Ad Lectores on 18 July 1216, in Perugia, The
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Antonianum XCIV (2019) 513-516 Ad lectores On 18 July 1216, in Perugia, the Conclave having lasted only a sin- gle day, there was elected Pope the former Canon of St. Mary Major and Camerlengo (Camerarius) of Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Cen- cio, who thereupon took the name of Honorius III. Thus to the office of Bishop of Rome there was elected a Roman who did not belong to any of the great families of the time, but who came rather from a family probably of scriveners and notaries, and who had become a prominent member of the Clergy of the City of Rome, and was also on that ac- count highly respected by the Roman people. The undertaking, in 1192, of the Liber Censuum Romanae Ecclesiae crowns what appears to have been growing esteem for Camerlengo Cencio on the part of the Roman Church and of the Papal Court, opening the way to his election as Car- dinal Deacon of St. Lucy in Selci. Upon the death of Pope Celestine III, at the beginning of 1198, Cardinal Cencio appeared to have receded into the shadows during the Pontificate of the great Pope Innocent III. Promoted to the Presbyteral Title of Sts. John and Paul, in the spring of 1200, he gave up in fact the office of Camerlengo. Still, on the death of Innocent III (the former Lotario dei Conti di Segni), there came about the election of the seasoned Cardinal Cencio. On 4 September 1216, as Pope Honorius III, he was welcomed by the jubilant Romans to the City and to the Lateran. Honorius III, and his wise leadership of the Church, are well re- membered by certain institutions of the Church that are still alive and at work today. The Order of Preachers, founded by St. Dominic of Calerue- ga, receives its Papal approval (formerly commemorated as occurring on 22 December 1216) by means of the Bull Religiosam vitam eligentibus). The Regula of the Order of Friars Minor is definitively approved with the Bull Solet annuere of 29 November 1223. The Carmelites (theOrdo Fratrum Beatissimae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) see a first ap- proval of their Rule by way of the Bull Ut vivendi normam of 30 January 1226. The Universities of Bologna and of Paris receive privileges that favour their development, and the study of theology in the universal Church receives a powerful impulse with the Bull Super specula Domini of 22 November 1219. ANTONIANUM 3-2019.indd 513 12/09/19 12:07 514 Stéphane Oppes In view of all of this, it is somewhat surprising to learn from the In- troduction to the Works of Honorius III, published by the Bibliothèque Ecclésiastique beginning in 1879, that «history has not yet assigned to Honorius la III the place that ought to be his by right» (Horoy). Thus it is that the eighth centenary of the election to the Papal throne of Cencio the Roman could not but be an irresistible occasion for me- diaevalists to focus their research on some aspect of the figure of Hono- rius III or on some element of his activity. The lead was taken by centres of mediaeval studies located in that Rome, in which the work took place of Cencius Romanus who became Honorius III, namely, the Italian His- torical Institute for the Middle Ages (Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, ISIME) and the Higher School for Mediaeval and Franciscan Studies (Scuola Superiore di Studi Medievali e Francescani) of our own Universi- ty. The two organized together two research seminars, as if a two-stage conference. The first took place at the seat of ISIME on 13 June 2016, on the overall theme of: “The Pontificate of Honorius III: New Discoveries and Research Prospects”. The second, at the Auditorium Antonianum, on 15 May 2018, was titled: “New Studies on Honorius III (1216-1227)”. The convergence of the two Seminars, and their reciprocal reference, are highlighted, not only by the accord between the two institutions but, first of all, by the participation of some of the speakers in both sessions, with papers that were either mutually complementary or that carried the study forward with respect to the earlier occasion. The papers read at the first seminar have already been published, in the volume: Nuovi studi su Onorio III, edited by Christian Grasso (Edizioni Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, Roma 2017, 195 pp.). Thus this year’s third issue of Antonianum serves, in effect, as the second volume of the combined fruits of the research carried out by the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo and by our own University’s Higher School of Mediaeval and Franciscan Studies, to mark the eighth centenary of the election of Honorius III. The first of the articles we bring to you here is that of Dario Internul- lo, who paints an historical-cultural profile of the City of Rome between the late twelfth century and the early thirteenth