Selectae quaedam Orationes Piem ac devotem homini Christiano dicendae.

Bookseller Notes

A delightful miniature 'vade mecum' prayer book, written in a precise, clear hand throughout and extremely well-preserved, comprising prayers and oratory texts to the major saints of the Roman Catholic Church. including Pope Leo the Great (p.1), St. Augustine (p.54), Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (p.67), Thomas Aquinas (p.81) and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (p. 196). The first miniature, depicting a kneeling figure before Christ on the cross, framed by a sky of pink and blue, accompanies the text 'Confessio dicenda ante imaginem Christi', while the second, also a crucifix, with several figures below in a variety of colours with a touch of gold, illustrates 'Orationes Sanctae Brigatae'. A prayer against thunder, lightning and storm, 'Oratio contrata tonitrua, fulgura, et tempestatem (p.192) is also included and the work ends with 'Quinque laudes a domino Jesu christo cuidam religioso revelate.'It seems likely that the Thomas Agricola in question is the priest commemorated in a memorial plaque in Augsburg Cathedral cloister which records the year of his death as 1598; he appears to have been appointed to a Collegiate parish in 1575 (Zeitschrift des Historischen Vereius fur Schwaber und Neuburg, 1880).