EVANGELIARIO

EVANGELIARY. – By E. (from *evangeliarium* [= evangelistary], *evangeliae* or even *evangelistarum*) is meant the liturgical book containing the Gospel passages to be read throughout the year during Solemn Mass.

The term E. is neither primitive nor the only one. More often one finds *capitulare evangeliorum* (8th cent.), corresponding to the *capitulare lectionum* for the Epistles. The method gave rise to many other names: *breviarium* (= evangelistarium) *lectionum evangelii*, *tituli*, *quotationes*, *tabula*, *registrum*, *volumen*, *liber*, *libellus*, *ordo*, *opusculum*, *pronuntiatio*, *intitulationes*, *terminationes*, *inventarium evangeliorum*. It was also called *comes*, but with the difference that *capitulare* indicated only the list of pericopes, at most with the *incipit* and *explicit*, while the *comes* contained the entire pericope.

I. HISTORY

The history of the E. closely follows, often merging with, that of the Epistolary. The first sketch of an E. is found, as with the Epistles, in marginal indications in the sacred text specifying the respective passages to be read on certain days. This was at first sporadic, for originally, and in some Churches until the 4th (Africa) and 5th (Ravenna) centuries, the normal method of reading Scripture was *lectio continua*, i.e., a book was read from beginning to end, bit by bit, for the time determined by the one presiding over the assembly, who would then comment on the passage in a sermon.

Yet from early times, on solemnities commemorating the great mysteries of Redemption—Easter and Pentecost—then in the 4th century, Christmas and Epiphany, and also in certain periods of the year such as Lent and Advent, the *lectio continua* was interrupted to make way for the corresponding Gospel narrative. Thus, little by little, the series of pericopes for the principal feasts of the year came into being.

From the *Sermones* of St. Augustine, B. Bessell has been able to reconstruct the lectionary arrangement at least for the Paschal season as used in the African Church (cf. *Entstehung der Perikopen des Römischen Messbuchs*, Freiburg in Br. 1907, p. 44); to Bessell’s series should now be added the *sermones post manuarios* published by Morin in the *Miscellanea agostiniana* (Rome 1930).

In the 7th century, the period to which the oldest manuscripts still extant date, the system of reading had changed greatly. Instead of *lectio continua*, one finds lists of pericopes (called *capitula* since the 5th century) fixed once and for all. No certain evidence exists to show how the transition from one arrangement to the other took place, and we must therefore be content with conjectures.

Already at the beginning of the 2nd century, a tendency is evident to fix the constitutive elements of worship. This tendency grew stronger in the following centuries. Thus it came about that the reading of Scripture also moved toward a fixed arrangement. To this must be added the disappearance of the catechumens (5th century), for whom *lectio continua* had primarily constituted the first Christian instruction imparted through the liturgical celebration. It is certain, however, that a fixed lectionary arrangement was in force by 400 in Africa (St. Augustine, *Sermo* 86, *Tract. in quarta feria post Pascha*, in *Miscell. agost.*, I, Rome 1930, p. 324; *Sermo* 315, I: PL 38-39, 1426; *Tract. VI in Ioh.*, cap. 18: ibid., 35, 1433) and by 450 in Gaul (Sidonius Apollinaris, *Epist.* IV, 11, 6: ibid. 58, 516; Gennadius, *De script. eccles.*, 79: ibid. 1703 ff.).

Since the liturgical development of the various Western Churches followed a parallel course, it is likely that Rome, too, before the 7th century—perhaps even as early as the 5th—had its own arrangement of Scripture readings. The reading was entrusted to clerics, who fixed day by day the text to be read, noting the reference in special lists (*capitulum*, from which the term *capitulare* derives for the lists and then for the volume of pericopes) at the beginning of the sacred codex or transcribing the pericope in a separate volume.

This conjecture by Klauser is based on the fact that the oldest Roman collections of Gospel pericopes still extant are in the form of lists or proper lectionaries; but also because, in the entire series of existing manuscripts, there is no third form of Scripture collection.

The golden age of the *Capitularia Evangeliorum* was the 9th century, in which no fewer than 140 codices are counted. In the 10th century the number declined sharply. In the 13th century the *Capitulare* definitively declined.

This is understandable. Already in the Missal of Montecassino, perhaps written in Rome around 700, the pericopes appear for the first time in their final form: the lessons are inserted in the Missal alongside the other parts of the Mass. This form developed in the following centuries, until it became the norm with the *Missalia Plena* of the 13th century.

With the bull of Pius V of 1570, the *Missale Plenum* acquired the right of citizenship in the universal Church, and the arrangement of the Gospel pericopes likewise remained fixed forever, as the centuries had formed and handed it down.

