### HOMILIARY
**HOMILIARY** — A homiliary written by Agimundus, priest of the basilica of SS. Apostolorum Philippi et Jacobi (Rome): a homily by St Augustine on the Gospel of John, Tractate 44: PL 35, 1713 — Vatican Library, cod. Vat. lat. 3836, f. 209 (early 8th century).
Preference. To avoid repetition in the long run, the reading of commentaries by the holy Fathers was added. An *o.* was compiled by the Arian bishop Maximinius (5th century; cf. B. Capelle, *Un homiliaire de l'évêque arien Maximin*, in *Revue bénédictine*, 34 [1922], pp. 81-108): but this was a collection for parenetic use. St Benedict (d. 543) in his Rule (ch. IX) prescribes: «Let them read... expositions made by those named doctors, orthodox Catholic Fathers». If the text refers to a collection in itself, this would be (early 6th century) the first mention of an *o.* Cassiodorus (d. 570) likewise ordains (De instit. divin. litt., I, praef.), as does St Gregory the Great (d. 604; Epist., XII, 24: PL 77, 1234), and it is well known that his forty homilies on the Gospels spread everywhere for public reading in churches. With the growing interest in liturgy in the 8th-9th centuries and the codification of liturgical books, these collections multiplied. Major churches, such as the Roman basilicas, had their own *o.* Among their compilers were the Roman priest Agimundus (d. 730) for the basilica of SS. Philip and James (now SS. XII Apostoli), the Venerable Bede (d. 735), and Alcuin (d. 804: G. Morin, *L'homiliaire d'Alcuin retrouvé*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 9 [1892], pp. 491-97). Even secular churches were provided with them (v. the so-called *Ordo* of John the Archdeacon, which is in fact a reuse of the *Capitulare ecclesiasticae* [I] ordinis of the 8th century, in M. Andrieu, *Les Ordines Romani du haut moyen âge*, III, *Les textes*, Louvain 1951, p. 177).
Two *o.* are of particular interest: the one composed by Paul the Deacon (d. 797?) at the request and with a preface by Charlemagne (PL 95, 1159-1566; cf. F. Wiegand, *Das Homiliarium Karls des Grossen auf seine ursprüngliche Gestalt untersucht*, Leipzig 1897), widely diffused in the Middle Ages and remaining in use until the Council of Trent, the principal source of the present-day *o.*; and the group of *o.* that flourished at the basilica of St Peter in the Vatican, recently studied by Fr G. Löw, who holds that in the 9th century at St Peter’s a copy was made of an archaic and distinctly Roman sermonary preserved in cod. Basil. C 105, later copied several times (cod. Basil. C 107 [12th century], C 106 [14th century] arch. of St Peter), and in use until the 16th century. This *o.* is identical with that attributed to Alan of Farfa (d. 770), written c. 760 and widely circulated from the 8th century in southern Germany, and with another by Egino of Verona (d. 802), written c. 800 and in use at the Swabian abbey of Reichenau-Niederzell. In reality all three of these sermonaries (cod. Basil. C 105, Alan, and Egino) are but copies of a single ancient and authentic Sermonary of St Peter from the 6th century. With the insertion of the lessons into the Breviary, the *o.* lost its practical importance and disappeared from use. The patristic readings are read in the Second Nocturn (sermons) and in the Third (homilies) of the Divine Office, drawing on the writings of the greatest Fathers and Doctors of the Church, both Latin and Greek. Among the Latins St Augustine holds first place, with 363 readings, mainly taken from his *Sermons* and *Tractatus in Evangelium secundum Joannem*. He is followed by St Gregory the Great (220 readings), St Ambrose (180), St Jerome (130), St Leo the Great (75), the Venerable Bede (57), St Bernard (47), St Hilary (36), and St Cyprian (15). Also represented are St Bonaventure, St Thomas Aquinas, St Bernardino of Siena, St Francis de Sales, St Robert Bellarmine, and St Peter Canisius. Among the Greek Fathers St John Chrysostom holds pride of place with 117 readings, followed by St Athanasius, St Basil, St Cyril of Jerusalem, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Gregory Nazianzen, and St Ephrem. The authorship of the readings is not always certain; this matter was repeatedly addressed, and with success given the times and available scholarly means, by the revisers under St Pius V and Urban VIII (notably Bartolomeo Gavanti, 1638), though they did not succeed in restoring all to their true authors or in expunging all the apocryphal readings, of which the Breviary still contains a good number (v. list in G. Morin, *Critique des sermons et homélies apocryphes du Bréciaire romain*, in *Anecdota Maredsolana*, I, 1913, pp. 487-501, republished by Bäumer [V. BIBLICA.], II, pp. 452-60 and by *Ephemerides liturgicae*, 1877, p. 21).
**HOMILIARY** — Sermonary of Alan of Farfa: homily for the Easter Vigil — Munich, Library, ms. Clm. 14368 (cod. Emmeran. D 93, 9th century).
From the time of Pius IX, for the *sermones* it became customary to use also official papal texts. As for the length of the pericopes in the revision of Pius V, the measure of the lessons of the Curial Breviary (14th-15th centuries) was maintained, but subsequently there was a tendency toward prolixity.
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