Du sermon-modèle aux paroles d’un saint: le remploi du sermon In synodis, 3 de Guibert de Tournai dans la Vita Braulionis, indice pour la datation des sermones ad status?

Abstract

This article discusses the ‘borrowing’ of a Latin sermon by Gilbert of Tournai, OFM (d. 1284) into the anonymously composed Vita of a Spanish saint. The sermon, which is part of the famous ad status series by Gilbert (In synodis, 3 — RLS192), has been incorporated without reference to Gilbert into the Vita Braulionis (BHL 4810) and is presented by the hagiographer as a sermon given by Saint Braulion himself, offering an interesting example of circulation of the materia praedicabilis not only between sermons but also between genres. The discovery of this reuse sheds new light on the Vita Braulionis: it sets a new terminus post quem for the Vita and might be a clue to a mendicant milieu. Regarding the borrowed sermon, the evidence concerning the dating of the Vita seems a bit too conjectural to set the terminus ante quem of the ad status collection definitely, even if a pre-1272 hypothesis ties in well with the main literary activity of Gilbert. An edition of the sermon In synodis, 3 — RLS 192 is provided from eleven manuscripts of the ad status collection.