II. TYPES

The *Capitularia Evangeliorum* have been studied first by Cardinal Tommasi and more recently, with strict scholarly method, by Frere and Klauser, who, independently, arrived at the same conclusions, save for some minor differences of detail. Klauser, who extended his research to over 1,300 manuscripts, classifies the *capitulare* under four types:

Type I. Represents pure Roman usage around 645 and has its best exponent in the Würzburg codex (University Library, cod. m. th. f. 62; ed. G. Monin, *Liturgie et basiliques de Rome au milieu du VIIe siècle d’après les listes d’évangiles de Würzburg*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 28 [1911], pp. 286-330; cf. also the same author: *Les notes liturgiques de l’Evangéliaire de Burchard*, ibid., 10 [1893], pp. 113-26), also called the Burchard codex, because it seems to have belonged to St. Burchard, an English monk who later became bishop of Würzburg from 741 to 753.

Type A. – Still gives pure Roman usage, but at a later date, ca. 730, and is represented by the *codex aureus* (now in the Communal Library of Trier, cod. XXII), written around 800 (ed. K. Menzel, *Die Trierer Ada-Handschrift*, Leipzig 1880, pp. 16-27).

To this type also belongs the *capitulare* found in the E. of St. Cuthbert (British Museum, Cotton Nero D. IV), transcribed at Lindisfarne from an E. used in the church of Naples and brought to England after the mid-7th century (ed. G. Morin, *La liturgie de Naples au temps de St. Grégoire*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 8 [1891], pp. 481-93, 529-37, in *Anecdota Maredsolana*, I, Maredsous 1893, pp. 426-35).

Type E. – Still represents pure Roman usage of 755. Principal manuscript: cod. lat. 1588 now in the National Library of Paris, written ca. 800.

Type F. – Represents Roman-Frankish usage after 750. Principal exponent: cod. lat. Vat. 8523, written between the 9th and 10th centuries.

III. IN THE LITURGY

The Church has always shown great veneration for the E., a sentiment represented in art by placing it on a throne. Thus in the museums of Ravenna, Rome, and Aquileia. At the Fourth Council of Constantinople (869), held in the basilica of Hagia Sophia, the E. stood on a throne alongside the relic of the Holy Cross. The Middle Ages knew another custom, dating back to the 5th century: that of placing the Gospel book on the altar—the word of God beside the Eucharist. Even today, since the time of Justinian, oaths are sworn upon the Gospel.

In the medieval pontifical liturgy, the Gospel Book (E.) was carried to the altar with great pomp, in procession before Mass, by an acolyte accompanied by a subdeacon. Upon arriving in the sanctuary, the entire clergy would rise to their feet as a sign of reverence. The subdeacon then received the Gospel Book from the acolyte and placed it on the altar, where it remained until the Gospel was sung. The consecrated mensa, which in ancient times could not tolerate any other object, now accommodated the Gospel Book alongside the oblata. This ceremony has persisted in part. Today, the Gospel Book is carried in the pontifical entrance procession before the celebrant, but as soon as he has kissed it after the Confession, it is placed on the credence. Other signs of veneration include incensation and the lit candles that accompany its reading.

These ceremonies are largely recorded in the *Ordo Romanus I* of the 8th century (cf. M. Andrieu, *Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen-âge*, II: *Les textes*, Louvain 1948, pp. 87–88) and were further developed and expanded in the following centuries. They are a living expression of the Church’s faith in the word of God.

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**EVANGELIARY** — Nativity and Annunciation to the Shepherds. Miniature page from the Gospel Book known as the *Matilda Codex* (11th century) — Nonantola, Abbey.

1935: this work remains the most complete on the subject (two further volumes were planned, one for evidence relating to the dating of individual types, the other for the classification of remaining capitularies). A full bibliography up to 1934 is provided at pp. XXIII–XXV (cf. also *Ebbin. lit.*, 30 [1936], pp. 81–83). Annibale Bunnini

**IV. Decoration.** — A substantial group of Gospel Books belongs to various gradations of Eastern art from the 6th century, such as the purple codex of the cathedral of Rossano, the Syriac codex known as the *Codex Rabula* (monk of Zagba in Mesopotamia), dated to the year 586 and now in the Laurentian Library in Florence; the *Codex Sinaiticus* now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris; to these is linked, though later (10th century), the Gospel Book of Erschmidzin (Armenia), enclosed in an ivory diptych.

The Gospel Book preserved in Cambridge, in the Library of Corpus Christi College (MS 286), may belong to the group sent to England by Pope Gregory I (590–604) to Augustine of Canterbury and appears to have been executed in Rome or southern Italy, since its miniatures reflect the pictorial styles of central Italy between the 6th and 7th centuries.

