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Antiphonary

Item Info

Item No: mcai480021
Additional Title: Antiphonary
Script: Rotunda
Language: Latin
Folio Number: front
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes: In this initial beginning an unknown chant, St. Benedict, the sixth-century saint and founder of the Benedictine order, holds a book inscribed with the words, "Asculta o fili precepta patris tui et inclina aure[m] cordis tui . . ." (Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart). These words are the first of his influential "Rule," a set of instructions and teachings on leading the monastic life that became the foundational text of Western monasticism.

The illuminator of this initial is known as the Olivetan Master, called by this name because of a signature found in an illuminated initial from Milan, dated 1439 (now in The Cini Foundation in Venice) that describes him as a brother of the Order of Monteoliveto.
Notes: Initial H with St. Benedict of Nursia
Notes: This cutting can be dated to ca. 1430 - 1440s.
Sirsi Catalog Key: 1607281
Country: Country:Italy
City/Town/Township:Milan

Creation Year (Single Year or Range Begin): 1475
Image Dimensions Width: 113 mm
ShelfMark: Lewis E M 48:2

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