Chapter Sixteen. Sermons On The Lord’S Prayer And The Rogation Days In The Later Middle Ages

Abstract

The value of the sermons presented in this chapter, six sermons from Germany and Austria in the later Middle Ages, is that one does know the occasion for which they were intended -the Rogation Days, three days of prayer and procession prior to Ascension. The chapter addresses the medieval liturgical literature on Rogation, the manuscript collections that contain the six sermons, and themes from the sermons themselves that would emphasize or intersect with themes of the Rogation Days. Sermons on the Lord?s Prayer are not frequently found in collections of sermons, especially those intended for use on the Sundays of the church year ( sermones de tempore ) or on saints? days ( sermones de sanctis ). The Franciscan Berthold of Regensburg is identified as the author of four sermons for Rogation in a thirteenth-century manuscript from Klosterneuberg that presents multiple sermons for Sundays and festivals from Advent to Ascension by various famous preachers. Keywords: Ascension; Berthold of Regensburg; later middle ages; liturgical literature; Lord?s Prayer; Rogation day; sermones de sanctis ; sermones de tempore