Roman Martyrology
BARONIO, Cesare.
Martyrologium Romanum, Gregorii XIII auctoritate recognitum … nunc ante mortem auctoris, ab ipso … revisum, auctum, et ex singulari decreto Pontif. Max. … publici iuris factum, cum figuris aeneis. Huic novissimae editioni accesserunt et additae sunt notae … Mainz, Johann Theobald Schönwetter, 1631.
4to, pp. [xlviii], 805, [1 (blank)]; bound without Index nominum omnium sanctorum, Index topographicus, and Index nonnullarum rerum at end (never present); with 14 full-page copper engravings (some repeats), title in red and black with copper-engraved Barberini arms, woodcut initials, headpieces; a little marginal damp-staining to first and last few leaves, a few small wormholes, some browning, closed paper-flaw to Rrrr1, nonetheless a very good copy; bound in contemporary calf over bevelled wooden boards, covers richly roll-tooled in blind to a panel design with central oval stamp of the Crucifixion, spine blind-ruled in compartments, the first painted grey and with shelfmark ‘i i 2’, the second painted red and with title ‘Martyrologium Romanum’, brass clasps to fore-edge, remains of brass strips to board-edges, edges stained red, sewn on 4 double cords laced and pegged in, spine lined with manuscript waste; small losses to spine and to one corner, rubbed and marked; ownership inscription to half-title ‘V. C. Lambertus Cattenbelt 17 huius inclytae Cartusiae Castri Mariae, vulgo Wedderen prior me Coloniae emi curavit ao. 1709’, another to front free endpaper ‘Rev. C. P. Hankey from the library of the Rev. Nath. C. S. Poyntz … Sept. 1920’, red ink stamp to margin of †5r ‘E lib. N. C. S. Poyntz'.
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Martyrologium Romanum, Gregorii XIII auctoritate recognitum … nunc ante mortem auctoris, ab ipso … revisum, auctum, et ex singulari decreto Pontif. Max. … publici iuris factum, cum figuris aeneis. Huic novissimae editioni accesserunt et additae sunt notae …
Uncommon edition of Cesare Baronio’s important revision of the Roman Martyrology, in an attractive binding and with interesting provenance.
Oratorian, cardinal, and Vatican librarian, Baronio (1538–1607) is best known for his important ecclesiastical history, the Annales Ecclesiastici. He was twice considered as a candidate for the papacy, his hopes dashed by Spanish opposition having offended Philip III in his Annales.
The Martyrologium Romanum was compiled by Baronio and a team of scholars and issued by Gregory XIII in 1584 as the official martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church, replacing that of Usuard, in use since the Middle Ages. Revised editions, reflecting the progress of historical knowledge and fresh canonisations, duly followed.
The text runs in chronological order from the feast of the Circumcision (1 January) to St Sylvester’s Day (31 December), the full-page engravings illustrating episodes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and groups of saints. The various indexes to the volume – commonly but not always found accompanying the text – were clearly never present here, and were likely bound separately as a second volume.
Provenance:
1. Purchased at Cologne in 1709 by Prior Lambertus Cattenbelt for the Marienburg charterhouse in Weddern, near the Westphalian town of Dülmen. The charterhouse was founded in 1476 and dissolved in 1802.
2. Nathaniel Castleton Stephen Poyntz (1846–1920), of Pembroke College Oxford, Vicar of Dorchester.
3. Cyril Patrick Hankey (1886–1973), of Pembroke College Cambridge, Dean of Ely.
Only two copies of this edition located in the US (California State, Georgetown).
USTC 2099782; VD17 12:118973Q.