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Virtutes apostolorum: Origin, Aim, and Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

Els Rose
Els Rose*
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
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Extract

The history of Christianity shows roughly two ways of remembering the apostles: as a collegium of twelve and as individual authorities or saints. In the earliest centuries, the reference to Christ's disciples as a group predominates. Both in the visual arts and in writing, “the twelve” are undiscriminated, forming a collective representation of testimony to Christian teaching. Prescriptive writings from the first four centuries dealing with matters of ecclesiastical organization, doctrine, and worship may serve as an example, such as the first-century document entitled “Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles,” better known as Didache, and the second- to fourth-century related sources Doctrina apostolorum, Didascalia apostolorum, and Constitutiones apostolicae.

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Research Article
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Traditio , Volume 68 , 2013 , pp. 57 - 96
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Copyright © 2013 Fordham University 

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References

1 This article is written as part of a larger project on the transmission and reception of the Latin rewrites of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in the medieval period, entitled The Dynamics of Apocryphal Traditions in Medieval Religious Culture, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Research Institute for History and Culture (OGC) at Utrecht University. The results of the project will be published in the form of an edition with commentaries in the Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum (CCA). I wish to thank the project members for their helpful comments on the present article, particularly Maarten Prot, Tom de Schepper, Evina Steinová, Mariël Urbanus, and Giorgia Vocino. In addition, I would like to thank the Bibliothèque nationale de France for allowing the representation of its manuscripts in figures 2–4 of this article.Google Scholar

2 For some examples of early Christian art depicting the apostles as a group, see Jounel, P., “Le culte des apôtres à Rome et dans la liturgie romaine,” in Saints et sainteté dans la liturgie: Conférences Saint-Serge 1986 (Paris, 1987), 167–87, at 174. For a more general overview, see Myslivec, J., “Apostel,” in Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie: Allgemeine Ikonographie, 1. A bis Ezechiel , ed. Kirschbaum, E., Bandmann, G., and Braunfels, W. (Rome, 1968), 150–73. I thank Roald Dijkstra for sharing his insights on this matter and for some bibliographical additions.Google Scholar

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4 François Bovon underlines the focus on the group of apostles or one individual apostle as one of the most important distinctions between the Lucan Acts in the canonical New Testament (group) and the apocryphal Acts (individual). Bovon, F., “Canonical and Apocryphal Acts of Apostles,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 11 (2003): 165–94; reprinted in Bovon, F., New Testament and Christian Apocrypha , ed. Snyder, G. E. (Grand Rapids, 2009), 197–222, at 206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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6 Eugen Ewig has done much work to reconstruct the spread of apostle cults and apostolic church patrocinia in the transalpine regions, mainly Frankish Gaul. His collected articles are published in Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien: Gesammelte Schriften (1952–1973) , ed. Atsma, H., 2 vols. (Munich, 1976–79).Google Scholar

7 I favor Virtutes apostolorum because of the layered meaning of the word virtutes, referring to the miracles as well as the acts of a saint. Moreover, in contrast to passio, it is applicable to a narrative in which an apostle dies a peaceful death instead of suffering martyrdom, as the apostles John and Philip did according to this Latin tradition. Cf. Rose, E., “Paratexts in the Virtutes apostolorum,” Viator 44 (2013): 369–88. This title is also maintained in recent scholarship, particularly Geerard, M., Clavis apocryphorum Novi Testamenti (Turnhout, 1992), 158–59. Other titles appearing in the manuscripts include Passiones apostolorum, Miracula apostolorum, Vitae apostolorum, Gesta apostolorum; cf. Philippart, G., Les légendiers latins et autres manuscrits hagiographiques, Typologie des sources du Moyen Âge occidental 24–25 (Turnhout, 1977), 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

8 Previous scholarship distinguished between Virtutes apostolorum and Passiones apostolorum as two separate collections — a distinction that does not reflect, to my mind, the situation in the manuscripts. See Rose, E., “Abdias scriptor vitarum sanctorum apostolorum? The ‘Collection of Pseudo-Abdias’ reconsidered,” Revue d'histoire des textes n.s. 8 (2013): 227–68, at 233–35. Previous scholarship usually indicated the series Virtutes apostolorum, distinguished from Passiones apostolorum, as the Collection of Pseudo-Abdias, an indication common since the early modern edition by Lazius, Wolfgang, ed., Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et apostolorum discipuli de historia certaminis apostolici libri decem (Basel, 1552). Abdias, a disciple of the apostles Simon and Jude, is presented as the author of the narrative on these apostles in the epilogue to the section dedicated to them. Lazius considered the remark on Abdias's authorship as being applicable to the series of texts as a whole, thus coining the “Collection of Pseudo-Abdias.” Although the later tradition of scholarship has doubted the validity of this attribution, and rightly so, the term is still maintained and seems difficult to erase, despite the lack of support for it provided by the manuscripts. I discussed the inadequacy of the attribution in Rose, “Abdias scriptor?” Google Scholar

