The Benedictionals of Freising

This volume, long delayed in its publication, furnishes an edition of two codexes discovered in 1910 by Dom Germain Morin. Bernhard Bischoff assigned the first of them [A] to the work of the bishop's scriptorium at Freising under the episcopate of either Hitto [811-836] or Erchambert [836-854], and the second [B] to the same origin, but around the year 900. Benedictiional A [ff. 1-14] contains 29 ans Benedictional B [ff. 15v-87v] 159 blessings of the episcopal type now introduced as Benedictiones Sollemnes into the Roman Rite. Like their modern cousins, many blessings on Clm 6430 are quadripartite, though a good number have more numerous members. A loose printed sheet addressed to members by Francis Wormald, Chairman of Council, spoke of the grave difficulties and delays that had attended publication, and warned that it had not been possible to take account of a study and partial edition of Benedictional A by Walter Durig, "Das Benedictionale Friburgense vetus", published in Archiv fur Liturgiewissenschaft 4 [1956] 223-244.