An Occitan Prayer against the Plague

and Its Tradition in Italy, France, and Catalonia

By W i l l i a m D. P a d e n

In 1716 Pierre Lebrun, a member of the Congregation of the French Oratory in

the Séminaire Saint-Magloire, Paris, made a public appeal for collaboration in a
study of manuscripts of the Mass.1 Answers came from more than a hundred corre-
spondents, Oratorians, canons, clergy regular and secular, curates, and laymen.2
Today these responses constitute twenty-three volumes in the Bibliothèque na-
tionale de France, lat. 16796–16818, titled “Papiers du P. Lebrun sur la liturgie.”
One of them, lat. 16797, contains a section on Toulon (fols. 138–178v) in which
a correspondent, no doubt the canon named Desparra who was Lebrun’s corre-
spondent in that city,3 includes a prayer against the plague written in the Occitan
language. Although Lebrun made use of his correspondence in three subsequent
volumes that appeared in 1726, he did not mention this prayer.4 More recently
two other versions of the prayer have been published, but this one, which dates
from the fourteenth century, has remained unknown to historians of the plague
and students of medieval Occitan.5
Lebrun’s correspondent refers to a missal from Toulon, now lost, that he dates
about 1400 (section I and text 1 below). He quotes its description of a Mass
against plague, introduced rhetorically as a Mass against persecution, sickness,
and sudden death. The introit is “Recordare domine testamenti.” The missal
attributed this Mass to Pope Innocent VI and said that its effectiveness had been
demonstrated in and around Avignon, seat of the papal curia. After giving the
incipits of the prayers and texts from the Old and New Testaments (below, 1.1–
5), the missal put this Mass in the context of thirteen other Masses regarded as

I am grateful to Christophe Chaguinian for his comments on an early version of this article.

1
Pierre Lebrun, Explication litérale [sic], historique et dogmatique des prières et des cérémonies
de la messe, suivant les anciens auteurs, et les monuments de la plupart des églises (Paris: Delaulne,
1716), folios ZZiij–[ZZvj].
2
Xavier Bisaro, Le passé présent: Une enquête liturgique dans la France du début du XVIIIe siècle
(Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 2012), 46–49.
3
Bisaro, Le passé, 76 n. 2.
4
Pierre Lebrun, Explication de la messe, t. II[–IV], contenant les dissertations historiques et dog-
matiques sur les liturgies de toutes les églises du monde chrétien (Paris: Delaulne, 1726).
5
The editors of the versions from Saint-Antonin and Tarragona (below) do not show awareness of
the one from Toulon. Jean-Noël Biraben, Les hommes et la peste en France et dans les pays européens
et méditerranéens, 2 vols. (Paris: Mouton, 1975–76), 2:63–65, reviews prayers and Masses against
the plague without mentioning any in Occitan or Catalan. I have found no other prayers in Occitan
that concern plague. For a French prayer against plague, see Jean Sonet, Répertoire d’incipit de prières
en ancien français (Genève: Droz, 1956), no. 1270, in manuscripts of the fourteenth and sixteenth
centuries; prayers to Saint Sebastian against the plague include nos. 1511 and 1888, in manuscripts
of the fifteenth century, and no. 1382, in a manuscript of the sixteenth century.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 671
having particular efficacy (1.6–7). Turning from Latin to the vernacular, the missal
then described another defense against an epidemic, a new use for an established
Christmas Mass that could be applied to the circumstance of the plague: if the
priest said the second Mass of the Nativity on three consecutive days, and the
faithful attended, confessed, and fasted, God and the Virgin would then stop an
epidemic in progress or prevent one from coming (1.8–13). The missal provided
the Occitan prayer that the priest was to lead the people in reciting (1.14–17).
This prayer, which one might take for a heartfelt appeal straight from Toulon
in 1348, must be put in its historical, liturgical, and geographical context in order
to be understood. It is profoundly traditional, but no less evocative for being so.
The prayer and its tradition afford fleeting glimpses into the roiling emotions that
were experienced by those threatened by the plague and expressed by them in this
ritual performance.
In spite of its fury in Avignon and elsewhere in Provence, we do not have
direct evidence that the Black Death struck Toulon in 1347–48. Chronicles do not
specifically mention Toulon among the towns that fell victim to these first ravages,
although they say that many towns in Provence did. Louis Sanctus described the
first plague in Avignon and added, “Idem dico vobis de omnibus civitatibus et
castris Provinciae” (I tell you the same of all the towns and castles of Provence).6
Gilles li Muisis reported, “Fuit dicta mortalitas apud Marselliam in mari et in terra,
descendendo per Montem-Pessulanum, per totam Provinciam et Avinionem” (The
said epidemic went to Marseille by sea and land, descending through Montpellier,
through all Provence and Avignon).7 According to the Grandes chroniques de
France: “Item, en celui an, fu une mortalité de gent en Provence et en Langue
d’oc, venue des parties de Lombardie et d’oultre mer. . . . Et se departirent aucuns
cardinaus de la cité d’Avignon pour la paour de ladite mortalité qu’on appelloit
epydimie” (Item, in that year [1347] there was a pestilence of people in Provence
and in Languedoc that came from the regions of Lombardy and overseas. . . . And
some cardinals left the city of Avignon out of fear of the said pestilence, which
was called epydimie).8 This use of the word epydimie recurs in the new prayer
(“epidimia,” 1.16). Other evidence makes clear that plague struck Toulon several
times before 1374.9 The massacre of Jews that occurred in April 1348 may have
been an example of scapegoating for a plague that had struck Toulon, or for one
that was feared; the closest study of this pogrom found no way to determine its
motivation.10 Jean-Noël Biraben supposed, presumably on the evidence of the riot,
that Toulon was hit by plague in April 1348 and again later the same year, but

6
Louis Sanctus, “Breve chronicon clerici anonymi,” in Joseph-Jean de Smet, Corpus chronicorum
Flandriae / Recueil des chroniques de Flandre, 4 vols. (Bruxelles: Hayez, 1841–65), 3:16.
7
Gilles li Muisis, “Chronica Aegidii li Muisis,” in de Smet, Corpus, 2:280.
8
Jules Viard, Les grandes chroniques de France (Paris: Société de l’histoire de France, 1920–53),
9:313–14.
9
Édouard Baratier, La démographie provençale du XIIIe au XVIe siècle, Démographie et sociétés
5 (Paris: S.E.V.P.E.N., 1961), 82.
10
“Il n’est pas possible de déterminer à quels motifs peut être attribué cet acte criminel”: A.
Crémieux, “Les juifs de Toulon au Moyen-Âge et le massacre du 13 avril 1348,” Revue des études
juives 89 (1930): 33–72, at 58. Baratier assumes the rioters held the Jews responsible for the plague:
La démographie provençale, 71.

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672 Prayer Against the Plague
he prudently added a question mark to both dates.11 In the Occitan prayer from
the Lebrun papers, the faithful address the Lord, saying, “Mi tenes en aquesta
tribulation” (You hold me in this tribulation) (1.15), but we do not know if the
tribulation intended is plague actually in Toulon or the fear that it may come; nor
do we know the year when the faithful made this statement. In the instruction to
the priest, the missal explicitly allows that epidemic may be a present scourge or
a looming threat (1.11).
A second Occitan version of the prayer is contained in a fifteenth-century cartu-
lary from Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val (section II, text 2). Here we find a vernacular
preamble narrating the origin of the Mass in an Italian convent of Saint Elizabeth
(2.1–17), an abbreviated instruction to the priest (2.18), and a prayer (2.19–21)
that is very much like the one from Toulon, although somewhat elaborated in its
description of the plague. The cartulary adds a prayer to Saint Sebastian (2.25–30)
and anecdotes showing the effectiveness of the first prayer (2.31–37).
A third version, in Catalan, may be found in a printed missal from Tarragona
that was published in 1550 (section III, text 3). It includes the preamble (3.1–6),
the instruction to the priest (3.7–11), and a version of the prayer (3.12–17) that
is nearly identical to the one from Saint-Antonin.
All three versions of the prayer plead for mercy in a time of tribulation sent by
the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the same God who said, “Nolo mortem impii, sed
ut convertatur impius a via sua, et vivat” (I desire not the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way, and live [Ezek. 33.11]). They all appeal
for mercy through Christ’s love of the Virgin and the merits of Saints Sebastian
and Anastasia. The version from Toulon ends with a plea for protection against
the epidemic, those from Saint-Antonin and Tarragona with anticipation of joyful
union in the heavenly choir.
Finally, an early Latin description of the Black Death (1350–56) mentions a
Mass against plague (section IV, text 4) that is very much like the one containing
the prayer in Occitan or Catalan. Since this Mass was in use from the earliest
years of the pestilence, the prayer may have been too.
A selective glossary will discuss unusual, problematic, or interesting words in
the Occitan and Catalan texts.

