Breviary for Benedictine use

Breviary. Benedictine Use.
Padolirone, Italy, ca. 1431.
Manuscript on vellum. (BRMS 21)

The breviary is a Christian service book containing the essential texts for the celebration of the Divine Office. Consisting of psalms, antiphons, lectionary, martyrology, and other features that varied according to the location and the specific uses of the religious orders, these texts were required for daily recitation by all monks and the clergy of most orders. This breviary for Benedictine Use includes calendrical notes that point to a composition date circa 1431 and also includes an indulgence approved in 1431 by Pope Eugenius IV (1383–1447, r. 1431–1447). An early inscription places the manuscript in the Benedictine monastery of Santa Justina at Padolirone, near Padua, Italy. The manuscript also bears the painted coats of arms of Cardinal Philippe de Lévis (1435–1475) and the French clergyman, noble, and statesman Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac (1585–1642).