CERNE, BOOK of. — This is a collection of prayers for private use, which once belonged to the abbey of C., near Dorsetshire in England, and is now preserved at the University of Cambridge. The manuscript consists of three parts, of which the second, written under Aedelvald, bishop of Lichfield from 818 to 830, is the most interesting because it contains the prayers, whose archetype may date back to the seventh century. The contents of this book are particularly useful for the history of private devotion.
BIBL.: The text was published by A. B. Kuypers, The Prayer Book of Aedelvald the bishop commonly called the Book of C., Cambridge 1902, and annotated by E. Bishop; F. Cabrol, Le Book of C. et les liturgies celtiques, in Revue des questions liturgiques, 46 (1904), p. 210 ff.; id., s. V. in DACL, II, II, cols. 3308–3309.