I. Toulon, Fourteenth Century, Third Quarter

Lebrun’s correspondent, who shows that he knew the archives of the chapter
in Toulon, describes the now lost manuscript:
Missel de l’Église de Toulon écrit vers l’an 1400, mais copié sur un plus ancien qui
marque dans les rubriques ce qui devoit être fait par l’Archiprestre, lequel fut établi l’an
1268 et supprimé l’an 1305, comme on le voit dans les registres du chapitre. Il n’y a
dans ce Missel rien de plus récent que la fête du saint sacrement12 et la messe de S. Louis
Évêque de Thoulouse mort l’an 1297 et canonisé l’an 1317. On voit à la fin de ce Missel

11
Biraben, Les hommes et la peste, 1:74.
12
du St. sacre sacrement MS; sacre erased. “La Fête-Dieu ou Fête du Saint-Sacrement fut instituée au
XIIIe siècle par l’évêque de Liége en 1246, et le pape Urbain IV (1261–1264) la rendit fête universelle

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 Prayer Against the Plague 673
quelques pratiques superstitieuses du temps du séjour des papes à Avignon. Une de ces
pratiques est écrite en ancien langage provençal qu’on a fidèlement transcrit ici.
(BnF lat. 16797, fol. 159)
According to Desparra, the “pratiques superstitieuses”13 were inserted between
circa 1317 and circa 1400. If we add that the prayer must have been composed
after the Black Death of 1347–48, when Saint Sebastian took on his special role
as protector against plague,14 and before the popes left Avignon in 1378, we can
date it between 1348 and 1378, roughly in the third quarter of the fourteenth
century.
After copying other material, the correspondent arrived at the Mass against
plague, the thirteen privileged Masses, and the redirected Christmas Mass:
(1.1) Sequitur missa in tempore persecutionis seu mortalitatis et contra subitaneam
mortem, quam papa Innocentius sextus constituit in collegio praesentibus cardinalibus;
et concessit omnibus audientibus ipsam missam IIc.XL dies, et omnes missam audientes
debeant15 portare (fol. 172v) unam candelam ardentem per quinque dies continuos
sequentes. (1.2) Et sic eis illa mortalitas seu persecutio vel subitanea mors non nocebit.
(1.3) Et hoc certum est et probatum in Avinione et in partibus circumstantibus. (1.4)
In principio et in fine missae debet dici haec oratio: Jesu Nazarene respice, et introitus
missae: Recordare domine testamenti. (1.5) Epistola Regum: Misit dominus pestilentiam
etc. Evangelium: Surgens . . . socrus Simeonis.
(fol. 172–172v.)
(1.1) Here follows a Mass in time of persecution or plague and against sudden death,
which Pope Innocent VI composed in the presence of the College of Cardinals; and he
granted all those who hear this Mass 240 days’ indulgence, and all those who hear the
Mass must carry a burning candle for the following five days. (1.2) And in this way the
epidemic or persecution or sudden death will not harm them. (1.3) And this is certain,
and proved in Avignon and the surrounding region. (1.4) At the beginning and end of
the Mass, this prayer must be said: “Jesus of Nazarus, look down”; and the introit of
the Mass, “Remember, Lord, your covenant.” (1.5) The epistle from Kings: “The Lord
sent a pestilence,” etc. The Gospel: “Rising up . . . Simon’s mother-in-law.”
The Mass against plague, with its introit “Recordare domine testamenti,” figures
among votive Masses against sickness, including one to Saint Sebastian and an-
other to Saint Roch, who succeeded Sebastian as the principal protector against
epidemic.16 Although attributed here to Innocent VI (1352–62), it was actually

et obligatoire et la fixa au jeudi après la Trinité”: Fernand Cabrol, in Dictionnaire d’archéologie

chrétienne et de liturgie, vol. 5/1 (1922): 1403–1452, at 1415, s.v. “Fêtes chrétiennes (Les).”
13
The correspondent’s critical attitude regarding superstition reflects the spirit of the Philosophes
less than that of the Council of Trent. See Jean-Baptiste Thiers, Traité des superstitions qui regardent
les sacremens, selon l’Écriture sainte, et les sentiments des saints Pères, et des théologiens, 4 vols., 4th
ed. (Paris: Compagnie des libraires, 1741), 2:450–52.
14
This specialization resulted from events in Florence, 1348. See Sheila Barker, “The Making of
a Plague Saint: Saint Sebastian’s Imagery and Cult before the Counter-Reformation,” in Piety and
Plague from Byzantium to the Baroque, ed. Franco Mormando and Thomas Worcester (Kirksville:
Truman State University Press, 2007), 90–131, at 99–100.
15
debeant MS, introduced by concessit [ut].
16
Adolph Franz, Die Messe im deutschen Mittelalter (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchge-
sellschaft, 1963; originally published in 1902), 178–203. Saint Roch was worshipped “at the earliest

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674 Prayer Against the Plague
written in 1348 by Clement VI (1342–52).17 It is known in numerous missals of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.18 The oldest copy is said to be a manuscript from
Lille that gives this version of the initial note: “Missa pro evitanda mortalitate,
quam dominus papa Clemens sextus fecit et constituit in collegio, cum dominis
cardinalibus, anno Domini millesimo CCC XLVIII. Et concessit omnibus predic-
tam missam audientibus et dicentibus ducentas sexaginta dies indulgentie”19 (A
Mass for avoiding pestilence that Lord Pope Clement VI made and composed in
the college with the lords cardinals in the year of the Lord 1348. And he granted
to all those who hear and say the aforesaid Mass 260 days of indulgence). The
number of days of indulgence, 260 here but 240 in the Lebrun correspondence,
ranges from 60 to 261 in other versions.20 The introit, abbreviated in the Toulon
missal, reads in the Lille manuscript as follows: “Recordare domine testamenti
tui, et dic Angelo percutienti: cesset jam manus tua et ne desoletur terra et non
perdas omnem animam uiuentem”21 (Remember, Lord, thy covenant: and tell the
angel striking, ‘Now stop thy hand, and let not the land be desolated, and do not
destroy every living soul’). The first prayer alludes to the Lord’s words in Ezekiel:
“Deus qui non mortem sed penitentiam desideras peccatorum”22 (God, you who
desire not the death but the penance of sinners). The lesson from Kings (2 Kings
24.15–25) begins, “In diebus illis, immisit Deus pestilentiam in Israhel” (In those
days God sent a pestilence into Israel). The lesson from Luke (4.38–44) reads,

