GLI OMELIARI PATRISTICI DEI MONASTERI PADOVANI: FRA TRADIZIONE E NUOVE TENDENZE. IPOTESI DI UN PERCORSO.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse 10 patristic homiliaries referable to the Paduan monastic production area, between the end of the 12th and the end of the 15th century (mss. Padova, Biblioteca del Seminario Vescovile, Cod. 540, 541, 543, 544 e 545; Padova, Biblioteca Universitaria, 1636, 1637 e 1638; Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Lat. fol. 480 e Oxford, Bodleian Library, Lyell 77). The term “patristic homiliary” refers to a collection of patristic texts (sermons and homilies by the most famous Church Fathers) organised according to the liturgical year and employed by monastic communities in the Liturgy of Hours at night. The 10 codices can be traced back to 3 Benedictine monasteries in the city: the male monastery of S. Giustina and the female monasteries of S. Agata in Vanzo and S. Pietro. Following the latest possibilities offered by new digital tools and international research trends, mainly oriented towards the analysis of limited corpora of codices or individual collections as expressions of well-defined historical-cultural contexts, the research here proposed would therefore fit into the renewed interest in these liturgical manuscripts. Not to lose sight of the complexity inherent in the manuscript book and the constant dialogue between its various constituent elements (text, materiality and socio-cultural value), the thesis has been organised into 2 distinct parts: a special catalogue of the homiliaries and 4 chapters, dedicated to an in-depth analysis of topics that revolve around textual aspects, material characteristics and the historical-cultural context in which the manuscripts originated. The catalogue includes the codicological description of the manuscripts followed by an internal description with a list of all the patristic texts contained in each manuscript and the essential data required for their identification. The first chapter consists of a general theoretical and methodological reflection, aimed at contextualising medieval liturgical homiliaries within the lines of research outlined by the most recent studies, including international ones, and applying some recent interpretative categories to the Paduan homilies, such as “Multiple-Text Manuscript” or “Corpus-Organizer”. The second chapter is devoted to textual issues relating to the reception of patristic sermons in the late medieval monastic context of Padua and the challenges that this type of collection presents. The first part of the chapter, mainly marked by a quantitative approach, is devoted to the analysis of textual data gathered from the 10 homiliaries, while the second part brings together a set of case-studies allowing for a deeper investigation of topics such as the compilers' choice of sermons, authorship attribution, compilation practices, and pseudepigraphy. The third chapter begins with a reflection on the materiality of the manuscript book, and of the liturgical one in particular, in relation to the practices of creation and use in the context of medieval liturgy. The homiliary, as a material object with its own characteristics and specific graphic, structural and decorative features, reflects all the signs of its use in common moments of prayer, such as marginal notes and other paratextual elements, which are given considerable attention in this chapter. Finally, in the fourth chapter, considering homiletic codices as products of a given historical context and influenced by it and after outlining a brief history of Benedictine monastic communities in late medieval Padua, we will attempt to shed light on some broader questions concerning the historical and cultural context that gave rise to these manuscripts.