BURCHARD, GIOVANNI. - Pontifical master of ceremonies, liturgist and historian, b. at Nieder-Haslach (Alsace) around 1450, d. in Rome on 16 May 1506. Having come to Rome in 1467 in search of fortune, he was first in the service of various cardinals, then a familiar of Sixtus IV (ca. 1475), from whom he obtained various ecclesiastical benefices and high curial offices, such as that of apostolic protonotary (1481) and master of ceremonies (1483), an office he held until his death, even after becoming bishop of the united dioceses of Civita Castellana and Orte (1503-1506). He was a capable liturgist, experienced in his office, a keen observer, but also greedy for money. In Rome he built himself a house, the Torre Argentina, so called after his native Strasbourg (Argentoratum). He was also rector of the German national church of S. Maria dell'Anima in Rome; he was buried in S. Maria del Popolo.

He published, together with Ag. Patrizzi, the Liber pontificalis, that is, the Roman Pontifical (Rome 1485, which he reprinted in a second edition with Giacomo De Lucis (ibid. 1487). His principal liturgical work is Ordo servandus per sacerdotem in celebratione Missae (Rome 1495, from the press of Stef. Planck [cf. L. Hain, Repert. bibl., no. 4102), published again at Rome in 1502, and very often again under various titles), a work whose substance entered the Roman Missal as the General Rubrics and the Rite for Celebrating Mass. Much liturgical material for the use of the pontifical Curia is also scattered through the celebrated work Diario della Curia romana or Liber notarum, which as master of ceremonies he wrote day by day in the interest of his office, though inserting into it facts and observations relating to the Curia and to the events of that turbulent time. From this aspect the work, which runs with some interruptions from 1483 to 1506, is a precious historical source, though not intended by its author for the public. The leading historians of today acknowledge the truthfulness of the author, who knowingly neither lies nor slanders by design, although he sometimes perhaps accepts reports that are difficult to verify.

Bibliography8 works

BIBL.: Complete editions: L. Thussne, 3 vols., Paris 1883-1885; E. Celani, Bennis Burchardi Liber notarum, 2 vols., in 4°, in the new edition of Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script., vol. XXXII, part 1, I, Città di Castello 1907-13, with abundant notes (it is the best edition). Studies: besides the prefaces of L. Thussne to vol. III and of Celani to vol. I and II, 447, note 7, see also; D. Gnoli, La Torre Argentina in Roma, in Nuova Antologia, 43 (1908, III), pp. 596-605; J. Leselier, Les méfaits du cérémonaire Jean Burchard, in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, 44 (1907), pp. 11-34; P. Paschini, A proposito di G. B. cerimonier pontificio, in Arch. della R. soc. romana di storia patria, 51 (1928), pp. 33-59; A. Petignani, Il restauro della cena del B. in via del Sudario in Roma, in Capitolium, 9 (1933), pp. 191-200; L. Oliger, Der päpstliche Zeremonieumeister Johannes Burchard von Strassburg, in Archiv für eldissische Kirchengeschichte, 9 (1934), pp. 199-232. For the liturgical part: A. Franz, Die Messe im deutschen Mittelalter, Freiburg im Br. 1902, pp. 613-15; J. Baudot, s. v. in DACL. II, 1 (1910), col. 1350 sq.

Livario Oliger

@incollection{ec3_burcardo_giovanni, author = {Oliger, Livario}, title = {Burcardo, giovanni}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {224--225}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/burcardo-giovanni} }

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Burchard, Giovanni

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