Peterhouse : Homiliary compiled by Paul the Deacon

Peterhouse

<p style='text-align: justify;'><i>Homiliaries</i>, <i>homiliarium</i>, or <i>homiliarius</i> (i.e. <i>liber</i>) <i>doctorum</i>, are collections of homilies for the entire liturgical year, made up of homilies drawn from various sources and conceived of as standard, though no two completely identical manuscript homiliaries have ever been found. The eighth century was a century of liturgical codification, and as new feasts were added to the Office, the demand for homilies became greater. One of the most famous of these homiliarium is that of Paul Warnefrid, better known as Paul the Deacon (about 720-probably 799), a monk of the Benedict convent of Monte Cassino, who compiled it at the command of Charlemagne. For centuries the homiliary was copied, recopied, and used in monasteries; it has reached us only in revised form. This particular copy was made for the Benedictine Abbey of Holzen in southern Germany.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The references to Paul the Deacon, following each entry below, are as given in R. Grégoire, <i>Les Homéliaires liturgiques médiévaux</i> (Spoleto, 1980), pp. 423-78, where the authorship and editions of each homily are listed.</p>