At the beginning of the 7th century belongs the Lindisfarne Gospel Book, now in the British Museum, which displays in its fine initial miniatures the refined sense of decoration characteristic of the art of the British Isles at that time.

During the golden age of Gospel Books, that is, under Charlemagne, special schools were established, attached to the scriptoria of monasteries, which, working with love, skill, and artistry, produced true masterpieces. The monastery of Saint-Martin of Tours, directed by the celebrated Alcuin, the schools of Saint-Gall, Metz, Reims, Orléans, the abbeys of Corbie, Luxeuil, and others, left wondrous works. Among the most famous calligraphers of that period are Alcuin, author of the Gospel Book donated by Charlemagne to the abbey of San Michele di San Vito di Aniane (Montpellier); Godescalc, who wrote the Gospel Book now in the Louvre Museum; Peter, to whom is attributed the Gospel Book of Charlemagne now in the *Schatzkammer* of Vienna; notable also are the miniatures of the *Ada Codex* in the Biblioteca Comunale of Treviso and the Gospel Book of Echternach of the 10th century, preserved in Gotha.

In the 9th–10th centuries, the first pages of Gospel Books were dyed purple. Gold was used for the framing of pages, the large and small initials, then the titles and rubrics (Gospel Book of Charles de Rohan-Soubise, now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris), and finally the entire text was written in gold or silver (Gospel Book of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, now in the Library of Saint-Germain-des-Prés). This magnificence reached its peak during the Carolingian period, then declined.

Belonging to the early 12th century, with miniatures extending to the end of the 13th and the early 14th centuries, are Gospel Books from Farfa, now in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana in Rome (MS E. 16). A similar taste is seen in the figures of the Gospel Book perhaps from the Roman convent of Santa Cecilia, now in the Laurentian Library in Florence (PL 17–27), while the Gospel Book from the convent of the Holy Apostles in Rome, now in the Vatican Library (MS Vat. lat. 5974), exhibits a distinctly Byzantine character, having been executed in the 12th century by the Greek miniaturists of Grottaferrata.

Characteristic also are the styles of the miniatures in the Gospel Book donated by Countess Matilda to the church of Polirone around the year 1109. The codex is now in the Morgan Library in New York and reflects the styles of northern Italian painting at the beginning of the 12th century.

Reflections of Ottoman art are found in a codex of Vercelli Cathedral and more vividly in another preserved in the treasury of the Duomo of Padua, executed in 1370 by a certain Isidoro *doctor bonus*.

The Gospel Book of the late 12th century known as the *Matilda Codex*, preserved in Nonantola, contains some miniatures imitating Germanic models, while others are freer and more harmonious, in keeping with contemporary Italian painting.

Gospel Books became more frequent in later periods, similarly reflecting in their decoration—like other sacred texts—the styles of the regions in which they were produced.

To adorn and enliven Gospel Books, drawings and paintings were employed. Initials were favored by calligraphers, who either used symbolic motifs (hieratic phase) or reproduced nature (naturalist phase); later, the tendency developed toward the representation of buildings, scenes, fictional or even real figures, such as donors, great figures of the time, or the calligrapher himself. It is to liturgical books that we owe the preservation of a great number of historical portraits that would otherwise never have survived to the present day (e.g., Charles the Bald in the Gospel Book of Saint Emmeram in Regensburg, Henry III and Empress Agnes, Conrad the Salic and Gisela in the *Escorial Gospel Book*, Countess Matilda in her Gospel Book in the Vatican Library, etc.). Magnificence is also evident in the bindings of manuscripts. Already Ambrose recalls “an *arca Testamenti* covered with gold on all sides, that is, the doctrine of Christ” (*Epist.*, IV, 4; *PL* 16, 589). In the Duomo of Milan, two ivory plaques from the 5th century are preserved, which covered a Gospel Book; there is also the gold-sheathed casket of the Gospel Book of Monza (6th century), donated by Queen Theodelinda to the church of San Giovanni. Ivory and goldwork were widely used for Gospel Books. For the 9th century, mention may be made of the ivory now part of the Lorsch Gospel Book in the Vatican Library; for the 10th century, the ivories of the Echternach Gospel Book; for the 11th, the celebrated binding of the Besançon Gospel Book. Ivory was affixed with gold and silver plaques, but later entire bindings were made of these precious metals, such as the Gothic Gospel Book of Uffen (the *Codex argenteus*) and bindings decorated with enamels and reliefs from the regions of Meuse and the Rhine. — See pl. LVII.

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Annibale Bunnini — Lembo Lavagnino