St. Antoine de Padoue – Sermons des dimanches et des fêtes: 5. Index biblique, analytique, bestiaire et lexiques ed. by Valentin Strappazzon

Abstract

Reviewed by: St. Antoine de Padoue – Sermons des dimanches et des fêtes: 5. Index biblique, analytique, bestiaire et lexiques ed. by Valentin Strappazzon Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, OFMConv Valentin Strappazzon, ed., St. Antoine de Padoue – Sermons des dimanches et des fêtes: 5. Index biblique, analytique, bestiaire et lexiques, Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2014, 200 x 140 x 55 cm, Pages 2014, ISBN 978-2204087636. This massive volume with more than 2000 pages offers indexes and lexicons for the whole Opus Evangeliorum of St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), i.e. his famous corpus of 76 sermons, in view of its theological, spiritual and pastoral use today, as indicated in the Introduction (p.7). The editor-author is a Paris and Padua based Conventual Franciscan researcher who has edited and published the four-volume French translation of the Antonian sermons from the original Latin (critical edition: Beniamino Costa et alii [ed.], Sermones dominicales et festivi ad fidem codicum recogniti S. Antonii Patavini O. Min. Doctoris Evangelici, 3 vols. [Padova: Messaggero, 1979]; English translation: Paul Spilsbury [ed.], Saint Anthony of Padua: Sermons for Sundays and Festivals, 4 vols. [Padova: Messaggero, 2007-2010]). The book under review is the fifth of the French series. The book has noticeably two parts. The first and central section offers four indexes: 1) a Biblical Index (pp.17-76) containing all (included newly found) biblical quotations (4481) and references (6583) in the Sermons, with a Table of concordances of the Sermons (pp.77-95); 2) a 1500-page thorough and comprehensive Analytical Index (pp.97-1597) that covers most nouns and some important adjectives, participles and adverbial forms present in the Sermons (the editor intentionally excluded verbs, in order not to increase excessively the amount of work); 3) a useful Index of proper names of persons and places (pp.1599-1696) with their symbolism in the Sermons; and 4) an interesting Bestiary or Index of animals (real or mythical) (pp.1599-1696), also with their symbolism. In the second and final part, the editor presents several lexicons for a more effective use of the previous indexes. Accordingly, there is: 1) a French Lexicon of entries for the Analytical Index (pp.1171-1841); 2) a Lexicon of Persons and Biblical Places (pp.1843-1853); 3) a Lexicon of symbolical [End Page 529] animals (pp.1855-1859); and, last but not least, 4) a Latin Lexicon of St Anthony’s Opus evangeliorum (pp.1861-1920). At the end, the editor also offers a classification or organization of the entries in the proposed indexes according to the Dewey and Universal Decimal Classification, as well as a General Table of Synthesis of that classification. Although the book is intended as a sort of addition to the previous French translation of the sermons, it can be considered as an independent thesaurus of St Anthony’s work, thanks to its meticulous indexes and lexicons which cover more than 3500 terms. Moreover, with references to the Latin equivalent for every entry and with a special Latin lexicon, this gigantic work has also a certain appeal to a non French-speaking public and can be an effectively helpful tool for those who consult only the Latin text of the Antonian sermons or its English translation. The Franciscan editor-author, therefore, merits congratulations and our thanks for this Benedictine work, which inspires and facilitates further studies on St Anthony’s thought as well as on medieval exegesis and theology more generally. [End Page 530] Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, OFMConv Pontifical Theological Faculty St Bonaventure Rome Copyright © 2014 The Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University