9 On the genesis of such books in general, see Dolbeau, F., “Naissance des homéliaires et des passionaires: Une tentative d'étude comparative,” in L'antiquité tardive dans les collections médiévales: Textes et représentations, VIe–XIVe siècle , ed. Gioanni, S. and Grévin, B., Collection de l'École française de Rome 405 (Rome, 2008), 13–35; idem, “Typologie et formation des collections hagiographiques d'après les recueils de l'abbaye de Saint-Thierry,” in Saint-Thierry: Une abbaye du VIe au XXe siècle , ed. Bur, M. (Saint-Thierry, 1979), 159–82.Google Scholar

10 In my study of the Virtutes apostolorum, I concentrate on the areas where we find the earliest transmission: (northern) Francia and Bavaria (southern Germany in relation to the north of Italy), from the late eighth century until the origin of the Legenda aurea and similar collections in the thirteenth century. The selection criteria I employed have yielded a group of twenty-five manuscripts, where the Virtutes apostolorum are presented as an uninterrupted whole and where each individual apostle has his own section (apart from Simon and Jude, who always occur as a pair, and Peter and Paul, who in some manuscripts share one or more sections). This choice leaves the transmission in Rome, where a strong and characteristic cult of the apostles existed from the very beginning, unconsidered. For a selection of manuscripts, see the appendix to this article and Rose, , “Abdias scriptor?” See, furthermore, Rose, E., “La réécriture des Actes apocryphes des Apôtres dans le Moyen-Âge latin,” Apocrypha 22 (2011): 135–66.Google Scholar

11 Cf. Lipsius, R. A., Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden , 3 vols. (Braunschweig, 1883–1890, repr. Amsterdam, 1976), 1:165–67. On De virginitate, see Meyer, W., Der Gelegenheitsdichter Fortunatus, Abh. Göttingen, n.F. IV.5 (Berlin, 1901), 110; see also Koebner, R., Venantius Fortunatus: Seine Persönlichkeit und seine Stellung in der geistigen Kultur des Merowingerreiches (Leipzig, 1915), 47–49; Roberts, M., The Humblest Sparrow: The Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus (Ann Arbor, 2009), 173.Google Scholar

12 “Accompanied in his flight by the lawyer Paul, / Peter, the prince [of the apostles], arrives from the city of Rome; / They come to the banquet where they both bring their own gifts / While the city, the center of the world, keeps their relics. / Noble Greece offers the splendid Andrew, his / Apostolic dignity glittering with a bright light. / Venerable Ephesus sends John, of outstanding merits, /While the Holy Land sends both holy Jameses, / The happy and motherly city of Hierapolis offers Philip with its tributes, / And Edessa brings forth Thomas as a pious gift. / Then, India carries the triumphing Bartholomew, / And the old city Naddaver procures Matthew, the excellent man. / Hence the happy land Persia sends Simon and Jude, / that twin light from its bosom to heaven.” Fortunatus, Venantius, Carmina VIII.3, lines 137–50. Ed. Leo, F., Venanti Honori Clementiani Fortunati presbyteri Italici opera poetica, MGH AA IV.1 (Berlin, 1881), 184–85.Google Scholar

13 Eusebius, , Historia Ecclesiastica II.25.5.Google Scholar

14 Eusebius, , Historia Ecclesiastica II.1.5; further on James the Less (Iacobus Minor) ibid., II.23; on James the Greater ibid., II.9 (and Acts 12:1–2).Google Scholar

15 Eusebius, , Historia Ecclesiastica III.1.1.Google Scholar

16 Eusebius, , Historia Ecclesiastica III.31.3.Google Scholar

17 entry, Andrew's: “Andreas, qui interpretatur uirilis uel decorus, frater Petri; hic predicauit Scytiam et Achaiam ibique in ciuitatem Patras cruce suspensus obcubuit prid. kl. decbr. celebratur.” Dumas, A. and Deshusses, J., eds., Liber sacramentorum Gellonensis , CCL 159 (Turnhout, 1981), 489. Cf. Isidore, , De ortu et obitu, 69. Chaparro Gómez, C., ed. and trans., De ortu et obitu patrum (Paris, 1985), 203. See furthermore on lists of the apostles Dolbeau, F., “Listes d'apôtres et de disciples,” in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens , ed. Geoltrain, P. and Kaestli, J.-D. (Paris 2005), 2:453–80; idem, “Deux opuscules latins, relatifs aux personnages de la Bible et antérieurs à Isidore de Séville,” Revue d'histoire des textes 16 (1986): 83–139; idem, “Nouvelles recherches sur le De ortu et obitu prophetarum et apostolorum,” Augustinianum 34 (1994): 91–107; idem, “Une liste ancienne d'apôtres et de disciples, traduite du grec par Moïse de Bergame,” Analecta Bollandiana 104 (1986): 299–314; idem, “Une liste latine de disciples et d'apôtres, traduite sur la recension grecque du Pseudo-Dorothée,” Analecta Bollandiana 108 (1990): 51–70; idem, “Une liste latine d'apôtres et de disciples, compilée en Italie du Nord,” Analecta Bollandiana 116 (1998): 5–24; idem, “Listes latines d'apôtres et de disciples, traduites du grec,” Apocrypha 3 (1992): 259–78.Google Scholar

