Undusted Texts

 For ease of reading, I have consolidated three prior posts from Jean Gerson ( Letters on the Espousals of Mary and Joseph , Office of the Espousals , and Matins Readings for the Espousals ) into a single PDF.       Direct Download  

For more details on Jean Gerson's idea for a Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph, to be hold on the Thursday between the Third and Fourth Sundays of Advent, see my recent post , quoting some of his letters.  For the other texts of the Office Gerson wrote for this proposed feast, see this older post .  What I translate here are the Matins readings Gerson wrote for this office.   In the Tridentine Divine Office, the Office of Matins was generally equivalent to the modern Office of Readings; however, while the Office of Readings can be read at any time of day, Matins was a midnight office (though its name means "morning").  The traditional arrangement of readings was three groups (Nocturns), each consisting of three readings.  For a normal day, these would consist Psalms or portions of Psalms; on feast days, or during certain liturgical seasons, some or all of these Psalms would be replaced by other readings (maybe Epistles; maybe lives of the saints; ma...

  Wedding of Joseph and Mary, from St. John the Baptist Basilica in Berlin, Germany    Earlier this year, I translated the main text of an Office that Jean Gerson (1363-1429) composed for a Feast of the Espousals of Mary and Joseph. Here, I summarize two letters he wrote promoting such a feast.    Letter of August 13-17, 1400 In this letter, Jean Gerson discusses his proposal for a Feast of the Marriage ( conjugium ) of Mary and Joseph: " It has pleased divine wisdom (who reaches from end to end strongly, disposes all things sweetly (Wis 8:1)) to, in these last times, incline the hearts of many to teach that the virginal (so Jerome calls it) marriage of the just Joseph and Mary should be venerated with the solemn cult of the Church, and to promote its devotion.They are moved (so I deem) by the Gospel’s word, excellently and often preaching the prerogatives with which that just Joseph shone. They are moved by the honor and love of his most blessed wife, who ca...

Dante's Divine Comedy quickly attracted commentaries on its intricacies, beginning with Dante himself (in his Epistle to Can Grande , often labelled Epistle XIII).  The earliest commentary was by Dante's son Jacopo (1285-1348), in Italian; a Latin commentary was later written by another son, Pietro (d. 1364). Pietro kept revising his commentary throughout his life, becoming a miniature of the Renaissance, in a way.  The earliest version—out of the three distinct ones that have been preserved—is rich in Patristic and theological references; as time went on, these references gave way to classical references, as the burgeoning Renaissance spurred an increase in studies of and love for the classics.   In 2002, Massimiliano Chiamenti edited the third version of Pietro's Commentary ; from that edition, I have translated the introduction, which serves as both an introduction to the whole Comedy as well as to the Inferno in particular. Academia.edu Direct Download

Claudius of Turin (d. 827) was an iconoclastic bishop during the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious.  Besides a Chronicle of world history, all of Claudius' works were biblical commentaries, his most important being a long Commentary on Genesis and his two Commentaries on 1 and 2 Corinthians, in which he most thoroughly expressed his iconoclastic views, as well as his views denigrating papal supremacy.   The Commentary on Philemon is one of a number of texts unearthed by Cardinal Angelo Mai (1782-1854) through analyzing he original text of palimpsests (manuscripts which had been erased and reused, but which still bore traces of their original writing).   Due to the length of this work, I have uploaded it as a paper on Academia.edu rather than posting the full text here; once the Internet Archive is back up and running, I will upload a copy there as well.   Direct Download

Introduction Whatever Biblical commentaries St. Gregory wrote were vastly overshadowed by his historical works, particularly the History of the Franks .  His other works (whether authentic or attributed) include lives and collections of miracles of various saints (including St. Martin of Tours, former occupant of his episcopal seat).  The fragments below seem to be all that remains of Gregory's strictly theological (and not historical or hagiographical) writings. The main fragments included here are less a commentary on the Psalms themselves, and more a "commentary on the inscriptions of the Psalms," which is a separate category of commentary.  (St. Gregory of Nyssa, for instance, wrote such a commentary in full.)  Even these fragments seem in no clear order, as they bounce around the Psalter.  The final two fragments have little clear relation to the Psalms, but the textual source (a manuscript collection on virtues and vices) claims Gregory's Commentar...

Introduction  To describe Fr. Lobbet, I can do no better than quote a Belgian biographical dictionary: "Lobbe de Lantin ( Jacques ), ecclesiastical writer and theologian, born at Liège, the 28th of September, 1592, died in that town, the 18th of June, 1672.  He entered the novitiate the 18th of October, 1613, taught philosophy at Douai, and was later rector of the colleges of Tournai, of Mons, and of Liège.  His domain was moral theology, where he was distinguished by his great surety of method."  (The dictionary fails to note that he was a Jesuit.)  The dictionary lists fifteen volumes of works, most about sin or moral questions, and a few more general moral works ( The Way of Life and Death , On Christian Fortitude and Constancy ), as well as a screed titled Temple of the Lord, or, On the Religious Worship of Temples, Against the Petulant License of This Age .  The selection below is from Lobbet de Lanthin's Treatise on the Sacred Passion and Cross of Chr...

  Introduction St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) needs little introduction: a German Dominican, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Doctor of the Church, he was one of the major philosophers of his age, as well as an important theologian.  His little treatise On Adhering to God  (or On Union with God ) is a beloved spiritual text.  Yet he also wrote much on Mary, though it is little known.  In particular, he wrote a twelve-book compilation entitled On the Praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary (De laudibus beatæ Mariæ Virginis) , which cover various Marian topics.  For instance, Book I is about Gabriel's greeting to Mary, Book IV is on her virtues, and Book V is on her beauty (spiritual and bodily).  (II.7 also has an interesting title: "On the Feast of the Eternity of Blessed Mary.")  Books VI-XI discuss Mary's "titles," though generally this means "images in Scripture that are applied to Mary."  These get very specific, such as "Mary, conch-shell...