Freising
A Liber ordinarius for the cathedral church and diocese of Freising.
According to the colophon of 22 October 1414, the manuscript München Universitätsbibliothek 4° Cod. 157 was completed by Fridricus Ruckel. It is a Liber ordinarius whose text is clearly based upon the liturgy of Freising Cathedral, even though it was created for use within the diocese rather than in the cathedral itself. Older shelfmarks on the spine of the binding and the flyleaf reveal that the codex was held by Ingolstadt university library.
The incipit clearly attributes the manuscript to Freising: [H]ic incipit prima pars huius [operis] videlicet ordo seu breviarium de horis canonicis, quid legendum seu canendum sit per circulum anni de tempore secundum modum ecclesiae Freysingensis. This information is repeated on fol. 84r: [H]ic incipit secunda pars huius operis, videlicet ordo seu breviarium de horis canonicis, quid legendum et cantandum sit per circulum anni de sanctis iuxta modum seu observantiam antiquae huius ecclesie Freysingensis.
The numerous places mentioned refer to the diocesan town of Freising. The Liber ordinarius mentions four churches on the cathedral hill, referred to in the manuscript as super montem nostrum: Freising Cathedral, the Church of St. Benedikt in the cathedral cloisters, the collegiate church of St. Johannes, directly west of the cathedral, and the former monastery church of St. Andreas, also in the west.
The Liber ordinarius also mentions the parish church of St. Georg, which was visited during the procession on St. Mark's Day, and the former collegiate church of St. Veit, Weihenstephan, on Palm Sunday. Both churches lie beyond the religious centre of the diocese on the cathedral hill.
Among the many special features in the Freising Sanctorale, the feasts for the cathedral's patron saints, Mary (Nativity) and Korbinian on 8 September (including the feast of the octave), are particularly significant. There are three further high feast days for saints whose relics lie in the crypt of Freising Cathedral: St. Nonnosus (2 September), St. Justinus (4 August) and Bishop Lambert of Freising (18 September). Further elements typical of the Freising calendar are the celebrations for St. Sigismund (28 April) and Willibald (7 July) and for the dedication of the cathedral (2 May).
The ordinarius contains a special note on the celebration for the feast of St. Korbinian, the first Bishop of Freising: as the day of his death coincided with the feast of the Nativity of Mary, his commemoration was moved to the following day, 9 September (Cumque nostri sanctissimi patroni Corbiniani festum sit in die nativitatis virginis Mariae, propter quod sequenti die officium eius pleno officio celebrare consuevimus). On this day, only parts (the Third Nocturn) of the special office for Korbinian were sung, however. The full office was only performed on 20 November, the day of his translatio.
by Gionata Brusa