F-t273: Caesarius of Arles, Sermo 144 (In letaniis, De agenda paenitentia et Ninevitis), complete
The sermon on penitence that stands between the two identified texts on this homiliary leaf is Sermo 144 in Germain Morin's edition of Caesarius of Arles, a sermon for the Litanies (the penitential processions before Ascension and on 25 April) on the penance of the Ninevites, beginning Evangelica lectio, fratres carissimi, dum legeretur, audivimus: Paenitentiam, inquit, agite. The leaf has the whole sermon, from its opening on the recto to its closing doxology on the verso. Morin held that most of it was taken from an older source, now unknown, and reworked by Caesarius; the leaf itself names no author, heading the sermon only Item unde supra ("another on the same subject").
The catalogue record describes Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, MS Typ 704 (18): one parchment leaf of a homiliary (a book of sermons arranged for the church year), Italy, twelfth century (1101-1200), Carolingian minuscule, two columns of 46 lines, written area 43 x 26 cm, two six-line white-vine initials. The description fits the images. It already identified the end of Maximus of Turin, Homilia XC De poenitentia et jejuniis Ninivitarum on the recto and the beginning of Gregory the Great's sermon De mortalitate on the verso, and called the text between them "an unidentified sermon on penitence". Only that middle sermon is new here. The record cites the two known texts as "PG 57" and "PG 76"; the column numbers it gives belong to volumes 57 and 76 of the Latin series, the Patrologia Latina.
- Identification: identified, high confidence. The leaf's text agrees with Morin's Sermo 144 from the first word to the doxology, through all four sections in the same order, with 33 small differences of wording and no added or displaced matter. It is the sermon itself, set off by its own rubric, initial and doxology, not an extract inside another work. The same text was printed under Augustine's name by Caillau in 1836 from a Monte Cassino manuscript and by Liverani in 1863 from Roman and Florentine manuscripts; those are other printings of this sermon, not rival works. A homily of Hrabanus Maurus reuses the Nineveh passage in different words and is not the leaf's text. The leaf's wording is that of the homiliary transmission, not of Morin's main text: for example qui est cognitor ... et ut arbitror omnium esse constat causarum where Morin prints quem cognitorem ... et arbitrum omnium constat esse causarum, and a shorter ending, inculpabilis nemo est et immunis a reatu, where Morin has inculpabilis nemo est: differentia quidem inter eos est, sed nemo est inmunis a reatu.
- Transcription: image-only first reading of every line, partly reread. The image-only first reading covers both columns of both faces. The source-assisted reading gives the lines a research reader reread on native-size crops with the edition in hand: recto column a, lines 14-24 and 34-46; verso column a, lines 34-46; verso column b, lines 1-21. One reading was changed there (exuit for a doubtful exiit). Recto column a, lines 25-33, recto column b and verso column a, lines 1-33, rest on the first reading alone. The first reading's statement of 39 lines a column is a miscount; its own line list gives 46. Accuracy has not been measured.
- Verification: manuscript images against printed texts, partly on page images. A research reader compared the whole sermon with the text of Morin's edition as reprinted in the Patrologia Latina Supplementum, vol. 4, cols. 397-400, in a machine-read (OCR) copy, and compared the sermon from its opening to Nullum enim malum facilius with page images of Caillau's 1836 printing, pp. 324-326. The coordinator read the opening on the image of the recto (native box about 440,2080,2020,3580: Euangelica lectio fratres karissimi dum legeretur audiuimus. Penitentiam inquit agite appropinquauit enim regnum celorum. Regnum celorum Christus est, qui est cognitor bonorum ac malorum et ut arbitror omnium esse constat causarum. Preueniamus itaque deo in confessione peccati et ante iudicium omnes anime castigemus errores) and compared it with the research reader's quotation of the printed text; separately the coordinator read Caillau p. 325 on its page image (https://archive.org/details/collectioselecta0023unse/page/n333/mode/1up), where the passage Maluit enim in cilicio evadere, quam in purpuris deperire and the note on the reading Ninivitici stand as reported, without rereading that passage on the leaf. Caillau p. 324 was not seen by the coordinator. Gaps: no page image of Morin's edition or of its reprints was read, and Morin's introduction and apparatus (the list of variant readings under his text) were seen only as search snippets; Liverani's printing was seen only as snippets; the end of the sermon was not read on any page image; no other manuscript of the sermon was compared. No human review.
