S. Anselmi - Orationes S. Anselmi - 1726

Orations of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury

Order of Saint Benedict, Doctor of Theodidact and Most Wise: by whom minds are enlightened, and hearts kindled to seek God, and to love Him. Once in Gaul, extracted from various and ancient manuscripts with care and study by the Monks of the Congregation of Saint Maur, and first in Paris, then indeed in Rome edited by Cardinal Joseph de Aguirre, now at last recast to the Roman exemplar.
Verona, From the Typographia of Giovanni Alberti Tumermani in the Via dell’Arte, [1726].
With permissions of the superiors.

In-12 (about 15.5 × 8.2 cm), pp. XII, 312. Contemporary binding in full limp parchment, with a back a raised spine bearing the title handwritten in ink “S. Anselmi Orationes” and a small device; slight trimming to the headcaps and spine (see photos). Interior in good condition for age, paper still fresh, with only slight signs of use and some light marginal stains. Frontispiece with a woodcut device; text in Latin, characters clear, typical of the Veronese typography of Tumermani.

Contents
A complete collection of the Orationes (prayers and meditations) of Saint Anselm of Aosta (1033/34–1109), Archbishop of Canterbury, Benedictine monk, Doctor of the Church and pivotal figure in medieval theology and spirituality, father of Scholasticism and author of the famous ontological argument (Proslogion).
The volume includes prayers addressed to God, to Christ, to the Trinity, to the Cross, to the Virgin Mary (including prayers “in partu”), to the saints (Tecla, Paul the Apostle, etc.), prayers for relatives and friends, for priests, for contrition, for salvation, and numerous other ascetic and penitential meditations. The final index lists over sixty prayers. The edition reproduces, with small adjustments, the critical text elaborated by the Maurists (Congregation of Saint Maur) and then published in Rome by Cardinal José Sáenz de Aguirre (1630–1699), here faithfully reprinted from the Roman exemplar.

Significance and rarity
Saint Anselm is one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages; his Orationes sive Meditationes constitute a masterpiece of Latin spiritual literature, a model of personal prayer and theological reflection that deeply influenced monastic devotion and later theology.
This Veronese edition of 1726 is an accurate, conveniently sized reprint (12°) of Aguirre’s prestigious Roman recension, printed by Giovanni Alberto Tumermani, a Veronese typographer active in the first half of the eighteenth century.

Copies of this edition are quite scarce on the antiquarian market; major European libraries hold only a few copies (including the National Central Library of Florence). It is a volume sought after by collectors of medieval theology, Benedictine spirituality, and small-format Italian incunabula and eighteenth-century books.

Condition: binding with the defects noted at the headcaps and spine; interiors overall good and legible.

Excellent opportunity for collectors of ancient theological books and Veronese eighteenth-century editions.