Migne Reading Room

PL 54 · cols. 199–202

Leo the Great, Sermons

Sermon XXIII

PL 54:199
judiciis. Sit in vobis indubitata credulitas virgineae integritatis et partus. Reformationis humanae sacrum divinumque mysterium sancto atque sincero honorate servitio. Amplectimini Christum in nostra carne nascentem, ut eumdem Deum gloriae videre mereamini in sua majestate regnantem, qui cum Patre et Spiritu sancto manet in unitate Deitatis in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
[…] judgements. Let there be in you an undoubting belief in the virginal integrity and the childbearing. Honour the holy and divine mystery of mankind's re-formation with holy and sincere service. Embrace Christ being born in our flesh, that you may deserve to see the same God of glory reigning in His majesty, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit abides in the unity of the Godhead for ever and ever. Amen.
SERMO XXIII [Al. XXII].
SERMON XXIII [Otherwise XXII].
In Nativitate Domini III.
On the Nativity of the Lord, III.
CAP. I.—Nota quidem sunt vobis, dilectissimi, et frequenter audita, quae ad sacramentum pertinent solemnitatis hodiernae; sed sicut illaesis oculis voluptatem affert lux ista visibilis, ita cordibus sanis aeternum dat gaudium nativitatis Salvatoris, quae a nobis numquam est tacenda, licet non sit, ut dignum est, explicanda. Non enim ad illud tantummodo sacramentum, quo Filius Dei consempiternus est Patri, sed etiam ad hunc ortum, quo Verbum caro factum est (Joan. i, 14), credimus pertinere, quod dictum est: Generationem ejus quis enarrabit (Isai. liii, 8)? Deus itaque Dei Filius par atque eamdem de Patre et cum Patre natura, universitatis Creator et Dominus, totus ubiqne praesens, et omnia totus excedens, in ordine temporum, quae ipsius dispositione decurrunt, hunc sibi diem, quo in salutem mundi ex beata Virgine Maria nasceretur, elegit, integro per omnia pudore generantis. Cujus virginitas sicut
CHAP. I.—The things that belong to the mystery of today's solemnity are indeed known to you, dearly beloved, and often heard; but as this visible light brings pleasure to unharmed eyes, so to sound hearts the Saviour's nativity gives everlasting joy, a nativity that must never be passed over in silence by us, although it cannot be unfolded as it deserves. For we believe that what was said, Who shall declare His generation (Isa. 53:8)?, refers not only to that mystery by which the Son of God is co-eternal with the Father, but also to this birth by which the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). So God, the Son of God, equal and of the same nature from the Father and with the Father, Creator and Lord of the universe, wholly present everywhere and wholly surpassing all things, in the order of the times, which run their course by His disposition, chose for Himself this day on which He would be born for the salvation of the world of the blessed Virgin Mary, the modesty of her who bore Him remaining unimpaired in all respects. Whose virginity, as […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 199

Footnotes

(a) ‹Nota quidem sunt› · printed under col 199

Emendavimus ex plerisque nostris codicibus. Al., nobis. Mox, ad sacramentum scripsimus ex quatuor Vaticanis. Al., ad sacramenta.

We have corrected this from most of our manuscripts. Others, nobis. Next, we have written ad sacramentum from four Vatican manuscripts. Others, ad sacramenta.

(b) ‹a nobis numquam est› · printed under col 199

Septem sequentes voces, quae a subjecta Leonis ratione exigi videntur, supplevimus ex ms. S. Petri, ex quo etiam scripsimus, tacenda, pro reticenda, quod legebatur in editis et nonnullis aliis codd.

The seven following words, which seem to be required by the reasoning Leo adds, we have supplied from the manuscript of St Peter's, from which we have also written tacenda for reticenda, which was read in the printed editions and some other manuscripts.

(c) ‹totus ubiqne praesens, et› · printed under col 199

Amplectendam credidimus laudati codicis S. Petri lectionem. Al., universa excedens. Mox discurrunt pro decurrunt in ms. Bon. et prima editione. Dein vox Maria ex mss. S. Petri addita.

We have thought the reading of the praised manuscript of St Peter's should be adopted. Others, universa excedens. Next, discurrunt for decurrunt in the Bologna manuscript and the first edition. Then the word Maria has been added from the manuscripts of St Peter's.

