MICROLOGUS DE ECCLESIASTICIS OBSERVATIONIBUS. - It is a sober and accurate description of the liturgy of the Mass and of the liturgical year, avoiding exaggerated symbolism and inculcating Roman usages and rites.
A widely circulated work in the High Middle Ages, it marks a new revival in liturgical literature after the decline following Carolingian brilliance. Its author is Berold of Constance. Written shortly after the year 1000, it was first printed in Paris in 1510. Since then, numerous editions have appeared; the latest is in PL 151, 973-1022. For a long time, it was attributed to Ivo of Chartres (c. 1116), as indicated in some manuscripts of the 12th and 14th centuries; others have attributed it to G. Beleth (12th century) or to Rabanus Maurus (9th century). S. Bäumer, after a careful examination of 18 manuscripts, concluded that it could only be attributed to Ivo of Chartres. G. Morin, however, definitively established that it is the work not of a Frenchman but of a German, Berold of Constance. The Benedictine scholar reached this conclusion after a thorough study of contemporary writers, such as Honorius of Autun (*De luminaribus Ecclesiae*, IV, 113: PL 172, 231), the anonymous author of Melk, a contemporary of Honorius (*De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis*: PL 148, 1058-1432), and others, as well as a meticulous examination of the text and other writings by Berold.