Tom Izbicki asks about the attribution to Sixtus IV of two of the
prayers beginning `Domine Ihesu Christe adoro te in cruce
pendentem'. These are the five, later seven, `Prayers of St
Gregory', which usually begin `O Domine'. They appear in
countless books of hours often with elaborate rubrics and with
ever-increasing amounts of indulgences.
Leroquais, Les Livres d'heures, lists two MSS that mention Sixtus
IV: lat. 1072 (use of Saint-Denis, last q. 15th c.: `Demum Sixtus
papa IIII composuit alias duas oractiones et eas cum predictis
dicentibus, seu legere nescientibus qui quindecies Pater noster
et totidem Ave Maria dicerent, concessit prefatas indulgencias
eas dupplicando, que sunt in summa duodecim milia annorum et
sexaginta dierum') and lat. 1188 (use of Rome, beg. 16th c.:
`Sixtus papa quartus edidit quartum et quintum versus sequentis
orationis, duplicando omnes indulgentias prius datas, eam coram
ymagine pietatis dicentibus. Summa harum: XLVI milia et XII anni
cum XL diebus').
Sometimes the prayers begin `Adoro te', as in Enchiridion
preclare ecclesie Sarum (Paris, 1530), fos. 60v, with rubric
`Tertio a papa Sixto quarto qui composuit quartam et quintam
oratiunculas sequentium suffragiorum has indulgentias duplicavit,
anno domini mcccclxxviij'
`Obsecro te domina mea sancta maria mater dei omni pietate
plenissima': this looks like the prayer (... te sancta Maria ...)
attributed to Innocent III with an indulgence of 100 days in the
Compendium orationum cum quamplurimis orationibus psalterio
sancti augustini (Venice: Bernardinus Stagninus, 1511). But
Bernardino Busti, Thesaurus spiritualis (Lyons: Nicolaus Wolff,
1500) attributes a prayer beginning `Precor te domina sanctissima
mater dei pietate plenissima summi regis filia' to Innocent IV,
with an indulgence of 260 days.
(This tiny book, incidentally, is chock full of prayers and a
wonderful source; unfortunately, it is rather rare; I used the
copy in the Library of Congress.)
I'd take any of these ascriptions cum grano salis, but the rule
of thumb seems to be that the smaller the indulgence, the older
the attribution.
Bonnie Blackburn
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