This early 12th-century manuscript from the Benedictine abbey of St
Augustine, Canterbury, consists of a homiliary with 119 sermons for
the period between Holy Saturday and the fourth Sunday after
Epiphany. The main structure of the homiliary derives from the
reconstructed collection of Paul the Deacon (b. c. 720, d. 799)'s
homiliary, but it includes also an interpolated selection from St
Gregory the Great (b. c. 540, d. 604), Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
(d. c. 830), Hrabanus Maurus (d. 856), and Bede the Venerable (b.
c. 673, d. 735)'s homily for the Ember fast in Trinity. It is
followed by a series of lections on lives of saints connected to St
Augustine's (ff. 209v-216v). A fragment of the homiliary attributed
to Alan of Farfa (d. 769) was added to the beginning of the
manuscript (ff. 1*-4*) probably before the 15th century, based on
the 15th-century press-mark of St Augustine's abbey written on f.
4* recto. It was written in North East France in the 2nd or 3rd
quarter of the 9th century. These four leaves were used as
pastedowns and flyleaves for this manuscript. Contents: ff.
1r-208r: Homiliary, beginning with Bede's homily for the Holy
Saturday ( Homilia II, 1) (f. 1r): 'In vigilia resurrectionis
Domini lectio Sancti evangelium secundum Matheum. Vespere sabbati
que lucescit [...] Omelia venerabilis Bede presbiteri de eadem
lectione. Vigilias nobis hujus sacratissime noctis', ending with
Pseudo-Origen's homily for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (f.
208r): 'In navicula sedet et omnem creaturam iussione inclinat ubi
vult Ihesus Christus Dominus noster qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto
vivit et regnat in secula secularum. Amen'. ff. 209v-216v: Six
lectiones from lives of saints, based on those written by Goscelin
of Saint-Bertin (d. after 1114), beginning with the Translatio
Sancte Mildrithe (Translation of St Mildred's relics), in eight
lections (ff. 209v-210r), beginning: 'In translatione Sancte
Mildrithe virginis, lectio 1. Monasterio gloriosissime virginis
Myldrithe in taneto insula'; twelve lections on the feast of St
Adrian of Canterbury (ff. 210r-211v), beginning: 'In festivitate
Sancti Adriani abbatis, lectio 1'; twelve lections on the life of
St Lawrence of Canterbury (ff. 211v-212v), beginning: 'Lectiones de
sancto Laurentio archiepiscopo. Assumpto ad celestia deo dilecto
patre Augustino successit in episcopatum famulus Christi
Laurentius'; eight lections on the life of St Justus of Canterbury
(ff. 213r-214r), beginning: 'De Sancto Iusto archiepiscopo, lectio
1. Ordinatus vir domini Augustinus'; eight lections on the life of
St Honorius of Canterbury (ff. 214v-215v), beginning: 'De Sancto
Honorio archiepiscopo, lectio 1. Beato archiepiscopo Iusto ad
celestia translato'; eight lections on the life of St Theodore of
Canterbury (ff. 216r-v), imperfect at the end, beginning: 'De
Sancto Theodoro archiepiscopo, lectio 1. Beatissimus Adrianus abbas
monasterii Niridani'. The manuscript contains a later addition: ff.
1*r-4*v: A fragment of a 9th-century French homiliary: beginning
with Pseudo-St John Chrysostom for the feast of the Holy Innocents
(f. 1*): 'Postquam Dominus quatriduanum (sic) mortuum suscitavit
stupentibus Iudaeis et aliis eorum in videndo credentibus'; ending
(f. 4*) with St Augustine (b. 354, d. 430), Tractatus in Iohannis
evangelium abbreviated by Alan of Farfa (ff. 1*r-4*v).
Decoration:One large historiated initial in colours with the head
of Christ and entwined animals (f. 1r). Large inhabited initial in
colours with entwined animals and head terminals (f. 160r). Large
initials in red, green, yellow, purple, or blue, some with penwork
decoration. Small initials in brown, green or blue. Rubrics in red.