Textual evidence
The leaf is shown on two images: canvas 0, labelled recto (image, 4384 x 5777 pixels), and canvas 1, labelled verso (image, 4346 x 5717 pixels). The sermon runs from recto column a, line 15 (the red rubric) to verso column b, line 21. Passages reread: canvas 0, native boxes 480,1850,2050,2900 and 480,3950,2050,5350; canvas 1, native boxes 700,3900,2500,5400 and 2250,400,4050,2700.
Abbreviations are expanded silently in the table; the source column is Morin's text as reprinted in the Supplementum.
| Place | Manuscript | Morin, Sermo 144 |
|---|---|---|
| recto a 15-24 | ITEM UNDE SUPRA. Euangelica lectio fratres karissimi dum legeretur audiuimus. Penitentiam inquit agite, appropinquauit enim regnum celorum. Regnum celorum Christus est, qui est cognitor bonorum ac malorum et ut arbitror omnium esse constat causarum. Preueniamus itaque deo in confessione peccati | Evangelica lectio, fratres carissimi, dum legeretur, audivimus: Paenitentiam, inquid, agite, adpropinquavit enim regnum caelorum. Regnum caelorum Christus est, quem cognitorem bonorum ac malorum et arbitrum omnium constat esse causarum. Praeveniamus itaque deum in confessione peccati |
| recto a 36-46 | Nam ideo semper iustus iudex admonitionem premittit, nequandoque ius seueritatis exerceat. Non abre est dilectissimi quod a nobis deus noster fontes exuit lacrimarum, ut quod neglegentia perdidit penitentia reparet. Scit enim deus noster non semper hominem in integro stare consilio sed frequenter peccare corpore aut uacillare sermone. Ideo penitentie uiam docuit per quam possit et destructa corrigere et lapsa | nam ideo semper iustus iudex ammonitionem praemittit, ne quando quidem ius severitatis exerceat. Non abs re est, dilectissimi, quod a nobis deus noster fontes exigit lacrimarum; ut, quod neglegentia perdidit, paenitentia reparet. Scit enim deus noster non semper hominem integro stare consilio: frequenter peccare corpore, aut vacillare sermone; ideo paenitentiae viam docuit, per quam possit et destructa corrigere, et lapsa [reparare] |
| verso a 42-46 | Nullum enim malum facilius decipit quam cum non intellegitur malum esse. Itaque ego nunc dico de homicidiis, non de adulteriis, non de malis persuasionibus. Absit enim ut christianorum haec aliquis | Nullum enim malum facilius decipit, quam quod non intellegitur malum esse. Itaque ego nunc non dico de homicidiis, non de adulteriis, non de malis suasionibus: absit enim, ut Christianorum haec aliquis |
| verso b 4-9 | Quis autem uestrum est dilectissimi quem uel hebrietas non polluerit, uel ambitio non rapuerit, uel inuidia non excusserit, uel cupiditas non incenderit, uel auaritia non uulnerauerit | Quis autem vestrum est, dilectissimi, quem vel ebrietas non polluerit, vel ambitio non rapuerit, vel invidia non exusserit, vel cupiditas non incenderit, vel avaritia non vulneraverit? |
| verso b 13-21 | quia hoc ipso quis nocens est si se innocentem esse presumat. Potest quis culpe minoris esse, sed inculpabilis nemo est et immunis a reatu. Et ideo dilectissimi qui grauius offenderunt fidelius ueniam petant, qui autem a malis acerbioribus impolluti sunt orent ne polluantur, prestante domino nostro Iesu Christo qui cum patre et spiritu sancto uiuit et regnat in secula seculorum. Amen. | quia hoc ipso quis nocens est, si se innocentem esse praesumserit. Potest quis culpae minoris esse, sed inculpabilis nemo est: differentia quidem inter eos est, sed nemo est inmunis a reatu. Et ideo, dilectissimi, qui gravius offenderunt, fidelius veniam petant; qui autem a malis acerbioribus inpolluti sunt, orent ne polluantur: praestante domino nostro Iesu Christo, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen. |