from the middle of the 15th century”: Heinrich Dormeier, “Saints as Protectors against Plague: Prob-
lems of Definition and Economic and Social Implications,” in Living with the Black Death, ed. Lars
Bisgaard and Leif Søndergaard (Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2009), 161–86, at
173.
17
Franz, Die Messe, 183; Biraben, Les hommes et la peste, 2:64. “Le pape [Clément VI] . . .
composa la messe: Recordare, Domine, testamenti tui, qu’il célébrait chaque matin à genoux, entouré
d’un luminaire nombreux,” according to Adrien Philippe, Histoire de la peste noire 1346–1350 (Paris:
À la direction de publicité médicale, 1853), 101. Philippe cites the “Hist. de la Norwège, par Torfoeus,”
that is, Thormóður Torfason, Historia rerum norvegicarum, 4 vols. (Hafniae: Schmitgen, 1711), 4:479,
for the year 1348: “Ad sedandam luem Papam Annales memorant, missam, qvam ipse composuerat,
flexis genubus, adhibitisque luminibus, qvinqvies celebrandam vovisse” (The annals record that to
allay the pestilence the pope vowed to celebrate five times, with knees bent and lighting set up, a Mass
that he himself had composed). On the plague at Avignon in 1361, during the pontificate of Innocent
VI, see Antoine Pélissier, Innocent VI le réformateur, deuxième pape limousin (1352–1362) ([Tulle:
Layotte], 1961), 185–86. Pélissier does not mention a Mass composed by Innocent VI at this time.
18
Franz, Die Messe, 184. For a list of missals that contain it, see Robert Lippe, ed., Missale
Romanum Mediolani, 1474, 2 vols. (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1899–1907), 2:327. For a
text of this Mass based on German sources, see Thilo Esser, Pest, Heilsangst und Frömmigkeit:
Studien zur religiösen Bewältigung der Pest am Ausgang des Mittelalters, Münsteraner theologische
Abhandlungen 58 (Altenberge: Oros, 1999), 360–89.
19
Lille, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 23, fol. 71. The “leçon la plus ancienne” according to Jules
Viard, “La messe pour la peste,” Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes 61 (1900): 334–38, at 336. The
manuscript was written in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, according to the Catalogue général
des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, Départements (Paris: Plon, 1897), 26:20. Cf.
Lippe, Missale Romanum Mediolani, 2:327.
20
Franz, Die Messe, 187; Esser, Pest, 104–5.
21
Viard, “La messe,” 336 (ne MS, non Viard). Cf. 2 Sam. 24.16, 1 Chronicles 21.15. Lippe, Missale
Romanum Mediolani, 2:327; Esser, Pest, 363.
22
Viard, “La messe,” 336 (desideras peccatorum MS, peccatorum desideras Viard). Lippe, Missale
Romanum Mediolani, 2:327; Esser, Pest, 364.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 675
“In illo tempore: Surgens Jhesus de synagoga introivit in domum Symonis. Socrus
autem Symonis tenebatur magnis febribus. . . . Et stans super illam imperavit
febri; et statim dimisit illam” (In that time, Jesus rising out of the synagogue went
into Simon’s house. Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever. . . . And
standing over her, he commanded the fever, and at once sent it away).
Once the mass was finished, according to the Missale Romanum, prayers were
added, the first of which was recited at the beginning and end according to the
missal from Toulon:
Iesu Nazarene respice tribulationes, quae circumdederunt nos undique, et deprecor te
toto corde contrito et humili ac in spiritu humilitatis, ut exaudias me de tribulatione,
propter quam te invoco et ad te proclamo, Alpha et Omega, Iesu Christe, benedicte pater
omnium credentium atque omnium creaturarum: ut sicut veram carnem de beata Maria
suscepisti, ita veraciter accipiamus, quod ad te petimus. Amen.23
Jesus of Nazareth, look upon the tribulations that have surrounded us on every side, and
I beg you with all my heart, contrite and humble and in the spirit of humility, to hear
me about this tribulation for which I invoke you and call out to you, Alpha and Omega,
Jesus Christ, blessed father of all believers and all creatures, that just as you took on
true flesh from blessed Mary, so truly we might receive what we seek from you. Amen.
From beginning to end, this Mass directly concerns the plague, sent by the hand
of God as once before upon Israel.24 The faithful pray that Jesus send away the
plague as he sent away the fever from Simon’s mother-in-law; they pray to be
delivered from the plague as truly as Jesus took on true flesh.
After the Mass against plague, the missal from Toulon recommended thirteen
other Masses for begging God’s mercy:
(1.6) Si quis vult Dei clementiam exorare pro peccatis suis vel aliorum, deprecando has
tredecim missas decantet vel cantari faciat sive pro se sive pro amico, vel pro qualibet
necessitate aut infirmitate, et sine dubio infra decem dies impetrabitur quod petitur.
(1.7) 1a. De adventu. 2a. Puer natus est. 3a. Ecce advenit. 4a. Circumdederunt me. 5a.
Domine ne longe. 6a. Resurrexit. 7a. Viri Galilaei. 8a. Spiritus domini. 9a. Benedicta sit
sancta trinitas. 10a. Nos autem gloriari. 11a. Vultum tuum. 12a. Michi autem. 13a. De
Angelis.
(1.6) If someone wants to beg God’s mercy for his sins or those of others, as entreaty
let him sing these thirteen Masses or have them sung, either for himself or for a friend,
or for any need or illness whatever, and without doubt within ten days he will get what
he seeks. (1.7) First, “On Advent”; second, “A Child Is Born”; third, “Behold, He Has
Come”; fourth, “They Surrounded Me”; fifth, “O Lord, Not Far”; sixth, “He Has Been
Resurrected”; seventh, “Men of Galilee”; eighth, “Spirit of the Lord”; ninth, “Blessed
Be the Holy Trinity”; tenth, “We, Too, to Glory”; eleventh, “Your Face”; twelfth, “But
Me”; thirteenth, “From Angels.”

23
Franz, Die Messe, 186–87. For the text according to a missal from Venice, 1485, see Lippe,
Missale Romanum Mediolani, 2:327 (ut sicut Franz, et sicut Lippe; ad te Franz, a te Lippe).
24
It is introduced as a “missa in tempore persecutionis seu mortalitatis et contra subitaneam
mortem” (1.1). The terms persecutionis, mortalitatis, and subitaneam mortem seem to be rhetori-
cal variations on just one form of suffering—plague—in view of the focus on plague that is sustained
throughout the Mass and its titles in the Missale Romanum Mediolani (Missa pro vitanda mortalitate,
Lippe 2:327) and the German sources (missa contra pestilenciam, Esser, Pest, 363).

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676 Prayer Against the Plague
These thirteen privileged Masses recur in another manuscript, Paris, Bibliothèque
nationale de France, MS fr. 1745—known as troubadour chansonnier Z to
Alfred Jeanroy and Clovis Brunel—copied in the diocese of Agde (Héraut) in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.25 The passage in the chansonnier begins
with an Occitan version of “Si quis vult”:
Qui vol la clemensa del santz salvador pregar per los peccatz o per autras necessitatz
ho per pessas vos, co aysso sia proatz e del santz papa Innocen .V. coferma: aquestas
.XIII. messas que defra ayssi se conteno celebre o fassa celebrar; en qual que cauza hom
demandara justamen a nostre senhor defra .XIII. jorns, aquo empetrara.26
If someone wants to beg mercy from the Holy Savior for sins or other needs or anything
at all, in the manner that has been proved and confirmed by blessed Pope Innocent V,
let him celebrate or have celebrated these thirteen Masses that are contained here below;
in whatever matter one asks justly from our Lord, within thirteen days one will get it.
Ten of the thirteen Masses that follow in the Agde chansonnier correspond to
those listed in the missal from Toulon, despite some perturbation in their order:

Agde Theme Toulon

1 dels avens de nostre senhor 1

2 de la nativitatz 2
3 de l’aparitio de nostre senhor 3
4 de la dominica de septuagesima. Lo offici es Circumdederunt me 4
7 de la resurrectio 6
9 de sant esprit 8
10 de la trinitat 9
11 de madona sancta Maria. Lo offici vultum tuum 11
12 d’angels 13
13 dels apostols. Lo offici es Michi autem 12

The correspondence among the remaining three Masses may be confirmed by

traditional usage:

Agde 5 “de ramspalm” = Toulon 5, “Domine ne longe facias auxilium tuum,”

a version of Psalm 21.20 “Tu autem, Domine, ne elongaveris auxilium tuum
a me,” associated with Palm Sunday;
Agde 6 “de la cena” = Toulon 10, “Nos autem gloriari,” introit to the Mass of
the Last Supper;

25
Clovis Brunel, Bibliographie des manuscrits littéraires en ancien provenc̜al (Paris: Droz, 1935), 46–
47; Alfred Jeanroy, Bibliographie sommaire des chansonniers provençaux (Paris: Champion, 1966),
18.
26
Hermann Suchier and Paul Rohde, Denkmäler provenzalischer Literatur und Sprache (Halle:
Niemeyer, 1883), 107–8. Pessas vos, literally “think you”; per pessas vos, “for whatever you may
think,” “for anything at all” (?). Proatz and coferma are past participles in a parallel syntactic structure,
despite the apparent contrast between the forms, proatz earlier and coferma (stressed cofermá) later
(with reduction of final -t in cofermat).

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 Prayer Against the Plague 677
Agde 8 “de la ascentio de nostre senhor” = Toulon 7, “Viri Galilaei,” introit
to the Mass of Ascension.

Another Latin version of the thirteen privileged Masses occurs in a fifteenth-

century manuscript from Rodez.27 At Périgueux in 1430, the consuls had thirteen
Masses (no doubt the same ones) sung to stop another epidemic.28
Third, the missal from Toulon proposed another remedy for plague. This one
is described in Occitan.
(1.8) Contra la epidimia. (1.9) Segon si las tres messas que si devon dire: so es assaber, la
segonna29 messa de Calennas a la ora que si dis lo jorn de Calennas per tres jors darre.
(1.10) A nota e que lo cappellan que la dira fassa commemoratio de sanh Sebastian et
de sancta Anastasia, e que totz lo pobol grant e petit e enfans tetans sian a las messas et
tot et totas tengan candelas cremans en las mans. (1.11) E tot home e femena que sera
d’aje de confessar si confesse e dejune aquellos tres jors, et es respiech en Dieu et en la
verges Maria, que si la mortalitat hy e[s]30 ella cessera, e si non hy es an Dieu ajudant
non hy vendra. (1.12) E aysso es causa prohada e predicada en Avinhon et en mot de
parroquias. (1.13) Item lo cappellan que dira la messa fassa dire al popol31 aquesta
oracion que s’en seg en auta vos, ayssins con si disia la confession general e enpero non
layssar lauros confession general.

