Gripla - 20.12.2016, Page 240

GRIPLA240
Composition
Lilli Gjerløw notes that “the sermon […] could apply to any confessor saint”
and adds that the sermon’s theme was often used for St andrew, who was
a martyr.23 from the perspective of the genre as a whole, Esther 6:11 is a
frequent theme for sermons for St nicholas or the Chair of St Peter.24
the related verse Esther 6:9 (“sic honorabitur quemcumque rex voluerit
honorare”) occurs for different occasions and saints.25 This demonstrates
that the theme (or a variation on it) was rather popular for preaching on
saints but that it was not limited to a certain kind of saint.
In fact, there is nothing specifically relating to Þorlákr in the sermon.
this fits with the majority of sermons on saints which in their written
form are devoid of any individual traits or details from the saint’s vita.26
the sermon is actually only connected to St Þorlákr by two occurences of
his name in the outline and in the second subdivision. In both cases, the
name is inserted into an otherwise grammatically functional sentence: “isti
sancto, scilicet beato thorlaco,” and “medicum nostrum, scilicet sanctum
thorlacum”. 27 the “scilicet”-addition could point to a later insertion. It
must be noted, however, that these kinds of insertions are common in the
sermon genre, and therefore this might not be a wholly compelling argu-
ment.
there are rhetorical inconsistencies between the surviving subdivisions,
which suggest that the sermon did not follow one model but probably
23 Gjerløw, Liturgica Islandica, vol. 1, 72. Gjerløw bases her observation on Est 6:7 (“respondit
homo quem rex honorare cupit”), not Est 6:11 (“hoc honore condignus est quemcumque
rex voluerit honorare”) which is quoted in the sermon. this error does not generally affect
her argumentation.
24 on St nicholas, e.g. robertus de Sorbonio no. 1315, Schneyer, Repertorium, vol. 5, 277. In
cathedra S. Petri e.g. Lucas de Padua no. 46, ibid., vol. 4, 75.
25 on Petrus ad vincula, e.g. Peregrinus de opole no. 262, ibid., vol. 4, 569. on St Bernard,
e.g. anon. Cistercian ms. Prague Kap. f LX/2 no. 38, ibid., vol. 6, 454. on St Matthew, e.g.
anon. Cistercian ms. firenze Laur. Plut. XIX 29 no. 19, ibid., vol. 8, 303. on the first mass
of a priest, e.g. Jacobus de Losanna no. 748, ibid., vol. 3, 116.
26 D’avray, Preaching of the Friars, 71; George ferzoco, “Sermon Literature Concerning Late
Medieval Saints,” Models of Holiness in Medieval Sermons: Proceedings of the International
Symposium (Kalamazoo, 4–7 May 1995), ed. Beverly Mayne Kienzle, (Louvain-la-neuve:
fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales, 1996), 116.
27 Gjerløw transcribes it as “siue”, Gjerløw, Liturgica Islandica, vol. 1, 73. this is wrong both
paleographically and grammatically.