18 Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum , chap. 34, ed. Krusch, B., MGH SRM I (Hanover, 1885), 509.Google Scholar

19 Such as the Breviarium apostolorum and other early medieval apostle lists. Cf. Rose, E., Ritual Memory: The Apocryphal Acts and Liturgical Commemoration in the Early Medieval West (c. 500–1215) (Leiden and Boston, 2009), 222–23.Google Scholar

20 Thus Delehaye, in the introduction to his edition: Delehaye, H. and Quentin, H., eds., Commentarius perpetuus in Martyrologium Hieronymianum , AASS Novembris II.2 (Brussels, 1931), xiii.Google Scholar

21 Delehaye, and Quentin, , eds., Martyrologium Hieronymianum , 2–4.Google Scholar

22 The later, ninth-century martyrologies (Ado, Usuard) correspond likewise with the narrative tradition of the Virtutes Simonis et Iudae. Cf. Rose, , Ritual Memory , 216–24.Google Scholar

23 Naddaver is not mentioned in Isidore's De ortu et obitu patrum, or Jerome's De viris illustribus, or the earliest martyrologies. Cf. Rose, , Ritual Memory , 174–78.Google Scholar

24 With the incipit “Igitur post illum dominicae ascensionis nobilem gloriosumque triumphum”; BHL 430. In this article I refer to the Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels, 1898–1901, with supplements 1911 and 1986), to identify a certain text or redaction of a text. The section on Andrew consists in most manuscripts of a compilation of BHL 430 with BHL 429 and 428, while in others the passio (BHL 428) is given alone. In the manuscripts under scrutiny, BHL 430 never occurs alone.Google Scholar

25 Bonnet, M., ed., Liber de miraculis beati Andreae apostoli , MGH SRM I.2, “Introduction,” 371–72. In chap. 38 of the MA, the author states that he was born on the natale of the saint whose life he is describing: “Deprecans eius misericordiam ut sicut in illius natale processi ex matris utero ita ipsius obtentu eruar ab inferno, et sicut in die passionis eius sumpsi uitae huius exordium, ita me sibi proprium adscire dignetur alumnum et quia de maioribus meritis reuocat nos pars magna facinoris” (Vienna ÖNB 455, fol. 55v). Gregory's date of birth is not attested elsewhere (Zelzer, K., “Zur Frage des Autors der Miracula b. Andreae apostoli und zur Sprache des Gregor von Tours,” Grazer Beiträge 6 [1977]: 217–41, at 227). Contemporary scholars, therefore, who mention 30 November 538 as Gregory's birthday, seem to take the Gregorian authorship of the Miracula Andreae at face value. Weidemann, Thus M., Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit nach den Werken Gregors von Tours, 2 vols. (Mainz, 1982), 1:205; Heinzelmann, M., Gregor von Tours (538–594): “Zehn Bücher Geschichte”; Historiographie und Gesellschaftskonzept im 6. Jahrhundert (Darmstadt, 1994), 27. See also Wood, I. N., Gregory of Tours, Headstart History Papers (Oxford, 1994), 1–4; Pietri, L., La ville de Tours du IVe au VIe siècle: naissance d'une cité chrétienne (Rome, 1983), 254, n. 43; van Dam, R., trans., Gregory of Tours: Glory of the Martyrs (Liverpool, 1988), 48–49, n. 32. See also Shanzer, D., “So Many Saints — So Little Time … The Libri miraculorum of Gregory of Tours,” Journal of Medieval Latin 13 (2003): 19–60, at 40–41 and passim.Google Scholar

26 Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten (n. 11 above), 1:135–38; Prieur, J.-M., Acta Andreae, CCA 5–6 (Turnhout, 1989). Prieur does not discuss or question Gregory's authorship.Google Scholar

27 “De quo sepulchro manna in modum farinae et oleum cum odore suavissimo defluit, a quo, quae sit anni praesentis fertilitas, incolis regionis ostenditur. Si exiguum profluit, exiguum terra exhibet fructum; si vero copiose processerit, magna fructuum opulentia ministratur. Nam ferunt, hoc oleum usque ad medium basilicae sanctae decurrere, sicut in primo Miraculorum scripsimus libro. Passionis quoque eius ita ordinem prosecuti non sumus, quia valde utiliter et eliganter a quodam repperimus fuisse conscriptum.” Ed. Prieur, , Acta Andreae , 6:651.Google Scholar

