Un fragment d’ordinaire à l’usage de l’abbaye bénédictine de Chanteuges

Abstract

Two leaves in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (ms. lat. 16814, fol. 5-6v) preserve the trace of an enquiry launched by P. Lebrun at the beginning of the 18th century. It contains the copy of some specific elements of the liturgy of the abbey of Chanteuges (diocese of Clermont), which was founded in 936 by Brioude and became a dependency of the Chaise-Dieu in 1137. To identify and date the original manuscript, the analysis focuses mostly on three solemnities and draws some conclusions: the specificity of a Chaise-Dieu liturgical connection for an All Souls’ feast day on 14 January must be reexamined; the confrontation of the Vita of Marcellin (BHL 5227) with one of the capitals in the abbey shows up divergencies which, perhaps, liturgical elements could have clarified; the comparison of the ritual for Palm Sunday - a standard usage - with the phases of construction of the abbey allows us to date the original liber ordinarius to the 1500s. The Ordinal was undoubtedly made at the behest of the abbot of the Chaise-Dieu, Jacques de Saint-Nectaire, who had just modified the architectural disposition of Chanteuges. A critical edition of the two leaves completes the study.