(d) ‹Cujus virginitas› · printed under col 199

Ita melius ex mss. S. Petri, Bon. ac prima editione. Al., sic non est violata partu, ut non fuerat.

So, better, from the manuscripts of St Peter's and Bologna and the first edition. Others, sic non est violata partu, ut non fuerat.

Editors' prose

Synopsis.—1. Utramque Christi generationem esse inenarrabilem et utramque naturam editam esse a Maria.— II. Error Arii unde? Incarnationis explicatur sacramentum. — III. Necessitas incarnationis, ut hominum errores et peccata auferrentur. — IV. Fidem et virtutem incarnationis unam semper et eamdem fuisse, quae hodie. — V. Non carnali laetitia Dominicam Nativitatem, sed spiritali celebrandam. Quod Christns caro nostra fit nascendo, nos caro ejus renascendo.

Synopsis.—1. That both generations of Christ are beyond telling, and that both natures were brought forth by Mary.— II. Whence the error of Arius? The mystery of the incarnation is explained. — III. The necessity of the incarnation, so that the errors and sins of men might be taken away. — IV. That the faith and power of the incarnation were always one and the same as today. — V. The Lord's Nativity is to be celebrated not with carnal but with spiritual joy. That Christ becomes our flesh by being born, we His flesh by being reborn.

Page

  • running head: 199 S. LEONIS MAGNI SERMONES. (across cols 199–200)
  • marginal letters: A ‹judiciis. Sit in vobis›; B ‹Dominicam Nativitatem, sed spiritali celebrandam.› (in the synopsis); C ‹Dominus, totus ubiqne praesens›; D (in the footnotes) ‹(e) Sic cum Quesnello›
  • old-edition numerals: 73 before ‹SERMO XXIII›; 74 after ‹Cujus›
  • signature: none
  • other: the caption SERMO XXIII [Al. XXII]. with the italic sub-caption In Nativitate Domini III. is printed within col 199 only. The call of note (c) is printed ‹(e)›. The synopsis numbers its first head with an arabic ‹1.› and the rest with roman numerals. Notes (e) and (f), printed under col 199, have their calls in col 200 and are set in n200. The numeral in the caption is printed with damaged type (‹XXI'I›).
PL 54:200
non est violata partu, sic non fuerat temerata conceptu. Ut impleretur, sicut ait evangelista, quod dictum est a Domino per Isaiam prophetam: Ecce virgo concipiet in utero, et pariet filium, et vocabunt nomen ejus Emmanuel, quod interpretatur, Nobiscum Deus, (Matth. i, 23). Hic enim mirabilis sacrae Virginis partus, vere humanam vereque divinam unam edidit prole personam, quia non ita proprietates suas tenuit utraque substantia, ut personarum in eis possit esse discretio; nec sic creatura in societatem sui Creatoris est assumpta, ut ille habitator, et illa esset habitaculum; sed ita ut naturae alteri altera misceretur. Et quamvis alia sit quae suscipitur, alia vero quae suscipit in tantam tamen unitatem convenit utriusque diversitas, ut unus idemque sit Filius, qui se, et secundum quod verus est homo, Patre dicit minorem (Joan. xiv, 38), et secundum quod verus est Deus, Patri profitetur aequalem (Joan. x, 30).
[…] was not violated by the birth, so had not been defiled by the conception, that there might be fulfilled, as the evangelist says, what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah: Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us (Matt. 1:23). For this wondrous childbearing of the holy Virgin brought forth in its offspring one Person, truly human and truly divine, because each substance did not so keep its properties that there could be a distinction of persons in them; nor was the creature taken into the fellowship of its Creator in such a way that He was the dweller and it the dwelling; but so that the one nature was mingled with the other. And although the nature that is taken up is one thing and the nature that takes up is another, yet the diversity of both comes together into so great a unity that it is one and the same Son Who, according as He is true man, says that He is less than the Father (John 14:38), and according as He is true God, professes Himself equal to the Father (John 10:30).
CAP. II.—Hanc unitatem, dilectissimi, qua Creatori creatura conseritur, intelligentiae oculis cernere caecitas Ariana non potuit, quae Unigenitum Dei ejusdem cum Patre gloriae atque substantiae esse non credens, minorem dixit Filii deitatem, de iis argumenta sumens quae ad formam sunt referenda servilem, quam idem Filius Dei ut ostendat in se non discretae, neque alterius esse personae, sic cum eadem dicit: Pater mvjor me est (Joan. xiv, 28); quemadmodum dicit cum eadem: Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. x, 30). In forma enim servi. quam nostrae reparationis causa in fine saeculorum suscepit, minor est Patre; in forma autem Dei, in qua erat ante saecula, aequalis est Patri. In humilitate humana factus est ex muliere, factus sub lege (Golat. iv, 4); in majestate divina manens Dei Verbum, per quod facta sunt omnia (Joan, i, 3). Proinde qui in forma Dei fecit hominem, in forma servi factus est homo;
CHAP. II.—This unity, dearly beloved, by which the creature is joined to the Creator, the Arian blindness could not discern with the eyes of understanding; not believing the Only-begotten of God to be of the same glory and substance with the Father, it said that the Godhead of the Son was less, taking its arguments from those things that are to be referred to the form of a servant; and to show that this form is not separate in Him nor of another person, the same Son of God, with that same form, says: The Father is greater than I (John 14:28), just as with the same He says: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). For in the form of a servant, which He took up at the end of the ages for the sake of our restoration, He is less than the Father; but in the form of God, in which He was before the ages, He is equal to the Father. In human lowliness He was made of a woman, made under the law (Gal. 4:4); in divine majesty He abides the Word of God, through Whom all things were made (John 1:3). Accordingly He Who in the form of God made man, in the form of a servant was made man;
Editors' notes and page, col. 200

