The Ritual of Valva-Sulmona (Lucca, Biblioteca Statale 1781): A twelfth-century collection of ordines in Beneventan script. A diplomatic edition with introductory study, emphasising pastoral concerns
By: by Neil J. Roy.
Published: 2001
Language: eng
Number of pages: 462
ISBN-13: 9780494159880
Description: Medieval liturgical manuscripts of regional or local churches in the Latin west testify to an extensive variety of ritual celebration from one local use to another before the movement towards liturgical uniformity which marked the advent of the printing press and the work of the Council of Trent. Such documents provide both an insight into the sources of what later became the standard liturgy of the Roman Rite, and a glimpse into the life of worship experienced by the local communities which gave shape to, and in turn were shaped by, these very rituals. The collection of ordines  and Masses now contained in Lucca, Biblioteca Statale 1781 includes rites ranging from baptism through penance, pastoral care of the sick and dying, to vigils and Masses for the deceased. Written in Beneventan script near Valva-Sulmona in the Abruzzi, this presbyteral handbook of  ordines  also includes a preparation for the celebration of Mass and vesting prayers for the priest. Litanies, processions, chants, a passion narrative, and even a collection of penitential canons enhance the usefulness of the book while providing a particularly rich array of liturgical ceremony. This dissertation presents a diplomatic edition of the Ritual of Valva-Sulmona, an hitherto unstudied liturgical book. Biblical and liturgical sources, cited in the apparatus beneath each item, afford the reader access to the euchological influences at work on the prayer texts. Chief among these influences was the Romano-Germanic Pontifical of the tenth century, a hybrid of Roman and Gallicanised ceremonies compiled in Mainz and introduced into Rome in the late tenth century. The edition is preceded by an introductory study which treats the cultural context and significance of the Ritual. The study touches on the historical development of the Ritual as a liturgical book, and traces likewise the history of the region of Valva and Sulmona from antiquity until the thirteenth century. The identification of some of the saints invoked in the litanies of the RVS provides clues not only to the localisation but also to the dating of the manuscript. Both a codicological description of the book and an examination of its palaeographical features suggest the influence of the Benedictine network dominant in southern Italy and headquartered at Montecassino. Finally, the study presents a detailed description of the contents of the manuscript, with due reference to the historical development of each of the rites contained therein.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Toronto, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic version licesed for access by U. of T. users.