The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Parisinus Latinus 11642, f. 224–224v:

Et orationibus beatae & gloriosae semper uirginis Mariae hunc codicem excerptorum quem ex opusculis sancti Augustini beatae recordationis Eugippius presbyter & abba fecit & eum codicem dei aspiratione pro amore diuinarum scripturarum adhuc in laica uita constitutus Redux misericordia dei episcopus conscribi fecit & praefatus Redux dei gratia faciente in eadem neapolitana ciuitate a uiro beatissimo Pelagio sedis Romae pontifice est episcopus ordinatus. & eo iubente ego Petrus notarius sanctae ecclesiae catholicae neapolitanae ut potui emendaui sub die iduum decembrium imperatore domino nostro Tiberio Constantino perpetuo Augusto anno septimo, post consulatum eiusdem Augusti anno tertio, indictione quinta decima, obsidentibus Langobardis neapolitanam ciuitatem.

Quem codicem pro memoria recordationis nominis sui praedictus episcopus deuote sanctae ecclesiae neapolitanae, cui praeest, pro aedificatione populi christiani noscitur obtulisse. Et obtestor uos sanctos successores ecclesiae suprascriptae dei gratia succedentes in diuersis ordinibus consitutos per dei nostri omnipotentis aduentum, ut hic codex in ecclesia dei semper ualeat permanere, ut, quomodo fides aeterna est christiana, sic haec oblatio codicis in ecclesia iure deo custodiente uobisque seruantibus ibidem perseueret. testes sitis etiam uos per confessionem meritoque beati Ianuarii martyris, ut sub nullo argumento, nulla alienatione, nulla commutatione de archibo ecclesiae, uel iure aliquo modo discedat, ne cum praedicto pontifice Reduce in diuino iudicio causas reddere uideamini. Finit. Amen.

'Through the prayers of the blessed and ever-glorious Virgin Mary, Redux, bishop by the mercy of God, when he was still a layman, had this codex of extracts from the works of St Augustine, that the presbyter and abbot Eugippius of blessed memory collected, copied by inspiration of God out of love for Holy Scripture. The said Redux was consecrated bishop by the grace of God in the same Neapolitan city by the blessed Pelagius, pontiff of the See of Rome. By order of [Redux] I, Peter, notary of the holy Catholic Church of Naples, on the day of the Ides of December (= 13 December) in the seventh year of our lord the emperor Tiberius Constantinus, forever August, after the third consulship of the said August, on the 15th indiction (= 581), while the Lombards were besieging Naples, corrected [this codex] as well as I could. The said bishop piously donated this codex to the holy church of Naples, over which he presides, that his name might be remembered and for the edification of the Christian people. And I beseech you, holy successors of the said Church, who follow by the grace of God as your different turns come, through the coming of our Almighty God, that this codex may always remain in the church of God, so that, just as the Christian faith is eternal, so the donation of the codex may always be valid in the church which guards it according to the law of God and with you as its ministers. By the confession of the rightly blessed Ianuarius the Martyr, you witness that this codex will never leave the archives of the church under any argument, any alienation, or any change, nor under any law, lest you have to answer to the aforementioned Bishop Redux at the divine judgement. The end. Amen.'


Text: Knöll 1886: xxv-xxvi.
Translation: M. Szada.

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