Footnotes

(e) ‹et pariet filium, et› · printed under col 199

Sic cum Quesnello plerique nostri codices. Al., vocabitur.

So, with Quesnel, most of our manuscripts. Others, vocabitur [shall be called].

(f) ‹vere humanam› · printed under cols 199–200

Editi, vere divinam una edidit prole naturam. Praetulimus Lectionarium basilicae S. Petri, cum praesertim hanc lectionem olim obtinuisse comprobet S. Petrus Damianus, qui opusc, i, c. 8, similiter in suo codice forte Romano legit, excepta voce prole, pro qua habet, in prole. Adde quod lectionem ejusmodi exigere videtur contextus. Ratio enim quam S. Leo subjicit, cum ad duplicem personam excludendam pertineat, unam personam in propositione assertam praesumit. Quoad sensum porro hujus loci, cum S. pontifex unam profiteatur personam, non ea mente hanc personam vere humanam vereque divinam appellavit, ut significaret personas duas, alteram humanam, divinam alteram (nam paulo post personarum discretionem, seu duas distinctas personas palam excludit), sed eam personam quam agnoscit unam, vere humanam vereque divinam significare voluit ratione diversa: vere divinam per se, quia vere divina est persona Verbi; vere autem humanam, si ita loqui liceat, officio, quia illa divina persona Verbi humanae naturae unita, est vera ejusdem hypostasis, quatenus humana natura Christi in persona Verbi vere subsistit, et ultimum complementum habet, quod verae personae proprium est. Id contra Nestorianos, qui duas personas in Christo, seu duos filios admittebant, dictum videtur.

The printed editions, vere divinam una edidit prole naturam. We have preferred the Lectionary of the basilica of St Peter, especially since St Peter Damian proves that this reading once prevailed: in opusc. 1, ch. 8, he reads likewise in his manuscript, perhaps a Roman one, except for the word prole, for which he has in prole. Add that the context seems to require a reading of this kind. For the reason St Leo adds, since it concerns the exclusion of a double person, presupposes that one person was asserted in the proposition. As to the sense of this passage, moreover: since the holy pontiff professes one person, he did not call this person truly human and truly divine with the intention of signifying two persons, one human, the other divine (for a little later he openly excludes a distinction of persons, that is, two distinct persons); rather he meant that the person which he acknowledges as one is truly human and truly divine on different grounds: truly divine in itself, because the person of the Word is truly divine; but truly human, if one may so speak, by office, because that divine person of the Word, united to the human nature, is its true hypostasis, inasmuch as the human nature of Christ truly subsists in the person of the Word and has its final completion, which is proper to a true person. This seems to have been said against the Nestorians, who admitted two persons in Christ, that is, two sons.

(g) ‹nec sic creatura› · printed under col 200

Ita ex nostris mss, ac prima editione. Similiter capite sequenti, Creatori creatura conseritur. Al. in editis, natura in societatem.