(1.14) Seg si la oration. (1.15) “Senher Dieu Jhesu Christ redemptor misericordios, aias
merce a mi peccador, que mi tenes en aquesta tribulation, senher, que tu as dich, ‘Non
vuelh la mort del peccador, mas que si convertisqua e viva e que si confesse e si esmende
de thozs sos peccazs.’ (1.16) Clami ti merce, senher, que per aquella amor que tu as a la
verges Mari[a],32 mayre tieua benaurada, e per los meritis dels benaurazs martirs, sant
Cebastian e per tozs los autres martirs e per la verges sancta Anastasia, mi vulhas gardar
d’aquesta epidimia. (1.17) Amen.”

(1.8) Against the epidemic. (1.9) Here follow the three masses that must be said: that is
to say, the second Mass of Christmas, at the hour when it is said on the day of Christmas,
for three days in a row. (1.10) It is to be noted that the chaplain who says it must make
commemoration of Saint Sebastian and Saint Anastasia; and that all the people, great
and small, even babies at the breast, must be at the masses, and all men and all women
must hold candles burning in their hands, (1.11) and every man and woman who is of
age to confess must confess, and fast those three days out of respect for God and the
Virgin Mary; that if the epidemic is present it will cease, and if it is not there, with God’s
help it will not come. (1.12) And this is a thing proved and preached in Avignon and in
many parishes. (1.13) Item, the chaplain who says the mass should have the people say
this prayer that follows, aloud, just as if they were saying general confession, and yet do
not leave general confession undone.

27
Clovis Brunel, “Notice du manuscrit 60 de la bibliothèque de la ville de Rodez, contenant entre
autres un sermon de saint Vincent Ferrier,” Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes 94 (1933): 5–26. The
confirmation is attributed to Innocent IV instead of Innocent V, 17–18.
28
Biraben, Les hommes et la peste, 2:64, citing a document in the municipal archives of Périgueux.
29
segoña MS.
30
el MS; the scribe mistook long s, as in cessera, for l, as in ella.
31
pobol MS, erased and replaced by popol. Cf. pobol, 1.10.
32
Mari MS.

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678 Prayer Against the Plague
(1.14) Here follows the prayer. (1.15) “Lord God, Jesus Christ, merciful redeemer, have
mercy on me, a sinner. Lord, you hold me in this tribulation, but you have said, ‘I do not
want the death of the sinner, but that he convert and live and confess and make amends
for all his sins.’ (1.16) I beg you for mercy, Lord; by the love you have for the Virgin
Mary, your blessed mother, and by the merits of the blessed martyrs, Saint Sebastian
and all the other martyrs and the virgin Saint Anastasia, save me from this epidemic.
(1.17) Amen.”
The remedy consists of celebrating the second Christmas Mass three times (1.9).
The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord was the occasion for three Masses, according
to both the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries: at midnight, dawn, and in
the day: “The second Mass was celebrated by the pope in the ‘chapel royal’ of the
Byzantine Court officials on the Palatine, i.e., St. Anastasia’s church, originally
called, like the basilica at Constantinople, Anastasis [‘resurrection’], and like it
built at first to reproduce the Jerusalem Anastasis basilica—and like it, finally, in
abandoning the name ‘Anastasis’ for that of the martyr St. Anastasia.”33
Thus the association of this Mass with Anastasia, who died c.304 A.D., is based
by this account on a pious pun and dates from the eighth century or earlier. The
invocation of Anastasia originally was tantamount to a prayer for resurrection.
The dawn Mass begins, “Lux fulgebit” (Light will shine) (at dawn), as indicated
in the cartulary from Saint-Antonin (2.12). The Missale Romanum provides the
text, introduced as “Statio ad Sanctam Anastasiam” (Assembly at [the Church of]
Saint Anastasia) in Rome. It includes a prayer for Saint Anastasia and a gospel
reading from Luke (2.15–20), telling how the shepherds came to Jerusalem to
see the Christ child.34 The second Christmas Mass, with its imagery of innocence
(newborn, shepherds, dawn), implies the innocence of the faithful despite the
acknowledgment of their sinfulness (1.5). It strengthens their claim for mercy
from the gentle babe, very different from the avenging God of plague.
The instruction in Occitan translates certain elements from the preceding Latin
passage:
Latin / Occitan (Key)
Sequitur missa / Segon si las tres messas (1.9)
omnes missam audientes debeant portare unam candelam ardentem / que totz
lo pobol grant e petit e enfans tetans sian a las messas et tot et totas tengan
candelas cremans en las mans (1.10)
hoc certum est et probatum in Avinione et in partibus circumstantibus / aysso
es causa prohada e predicada en Avinhon et en mot de parroquias (1.12);
debet dici haec oratio / Seg si la oration (1.14)

33
Cyril Martindale, in Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 3 (New York: Appleton, 1907–12), 724–28,
at 727, s.v. “Christmas.” “La festa di Anastasia a Roma venne celebrata il 25 dic. Al tempo di s.
Gregorio Magno (590–604) nel ‘titulus Anastasiae’ si celebravano le tre Messe natalizie, e la seconda
era già dedicata alla santa e celebrata dal papa in persona. L’uso attuale, che riduce il nome di A. ad
una memoria nella ‘secunda missa in Aurora’, non si introdusse che lentamente”: “Anastasia, santa,
martire di Sirmio,” Bibliotheca sanctorum, 13 vols. (Rome: Istituto Giovanni XXIII nella Pontificia
Università lateranense, [1961?]–70), 1:1042–49, at 1046.
34
Lippe, Missale Romanum Mediolani, 1:17–19.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 679
The Occitan version reproduces the Latin in some details but departs from it
in others. While the chaplain may have been presumed competent in Latin, in
this passage, making the transition to the Occitan prayer for the people, he is
instructed in the vernacular in order to facilitate his explaining to them what they
must do.35
The prayer itself, beginning “Senher Dieu Jesu Crist” (1.15), will be considered
in the context of the later versions.

II. Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val (Tarn-Et-Garonne),

Fifteenth Century

This passage from the cartulary from Saint-Antonin must date from the fifteenth
century, as it contains a remembrance of the year 1433 (2.34).36 The chaplain is
explicitly instructed to perform the prayer “destintamen, ses cocha mas d’a pas,
per so que los homes e las donas la digo” (clearly, without haste but slowly,
so that the men and women may say it) (along with him) (2.18). The cartulary
follows this instruction by punctuating the prayer with slashes, indicating pauses,
to further impress the need to go slowly; they seem to be laden with emotional
import. They are included here for the sake of their expressiveness (see 2.19–21).
(2.1) Jhesus ave Maria. (2.2) Aquest traylat fo trames a Sarragossa de la revelacion sego
que apar dejotz. (2.3) Et es causa proada, car de pueys que foro dichas las tres messas
segon que jotz ditz, negu no hi es mort de aquela malautia. (2.4) Et apres es vengut en
Tholosa et es mes en obra am granda devocion et am grandas processions et tantost foc
passada la mort. (2.5) Causa proada es.
(2.6) Miraculum. (2.7) En Ytalia avia hun monestié de monchas de santa Elizabet on
avia gran cop de monchas. (2.8) Et en pauc de tems totas moriron si no una de santa
vida. (2.9) Aquesta dona, can vi la terra fort despolhada per la gran mortalitat que hi
era, fetz oratio a la vergis Maria que li reveles per que nostre senhor trametia aquesta
cruzel pestilencia sobre crestias. (2.10) Et en aquela hora per la granda devocion de la
dicha santa dona, la benezecta vergis sagrada, mayre de Dieu, li aparec et va li dire,
“Sapias que lo meu filh aquesta sentencia cruzel ha donada sobre tota gen, et moriran

35
At 1.13 the priest is instructed to lead the faithful in communal prayer “ayssins con si disia
la confession general” (just as if they were saying general confession), and yet not to omit such
confession (cf. 3.11 and Glossary, s.v. lauros). This is clear evidence for public confession, said to
have been exceptional both before and after the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: see E. Vacandard,
in Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, vol. 3/1 (1938): 838–894, at 892, s.v. “Confession du Ier au
XIIIe siècle,” and P. Bernard, in ibid.: 894–926, at 920, s.v. “Confession (du concile de Latran au
concile de Trente).”
36
Saint-Antonin, Archives municipales, AA4 is accessible at the Bibliothèque virtuelle des manu-
scrits médiévaux: http://bvmm.irht.cnrs.fr/consult/consult.php?COMPOSITION_ID=14127&corpus
=manuscrit. For this information I am grateful to Nathalie Picque of the Institut de recherche et
d’histoire des textes. The Bibliothèque virtuelle dates the cartulary in the fourteenth century, fifteenth
century for Jean Donat, “Prières et cérémonies contre la peste au XVe siècle,” Annales du Midi 23
(1911): 340–43, at 341. Donat’s edition of 2.2–24 (pp. 341–42) contains these significant inaccuracies:
2.4 grandas processions: granda(s) procession Donat; 2.6 Miraculum: En miraculum; 2.8 santa vida:
Sta Vida; 2.9 reveles: revelec; 2.10 moriran [n]e tantas: morian . . . tantas, remandran: remanaron;
2.17 proada: privada; 2.19 temen: tenen; 2.20 partiran: pertiren.