Differences. Across the whole sermon the leaf differs from Morin's text at 33 places, none affecting the order or the argument. Besides those in the table: si nesciat for si nescias; Agnoscite fratres dilectissimi (Morin without fratres); libenter impendere for inpendit; per auaritiam maculat aliena paupertas for accusat; difficiliores for difficiles; At uerbum uenit ad regem for Et verbum pervenit; in purpuris deperire for in purpura perire; niniuiticum regnum for Ninevitarum regnum; Clamabant paruuli ut seniores non perirent for clamabat parvulus, ut senior non periret; Si enim for Si etiam; Beatus ille; Audite Iohannem for Audi de hoc Iohannem; non intelligi peccata for non intellegere; haec periculosiora quidem quae leuia for hoc periculosiora quaedam, quia leviora. Two are plain slips of this copy or its model: exuit for exigit, and nunc dico without the first non. Several of the others are readings that the snippets of Morin's apparatus report from homiliary manuscripts and from the two earlier printings (ut arbitror, purpuris deperire, impendere, maculat, persuasionibus, in integro). On Caillau's pages the leaf shares qui est cognitor, Deo, impendere, maculat, sanare, purpuris deperire and Beatus ille with his text, and ut arbitror, Ninivitici and eum with the readings he reports from his manuscript and rejects; it differs from him in some twenty places and has two clauses his text lacks (alterum dehonestat damnosa luxuria, unum deturpat ebrietas and Illi clamabant postquam offenderant, nos clamemus ne offendamus). Snippets of Liverani's printing share with the leaf ut arbitror, si nesciat, Clamabant parvuli, ut seniores non perirent, Audite Joannem and the short ending inculpabilis nemo est, nemo immunis a reatu, and differ in other places (Praeveniamus itaque Dominum, comprobaret, ad Deum). Since Liverani printed from Roman and Florentine manuscripts, these agreements are a lead towards that Italian transmission and nothing more; they do not show what the leaf was copied from.
Sources. Morin's text: G. Morin, Sancti Caesarii episcopi Arelatensis Opera omnia I (Maredsous, 1937), pp. 562-564, read in the reprint in Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum 4, cols. 397-400, as the OCR text of the archive.org copy. Page images: A. B. Caillau and M. N. S. Guillon, Collectio selecta SS. Ecclesiae Patrum 23 (Paris, 1836), where the sermon is Sermo LXV De poenitentia among sermons printed as Augustine's, p. 324, p. 325 and p. 326. Snippets only: F. Liverani, Spicilegium Liberianum (Florence, 1863), pp. 25-26. Attribution: Morin prints the sermon among those of Caesarius, as no. XLVI, Item in letaniis, of the collection of his sermons that Morin calls G. His headnote says that it appears in manuscripts sometimes under the names of Leo or Bede, that by far the greater part was drawn from an unknown source, and that the hand of the compiler, whom he takes to be Caesarius, shows in several places. Caillau printed it as Augustine's on the strength of his manuscript, noting a copy in the Laurentian library without a name. "Caesarius of Arles, Sermo 144" therefore names the sermon as Caesarius issued it, with an older source behind it.
Leaf order and limits
The catalogue's recto and verso are in the right order: the text runs recto column a, column b, verso column a, column b without a break. Recto column a, lines 1-14, are the end of the Maximus sermon (... ut hostes nostros orationibus et abstinentia superare possimus), and verso column b from line 22 has the rubric Sermo sancti Gregorii pape de mortalitate and the opening of Gregory's sermon (Oportet fratres karissimi ut flagella dei), both as the catalogue says; neither was collated here. All three pieces concern penance under threat of divine punishment, and library catalogues list the Maximus sermon and this one together in Litany sections of several homiliaries, but with a third sermon, Scire debemus et intellegere, between them, and none with Gregory's sermon following directly. No described homiliary with exactly the leaf's sequence was found, so the type of homiliary the leaf comes from is not established.
Not claimed: the date or origin of the leaf beyond the catalogue's, the family or model of its text, any independent value of its readings, the identity of the older source behind the sermon, or that the identification is new to scholarship outside the catalogue record.