So from our manuscripts and the first edition. Similarly in the following chapter, Creatori creatura conseritur. Others, in the printed editions, natura in societatem.

(h) ‹naturae alteri altera› · printed under col 200

Codex S. Petri, uniretur, forte insereretur, vel consereretur, ut infra c. 2 habetur, conseritur. Ad vocem autem misceretur prolixam Quesnelli annotationem in observationibus dabimus, ubi misceretur pro uniretur usurpatum videbimus.

The manuscript of St Peter's, uniretur; perhaps insereretur or consereretur, as below in ch. 2 we have conseritur. On the word misceretur, however, we shall give Quesnel's lengthy annotation in the observations, where we shall see misceretur used for uniretur.

(i) ‹utriusque diversitas, ut› · printed under col 200

Ms. S. Petri, idem unusque sit Dei Filius.

The manuscript of St Peter's, idem unusque sit Dei Filius.

(j) ‹minorem› · printed under col 200

Idem codex, sibi finxit, pro dixit.

The same manuscript, sibi finxit [imagined for itself] for dixit.

(k) ‹sic cum eadem dicit:› · printed under col 200

Ita supplevimus ex ms. S. Petri, et codice Casinensi collect. 1, uti contextus etiam postulat, cum in editis et aliis mss. librariorum saltu deessent verba: Pater major me est, quemadmodum dicit cum eadem.

We have supplied this from the manuscript of St Peter's and the Monte Cassino manuscript of collection 1, as the context also demands, since in the printed editions and other manuscripts, through a skip by the copyists, the words Pater major me est, quemadmodum dicit cum eadem were lacking.

(l) ‹in majestate divina› · printed under col 200

In eodem ms. S. Petri, manens Deus.

In the same manuscript of St Peter's, manens Deus.

(m) ‹(Joan, i, 3).› · printed under col 200

Eadem sunt in ep. 28, cap. 3,

The same words are in Letter 28, ch. 3,

Page

  • running head: S. LEONIS MAGNI SERMONES. 200 (across cols 199–200)
  • marginal letters: A ‹non est violata partu›; B ‹qui se, et secundum quod verus est homo›; C ‹cula, aequalis est Patri›; D (in the footnotes) ‹(g) Ita ex nostris mss›
  • old-edition numerals: 75 after ‹per quod facta›
  • signature: none
  • other: notes (e) and the first part of (f) are printed under col 199; (f) ends under col 200. Note (m) ends with a comma at the foot of col 200. The text of col 200 fills only about two thirds of the column; the long notes take the rest.
PL 54:201
sed utrumque Deus de potentia suscipientis, utrumque homo de humilitate suscepti. Tenet enim sine defectu proprietatem suam utraque natura; et sicut formam servi forma Dei non adimit, ita formam Dei servi forma non minuit (Philip. ii, 6). Sacramentum itaque unitae cum infirmitate virtutis, propter eamdem hominis naturam, minorem Patre dici Filium sinit: Deitas autem, quae una est in Trinitate Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti, omnem opinionem inaequalitatis excludit. Nihil enim ibi habet aeternitas temporale, nihil natura dissimile: non illic voluntas est, eadem substantia, par potestas, et non tres dii, sed unus est Deus; quia vera et inseparabilis est unitas, ubi nulla potest esse diversitas. In integra igitur veri hominis perfectaque natura verus natus est Deus, totus in sui, totus in nostris.
[…] but both God by the power of the One taking up, both man by the lowliness of what was taken up. For each nature keeps its own property without loss; and as the form of God does not take away the form of a servant, so the form of a servant does not lessen the form of God (Phil. 2:6). So the mystery of power united with weakness allows the Son to be called less than the Father on account of the same nature of man; but the Godhead, which is one in the Trinity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, excludes every notion of inequality. For there eternity has nothing temporal, the nature nothing unlike: there is not [a differing] will there, [but] the same substance, equal power, and not three gods but one God; because the unity is true and inseparable where there can be no diversity. In the whole and perfect nature of true man, then, true God was born, whole in His own, whole in ours.
Nostra autem dicimus, quae in nobis ab initio Creator condidit, et quae reparanda suscepit. Nam illa que deceptor invexit, et homo deceptus admisit, nullum habuerunt in salvatore vestigium: nec quia communionem humanarum subiit infirmitatum, ideo nostrorum fuit particeps delictorum. Assumpsit formam servi sine sorde peccati; humana provehens, divina non minuens: exinanitio enim illa qua se invisibilis visibilem praebuit, inclinatio fuit miserationis, non defectio potestatis.
By ours we mean what the Creator established in us from the beginning and what He took up to be restored. For the things the deceiver brought in, and man, deceived, admitted, had no trace in the Saviour: nor, because He underwent fellowship in human weaknesses, was He therefore a sharer in our sins. He assumed the form of a servant without the stain of sin, advancing the human, not lessening the divine: for that emptying by which the Invisible showed Himself visible was a stooping of compassion, not a failure of power.
CAP. III.—Ut ergo ad aeternam beatitudinem, ab originalibus vinculis et a mundanuis vocaremur erroribus, ipse ad nos descendit, ad quem nos non poteramus ascendere, quia etsi multis inerat amor veri, incertarum tamen opinionum varietas fallentium daemonum decipiebatur astutia, et falsi nominis scientia in diversas compugnantesque sententias humana ignorantia trahebatur. Ad auferendum autem hoc ludibrium, quo captivae mentes superbienti diabolo serviebant, non sufficiebat doctrina legalis, nec per solas cohortationes propheticas poterat natura nostra reparari: sed adjicienda erat veritas redemptionis moralibus institutis, et corruptam ab initio originem novis renasci oportebat exordiis. Offerenda erat pro reconciliandis hostia, quae et nostri
CHAP. III.—So that we might be called, then, to eternal blessedness from the bonds of our origin and from worldly errors, He came down to us to Whom we could not go up; for although love of the truth was present in many, yet the variety of uncertain opinions was deceived by the cunning of lying demons, and human ignorance was dragged by a knowledge falsely so called into different and conflicting views. But to take away this mockery, by which captive minds served the proud devil, the teaching of the law was not enough, nor could our nature be restored by the exhortations of the prophets alone: but the truth of redemption had to be added to moral instructions, and an origin corrupted from the beginning had to be reborn with new beginnings. A victim had to be offered for those to be reconciled, one that should be both of our […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 201