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680 Prayer Against the Plague
37
(n)e tantas que non remandran si no la dotzena part de la gen del poble.” (2.11) Et
adoncas la dona monja va dire a la benezecta vergis Maria se era deguna causa per que
fezes cessar la dicha pestilencia. (2.12) Et la bezeita vergis Maria respondet, “Tu diras al
poble crestia que fasson cantar tres mesas en tres jorns, que comensa ‘Lux fulgebit,’ que
es la segonda messa de Nadal, am comoracion de sant Sabastia e de santa Anastazia.
(2.13) E totz los homes e donas e enfans tengan una candela alucada en la ma can se
diran las tres messas; et que en aquels tres jorns dejunen totz aquels que son de etat
de cofessar, et que sian en lo loc on se diran las tres messas, e la mort e la pestilencia
tantost cessara. (2.14) E si la mort no hi es, non hi vendra ponh la sentencia cruzel
ni la pestelencia.” (2.15) Et la moncha, ausida la resposta de la vergis Maria, fo mot
alegra, et aqui meteys se complit so que desus es dich per tota aquela terra. (2.16) Et ho
fe assaber la dicha moncha per autras diversas partidas on era la dicha pestelencia, et
tantost complit so que desus es dich: lo mal va cessar. (2.17) Causa proada es.
(2.18) Lo capela deu dire aquesta oracion apres que auran profert,38 destintamen, ses
cocha mas d’a pas, per so que los homes e las donas la digo coma lo capela: (fol. 15)
(2.19) “Senher Dieu Jhesu Christ, / poderos redemptor, misericordious, / augatz nos
peccadors, / que temen / de aquesta tribulacion. / (2.20) Senher, tu que dizes, / ‘No voli
la mort del pecador / mas que se convertisca / et que viva / e se cofesse de totz sos
pecatz / e que se emende,’ / supliqui te, senhor, que per aquela amor / que tu as a la
sagrada vergis Maria, mayre tua, et per los meritz / del benezecte martir sant Sabastia
et de mossenhor sant Anthoni, nostre patro,39 et per ma dona sancta Anastazia, / que
d’aquesta tempesta que so vossas, / andrax, / et correpcion de sanc, / nos vuelhas gardar,
/ per tal que can de aquest segle partiran, que nos menes am plazer / et am alegre / en la
tua santa companhia, et que siam dignes de intrar en lo teu cor angelical davan la tua
divinal magestat. (2.21) Amen.”
(2.22) Et apres, totz aquels que ausiran la messa digon tres Pater nostres e tres Ave
Marias ad honor de la santa Trinitat et de la benezecta vergis Maria. (2.23) Et aysso
fach, no cal aver paor de aquesta malautia. (2.24) Aquestas tres messas se devo dire sus
l’alba del jorn enaychi coma se dizon lo jorn de Nadal.
(2.25) Sequitur oratio beati Sebastiani.40 (2.26) “Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui
meritis beati Sebastiani (martiris) tui gloriosissimi quandam generalem pestem enpedimie
(ope . . . )ius omnibus revocari, presta supplicibus tuis ut qui (oracionem) super se
portaverit, aut qui in domibus vel (mansionibus) suis scriptam aut aliter in domibus de
se memoriam in tuo (nomine) habuerit seu in die legerit, ipsis41 precibus et (meritis)
ab ipso42 peste morbo empedimie et ab omnibus (nocumentis veneno)sis et ab omnibus
periculis et corporis et (anime subitanea) morte liberentur.”

37
(n)e: The initial consonant is too faint to be read with confidence.
38
auran profert: cf. post offertorium (3.7).
39
et de mossenhor sant Anthoni, nostre patro: in the margin. The eponymous patron saint of Saint-
Antonin-Noble-Val; stressed Anthonı́. See “Antonino di Apamea,” Bibliotheca sanctorum, 2:79.
40
Parentheses in 2.26–31 indicate letters difficult to decipher. A close parallel to this prayer is cited
by Robert Favreau, “Épidémies à Poitiers et dans le Centre-Ouest à la fin du Moyen Âge,” Bibliothèque
de l’École des chartes 125 (1967): 349–98, at 355 n. 2, quoting from the Livre de raison of Pierre
Esperon, judge in Saint-Junien (Haute-Vienne), 1384–1417, ed. Louis Guibert, Nouveau recueil de
registres domestiques limousins et marchois, 2 vols. (Limoges-Paris: Ducourtieux, 1895–1903), 1:65–
66. Compare also the Mass “Revocare domine testamentum,” Esser, Pest, 383.
41
ipsius MS.
42
ipsis MS.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 681
43 44
(2.27) Secreta. “Accepta sit in conspectu tuo domine nostre devotionis oblatio et eius
nobis proficiat suplicatio salutis45 pro cui . . . defertur.46 (2.28) Per dominum nostrum
Jhesum Christum. (2.29) Sacro munere saciasti47 supplices te domine deprecam(ur ut
quod) devite48 servitutis selebramur49 officio intercede(nte beato martire) tuo Sebastiano
sentimus augmentum.50 (2.30) Per dominum (nostrum Ihesum Christum).”
(2.31) Hun home qui no volia segre la pro(ce)ssion ni creire, (fol. 15v) can foro tornatz
de la santa procession lo trobero mort.
(2.32) Hun home de Marcelha no volia creyre ni desimar, et al primié vossi que manget,
casset mort freg. (2.33) Cert es.
(2.34) L’an m. ccccxxxiij corret per tot lo pays cruzel pestelentia de vossas e de mal
caut, e morit gran poble.51 (2.35) Enpero per la gracia de Jhesu Christ, en aquest loc
non avia ponh. (2.36) Et [erasure] la viala ac la copia de las causas de sus. (2.37) Et en
decembre foro dichas las messas et complidas las causas desus en la forma que desus
manda que sia dich, et a las processions que fasian per viala avia gran poble, car cascu
la seguia volenties et ausit las messas et dejunet, per so que Dieu nos gardes de aquesta
pestilencia.
(Archives municipales, registre AA4, fols. 14v–15v)
(2.1) Jesus, hail Mary. (2.2) This translation was sent to Zaragoza, of the revelation as
it appears below. (2.3) And it is a proved thing, because since the three Masses were
said as it says below, no one has died there of that sickness. (2.4) And afterward it came
to Toulouse, and was put to effect with great devotion and with great processions, and
at once the plague passed. (2.5) It is a proved thing.
(2.6) A miracle. (2.7) In Italy there was a monastery of nuns of Saint Elizabeth where
there were many nuns. (2.8) And in a short time they all died except one of holy life.
(2.9) This lady, when she saw the land greatly ravaged by the great plague that was
there, made a prayer to the Virgin Mary, that the Virgin reveal to her why our Lord
sent this cruel pestilence onto Christians. (2.10) And at that time, because of the great
devotion of the said holy lady, the blessed sacred Virgin, mother of God, appeared to
her and said to her, “Know that my son has given this cruel sentence to all people, and
so many will die that there will remain only the twelfth part of the race of the people.”
(2.11) And then the lady nun asked the blessed Virgin Mary if there was any way to
make the said pestilence cease. (2.12) And the blessed Virgin Mary answered, “You
will tell the Christian people to have sung in three days three Masses, beginning ‘Lux
fulgebit’ [A light will shine], which is the second Mass of Nativity, in commemoration
of Saint Sebastian and Saint Anastasia. (2.13) And all the men and women and children
must hold a candle lighted in their hands when the three Masses are said; and for those
three days, let all those who are of age to confess fast, and let them be in the place where

43
See Jean Deshusses, Le sacramentaire grégorien: Ses principales formes d’après les plus anciens
manuscrits, 2 vols. (Fribourg: Éditions Universitaires, 1971–79), 1:120, pars. 112–13.
44
devotionis oblatio: added by a later hand over illegible words. Deshusses reads nostra deuotio.
45
supplicatione salutaris Deshusses.
46
cuius sollemnitate defertur Deshusses.
47
saciasti = satiasti, “you sated” (said after taking communion). saciati Deshusses (necessary for
sense). saciasti . . . saciati, Esser, Pest, 386–87.
48
deuitae Deshusses (i.e., debitae).
49
caelebramus Deshusses.
50
saluationis tuae sentiamus augmentum Deshusses.
51
A renewed surge of plague in 1433 is confirmed by Biraben, Les hommes et la peste, 1:119.