28 Gregory of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum c. 30: “Andreas apostolus magnum miraculum in die solemnitatis suae profert, hoc est mannam in modum farinae uel oleum cum odore nectareo, quod de tumulo eius exundat. Per id enim, quae sit fertilitas anni sequentis, ostenditur. Si exiguum profluxerit, exiguum terra profert fructuum, si uero fuerit copiosum, magnum arua prouentum fructuum habere significat. Nam ferunt in aliquibus annis, in tantum e tumulo oleum exundare, ut usque medium basilicae profluat riuus ille. Haec autem aguntur apud prouintiam Achaiam, in ciuitate Patras, in qua beatus apostolus siue martyr pro redemptoris nomine crucifixus praesentem uitam gloriosa morte finiuit. Tamen cum oleum defluxerit, tantum odorem naribus praestat, ut putes ibi multarum aromatum sparsam esse congeriem.” Ed. Krusch, , Liber in gloria martyrum (MGH SRM I.2), 55–56.Google Scholar

29 Liber in gloria confessorum, prologue. Krusch, B., ed., Georgii Florentii Gregorii episcopi turonensis libri octo miraculorum (MGH SRM I.2 [Hanover, 1885, repr. Hanover, 1969], 298).Google Scholar

30 “Haec sunt quae uirtutibus beati Andreae apostoli presumpsi indignus ore sermone rusticus prauus consciencia propalare”; MA 38.Google Scholar

31 Historiarum libri decem I, prologue, V.6, X.31; Liber IV de virtutibus sancti Martini I, prologue, II.1; In gloria Martyrum, prologue; Libri vitae patrum, c. 9. Cf. Heinzelmann, , Gregor von Tours , 85–86; Zelzer, K., ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten (Berlin, 1977), xxviii, referring to Buchner, R., Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Historiarum libri decem (Darmstadt, 1959), xxxvii and following pages.Google Scholar

32 However, see for a nuanced consideration on Gregory's linguistic skills Heinzelmann, , Gregor von Tours , 84–86.Google Scholar

33 See n. 25 above.Google Scholar

34 Cf. for the following, the arguments provided by Klaus Zelzer, who challenges Gregory's authorship but, at the same time, has to admit that the objections against this attribution are not decisive. Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten , xxix–xxx, n. 2.Google Scholar

35 Gregory of Tours is mentioned as the author of the text on Andrew for the first time in a manuscript dating to the twelfth century (Paris BNF lat. 12603). Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten , 1:137. Zelzer explains that the oldest extant manuscripts transmitting the Miracula Andreae are the manuscripts containing the Virtutes apostolorum as a series. Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten, xxix–xxx, n. 2.Google Scholar

36 In the transmission of the Virtutes apostolorum north of the Alps, BHL 430 occurs mainly in manuscripts belonging to the Bavarian tradition. On the distinction between Frankish and Bavarian manuscripts of the Virtutes apostolorum, see Rose, E., “Virtutes apostolorum: Editorial Problems and Principles,” Apocrypha 23 (2012): 11–45; Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten, xxxiii; and Prot, Maarten, “Textual Variety and Linguistic Context in the Virtutes Apostolorum“ (PhD diss., Utrecht University, 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37 Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten , 137; see also ibid., 164.Google Scholar

38 Zelzer sternly dismisses Lipsius's assumption that Gregory was the author of the section on Thomas. Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten , xxix.Google Scholar

39 Lapidge, M., “Aldhelm's Career,” Anglo-Saxon England 36 (2007): 15–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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41 O'Leary, A., “The Latin Origins of the Irish Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles” (PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 1997). I base my knowledge of her work primarily on “Apostolic Passiones in Early Anglo-Saxon England,” in Apocryphal Texts and Traditions in Anglo-Saxon England , ed. Powell, K. and Scragg, D. (Cambridge, 2003), 103–19. See also eadem, Trials and Translations: the Latin Origins of the Irish Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles (Aberdeen, 2013/14, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian Studies Series, University of Aberdeen, forthcoming).Google Scholar

42 O'Leary, , “Apostolic Passiones,” 107–13.Google Scholar

43 Ibid., 112.Google Scholar

44 In the context of Bartholomew, e.g., it is more convincing to point to the Virtutes Bartholomaei (BHL 1002) as a source for the description of India as tripartite than to Orosius's Historiae aduersus paganos — the latter suggestion is given by Lapidge, and Rosier, in their commentary. Aldhelm: The Poetic Works , trans. Lapidge, M. and Rosier, J. (Cambridge, 1985), 241, n. 66.Google Scholar

45 Aldhelm, , Carmina IV, ed. Ehwald, R., Aldhelmi opera , MGH AA 15 (Berlin, 1919/61), 19–30, at 30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

46 Venerabilis, Beda, Retractatio in Actus apostolorum I.13. Bedae Venerabilis Retractatio in Actus apostolorum , ed. Laistner, M. L. W. and Hurst, D., CCL 121 (Turnhout, 1983), 106–7.Google Scholar

47 Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten , 1:167–68.Google Scholar

