). That the custom was as old as the sixth century we know since St. Gregory the Great refers to it, and St. Benedict mentions it in his rule (Pierre Batiffol
Pierre Batiffol
Pierre Batiffol was a prominent French catholic priest and Church historian, known particularly as a historian of dogma....
, History of the Roman Breviary, 107). This was particularly true of the homilies of pope St. Leo I, very terse and peculiarly suited to liturgical purposes.
As new feasts were added to the Office, the demand for homilies became greater and by the eighth century, the century of liturgical codification, collections of homilies began to appear (Batiffol, op. cit., 108). Such a collection was called a homiliarium, or homiliarius (i.e. liber) doctorum. In the early Middle Ages numerous collections of homilies were made for purposes of preaching.
Many homiliaria have come down to us, and there are medieval references to many others. Mabillon (De Liturgia Gallicana) mentions a very old Gallican homiliarium. In a manuscript of the eighth century we find reference to a homiliarium by Agimundus, a Roman priest. The Venerable Bede compiled one in England. In the episcopal library at Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
there is preserved a homiliarium by Bishop Burchard, a companion of St. Boniface. Alanus, Abbot of Farfa (770), compiled a large homiliarium, which must have been often copied, for it has reached us in several manuscripts. In the first half of the ninth century Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel was a Benedictine monk of St Mihiel Abbey, near Verdun. He was a significant writer of homilies, and on the Rule of St Benedict.-Life:...
compiled from the Fathers a book of homilies on the Gospels and Epistles for the whole year. Haymo, a monk of Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
and disciple of Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
, afterwards Bishop of Halberstadt (841), made a collection for Sundays and feasts of the saints (Trithemius in Lingard, II, 313, note). Rabanus Maurus
Rabanus Maurus
Rabanus Maurus Magnentius , also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis . He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible...
, another pupil of Alcuin, and Eric of Auxerre compiled each a collection of homilies. All these wrote in Latin.
Perhaps the most famous homiliarium is that of Paul Warnefrid, better known as Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon
Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...
, a monk of Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...
. It was made by order of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, and has been greatly misrepresented in recent times. Mosheim (Eccl. Hist., II, p. 471, London, 1845) and Neander (V, 174), followed by various encyclopedias and many Protestant writers, assert that the Emperor had it compiled in order that the ignorant and slothful clergy might at least recite to the people the Gospels and Epistles on Sundays and holidays. As a matter of fact, this particular collection was not made for pulpit use but for the recitation of the Breviary
Breviary
A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office...
, as even a cursory reading of the royal decree would at once show. Its liturgical character is corroborated by the fact that copies were made only for such churches as were wont to recite the Office in choir. Manuscript copies of this homiliarium are found at Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
, Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
and Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
. The manuscript mentioned by Mabillon, and rediscovered by Ranke, in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, is older than the tenth century Monte Cassino copy. The earliest printed edition is that of Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
in 1482. In the Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
edition (sixteenth century) the authorship is ascribed to Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
, but the royal decree alluded to leaves no doubt as to the purpose or author; Alcuin may have revised it. Though not intended expressly for preachers, the homiliarium of Charlemagne no doubt exercised an indirect influence on the pulpit, and as late as the fifteenth or sixteenth century served for homiletic purposes.
Anglican homiliaria
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
and others saw the need for local congregations to be taught Anglican theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and practice. Since many priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s and deacon
Deacon
Deacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
s were still uneducated, semi-literate and tending toward Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in their teachings and activities, it was decided to create a series of homilies to be read out during the church service
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
by the local Priest.
The First book of Homilies contained twelve sermons and was written mainly by Cranmer. They focused strongly upon the character of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and Justification by Faith and were fully published by 1547.
The Second book of Homilies contained twenty-one sermons and was written mainly by Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
John Jewel
John Jewel
John Jewel was an English bishop of Salisbury.-Life:He was the son of John Jewel of Buden, Devon, was educated under his uncle John Bellamy, rector of Hampton, and other private tutors until his matriculation at Merton College, Oxford, in July 1535.There he was taught by John Parkhurst,...
, and were fully published by 1571. These were more practical in their application and focused more on living the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
life.
The reading of the Homilies as part of the church service was supported by Article XXXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles
Thirty-Nine Articles
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...
.
Translations and collections
Translations of homilies were frequently ordered by the Church, and became common. Alfred the GreatAlfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
translated into Anglo-Saxon the homilies of Venerable Bede, and for the clergy the "Regula Pastoralis" of St. Gregory the Great. Ælfric
Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham was an English abbot, as well as a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian , Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist...
selected and translated into the same language passages from St. Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
, St. Jerome, Bede, St. Gregory, Smaragdus and occasionally from Haymo
Haymo
Haymo was a German Benedictine monk who served as bishop of Halberstadt, and was a noted author.-Biography:The exact date and place of his birth are unknown. Haymo entered the Order of St. Benedict at Fulda as a youth, where the celebrated Rabanus Maurus was one of his fellow-students. He went...
. His aim was to work the extracts into a whole, and thus present them in an easy and intelligible style (Lingard, II, 313). These translations held a prominent place in early English literature. The first German translation of this kind was due to Ottfried of Weißenburg.
Collections of the homilies of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers will be found in Migne's "Patrology". An account of the editions of their works, homilies included, is in Otto Bardenhewer
Otto Bardenhewer
Bertram Otto Bardenhewer was a German Catholic patrologist. His Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur is a standard work, re-issued in 2008...
's Patrology (tr. Thomas J. Shahan, St. Louis, 1908). The Irish homilies that have come down to us are found principally in "The Speckled Book" (Leabhar Breac), which is written partly in Latin and partly in Irish (see extract "Passions and Homilies", ed. Atkinson, Dublin, 1887). It is largely taken up with homilies and passions, lives of the saints etc. The "Book of Ballymote" contains, amongst miscellaneous subjects, Biblical and hagiological matter; and the "Book of Lismore
Book of Lismore
The Book of Lismore is a Medieval Irish manuscript.-Overview:The Book of Lismore is an Irish vellum manuscript, compiled in early 15th century, Lismore, Ireland. Its original name was Leabhar Mhic Cárthaigh Riabhaigh...
" contains lives of the saints under the form of homilies (see Hull, "Text Book of Irish Literature", appendix).
The binding and illumination of gospels and homiliaria were both elaborate and artistic. They were frequently deposited in a highly wrought casket (Arca Testamenti), which in Ireland was called cumdach (shrine). Emperor Constantine the Great presented a text of the Gospels with costly binding to the church of St. John Lateran; and Queen Theodolinda made a similar presentation to the church at Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
(Kraus, "Geschichte der Christlichen Kunst", I, 528).