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682 Prayer Against the Plague
the three Masses are said, and the death and pestilence will cease at once. (2.14) And
if the plague is not there, the cruel sentence and pestilence will not come there at all.”
(2.15) And the nun, having heard the answer of the Virgin Mary, was very glad, and
right then what is said above was accomplished throughout that land. (2.16) And the
said nun made it known in various other regions where there was the said pestilence,
and at once what is said above was accomplished: the evil ceased. (2.17) It is a proved
thing.
(2.18) The chaplain must say this prayer after they have made the offering, clearly,
without haste but slowly, so that the men and women may say it with the chaplain:
(2.19) “Lord God, Jesus Christ, / mighty redeemer, merciful, / hear us, sinners, / who
fear / this tribulation. / (2.20) Lord, you who say, ‘I do not want the death of the sinner
/ but that he convert / and live / and confess all his sins / and make amends,’ / I beg
you, Lord, that for the love / that you have for the holy Virgin Mary, your mother, and
for the merits / of the blessed martyr Saint Sebastian and [for those] of my Lord Saint
Antoninus, our patron, and for my lady Saint Anastasia, / that from this tempest that is
tumors, / ulcers, / and corruption of blood, / you save us, / so that when we leave this
world, you lead us with pleasure / and with joy / into your holy company, and that we
be worthy to enter your angelic choir before your divine majesty. (2.21) Amen.”
(2.22) And afterward, all those who hear the Mass should say three Our Fathers and
three Hail Marys in honor of the holy Trinity and the blessed Virgin Mary. (2.23) And
once that is done, there is no need to have fear of this sickness. (2.24) These three Masses
must be said at dawn of day, as they are said on Christmas Day.
(2.25) Here follows a prayer of blessed Sebastian. (2.26) “Almighty eternal God, who
[commanded] a certain general epidemic of plague to be recalled from all men because
of the merits of your most glorious blessed martyr Sebastian, grant your suppliants
that those who carry this prayer on their persons, or have it written in their homes or
houses, or otherwise are mindful of themselves in your name, or read it on a day, by
these prayers and merits be set free from this mortal epidemic of plague and from all
poisonous nuisances and from all danger to body and soul by sudden death.”
(2.27) Canon. “May the offering of our devotion be accepted in your sight, O Lord,
and may its entreaty benefit us, by whose [observance] it is offered. (2.28) Through
our Lord, Jesus Christ. (2.29) As supplicants nourished by the Holy Service we beg you,
Lord, that because we celebrate with the office of appropriate service, by the intercession
of your blessed martyr Sebastian we may feel sustenance. (2.30) Through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
(2.31) A man who refused to follow the procession or believe—when they had come
back from the holy procession, they found him dead.
(2.32) A man of Marseille refused to believe or tithe, and at the first bite that he ate, he
fell down dead [and] cold. (2.33) It is certain.
(2.34) In the year 1433 a cruel pestilence of tumors and fever ran through the whole
country, and many people died. (2.35) But by the grace of Jesus Christ, in this place
there was none at all. (2.36) And the town got a copy of the things above. (2.37) And
in December the Masses were said, and the things above performed in the manner that
it commands above that it be said, and at the processions that they made through the
town there was a great crowd, for everyone followed willingly and heard the Masses
and fasted, so that God would save us from this pestilence.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 683

III. Tarragona, 1550

A missal from Tarragona, published in Lyon in 1550, contains a Mass against

plague with a Catalan prayer similar to those from Toulon and Saint-Antonin
(3.13–16).52
(3.1) Missa pro evitanda mortalitate quam dominus Papa Clemens sextus fecit et con-
stituit in collegio suo cum dominis cardinalibus; et concessit omnibus predictam missam
audientibus .cclx. dies indulgentie. (3.2) Et omnes audientes predictam missam debent
portare in manus unam candelam ardentem per quinque dies quibus debet missa cele-
brari; et debent per totam missam stare genibus flexis; et eis mors subitanea nocere non
poterit. (3.3) Et hoc est certum, et probatum in Avinione et in partibus Avinionis. (3.4)
Sequitur officium misse. [. . .]
(fol. 314v) (3.5) Devotio pro vitanda mortalitate revelata cuidam moniali monasterii
sancte Helisabeth in Italia, probata Cesarauguste et in aliis locis, ita quod ilico cessavit
mors, ubi dicta devotio habita fuit. (3.6) Et si ibi non erat mortalitas, non advenit.
(3.7) Dicatur tribus diebus in aurora missa “De luce,” scilicet secunda missa que poni-
tur in die nativitatis domini, in dominicali, fol. ix.53 (3.8) Et fiat in ea commemoratio
de sancta Anastasia, ut in ipsa missa continetur; et fiat commemoratio de sancto Se-
bastiano, ut supra in his missis votivis, fol. xv.54 (3.9) Et tam viri quam foemine misse
interessentes,55 et etiam pueri et puelle debent tenere candelas accensas in manibus donec
missa fuerit finita. (3.10) Et illo triduo tam clerus quam populus debet ieiunare et peccata
sua confiteri. (3.11) Et post offertorium spaciose dicat sacerdos, sicut facit quomodo in
diebus dominicis dicit generalem confessionem, ita quod omnes tam viri quam foemine
dicant orationem sequentem sicut ipse sacerdos.
(3.12) Oratio. (3.13) “O senyor Jesu Christ, poderos redemptor, misericordios, hou a
mi, peccador qu’inten de56 aquesta tribulatio. (3.14) O senyor, tu diguist, ‘No vull la
mort del peccador, mes que visque e’s confes de sos peccats, e fassa esmena de aquells.”
(3.15) Clam te merse, senyor. (3.16) Per aquell amor que tu has a la beneventurada
sancta Maria, mare tua, e per merits dels benaventurats martyrs sent Sebastia e sancta
Anastasia, me vulles deliurar de aquesta mort que es mort soptana, e de aquesta tempestat
de glanoles, vertoles, et (fol. 315) corruptio de sanch, per tal que com de aquest segle
me volras portar, me portes ab plaer e alegria a regnar ab la tua sancta companya entre
los cors angelicals davant la tua divinal majestat. (3.17) Amen.”

52
Missale secu[n]dum laudabile[m] consuetudine[m] Tarraconse[n]sis Ecclesie hispaniaru[m]
([Lyon]: Cornelius de Septemgrangiis, 1550), fols. 314v–315; Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya,
M665. The passage at 3.9–13 was published by Manuel Camps i Clemente and Manuel Camps i
Surroca, La peste del segle XV a Catalunya (Lleida: Universitat de Lleida, 1998), 84 n. 98, with
inaccuracies, including 3.9 hou: hon Camps and Camps, qu’intende: quintendem; 3.10 diguist: puist;
3.11 Clam te: Llance. I am grateful to John Dagenais and Curt Wittlin for help with the Catalan text.
53
The reference to “fol. ix” (3.7), like that to “fol. xv” (3.8), must concern an earlier copy.
54
A Mass for Saint Sebastian occupies fols. 307v–308v of the missal; incipit “Egregie martyr Dei
Sebastiane, princeps et propagator sanctissimorum preceptorum, ecce nomen tuum in libro vite celestis
ascriptum est” (O Sebastian, outstanding martyr of God, prince and propagator of most holy teachings,
behold your name is inscribed in the book of heavenly life).
55
Interessens, “qui interest seu praesens est”: Carolus du Fresne Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et
infimae latinitatis, 10 vols. (Niort: Favre, 1883–87), 4:392.
56
quintende Missale Tarraconae. See Glossary.