48 O'Leary, , “Apostolic Passiones,” 105. See also Rose, , Ritual Memory (n. 19 above), 63–65.Google Scholar

49 Charles Wright gives a survey of sections of the Virtutes apostolorum and their possible influence on Anglo-Saxon authors. Wright is cautious as well with regard to drawing definite conclusions about the sources for Anglo-Saxon traditions on the apostles. Wright, Ch., “Apocryphal Acts,” in Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: A Trial Version , ed. Biggs, F. M. et al. (Binghamton, NY, 1990), 48–63.Google Scholar

50 Thacker, A., “In Search of Saints: The English Church and the Cult of Roman Apostles and Martyrs in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries,” in Early Medieval Rome and the Christian West: Essays in Honour of Donald Bullough , ed. Smith, J. (Leiden, 2000), 247–77, at 265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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52 Riché, P., Éducation et culture dans l'Occident barbare VIe–VIIIe siècle (Paris, orig. publ. 1962, 4th ed. 1995), 310–11.Google Scholar

53 Thacker, , “In Search of Saints,” 262.Google Scholar

54 Ibid., 271. Research on the use of biblical material in the Virtutes apostolorum points to Italy (but not necessarily Rome) as the place of origin of many individual narratives (though not necessarily all of them). Cf. Steinová, Evina, “Biblical Material in the Latin Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles” (MA thesis, Utrecht University, 2011, available through http://studenttheses.library.uu.nl/search.php/language=nl&qry=Steinova).Google Scholar

55 Thacker, , “In Search of Saints,” 275. We must not rule out beforehand the route via Ireland, although O'Leary assumes that the apostle narratives arrived in Anglo-Saxon England earlier than in Ireland. O'Leary, , “Apostolic Passiones,” 105.Google Scholar

56 Rose, , “Virtutes apostolorum: Editorial Problems and Principles” (n. 36 above).Google Scholar

57 This is Zelzer's thesis, built on the standard of Latin found in the Bavarian manuscripts. Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten (n. 31 above), xxxiii–xxxiv. Würzburg, University Library M.p.th.f. 78, an eighth-century continental manuscript in Anglo-Saxon script, might be an early example of this movement. This manuscript is not in my selection since it does not contain a complete series of Virtutes apostolorum (only John, James the Great, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude, and Philip). Cf. Cross, J. E., “Cynewulf's Traditions about the Apostles,” Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979): 163–75, at 166. See for a description of Würzburg, UL M.p.th.f. 78 Lowe, E. A., Codices Latini Antiquiores IX (Oxford, 1959), no. 1425.Google Scholar

58 F. Dolbeau, “Un nouveau prologue ‘passe-partout,’ ” appendix to the article “Un exemple peu connu de conte hagiographique: La passion des saints Pérégrin, Mathorat et Viventien,” Analecta Bollandiana 97 (1979): 337–54, at 353. CrossRefGoogle Scholar

59 M. Goullet, “Vers une typologie des réécritures hagiographiques, à partir de quelques examples du Nord-Est de la France,” in La réécriture hagiographique dans l'occident médiéval: Transformations formelles et idéologiques, ed. M. Goullet and M. Heinzelmann, Beihefte der Francia 58 (Paris, 2003). Google Scholar

60 Goullet, “Vers une typologie,” 121. Google Scholar

61 Ibid., 121: “peu importe alors le fossé qui se creuse entre ce désir [sc. d’émulation] et son actualisation.” Google Scholar

62 Goullet, Écriture et réécriture hagiographiques: Essai sur les réécritures de Vies de saints dans l’Occident latin médiéval (VIIIe–XIIIe s.) (Turnhout, 2005), 40. CrossRefGoogle Scholar

63 Elsewhere I discuss this phenomenon in two prologues in the Virtutes apostolorum: Volo sollicitam esse, preceding the Virtutes Iohannis (BHL 4320), and Licet plurima, accompanying the Virtutes Petri (BHL 6663). Rose, , “Réécriture des Actes apocryphes des Apôtres“ (n. 10 above), 144–51.Google Scholar

64 The origin of Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48 is unclear. Bischoff is positive that the book was made in Weissenburg: Junod, É. and Kaestli, J.-D., eds., Acta Iohannis , CCA 1–2 (Turnhout, 1983), 756, but Butzmann thinks it probable that the book was made in Skt. Gallen. Butzmann, H., “Althochdeutsche Priscian-Glossen aus Weissenburg,” Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 86 (1964): 388–402, at 401–2. See further Rose, , “Virtutes apostolorum: Editorial Problems and Principles,” 17, n. 18.Google Scholar

65 According to Trenkler, MS Vienna ÖNB 455 belonged to the Abbey of Trudpert, an Irish foundation in the Black Forest. Trenkler, E., “Wolfgang Lazius, Humanist und Büchersammler,” Biblos 27 (1978): 186–203, at 201. Cf. on van der Linden, Trudpert S., De heiligen (Amsterdam and Antwerp, 2002), 867.Google Scholar

