Today is the feast of the great priest and doctor Saint Jerome...

And I will put his homily on the Gospel lesson at Matins here as I proceed with the morning tasks, some two and half hours before sunrise. It is in the 50s F. outside but very humid, very muggy I believe I'd have said in the southwestern Ohio of my childhood. Muggy. 

Caveant ergo doctores et epíscopi, et vídeant Poténtes poténter torménta sustinére; nihilque esse remedii, sed majórum ruínam ad tártarum ducere.
Let bishops and the doctors of theology beware, then, since as Wisdom teaches the great will suffer greatly: nothing will be their lot but greater ruin as they take themselves to Hell. 



If one looks more closely at the photograph: what are each of the implements or oddments on his desk?


Neglected yesterday to note that I received the book The Anglo-Saxon Gospels in the mail which features Aelfric's version, one by an unknown author ca 1200, and then one by the Protestant John Rogers from 1549's Matthew Bible that I'm not familiar with. Rogers was a heretic condemned to death in the reign of Good Queen Mary. 

And I didn't get around to quoting a passage from Dr Parker's essay on the feast of Saint Michael, either. She illumined an 11th century anonymous homily (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 41) which, unusually, took the rhetorical form of a quasi-litany. Just one item in it here. Þis is se halga heahengel Sanctus Michael, this is the holy Archangel Saint Michaelsome 20 times-- quite effective rhetorically, as Dr Parker points out.

Þis is se halga heahengel Sanctus Michael, 7 se æðela nowend 7 se gleawa frumlida 7 se þancwirðesta stigend se ðe his scip geselleð 7 mid heofonlicum wælum hit gefylleð, þæt is ðonne mid þam halgum saulum 7 mid ðy wrygelse ðære godcundan gefillnesse ofer þæs sæsyðe he hit gelædeð, þæt is ðanne ofer ðisses middangeardes frecennesse 7 þa halegan saula gelædeð to þære yðe ðæs heofoncundan lifes.

This is the holy archangel St Michael, the noble steersman and wise sea-captain and most gracious sailor, who sails his ship and fills it with the heavenly dead-- that is with holy souls-- and with the sail of divine fullness steers it across the waves of the sea-- that is across the perils of this world-- and conducts the holy souls to the ocean of the heavenly life.

The character represented by '7' is the Old English shorthand for ond, and. 

Léctio sancti Evangélii secúndum MatthǽumMatt 5:13-19
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Vos estis sal terræ. Quod si sal evanúerit, in quo saliétur? Et réliqua.

Homilía S. Hierónymi Presbýteri
Liber 1 Comment. in cap. 5 Matth.
Sal appellántur Apóstoli et Doctores; quia per illos univérsum hóminum condítur genus. Quod si sal evanúerit, in quo saliétur? Si doctor erraverit, a quo alio doctore emendábitur? Ad níhilum valet ultra, nisi ut mittátur foras, et conculcétur ab homínibus. Exemplum de agricultura sumptum est. Sal étenim, sicut in cibórum condiméntum et ad siccandas carnes necessárium est, ita alium usum non habet. Certe légimus in Scripturis urbes quasdam, ira victórum, sale seminátas, ut nullum in ipsis germen orirétur.
V. Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R. Deo grátias.

R. Iste est qui ante Deum magnas virtutes operatus est, et de omni corde suo laudavit Dominum:
* Ipse intercedat pro peccatis omnium populorum.
V. Ecce homo sine querela, verus Dei cultor, abstinens se ab omni opere malo, et permanens in innocentia sua.
R. Ipse intercedat pro peccatis omnium populorum.

V. Jube, domne, benedícere.
Benedictio. Cujus festum cólimus, ipse intercédat pro nobis ad Dóminum. Amen.

Lectio 8
Caveant ergo doctores et epíscopi, et vídeant Poténtes poténter torménta sustinére; nihilque esse remedii, sed majórum ruínam ad tártarum ducere. Vos estis lux mundi. Non potest cívitas abscóndi supra montem pósita; neque accendunt lucérnam, et ponunt eam sub módio, sed super candelabrum, ut luceat ómnibus qui in domo sunt. Docet fiduciam prædicándi, ne Apóstoli abscondántur ob metum, et sint similes lucernæ sub módio; sed tota libertáte se prodant, ut, quod audiérunt in cubiculis, prædicent in tectis.
V. Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R. Deo grátias.

R. Sint lumbi vestri præcíncti, et lucérnæ ardéntes in mánibus vestris:
* Et vos símiles homínibus exspectántibus dóminum suum, quando revertátur a núptiis.
V. Vigiláte ergo, quia nescítis qua hora Dóminus vester ventúrus sit.
R. Et vos símiles homínibus exspectántibus dóminum suum, quando revertátur a núptiis.
V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.
R. Et vos símiles homínibus exspectántibus dóminum suum, quando revertátur a núptiis.


V. Jube, domne, benedícere.
Benedictio. Ad societátem cívium supernórum perdúcat nos Rex Angelórum. Amen.

Lectio 9
Nolíte putare quóniam veni sólvere legem aut prophétas; non veni sólvere legem aut prophétas; non veni sólvere, sed adimplére. Sive quod de se per alios prophetáta compléverit, sive quod ea, quæ ante propter infirmitátem audiéntium rudia et imperfécta fuerant, sua prædicatióne compléverit, iram tollens et vicem talliónis excludens et occúltam in mente concupiscéntiam damnans. Donec tránseat cælum et terra. Promittúntur nobis cæli novi et terra nova, quæ facturus est Dóminus Deus. Si ergo nova creanda sunt, consequenter vetera transitura.
V. Tu autem, Dómine, miserére nobis.
R. Deo grátias.

Te Deum
Te Deum laudámus: * te Dóminum confitémur....



LDVM


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