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684 Prayer Against the Plague
(3.18) Postea omnes audientes missam dicant devote ter orationem dominicam, scilicet
Pater noster et Ave Maria.
(Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, M665, fols. 313v–315)
(3.1) A Mass for avoiding pestilence which Lord Pope Clement VI made and composed
in his college with the lords cardinals; and he granted to all hearing the said Mass 260
days of indulgence. (3.2) And all those hearing the aforesaid Mass must carry a burning
candle in their hands for five days when the Mass is to be celebrated; and they must
remain on bended knee through the whole mass; and sudden death will not be able
to harm them. (3.3) And this is certain, and proved in Avignon and in the region of
Avignon. (3.4) Here follows the Office of the Mass. [. . .]
(3.5) A devotion for avoiding pestilence, revealed to a certain nun of the monastery of
Saint Elizabeth in Italy, proved at Zaragoza and other places, so that pestilence ceased
at once when the said devotion had been held. (3.6) And if pestilence was not there, it
did not come.
(3.7) Let the Mass “De luce” (On light), [that is, “Lux fulgebit” (A light will shine)], be
said on three days at dawn, that is, the second Mass that is put on the day of the Nativity
of the Lord, for Sundays, folio ix. (3.8) And let commemoration of Saint Anastasia be
in it, as is contained in this Mass; and let commemoration of Saint Sebastian be made,
as above among these votive Masses, folio xv. (3.9) And both men and women present
at the mass, and also boys and girls, must hold lighted candles in their hands until the
mass is finished. (3.10) And for those three days both clergy and people must fast and
confess their sins. (3.11) And after the offering, let the priest speak slowly, as he does
when on Sundays he says the public confession, so that both men and women may say
the following prayer, as [does] the priest himself.
(3.12) Prayer. (3.13) “O Lord Jesus Christ, powerful redeemer, merciful, hear me, a
sinner who am intent on this tribulation. (3.14) O Lord, you said, ‘I do not want the
death of the sinner, but that he live and confess his sins, and make amends for them.’
(3.15) I call for your mercy, Lord. (3.16) By the love that you have for the blessed Saint
Mary, your mother, and by the merits of the blessed martyrs Saint Sebastian and Saint
Anastasia, please deliver me from this plague, which is sudden death, and from this
tempest of buboes, tumors, and corruption of blood, so that when you wish to take me
from this world, you take me with pleasure and joy to reign with your holy company
among the angelic choirs before your divine majesty. (3.17) Amen.”
(3.18) Afterwards let all those hearing the Mass say devoutly, three times, the Sunday
prayer, that is, the Our Father and the Hail Mary.
Everything suggests that this tradition was not particular to Toulon. According
to the versions of the prayer from Saint-Antonin and Tarragona, the tradition
began in Italy when a miracle occurred in a monastery dedicated to Saint Elizabeth
(2.7, 3.5). The most likely identification of this saint is Elizabeth of Hungary
(1207–31), a noble lady who cared for the sick in a hospital that she had built.
Canonized in 1235, she was soon named protectress of the Franciscan Third
Order. Together with the Virgin and Saint Francis, she was the principal patron of
a convent of nuns in the order of the Friars Minor at Bressanone starting in 1236.57

57
Otto Gecser, The Feast and the Pulpit: Preachers, Sermons and the Cult of St. Elizabeth of
Hungary, 1235–ca. 1500 (Spoleto: Fondazione Centro Italiano di Studi Sull’Alto Medioevo, 2012),
37.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 685
With Saint Francis she protected the Convent of Saint Clare at Rieti, founded in
1285.58 A chapel in the lower Church of Saint Francis at Assisi has been dedicated
to her since a time that is not known.59 In Florence the order of Augustinians had
a hospital dedicated to her from 1330 on.60 There were religious communities
under her patronage at Spoleto and Foligno in the thirteenth century and at
Fiesole in the fourteenth, when there were churches of Saint Elizabeth in Perugia
and Spoleto.61 Any of these towns could have been the scene of the miraculous
origin of the Mass against plague. The prayer is said to have traveled from Italy to
Zaragoza (2.2, 3.5), Toulouse (2.4), Avignon (1.3, 1.12), Marseille (2.32), Toulon
(1), Saint-Antonin (“aquest loc,” 2.35; “la viala,” 2.36), and Tarragona (3).
All three versions invoke the two saints. Sebastian (1.10, 1.16; 2.12, 2.20,
2.25, 2.26, 2.29; 3.8, 3.16) was called to protect the faithful against plague since
his intercession proved effective, according to Paulus Diaconus, during an epi-
demic at Rome in the year 680,62 as the scribe in Saint-Antonin remembered
(2.26). Martyred by arrows in the third century, Sebastian was the logical saint
to become principal protector against plague because of the image of an angry
God with his arrows of pestilence.63 Anastasia of Sirmium (1.10, 1.16; 2.12,
2.20; 3.8, 3.16), who had received the epithet of pharmacolytria, “she who de-
livers from poisons,” was often associated with Sebastian as a protectress against
plague.64
Saint Sebastian appears in a fresco in the priory of Jenzat in Auvergne. Here
he is shot in the neck and armpits, characteristic sites of plague tumors. He is
joined by John the Baptist, Adrian, and an unidentified fourth saint. Nearby other
frescoes depict the faithful in prayer, women in one group and men, both lay and
religious, both poor and rich, in another. Some of the figures in both groups hold
burning candles. On the necks of four men we recognize plague tumors; two men,
in agony, stick out their tongues, which are still red.65 Whether these frescoes

58
Ibid., 39–40.
59
Ibid., 40.
60
Ibid., 42.
61
Ibid., 45–46, 50.
62
Historia Langobardorum 6.5, ed. L. Bethmann and G. Waitz, MGH SS rer. Lang. 1 (Hannover:
Hahn, 1878), 166; Bibliotheca sanctorum, 11:787–88. The episode is remembered in the Mass begin-
ning “Revocare domine testamentum”: “Deus, qui meritis beati Sebastiani martiris tui gloriosissimi
generalem pestem epidimie hominibus mortiferam revocasti” (God, who for the merits of blessed
Sebastian, your most glorious martyr, recalled a lethal plague of epidemic from men), Esser, Pest,
283.
63
“Sébastien était devenue le meilleur saint thérapeute de la peste, les flèches qui le transpercèrent
étant le symbole du dard épidémique, expression de la vengeance divine”: Monique Lucenet, Les
grandes pestes en France (Paris: Aubier, 1985), 85. Sagittas famis, pestilentia, gladium, Ezek. 5.16–17;
sagittas meas, Deut. 32.23, 32.42. In 1348 the council of Orvieto wrote of a “mortiferam pestem que
erga humanum genus suas emisit sagittas” (a deadly plague that has shot its arrows at the human race):
Peter Dinzelbacher, “La divinità uccidente,” in La peste nera: Dati di una realtà ed elementi di una
interpretazione. Atti del XXX Convegno storico internazionale, Todi, 10–13 ottobre 1993 (Spoleto:
Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo, 1994), 137–54, at 142; on God’s arrows, 140–48.
64
Hippolyte Delehaye, Étude sur le légendier romain: Les saints de novembre et de décembre
(Bruxelles: Société des Bollandistes, 1936), 166.
65
Yves Morvan, “La peste noire a Jenzat: Récentes découvertes de peintures murales dans l’église
Saint-Martin de Jenzat (Allier),” in Bourbonnais: Congrès archéologique de France, 146e session 1988

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686 Prayer Against the Plague
were created shortly after 1348, as Yves Morvan assumed, or later, they illustrate
performance of a prayer that could have been the one that we have found in
Occitan sources from Toulon and Saint-Antonin—it is the only known prayer in
Occitan against the plague—and, in Catalan, from Tarragona.
We cannot say, then, that the prayer gives direct expression to suffering at
Toulon during a plague in 1347–48, when Toulon may have had no plague.
Rather it expresses the fear of plague that must have been felt in Toulon in the
fourteenth century, in Jenzat at the same time or later, in Saint-Antonin during the
fifteenth century, and in Tarragona during the sixteenth. It also expresses piety,
of course, mixed with anger at the divinity who inflicts his faithful with so cruel a
persecution—this pestilence, causing these sores, these tumors, and, in the fresco,
these tongues crying out in agony. In the story of the prayer’s transmission we
learn that it began somewhere in Italy, where the Black Death first struck western
Europe, and that it spread to other cities in Catalonia and southern France.66
The recrudescences of plague, which continued into the eighteenth century67 —if
not the terrifying memory of earlier episodes—must have inspired similar prayers
throughout Europe.

IV. Piacenza, 1350–56

An early description of the advent of plague provides further background on

the preamble from Saint-Antonin and Tarragona. Gabriele de’ Mussi, a notary
from Piacenza, wrote a Historia de morbo sive mortalitate que fuit anno Domini
MCCCXLVIII, “History of the Disease or Plague That Was in the Year of the
Lord 1348.” He traced the history of the plague to Crimea, in 1346, in such
vivid detail that some have supposed he must have been an eyewitness; but the
extensive records of his notarial activity in Piacenza leave no gap indicating an
absence during those years, so he must have stayed home and used reports received
from Crimea on the plague. The notarial records end in 1356, when he must have
died.68 Near the end of his narrative, De’ Mussi describes the impact of the plague
on religious practice.