century. The Author makes an evidence-based distinction between our Cencius Camerarius, who went on to become the Pope, and Cencius De Insula, the Cancel- larius Senatorum, whom he unhesitatingly designates as “the other Cen- ANTONIANUM 3-2019.indd 514 12/09/19 12:07 Ad lectores 515 cius”, a different person. There follows Eva Ponzi’s article, which shows the activity of Cencius Camerarius as fitting within the Pontificate of Celestine III. The vantage point, which enlarges the critical perspective, is offered by concentrating in particular on the Oratory of John VII in St. Peter’s at the Vatican. There, narrative images make it possible to gain an insight into the vision that the Pope and his Camerarius, the Camer- lengo, have of the mission of the Church of Rome. To the most impor- tant written work of Cencius Camerarius, the Liber Censuum, is dedi- cated the contribution of Filippo Sedda. Its analysis and palaeographical research concentrate on the tenth of the original eighteen quire fasci- cles, the one that contained the Papal ceremonial, the so-called “Ordo Romanus”. This study points conclusively to the need for a new critical edition of this work, one that will duly take account of the new discov- eries associated with the tenth quire, found and preserved in a Parisian manuscript (BNF, lat. 4202). Annarita De Prosperis, in turn, dedicates her research to the study of Papal letters. As she follows the stages of their creation within the Pontifical Chancellery she sheds light on the customs of the Chancellery, which had their beginning, or were organ- ized, during the Pontificates of Innocent III and Honorius III, with specific reference to the letters addressed to the Mendicant Orders that were then coming into being. Attilio Bartoli Langeli, in his article, turns his attention to the Privilege Religiosam vitam, granted by Honorius III to St. Dominic. By comparing the document itself with its transcription in the Register of that Pontificate, he identifies and corrects a mistake in the current edition. Studying the document in the light of that peri- od’s Pontifical diplomatics, he finds that it appears to belong within the normal production of privileges that were being granted by the Papal Court. In the last of the articles Raimondo Michetti sums up the May 2018 Seminar papers of considering the contributions already offered in the June 2016 Seminar. It is much to be hoped that the papers being published here, to- gether with those published earlier on the occasion of that eighth cen- tenary, may serve to bring to light ever more clearly the person and role of Honorius III, a Pope who has remained for far too long too little noticed, both because his is flanked by the Pontificates of such notable Popes as Innocent III and Gregory IX, and because of the modest style that he wished to imprint on his governance, setting out to «proceed ANTONIANUM 3-2019.indd 515 12/09/19 12:07 516 Stéphane Oppes with meekness rather than with severity», «peacefully governing the Church of God», and «promoting peace in his time». Looking beyond the Articuli, all monographically dedicated to stud- ies of Honorius III, this issue brings to you two contributions, under Les essais. The first, here published in English, is by Pablo Irizar, Guinevere Rallens, and Charles Kim, and is a substantial one. It takes as its point of departure Book IX of the Confessions of St. Augstine, and, looking at its “bridging the human and the divine”, expounds “the grammar, ontology and mode of language in Augustine’s conversation of Ostia”. In an earlier form, it appeared in 2018, in Augustinus. The other contribution in this section is by Ciro Tammaro, and is a “brief historical-juridical note on the decision phase of the Inquisitorial trial, in the context of the me- diaeval canonical trial in re poenali”; arising from it is an abundance of suggestions for further research. The informative book reviews in this issue ofAntonianum are preceded by two Relationes Bibliographicae. Fortunato Iozzelli presents the latest book of Pietro Delcorno, dedicated to the pastoral use of Bib- lical stories in mediaeval preaching, specifically use of the particularly well known Gospel parable, in Lk 15, 11-32, that of the prodigal son, or rather of the merciful father. Andrea Bizzozero follows, introducing us to the last (posthumous) work of Jacques Derrida. This book publishes the third collection of Derrida’s talks about Heidegger, a series of talks given by the philosopher around 1984, texts that were earlier thought to be irretrievably lost. From the Papal government of Honorius III, through mediaeval preaching on the Gospel of mercy and that era’s penal trials, too, all the way to Derrida on Heidegger, this issue of Antonianum offers a rich menu of the fruits of dedicated, thoughtful, multidisciplinary, scholar- ship, in line with the mission and character of this journal.