A Franciscan Gradual written and illuminated in northern Italy
(Padua or Bologna), dateable to the first decade of the 14th
century. The manuscript was used in the Franciscan cloister of St.
Francis of Locarno, which received it together with the
antiphonaries de tempore Codice II and Codice III as well as the
antiphonary de sanctis Codice IV on the occasion of the
re-dedication of the church in 1316. At the end of the text (fol.
181r) is a Praefatio (Statutum pro libris choralibus scribendis),
which would normally be placed at the beginning, containing the
guidelines for editing choral books for the order. On the last page
Brother Giacomo di Rastelli Orelli transcribed some records
concerning the cloister: a note about the provision of the library
cabinets, the dedication document from the year 1316, and a note
about a donation for the purchase of liturgical paraphernalia.
