Missae [sic] aliquot pro sacerdotibus itinerantibus in Anglia : Ex Missali Romano reformato.
1615
Items
Details
Title
Missae [sic] aliquot pro sacerdotibus itinerantibus in Anglia : Ex Missali Romano reformato.
Uniform title
Missale parvum pro sacerdotibus in Anglia itinerantibus
Created/published
[St. Omer] : [English College Press] Permissu Superiorum, M.DC.XV. [1615]
Description
[8], xxiiij, 152 p.
Corporate author
Catholic Church.
Cited/described in
Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (2nd ed.) (STC), 16225
Place of creation/publication
France.
Item Details
Call number
270320
Folger-specific note
Purchase made possible by The Mary and David S. Wolff Endowment Fund. From dealer's description: "Mythically rare first edition of the first missal printed for English Jesuit priests – the bane of the Protestant establishment, and exiled on pain of death since the 1580s. Even under such difficult circumstances, the celebration of the mass remained a fundamental tenet of Recusant piety; as Alexandra Walsham notes, “hearing mass was prohibited upon pain of a crippling fine and the missionary priests whose activities were vital to the spiritual health of the faithful were hunted down, tortured and executed” (Catholic Reformation in Protestant Britain, p. 369). Bishops' orders frequently included the seizure and burning of Recusant books, and the present work, more than any other devotional text, must have been among their greatest prizes. No copy appears in Anglo-American auction records dating back to the 1920s; ESTC records just 10 copies worldwide, of which just 3 are found in American libraries (see below). The present work offers a window onto the every-day devotional life of English Catholics during this period of intense persecution. The Jesuit missionary's 'traveling kit' would have consisted of a small chalice, a portable altarpiece, and of course a copy of the missal. All of these items would have had to be readily concealable; hence, the present version of the Roman liturgy has been trimmed down considerably for English use from its bulkier European printings, mainly by the omission of many 'propers'. Texts used on key occasions, however, are preserved: the Proper of the Mass, the masses for Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi; the Sundays of Advent and the Sundays from Septuagesima to Palm Sunday; the Blessing of Ashes and Palms; the Common of the Saints; and finally, the proper Masses of Our Lady, the Apostles, St. Gregory, St. Anne, St. Lawrence, St. Michael, and All Saints. Three such missals were printed at St. Omer to be smuggled by missionaries: the present was the first, followed by revised versions in 1623 and 1626. The survival rate of all three is understandably low, and they are almost never encountered in the trade. The last copy we have traced was sold at Sotheby's in 1974 for £160, being the final, 1626 edition. Even for a Recusant book, the present work is exceptionally rare in census: ESTC list just 10 copies, of which 3 are in American libraries (Newberry, St. Louis, and Texas)." Ordered from Antiquariat INLIBRIS, Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH, D 9120, 2017-07-28, Email quote.
Folger accession
270320