The colophon at the end of the manuscript establishes with
certitude that it was copied at the Cistercian abbey of Hauterive
during the thirteenth century. Its author, or the one who
commissioned the work, dobutless wanted to “gather together the
works of two Cistercian authors who exercised important functions
in the region: Henry, Abbot of the neighboring monastery of
Hautcrêt, and Amadeus, bishop of the diocese of Lausanne” (from
Ciardo). Henry, whose biography is still a subject of debate, chose
the learned title Pentaconthamonadius (“the fifty-first”) to
designate a sermonary composed of 17 groups of three sermons
intended for the liturgy of the White monks. Amadeus of Clermont, a
Cistercian monk who became bishop of Lausanne (1145-1159), is the
author of eight homilies in honor of the Mother of God, which
achieved lasting success as liturgical texts because used in the
breviary of the diocese of Lausanne.
