Rare books, manuscripts and ephemera from five centuries

On the ceremonies of the Church 

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MAYER, Leodegar. EXPLICATIO COMPENDIOSA, litteralis, historica ceremoniarum ecclesiasticarum, Earum praecipue, quae ad S. Liturgam spectant.... Tugii: Typis Henrici Antonii Schell, 1737. £485

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FIRST EDITION. 12mo, pp. [xl], 576, [36] index; woodcut head- and tailpieces; occasional marginal dustsoiling, light dampstain foot of index, and stamp of the former Capuchin monastery at Sigolsheim in Alsace on title-page; in contemporary carta rustica decorated with floral patterns; title in ink on paper label at head of spine, and old shelf-label at foot of spine; somewhat bumped and worn, but still a rather lovely copy, with the ownership inscription of the Capuchins of Bremgarten in Aargau on front pastedown.

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A good copy, in delightful decorative boards, of this rare liturgical study, seemingly the only published book by the Swiss librarian and archivist Leodegar Mayer (c.1676-1754).

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Mayer, who was a monk at the Benedictine house at Muri in the Swiss canton of Argau, had studied for eight months at the monastery of Saint-Germain in Paris, where he was greatly influenced by the ideas and critical methods of Mabillon. The fruit of these studies can be seen in the present work, which presents a comprehensive history of Church ceremony and ritual, in the hope that anyone participating now would have a much clearer idea of the reasons for, and historical context of what was taking place. The work is in three parts: the first explains the apparatus of the Mass (the church building itself, its altars, the vestments of the celebrant and clergy, the vessels used, the role of liturgical books, and the differences between solemn and private Masses). The second part goes through the Mass itself, from the procession and introit through the ordinary of the Mass, alongside the readings, collects, eucharistic prayers, fraction, peace, and communion; the third and final part examines the rites for important solemnities, including the Nativity, Passiontide, the Ascension, and more. 

 

Besides the present work, Mayer is best known for his transcripts of the archives of the monastery at Muri, 26 volumes of which are now housed in the Stadtarchiv Aarau. Our copy of the Explicatio, though, found its way to Capuchins rather than Benedictines, with a contemporary inscription from the friary at Bremgarten augmented by a later stamp from that at Sigolsheim; neither friary is extant. 

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OCLC records no physical copies outside Continental Europe. 

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