Vingt-six Sermons au Peuple d'Afrique

A catalogue of the manuscript collection of the civic library of Mainz, Germany prepared in 1990 revealed the existence of a mid-fifteenth century collection of sermons (Stadtbibliothek I 9), many of them previously unknown, of Augustine of Hippo. François Dolbeau recognized the importance of this collection and proceeded to edit the sermons. Twenty-six sermons of Augustine (as well as one of Caesarius of Arles) have now been added to the corpus. Several more sermons were known only through extracts that found their way into various medieval collections of sermons. The sermons collected here were, according to Dolbeau, originally part of two collections, which he designates respectively Mainz-Grand Chartreuse and Mainz-Lorsch. The importance of the find is signaled by the fact that Henry Chadwick devoted his major address at the last Oxford Patristics Conference to the subject of these newly found sermons.

Recognizing the importance of making this find known as quickly as possible, Dolbeau began to publish preliminary editions and commentaries, chiefly in Revue Bénédictine and in Revue des Études Augustiniennes. The present volume gathers together all of these articles, keeping the original page numbering at the top, along with the new running page numbers at the bottom. Thus, one is able to still use references to the original versions of these articles.

At one point Dolbeau likens his work to that of archeologists who issue a preliminary report so that findings can be made known at an early stage, while still recognizing that quite a few re-interpretations will be called for (p. 269). Already in later articles, Dolbeau had corrected and clarified his earlier interpretations. In the introduction that accompanies these reprinted articles, as well as in the addenda and corrigenda, Dolbeau continues the process of re-evaluating his first surmises, and considers objections that had already been made to some of his interpretations. In his foreword, he retreats from his earlier thought that the first set of sermons (the collection for the Grand Chartreuse), were all preached in 397, and now sees them as sermons for a liturgical season, but from different years.

In each article, Dolbeau discusses the state of the manuscript, noting things like the number of scribes, their level of care, and lacunae. He attempts to date all of the sermons and to compare them with known fragments. For each sermon he summarizes the argument, considers the circumstances, and by means of a brief commentary notes any items of particular interest for specialists. For lexicographers, he points out previously unobserved forms (e.g., obtestator) and forms so far only noted much later (e.g. decretor, both of these noted on p. 45). Commenting on M13 (=Dolbeau 6 and 23B in the Maurist numbering—a chart on page 643 shows the correspondences between the three sets of numbering) Dolbeau points out some items of interest to historians of paganism and of Africa, such as the distinction between numen and daemonium (p. 454). Copious notes indicate parallels in other sermons, as well as variant readings.

The Mainz-Grand Chartreuse sermons, which seem to be copied from a collection that was in Hippo in the fifth-century (as attested to by a list of Augustine’s writings that Possidius made), did not undergo the corruption that other sermons suffered by being pillaged for use in medieval lectionaries. Thus, they give us a better idea of what Augustine was like as a preacher, and still include local color that would have been deleted from version edited for use in another time and place.

Dolbeau notes that these sermons help to clarify a number of issues: the pastoral conduct of Augustine with regard to pagans and Donatists, the chronology of the Augustinian corpus, liturgical practices of the time, and the biblical translations in use. They are certainly a mine of information that will be examined for...