Footnotes

(a) ‹sed utrumque Deus› · printed under col 201

Cod. Bonon. et prima editio, de majestate.

The Bologna manuscript and the first edition, de majestate [by the majesty].

(b) ‹utraque natura;› · printed under col 201

Duo mss. S. Petri, unus Vat. et alter Bononiensis: Et sicut forma servi formam Dei non adimit, ita forma Dei servi formam non minuit. Sed textus editus congruit cum lectione ep. 28, ad Flavianum, cap. 3. Simili formula ep. 33, c. 2: Quod Deitatis est, caro non minuit; quod carnis est, Deitas non peremit.

Two manuscripts of St Peter's, one Vatican and the other of Bologna: Et sicut forma servi formam Dei non adimit, ita forma Dei servi formam non minuit [And as the form of a servant does not take away the form of God, so the form of God does not lessen the form of a servant]. But the printed text agrees with the reading of Letter 28, to Flavian, ch. 3. In a similar formula, Letter 33, ch. 2: What belongs to the Godhead the flesh does not lessen; what belongs to the flesh the Godhead does not destroy.

(c) ‹virtutis,› · printed under col 201

Prima editio, propter eamdem hominis personam; ms, Petri et editio Veneta an. 1485, propter eamdem Dei hominisque personam.

The first edition, propter eamdem hominis personam [on account of the same person of man]; the manuscript of [St] Peter's and the Venice edition of the year 1485, propter eamdem Dei hominisque personam [on account of the same person of God and man].

(d) ‹esse diversitas.› · printed under col 201

Eadem leguntur in ep. ad Flavianum 28, c. p.3.

The same words are read in the Letter to Flavian, 28, ch. 3.

(e) ‹a mundanuis› · printed under col 201

Six ex mss. S. Petri et alio Nat. Al., revocemur.

So from the manuscripts of St Peter's and another Vatican one. Others, revocemur.

(f) ‹veritas redemptionis› · printed under col 201

Aliqui codd. et editi ante Quesnellum mortalibus, corrupte.

Some manuscripts and the editions before Quesnel have mortalibus, corruptly.

