I’ve started making a translation of the “letter 149” of Jerome, De solemnitatibus paschae. I believe that an English translation does exist, by G.S.M. Walker in his Sancti Columbani Opera, Dublin (1957); but it would require a day trip to access this. So I wasn’t going to bother.
Indeed I wasn’t at all keen on working on it – computistical texts are a specialised subject! -, until I remembered all the Jehovah’s Witness posters on twitter, all calling on Christians to observe Jewish customs. I’ve had a few brushes with them myself – they don’t seem genuine, but rather like hired bots.
But De Solemnitate is really about the Solemnities, Sabbaths and New Moons of Passover, and so it addresses squarely the question of why Christians do not observe Old Testament ritual, and with quite a few bible references and arguments. So I have been able to get into it by looking at it this way. It will take a few days to complete, I expect. It’s more interesting than I had thought.
Another subject that I have begun to take an interest in is “Eusebius Gallicanus”. This is a modern name for a Latin sermon collection, of about 76 sermons, which circulated in the 5-6th century. It’s extant in 140+ manuscripts, so it was clearly popular. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page about it.
I think that a selection from the collection was published by Buytaert from a Troyes manuscript in the 50s under the name of Eusebius of Emesa. Unfortunately this volume also is inaccessible, so I can’t be sure.
I recently discovered that the Corpus Christianorum issued an edition in three volumes (CCSL 101, 101A and 101B), and these I was able to lay my hands on. I don’t yet know whether these sermons are worth exploring very far, but I won’t know until I’ve looked at them.
It’s the dullest days of the year, and it’s very hard to wake up. On the other hand these dull, rainy days are perfect for staying indoors!