Resumen de An Early Sermon on Tithing: a Study of its Three Versions and Relation to Caesarius’ S. 33. With 'editio princeps' of the Version Preserved in Roma, BNC, Sess. 55

Gert Partoens, Nicolas De Maeyer

• The subject of this article is an early sermon on tithing that has been preserved in three different versions, all attributed in the manuscripts to Augustine of Hippo: s. Mai 73 (Nova Patrum Bibliotheca, vol. I, Roma 1852, pp. 142-4), s. 33A in the second volume of Marie-José Delage’s edition of the sermons of Caesarius of Arles (Sources Chrétiennes 243, Paris 1978, pp. 486-93), and a hitherto unedited version preserved in the fifth/sixth-century North-Italian codex Roma, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Sessoriano 55 (2099) (ff. 172r-173r). After a detailed discussion of the sermon’s content and a study of its Vetus Latina quotations, the article discusses the genealogical relations between the three versions as well as their relation to Caesarius’ well-known and influential s. 33 on tithing.

  Subsequently, the article argues (against some recent claims) that the Arlesian bishop used the anonymous sermon – in a version that closely resembled s. 33A – for the compilation of his own sermon and, furthermore, it shows that the presence of several sentences from the early homily in a series of later medieval texts on tithing was mediated by this Caesarian re-use. At the end of the article the editio princeps of the version preserved in the Sessorianus-witness is presented.