Arhivski vjesnik, Vol. 68 , 2025.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.36506/av.68.8
The 1464 Missal of the Augustinian Monastery of St. Jerome in Rijeka (British Library, MS 2907)
Marko Medved
; Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci
*
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
The Church of St. Jerome in Rijeka, together with its monastery, where the Dominicans have been based since 1951, was built in the Middle Ages by the Augustinians. The Ordo Eremitarum Sancti Augustini was the first monastic community in the city of Rijeka. In Croatian historiography, the history of the Augustinian Hermits is not well known, especially considering their medieval presence throughout the country. In Rijeka, the monastery and church were built for the Augustinians in the 14th century by the Counts of Duino, and were completed in the early 15th century by the Counts of Walsee. Until the monastery was closed in 1788 as part of the reforms of Joseph II, the Augustinians left their mark on Rijeka and its surroundings not only in religious and economic, but also in cultural terms. The author describes a manuscript from the British Library in London, shelfmark MS 2907, which belongs to the Harley Collection, one of the founding collections of the British Library. It is a handwritten and illuminated liturgical book in Latin that had previously been incorrectly attributed to the Augustinian monastery in the Italian town of Ceccano. In London, the Latin toponym for the city of Rijeka, Flumine, was mistakenly associated with the monastery of Santa Maria a Fiume in Lazio, Italy. By demonstrating that the missal actually originated from the Augustinian monastery of St. Jerome in Rijeka, which was active in the city from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century, the author points out that the two priors mentioned in the missal were, at that time, heads of this Rijeka monastic community. The missal, completed on26 September 1464, by Johannes Saxo at the request of the prior of Rijeka’s Augustinian monastery, contains several colored illuminations, some of which are reproduced in the article alongside transcriptions of the texts. The dispersal of the monastery’s library holdings, which occurred both during its existence and after its dissolution, explains why part of the cultural achievements of the Augustinian monastery in Rijeka have remained unknown to historiography and the wider public until today. To the best of our knowledge, this missal is the oldest preserved liturgical book from Rijeka. We cannot say with certainty anything definite about the reasons why the missal from Rijeka ended up in the HarleyCollection in London. We do not know the reasons or circumstances under which the missal left the Augustinian Monastery of St. Jerome in Rijeka. However, given the time of its acquisition, recorded at the top of folio 1r in the note 20 die Februarii, AD 1724/25, something can be said about the context of that period for the Augustinians in Rijeka. Although there is no detailed evidence that the sale of the valuable missal was caused by the need for financial resources, the fact remains that during the third decade of the 18th century the monks of Rijeka devoted all their efforts to a major financial undertaking: the expansion of the monastery. They succeeded in this, as the foundation stone for the new wing of the monastery was laid on 24 May 1726, after which construction work on the monastery continued for several years. Although the important role of monasticism in the culture of the medieval Church and society is well known, historiography has, until recently, not devoted sufficient attention to the study of the Augustinians in Rijeka, primarily because of the scattered source materials. As a result, it has been difficult to determine in detail the concrete indicators of the cultural contribution of St. Jerome’s, apart from architecture and the altarpieces of the partly preserved monastery. The negative consequences of the Josephinist suppression of the monastery on the Augustinian archival materials from Rijeka have already been noted, but it had not been evident that among the previously unknown written heritage there was also a very valuable missal – apparently the oldest preserved one used in Catholic liturgy in the city of Rijeka.
Ključne riječi
Order of Augustinian Hermits; British Library; Monastery of St. Jerome in Rijeka; illuminated missals; Catholic Church; city of Rijeka
Hrčak ID:
341826
URI
Datum izdavanja:
19.12.2025.
Posjeta: 810 *