66 “Licet plurima de apostolicis signis sacra euangeliorum uel illa quae ab ipsis actibus nomen accepit narret historia, tamen nobis uisum est ut retractis exemplaribus a uoluminibus istis de uniuscuiusque uirtutibus quantum inuenire possumus libros singulos conscribamus, ut etiam si alicui delectatio fuerit inquirendi, quid ille aut ille proprium gessit apostolus, singillatim repperiatur in singulis. Illud etiam placuit ut his uirtutibus passionum historiae conectantur. Nam de multis apostolis nihil aliud ad nos praeter ipsarum passionum monumenta uenerunt. Quod nos pro magno complectimur, scientes scriptum: Honorandi sunt amici tui deus. Verum utrum magna ostendissent prodigia in populis, an minora, non haec fragilitati humanae sunt adscribenda, sed a nobis fideliter confitendum, quia operatur ea unus atque idem dominus Ihesus Christus qui in eis per bonam uoluntatem, et sensus puritatem habitat, sicut dudum protulit propheta: Quia inhabitabo in eis et inambulabo in illis et ero illorum deus. Ergo in huius Ihesu Christi filii omnipotentis dei nomine cum adiutorio spiritus sancti ab ipso principum principe Petro sumamus exordium.” Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48 (fol. 10r–v) and Vienna ÖNB 455 (fols. 1v–2r).Google Scholar

67 “Inclita sanctorum apostolorum trophea nulli credo latere fidelium, quia quaedam exinde euangelica dogmata docent, quaedam apostolici actus narrant. De quibusdam uero extant libri in quibus propriae actiones eorum denotantur. De plerisque enim nihil aliud nisi passionum scripta suscipimus. Nam repperi librum de uirtutibus sancti Andreae apostoli qui propter nimiam uerbositatem a nonnullis apochrifus dicebatur. De quo placuit ut retractis enucleatisque tantum uirtutibus praetermissis his quae fastidium generabant, uno tantum paruo uolumine admiranda miracula clauderentur. Quod et legentibus prestaret gratiam et detrahentium auferret inuidiam, quia inuiolatam fidem non exigit multitudo uerbositatis, sed integritas rationis et puritas mentis.” Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48 (fol. 37r–v) and Vienna ÖNB 455 (fol. 29r–v).Google Scholar

68 “Beatum Thomam cum reliquis discipulis ad officium apostolatus electum, ipsumque a domino Didimum quod interpretatur geminus uocitatum fides euangelica narrat. Qui post dominicae gloriam ascensionis Tatheum unum ex septuaginta discipulis ad Abgarum regem Aedissenae ciuitatis transmisit, ut eum ab infirmitate curaret, iuxta uerbum quod ei a domino scriptum est. Quod Tatheus ambienter impleuit, ita ut ueniens imposito regi crucis signaculo ab omni eum languore sanaret. Thomas autem apostolus Christi, morabatur in Iherusalem. Tunc diuina commonitione iussus est, Indiam ingredi ut scilicet populo qui iacebat in tenebris lumen ostenderet ueritatis. Nam legisse me memini quendam libellum in quo iter eius, uel miracula quae in India gessit explanabantur. De quo libello quod a quibusdam non recipitur uerbositate praetermissa, pauca de miraculis libuit memorare, quod et legentibus gratum fieret et ecclesiam roboraret.” Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48 (fol. 84r–v) and Vienna ÖNB 455 (fol. 91r–v).Google Scholar

69 At least the BHL does not distinguish between a prologue and the text proper of the Virtutes Thomae, as it does in the case of the other prologues discussed in the present article. Zelzer does not make a clear distinction between prologue and text in his edition: Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten (n. 31 above), 45–46. Conversely, Lipsius already underlined the similarities between the prologues of the sections on Andrew and Thomas: Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten (n. 11 above), 1:162–63, and between Licet plurima and Inclita sanctorum apostolorum trophea (ibid., 156–57).Google Scholar

70 A survey of the late antique and medieval discussion on the status of apocrypha makes clear the close familiarity of the notions “apocryphus dicitur” and “non recipitur”; cf. Rose, , Ritual Memory (n. 19 above), 23–78.Google Scholar

71 See n. 10 above.Google Scholar

72 Lipsius, , Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten , 1:163.Google Scholar

73 Zelzer, , ed., Die alten lateinischen Thomasakten , xxix.Google Scholar

74 Gregory of Tours, Libri IV de uirtutibus sancti Martini, book IV, prologue, ed. Krusch, B., MGH SRM I.2, 199.Google Scholar

75 I discussed this text in more detail in Rose, “Réécriture des Actes apocryphes des Apôtres” (n. 10 above), 145–48. A full text with French translation is found there on 163–65.Google Scholar

