Add MS 8248

RISPOSTA A QUATTRO HERETICI; after 1564. Italian. A Roman Catholic riposte to four heretics who for two years had written various books against the Council of Trent’s decree of 1562 on the sacrifice of the mass, inc. ‘Essendosi piu volte veduto che alcuni’, expl. (f. 70) ‘et vi conceda, et vi doni spirito di pregare per noi’. Of the four heretics, one wrote in Latin, one in French and two in Italian. Only the second heretic, Pierre Viret (Pietro Vireto), the Swiss reformer (1511-1571), is named: see J. Barnaud, Pierre Viret: sa vie et son œuvre, (Nieuwkoop, 1973 reprint of 1911 edition), which includes a bibiliography of Viret’s works on pp. 677-696. The MS. includes passages on the sacrifice of the altar (ff. 18-26), the consecration (ff. 26-31v), transubstantiation (ff. 31v-34v), oblation (ff. 34v-42), receiving communion (ff. 42-49), adoration (ff. 49-51v), the name of the mass (ff. 51v-54), the prayers and ceremonies of the mass (ff. 54-54v), the order of the mass (ff. 54v-60), the language of the mass (ff. 60-62), five admonitions (ff. 62-66v) and an exhortation to justices and princes about matters of faith (ff. 66v-70). The final section of the MS. contains a copy of the first decree promulgated at the 22nd session of the Council of Trent (1562), to which the heretics were opposed. The decree sets out the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church on the sacrifice of the mass in nine chapters and nine canons (ff. 70v-76). Apparently identifiable with Mattei MS. 424 in Guilford's catalogue Add. 8220, f. 31v. Owned by Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, but lacking his armorial bookplate. ‘155’ in pencil in upper left corner of front pastedown of former binding. Purchased from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 155 (part).

Paper; ff. 76. 217 x 165mm. Horizontal catchwords on every page. The text is in one italic hand, with marginal annotations in the main hand and one other, principally citing Biblical and other textual references. British Library binding. Former full vellum binding, without boards, late 17th or early 18th cent., preserved separately.