Page

  • running head: 201 SERMO (continued as "SERMO XXIII." over col 202, not yet read)
  • marginal letters: A ‹sed utrumque Deus›; B ‹dicimus, quae in nobis ab initio›; C ‹tium daemonum decipiebatur astutia›; D (in the footnotes) ‹non minuit; quod carnis est, Deitas non peremit.›
  • old-edition numerals: 76 after ‹sed adjicienda erat›
  • signature: PATROL. LIV. (at the foot of col 201)
  • other: the call of note (e) is printed ‹(c)›. In the notes, ‹Six› (for Sic) and ‹Nat.› (for Vat.) are misprints, set as printed. Notes (g) and (h), printed under col 201, have their calls in col 202 and are set in n202.
PL 54:202
generis socia, et nostrae contaminationis esset aliena ut hoc propositum Dei, quo peccatum mundi in Jesu Christi placuit nativitate ac passione deleri ad omnium generationum saecula pertineret; nec turbarent nos, sed potius confirmarent mysteria, pro temporum ratione variata, cum fides, qua vivimus, nulla fuerit aetate diversa.
[…] race and a stranger to our defilement, so that this purpose of God, by which it pleased Him that the sin of the world should be blotted out in the nativity and passion of Jesus Christ, should reach to the ages of all generations; and that mysteries varied according to the reckoning of the times should not trouble us but rather confirm us, since the faith by which we live has been different in no age.
CAP. IV. — Cessent igitur illorum querelae, qui impio murmure divinis dispensationibus obloquentes, de Dominicae Nativitatis tarditate causantur, tamquam praeteritis temporibus non sit impensum, quod in ultima mundi aetate sit gestum. Verbi enim incarnatio hoc contulit faciendum, quod factum: et sacramentum salutis humanae nulla nunquam antiquitate cessavit. Quod praedicaverunt. apostoli, hoc annuntiaverunt prophetae; nec sero est impletum, quod semper est creditum.
CHAP. IV.—Let the complaints of those cease, then, who, speaking against the divine dispensations with impious murmuring, find fault with the lateness of the Lord's Nativity, as if what was accomplished in the last age of the world had not been bestowed on times past. For the incarnation of the Word conferred as a thing to be done the same that it conferred as done: and the mystery of human salvation never ceased in any antiquity. What the apostles preached, this the prophets announced; nor was that fulfilled late which was always believed.
Sapientia vero et benignitas Dei hac salutiferi operis mora, capaciores nos suae vocationis effecit; ut quod multis signis, multis vocibus, multisque mysteriis per tot fuerat saecula praenuntiatum, in his diebus Evangelii non esset ambiguum: et nativitas salvatoris, quae omnia miracula omnemque humanae intelligentiae erat excessura mensuram, tanto constantiorem in nobis gigneret fidem, quanto praedicatio ejus et antiquior praecessisset et crebrior. Non itaque novo consilio Deus rebus humanis, nec sera miseratione consuluit; sed a constitutione mundi unam eamdemque omnibus causam salutis instituit. Gratia enim Dei, qua semper est universitas justificata sanctorum, aucta est Christo nascente, non coepta: et hoc magnae pietatis sacramentum, quo totus jam mundus impletus est, tam potens etiam in suis significationibus fuit, ut non minus adepti sint qui illud credidere promissum, quam qui suscepere donatum.
But the wisdom and kindness of God, by this delay in the work of salvation, made us more capable of His calling; so that what had been foretold through so many ages by many signs, many voices and many mysteries should not be doubtful in these days of the Gospel: and that the Saviour's nativity, which was to surpass all miracles and every measure of human understanding, should beget in us a faith the firmer the older and more frequent its proclamation had gone before. So God did not provide for human affairs by a new counsel or by a late compassion; but from the foundation of the world He appointed one and the same cause of salvation for all. For the grace of God, by which the whole company of the saints has always been justified, was increased, not begun, when Christ was born: and this mystery of great godliness, with which the whole world is now filled, was so powerful even in its foreshadowings that those who believed it as promised gained no less than those who received it as given.
CAP. V. — Unde cum manifesta pietate, dilectissimi tantae in nos divitiae divinae bonitatis effusae sint, quibus ad aeternitatem vocandis, non solum praecedentium exemplorum utilitas ministravit, sed etiam ipsa veritas visibilis et corporalis apparuit, non segni, neque carnali laetitia diem Dominicae
CHAP. V.—Wherefore, since with manifest goodness, dearly beloved, such riches of the divine kindness have been poured out upon us, for whose calling to eternity not only the usefulness of the examples that went before has served, but the Truth itself has also appeared visible and bodily, not with a sluggish nor with a carnal joy […] the day of the Lord's […]
Editors' notes and page, col. 202

Footnotes

(g) ‹nativitate ac passione› · printed under col 201

Ita ex ms. S. Petri., delere.