76 Junod, É. and Kaestli, J.-D., L'Histoire des actes apocryphes des apôtres du IIIe au IXe siècle: le cas des Actes de Jean , Cahiers de la Revue de théologie et de philosophie 7 (Geneva, 1982), 104.Google Scholar

77 “qui de uirtutibus quidem quae per eos dominus fecit, uera dixit, de doctrina uero multa mentitus est.” On the identification of Leucius, see Röwekamp, G., “Leucius,” in Lexikon der antiken christlichen Literatur , ed. Döpp, S. and Geerlings, W. (Freiburg im B., 1998), 396.Google Scholar

78 With many thanks to the doctoral students and their supervisors, particularly Frédéric Amsler, taking part in the “3e cycle en Histoire du christianisme ancien,” Geneva – Fribourg – Lausanne (November 2009) for their useful comments on this text and the prologue to Matthew. Bonnet transcribes “procedentem ex patre in filio permanentem” on the basis of twelve manuscripts, four of which are also in my selection, but I do not find this reading in any of my manuscripts. Cf. Bonnet, M., ed., Passio Andreae , in Acta apostolorum apocrypha , ed. Bonnet, M., II.1 (Leipzig, 1898, repr. Hildesheim 1990), 2; cf. idem, “La passio de l'apôtre André en quelle langue a-t-elle été écrite?” Revue Byzantine 3 (1894): 458–69. With thanks to Jean-Daniel Kaestli for this bibliographical addition.Google Scholar

79 Though Munich Clm 4554 (s. VIII/IX) from Benediktbeuern in Bavaria does contain the prologue. This manuscript is not included in my selection because it does not comprise Virtutes of all apostles. Cf. on the distinction of Bavarian and Frankish transmission n. 36 above.Google Scholar

80 “Quoniam deo cura est de hominibus ut plus animarum eorum curam gerat quam corporum, plerumque enim accidit ut laetitia corporalis cum sit temporalis et in lubrico posita, et magis quasi desinendo incipiat quam manendo, aeternam anime tribulationem infligat. Ex ipsa enim uniuersa peccata nascuntur. Et ideo dixi deum nostrum plus animarum curam gerere, dum ex aliquo casu natas tristitias temporales, que corporibus sunt moleste, permittit inter his morari, quoniam ex ipsis aeterna gaudia oriuntur. Cura ergo ut inchoauimus loqui deo nostro de hominibus magna est, et maioribus morbis, maiora genera medicine procurat.” Montpellier UL 55, fol. 25v.Google Scholar

81 For a comparable study of such marginal additions indicating the division of hagiographic texts in liturgical lessons, see Snijders, T., “Celebrating with Dignity: The Purpose of Benedictine Matins Readings,” in Understanding Monastic Practices of Oral Communication (Western Europe, Tenth-Thirteenth Centuries) , ed. Vanderputten, S., Utrecht Series in Medieval Literacy 21 (Turnhout, 2011), 115–36.Google Scholar

82 See for the selection of twenty-five manuscripts n. 10 above and the appendix.Google Scholar

83 For the following manuscripts, the monastic place of use (though not necessarily of origin) is known: Skt. Gallen 561, s. IX (Skt. Gallen); Vienna ÖNB lat. 455, s. IX (St. Trudpert, Germany); Vienna ÖNB lat. 534, s. IX (Millstatt, later Ossiach, Bavaria); Wolfenbüttel Helmstädt 497, s. XI (St. John, Bergen, Magdeburg); Paris BNF lat. 5563, s. XI (St. Thierry, Reims); Angers BM 281, s. XI (St. Aubin, Angers); Paris BNF lat. 12602 and 12604, s. XII (Corbie).Google Scholar

84 Montpellier UL 55, s. VIII/IX (St. Etienne, Autun); Paris BNF lat. 18298, s. IX/X (Notre Dame, Paris); Bamberg Msc. Hist. 139, s. XII (St. Peter, Bamberg).Google Scholar

85 The origin of the manuscripts under scrutiny is even more difficult to establish; only six manuscripts can be attributed to a monastic scriptorium with certainty: Dublin TC 737, s. IX (Regensburg); Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48, s. IX (Weissenburg or Skt. Gallen); Angers BM 281, s. XI (St. Aubin, Angers); Bamberg Msc. Hist. 139, s. XII (Regensburg); Munich 12641, s. XII (Ranshofen, Bavaria); Vienna ÖNB lat. 560, s. XII (Rein, Bavaria). See also, more elaborately: Rose, , “Abdias scriptor?” (n. 8 above).Google Scholar

86 At any rate Montpellier UL 55, s. VIII/IX; Skt. Gallen SB 561, s. IX; Graz UL 412, s. IX; Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48, s. IX; Paris BNF lat. 18298, s. IX/X; Paris BNF lat. 11750, s. XI; Paris Ste. Geneviève 557, s. XI–XII; Paris BNF lat. 9737, s. XII; Paris BNF lat. 12602, s. XII; Bamberg Msc. Hist. 139, s. XII; Munich Clm 22020, s. XII; Paris Ste. Geneviève 547, s. XII; Paris BNF lat. 5274, s. XII; Paris Ste. Geneviève 558, s. XIII; Paris BNF lat. 5273, s. XIII; Vienna ÖNB lat. 497, s. XIII. See the appendix for more information about the content of these codices.Google Scholar

