Two weeks ago, we published pictures of the Gospel Book of the French royal chapel of Versailles; as a follow-up to that piece, and this morning’s item from Canticum Salomonis, here are pictures of the accompanying Epistle book, also made in the year 1776, from the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Département des manuscrits, Latin 8896).
“The Epistles according to the use of the royal chapel of Versailles.”
The First Sunday of Advent: St Paul writing the Epistle to the Romans
Christmas
Holy Innocents: “And I beheld, and lo a lamb stood upon Mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.” (Apocalypse 14, 1)
Epiphany
The Epistle of the blessing of the Palms, Exodus 15, 27 – 16, 7. “And Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel, ‘In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord.’ ”
The Epistle of the Mass of Palm Sunday, Philippians 2, 5-11. “... in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.”
Easter Sunday
Easter Monday, the Preaching of St Peter, Acts 10, 37-43
Easter Tuesday, the Preaching of St Paul, Acts 13, 16 and 26-33
Low Sunday, an allegorical figure of the Faith, reflecting the words of the Epistle, 1 John 5, 4-10, “For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.”
Pentecost
Tuesday of Pentecost, the Samaritans receive the Holy Ghost, Acts 8, 14-17
Trinity Sunday
Corpus Christi
The Birth of St John the Baptist
The deliverance of St Peter from prison, Acts 12, 1-11, the epistle of his feast.
St Lawrence
The Assumption
Sirach 24, 17-18: “I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho.”
St Louis IX, King of France: in France, the proper Epistle for his feast is 1 Maccabess 3, 3-9.
The Birth of the Virgin Mary
A representation of the royal abbey of St Denis for the feast of the church’s titular Saint.
All Saints