So from the manuscript of St Peter's. [Others], delere.

(h) ‹in ultima mundi aetate› · printed under cols 201–202

Editi, est gestum. Praetulimus mss. exemplaria S. Petri et duo Vat. Dein editiones ante Quesnellum, omissa particula enim, habebant: Verbi incarnatio haec contulit facienda, quae facta, Quesnellus vero, nulla allata auctoritate, emendavit: Verbi enim incarnatio hoc contulit facienda, quod facta. Hinc lectionem invenimus in mss. collect. 1 et 5, Magis placuit lectio codicum S. Petri necnon collect. 2, a qua parum discrepant tres alii codices. in quibus amanuemsium lapsu scriptum fuit: Veri enim incarnatio hoc contutit faciendam, quod factam. Mox ex iisdem mss. S. Petri delevimus praepositionem in, quae praemittebatur vocibus, nulla unquam antiquitate.

The printed editions, est gestum. We have preferred the manuscript copies of St Peter's and two Vatican ones. Next, the editions before Quesnel, omitting the particle enim, had: Verbi incarnatio haec contulit facienda, quae facta; but Quesnel, adducing no authority, corrected it to: Verbi enim incarnatio hoc contulit facienda, quod facta. This reading we have found in the manuscripts of collections 1 and 5. The reading of the manuscripts of St Peter's and of collection 2 was preferred, from which three other manuscripts differ little, in which by a slip of the copyists was written: Veri enim incarnatio hoc contutit faciendam, quod factam. Next, from the same manuscripts of St Peter's we have deleted the preposition in, which was placed before the words nulla unquam antiquitate.

(i) ‹et nativitas salvatoris› · printed under col 202

Sic melius ex prestantioribus S. Petri codd. Al., nativitas, quae omnia miracula omnemque intelligentiae, etc.

So, better, from the more excellent manuscripts of St Peter's. Others, nativitas, quae omnia miracula omnemque intelligentiae, etc.

(j) ‹Gratia enim› · printed under col 202

Editi ante Quesnellum, autem. Nostri codd., enim.

The editions before Quesnel, autem. Our manuscripts, enim.

(k) ‹qui illud› · printed under col 202

Delevimus in ante illud, auctoritate mss. S. Petri.

We have deleted in before illud, on the authority of the manuscripts of St Peter's.

(l) ‹dilectissimi› · printed under col 202

Erat in editis ante Quesnellum et in nonnullis codicibus; tantae in nobis divinae bonitatis effusae sint gratiae. quibus ad aeternitatem vocandis non sotum exemptum praecedentium utilitas, etc. Emendationem Quesnellianam reperimus in ms. S. S. Petri, ex quo supplevimus: divinae, quod Quesnellus omiserat.

In the editions before Quesnel and in some manuscripts there was: tantae in nobis divinae bonitatis effusae sint gratiae, quibus ad aeternitatem vocandis non solum exemplum praecedentium utilitas, etc. Quesnel's emendation we have found in the manuscript of St Peter's, from which we have supplied divinae, which Quesnel had omitted.

(m) ‹neque carnali› · printed under col 202

Cod, S. Petri, gaudio.

The manuscript of St Peter's, gaudio [gladness].

Page

  • running head: SERMO XXIII. 202 (continuing "SERMO" over col 201)
  • marginal letters: A ‹generis socia›; B ‹apostoli, hoc annuntiaverunt prophetae›; C ‹et hoc magnae pietatis sacramentum›; D (in the footnotes) ‹tebatur vocibus, nulla unquam antiquitate.›
  • old-edition numerals: 77 after ‹divitiae divinae bonitatis›
  • signature: 7 (a printer's signature at the foot of col 202; a single figure, read as 7, UNSURE)
  • other: notes (g) and the first part of (h) are printed under col 201; (h) ends under col 202. The call of note (i) in the text reads (i), but the note itself is printed with the siglum ‹(f)›. In note (h) ‹amanuemsium› and ‹contutit› (the second quoting a copyist's slip), and in note (l) ‹sotum› and ‹exemptum›, are set as printed.