87 Philippart, , Les légendiers latins (n. 7 above), 112–17.Google Scholar

88 Ibid., 60–61.Google Scholar

89 Dolbeau, , “Typologie et formation” (n. 9 above), 174–75.Google Scholar

90 On the composite character of the manuscript, see the “Appendix” and Rose, , “Abdias scriptor?”, 255–56.Google Scholar

91 The available literature dates the hand to the ninth or tenth century. Mayer, H., Althochdeutsche Glossen: Nachträge / Old High German Glosses: A Supplement (Toronto, 1975), 23.Google Scholar

92 Quak, A., “Unveröffentlichte althochdeutsche Glossen aus dem Codex Vindobonensis 534,” in Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik , ed. Minis, C. (Amsterdam, 1973), 4:113–28, at 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

93 Quak, , “Unveröffentlichte althochdeutsche Glossen,” 118.Google Scholar

94 Cf. ibid., 120 (‘uualtinot’); 122–23 (‘hadrun’).Google Scholar

95 Cf. ibid., 118 (‘un giefrumiger’); 119 (‘pizilifida’); 120 (‘urmaro’); and the irregular forms ‘u.nguhct’ and ‘czstla’ (124–25).Google Scholar

96 Butzmann, , “Althochdeutsche Priscian-Glossen,” 401–2. Cf. n. 64 above.Google Scholar

97 The note seems to be contemporary to the “table of contents” in cursive script on fol. 2r, to which the date (?) 1267 is added in the margin.Google Scholar

98 On the commemoration of the apostles in the liturgy of hours, see Rose, , Ritual Memory (n. 19 above).Google Scholar

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100 Martimort, , Lectures liturgiques , 97–98.Google Scholar

101 Harper, J., Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century: A Historical Introduction and Guide for Students and Musicians (Oxford, 1991/96), 86–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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103 Even though this “monastic” number of readings is in conflict with the cathedral provenance of the book.Google Scholar

104 Snijders, , “Celebrating with Dignity” (n. 81 above), 128.Google Scholar

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106 However, most manuscripts put the sections on Philip and James next to each other in the series of Virtutes apostolorum, either in the order James – Philip (17) or Philip – James (4). Manuscripts that do put the two sections next to each other are (James, Philip): Angers BM 281; Bamberg Msc. hist. 139; Dublin TC 737; Graz UB 412; Paris Ste. Geneviève 557; Paris BNF lat. 5274; Paris BNF lat. 5563; Paris BNF lat. 9737; Paris BNF lat. 12602; Paris BNF lat. 12604; Paris BNF lat. 18298; Skt. Gallen SB 561; Vienna ÖNB 455; Vienna ÖNB 497; Vienna ÖNB 560; Wolfenbüttel Weissenburg 48; Wolfenbüttel Helmstädt 497; (Philip, James): Munich Clm 12641; Paris Ste. Geneviève 558; Paris BNF lat. 5273; Paris BNF lat. 11750. Manuscripts that place them apart: Montpellier UL 55; Munich Clm 22020; Paris Ste. Geneviève 547; Vienna ÖNB 534.Google Scholar

107 Angers, BM 281 (s. XI), fols. 117r–119r.Google Scholar

108 Munich Clm 22020 (s. XII), fols. 59v–60r and 52r–v.Google Scholar

109 Cf. Rose, , Ritual Memory (n. 19 above).Google Scholar

110 Harnoncourt, and der Maur, Auf, Feiern im Rhythmus der Zeit , 148. See for more details Jounel, “Le culte des apôtres à Rome” (n. 2 above).Google Scholar

111 The bibliography on the subject is large and diverse. Reference to a most learned and recent article with extensive bibliography may suffice here: Mayne Kienzle, B., “Religious Poverty and the Search for Perfection,” in Cambridge History of Christianity , 4, Christianity in Western Europe c. 1100–c.1500 , ed. Rubin, M. and Simons, W. (Cambridge, 2009), 39–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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113 Cf. on the early Christian and medieval debate on apocrypha Rose, , Ritual Memory , 23–78; cf. n. 70 above.Google Scholar

114 Diesenberger, M., “Reworking the Virtutes apostolorum in the Salzburg Sermon-Collection (1st Quarter of the Ninth Century),” Apocrypha 23 (2012): 47–64, examining MS Salzburg, Stiftsbibliothek St. Peter, Cod. 1 VIII 32.Google Scholar

115 Cf. Rose, , Ritual Memory , 72–74.Google Scholar

116 Cf. Backus, I., Historical Method and Confessional Identity in the Era of the Reformation (1378–1615) (Leiden and Boston, 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar