Contents of the Collectar

Contents of the Cistercian “Sigismund” Collectar (owned by Ohio Wesleyan University)

by Drew Jones, Department of English, The Ohio State University

1r-30v: A partial collectar, with collects and capitula for the Office of Terce, in two parts: the Temporale [Advent I through 25th Sunday after Pentecost] fols. 1r-15r; the Sanctorale follows from fol. 15r-30v

30v-33r: Blessing formula for holy water (beginning with exorcism of salt)

33r-36r: Blessing formulas for special services in the Temporale (candles for Candlemas, ashes for Ash Wednesday, palms for Palm Sunday, fire (?) at the Easter Vigil)

36r-37r: Order for making a cleric

37r-41r: Order for blessing and profession of a monk; blessing of the cowl

41r-43r: Order for consecrating a nun; blessing of the veil

43r-43v: Prayers for brothers journeying from and returning to the monastery

43v-44r: Chapter and collect for Terce on non-festal (“private”) days between the Octave of Pentecost and Advent I

44r-50v: Hymns for Terce, ordered according the church year starting with Advent I.

50v-54v: Short, single antiphons (some assigned to multiple feasts, e.g., “In natale et in cathedra et in ad uincula sancti Petri [51v])

54v-57v: Litany of the saints, followed by short preces and three collects

58r: (in red) Iste liber est monasterii sancte Marie uallis serene. Alias sancti Martini de botiis vulgariter nuncupati cisterciensis ordinis. Parmensis diocesis. scriptus per me M. Genesium de pecannis. ad petitionem et instantiam Reuerendi domini Sigismundi de Fulchinis suprascripti Monasterii Abbatis decimi.

58v-60r: Order for clothing a Cistercian novice

61r: an added devotional prayer copied (composed?) in an early modern hand

Additional notes: Apparently all the work of a single scribe. The first folio (recto) contains an illuminated initial of St. Paul (a choice reflecting the fact that most of the capitula are drawn from the Pauline epistles); infra is a crest-like device with the initials “SIG” and”AB” to either side (presumably “Sigismund Abbas”).