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Abstract
In the past two decades, the number of editions and analyses of medieval sermon literature has increased significantly. The majority of pastoral texts, however, remains unedited. Much of this literature was produced in the thirteenth century after the scIV Lateran Council (1215). This Council underlined the need to provide the laity with teachers of sacred doctrine; the mendicants are most remembered as these learned instructors. However, before the friars, regular canons and Cistercians played a role in popular preaching. One of the most successful preachers and prolific writers of sermons from the thirteenth century was the Augustinian canon Jacques de Vitry (1160/1170-1240).
From his days as a canon in Liege to his final years as Cardinal-Bishop of Tusculum, Jacques was dedicated to preaching. He wrote over 400 Latin sermons which are contained in four separate collections. These sermons reveal much about the social and theological life of Jacques' world. My thesis treats his final collection, the Sermones feriales et communes.
Except for their exempla, the Sermones feriales et communes have remained unpublished and unstudied. The themes of these 25 sermons consider Creation to the Fall of Man. The first 14 sermons, the feriales, address Genesis 1:1-31 and 2:1-7. These sermons treat the seven days of the week and their significance in the Creation story. The second group of 11 sermons, the communes, discuss Genesis 2:8-24 and 3:1-24. These sermons consider the creation of Adam and Eve, their expulsion from Paradise, and the role of the sacraments in redemption.
This thesis presents a critical edition of the first 14 sermons, the feriales. It is a logical division, as these sermons constitute a self-contained unit of hexaemeral literature; it is also a practical division due to their prolixity. Upon the completion of this thesis, the remaining sermons will be edited.
The edition is accompanied by a study of the literary and historical significance of the sermons. Over a thousand biblical and patristic sources are employed, these have been identified in various apparatus. Geographical, lexicographical and biographical indices are also provided.
