General Ecclesiastical Calendar and On the Observance of Canons
By (author) Gerhard Eger By (author) Thomas Zachary
Radulph of Rivo’s early 15th-century treatise De canonum observantia is a groundbreaking work of liturgical scholarship and a rousing cry for reform of Church life and ritual.
When the canons of the Congregation of Windesheim set about codifying their liturgy in the final decades of the 14th century, they had to reckon with the striking variety of customs among the different dioceses, nations, and religious orders of the Roman rite. In their perplexity, they turned to Radulph of Rivo (ca. 1350-1403), dean of the Cathedral of Tongres and canon law professor at Cologne. Radulph travelled to Rome to discover the sources of its ancient liturgy. There he was alarmed to discover that even in Rome authentic traditions had been displaced by novelties, and he accused the Franciscans specifically of unlawfully abbreviating or altering the offices. In his reply to the canons of Windesheim, entitled De canonum observantia (ca. 1403), Radulph charts a course of conservative liturgical reform that hews closely to Roman authority. He appeals to canon law, the approved uses of ancient churches and religious rites, the famous commentators, and old liturgical books he found in Rome to establish the authoritative form of Western worship. On the eve of the great changes that swept Europe in the next century, Radulph’s treatise stands out as a sound guide to the riches of the Latin liturgical tradition. His conservative intervention looks forward to the work of the Tridentine liturgical commission, whose members had access to Hittorp’s 1568 edition of his treatise. Our edition provides modern readers with the first English translation of Radulph’s work and copious notes to illuminate this fascinating period.
- By (author) Gerhard Eger
- By (author) Thomas Zachary
Other Titles in this Series
Three Writings on Mystical Theology
Exposition of the Mystical Theology, Commentary on the Canticle of Canticles, On the Seven Steps of Contemplation
Volume 11
Lucifer of Cagliari, Concerning Athanasius
Why no one must judge or condemn a man in his absence
Volume 2
Donatist Compendium of 427 and Related Texts
Exegetical Materials from a Dissident Communion
Volume 12
Peter of Ireland, Writings on Natural Philosophy
Commentary on Aristotle's On Length and Shortness of Life and the Determinatio Magistralis
Volume 9
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Volume 6
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Power and Women in Southeast and Central Europe in Late Medieval and Early Modern Period (1300-1600)
Volume 10
The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
A Contextual Reading of Philo of Alexandria's De Vita Contemplativa