(Paris: Société française d’archéologie, 1991): 287–95; the men, fig. 7, p. 291. The date assigned by
Morvan, “légèrement postérieure” to 1348 (p. 294), follows from an assumption that the plague
illustrated must have been the one of that year, but this is not necessarily true. For an image in color
of the fresco of the men in prayer, see Marie Charbonnel, “Materialibus ad immaterialia: Peinture
murale et piété dans les anciens diocèses de Clermont, du Puy et de Saint-Flour (1317) du XIIe au
XVe siècle,” Bulletin du Centre d’études médiévales d’Auxerre / BUCEMA 16 (2012), fig. 6, online at
http://cem.revues.org/12416, consulted 11 September 2013. Charbonnel dates the fresco in the second
half of the fourteenth century; she identifies the church as a prieurale.
66
For other narratives of plague Masses that began in Italy, see Camps and Camps, La peste del
segle XV a Catalunya, 82 (Cervera, 1429), 83 (Lleida, 1483, with another prayer in Catalan).
67
Michel Vergé-Franceschi, “1720–1721: La peste ravage Toulon, conséquences démographiques
et économiques,” Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l’Ouest 114/4 (2007): 57–71.
68
A. G. Tononi, “La peste dell’anno 1348,” Giornale ligustico di archeologia, storia, e letteratura
11/1–2 (1884): 139–52, at 142.

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 Prayer Against the Plague 687
(4.1) Verum quia tunc tempus erat amaritudinis et doloris et opus erat ad dominum
convertendi, dicam quid actum fuerit. (4.2) A quadam persona sancta, visione recepta,
precessit monitio ut in singulis ecclesiis tribus continuatis diebus omnes utriusque sexus
civitatibus et castellis et locis sue ecclesiam parrochie convenirent, et candella accensa in
manibus missam beate Anastasie, que in aurora nativitatis dominice consuevit solemp-
niter celebrari, devotissime audirent, et humiliter inclinati misericordiam implorarent
ut meritis sancte misse liberarentur a morbo. (4.3) Quidam beati Sebastiani martiris
suffragium, nonnulli beati Christofori, aliqui beati Antonii, et quidam beati domini
martyris suffragia postulabant. (4.4) Alii ad alios sanctos se convertebant humiliter, ut
morbi possent evadere pravitatem. (4.5) Nam ex prefactis martiribus quidam, ut nar-
rant hystorie, satis percussi, mortui dicuntur in nomine Jhesu Christi, ob quod oppinio
multorum erat ut contra morbi sagittas possent prestare salutem.69
(4.1) But since that was a time of bitterness and grief and it was necessary to turn
to the Lord, I shall tell what happened. (4.2) After a vision was received by a certain
holy person, a warning came out that all people of both sexes must come together in
church for three days in a row, in cities and castles and towns, at the church of their
parish, and, each with a lighted candle in their hands, most devoutly hear the Mass
of Blessed Anastasia, which was customarily celebrated with solemnity at dawn on the
Nativity of the Lord, and bowing humbly, beg mercy, so that by the merits of the holy
Mass they might be freed from the disease. (4.3) Some prayed for the intercession of the
blessed martyr Sebastian, some for that of blessed Christopher, others for that of blessed
Anthony, and some for that of the Lord as a blessed martyr. (4.4) Others turned humbly
to other saints that they might escape the viciousness of the disease. (4.5) Because some
of those who were martyred earlier are said to have died in the name of Jesus Christ
after being severely beaten, as stories tell, the opinion of many was that [those martyrs]
could offer protection against the arrows of disease.
The holy person in Italy who experienced the vision corresponds to the nun of Saint
Elizabeth who spoke with the Virgin in other accounts. As elsewhere, the holy
person called for celebration of the Mass of Saint Anastasia, usually performed
at dawn on Christmas, and for believers of both sexes to attend it for three days
in a row, to hold lighted candles, and to beg for mercy. In addition to Anasta-
sia some prayed for protection to Sebastian, as at Toulon (1.10), Saint-Antonin
(2.20), and Tarragona (3.16); others prayed to Christopher, whom we have not
seen elsewhere; yet others to Anthony (not Antoninus, as at Saint-Antonin, 2.20);
some prayed to Christ, as at Toulon (1.15), Saint-Antonin (2.19), and Tarrag-
ona (3.13), except that at Piacenza they also prayed specifically to Christ as a

69
Wrocław, University Library, MS R 262, fol. 77r, lines 22–31. Edited here from images of
microfilm kindly provided by Michal Broda of the Manuscripts Department, Wrocław University
Library. The Wrocław manuscript is the only extant copy of the work. The editions by Henschel
and Tononi delete the words “Sebastiani martiris suffragium, nonnulli beati Christofori, aliqui beati
Antonii, et quidam beati,” 4.3, by skipping from “quidam beati” to “quidam beati.” Other variants (W
= Wrocław, H = Henschel, T = Tononi): 4.2 persona sancta / visione W (slash in the MS); persona,
sancta, visione HT. 4.4 Alij WH, Alijs T. 4.5 prefactis W, prefactis (!) HT. See A. W. Henschel,
“Document zur Geschichte des schwarzen Todes,” Archiv für die gesammte Medicin 2 (1841): 26–57,
at 56; Tononi, “La peste dell’anno 1348,” at 151. Translated without the deleted words by Rosemary
Horrox, The Black Death (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994), 25–26. Horrox used
Henschel, but says she made emendations (not including these words) based on microfilm of the
Wrocław manuscript (p. 14). A new edition of the Historia de morbo is a desideratum.

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688 Prayer Against the Plague
martyr. The narrative implies fear, of course, but also anger, in the phrases “morbi
pravitatem” (the viciousness of the disease) at Piacenza (4.4), “aquesta tribula-
tion” at Toulon (1.15), “cruzel pestilencia” at Saint-Antonin (2.9, 2.14, 2.34),
and “aquesta tribulatio” at Tarragona (3.12). The prayer from Piacenza, with the
phrase “prefactis martiribus” (4.5), implies that the faithful at prayer fear being
martyred themselves, shot with the arrows of plague by an angry God.
The account by De’ Mussi shows that in its earliest years the plague inspired
a Mass very much like the one that would contain the vernacular prayer in
our sources from Toulon, Saint-Antonin, and Tarragona. At Piacenza, too, the
faithful prayed to the Lord for protection, but we do not know if they did so
in the vernacular. However that may be, the Occitan and Catalan versions of
this prayer participated in a tradition going back to the first years of the Black
Death.

Glossary

Occitan
alegre, 2.20, n. masc. Joy. Not recognized as a noun by LR (4:52) or PD
(15).70 Corresponds to Cat. alegria, 3.12. Another occurrence of the noun
in an Occitan text by a Catalan troubadour: Qui parla ab feunia / be e
adrechamens, / ab alegre diria / beyls dits dous e plasens, “If one speaks
with sadness well and skilfully, with joy one would say fair words, sweet
and pleasing”: Guillem de Cervera, Versos proverbials, ed. Joan Coromines
(Barcelona: Curial, 1991), vv. 4239–42.
am, 2.4, 2.12, 2.20 = an, 1.11 = Cat. ab, 3.16, prep. With. An Dieu ajudant,
1.11. With God helping, with God’s help. Elsewhere Dieu ajudan, without
ab (COM2).71
andrax, 2.20, n. masc. Anthrax, “a carbuncle or malignant boil” (Oxford
English Dictionary). “Anthrax, sorte d’ulcère” (PD 21).
aquellos, 1.11, demonstrative adj. masc. pl. That. Unusual form, normally
aquels. On modern masc. pl. aquélous in dialects of the départements of
Hautes-Alpes (Embrun, Gap, Serres, Orpierre) and oquélou(s) in Hautes-
Alpes (Champsaur) and Drôme (Chabrillan, Loriol), see Jules Ronjat, Gram-
maire istorique des parlers provençaux modernes, 4 vols. in 2 (Montpellier:
Société des langues romanes, 1930–41), 3:89–90, par. 521.
augatz, 2.19, 2nd pers. pl. pres. subjunct. of auzir, to hear. The faithful first
address God as vos, but then switch to tu (tu que dizes . . . te . . . tu as . . .
mayre tua . . . vuelhas . . . menes . . . la tua santa companhia . . . lo teu cor . . .
la tua divinal magestat, 2.20). The change perhaps expresses violent emotion,
such as anger or stress. “God may be spoken to in either a familiar or a formal

70
LR: François-Just-Marie Raynouard, Lexique roman, 6 vols. (Paris: Silvestre, 1844). PD: Emil
Levy, Petit Dictionnaire provençal-français, 4th ed. (Heidelberg: Winter, 1966).
71
COM2: Peter T. Ricketts, Concordance de l’occitan médiéval: COM2 ([Turnhout]: Brepols,
2005).

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 Prayer Against the Plague 689
manner. We are thus able to detect at least certain nuances in the selection of
one address form over the other: deference, respect and politeness in the case
of vos, familiarity, a condescending or patronizing attitude and violence of
emotion with tu, but the fact remains that in a great many instances the real
reason for the particular choice of address forms and for the abrupt changes
from one to the other escape us”: Frede Jensen, The Syntax of Medieval
Occitan (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986), 233, par. 695.
benezecte, 2.20, adj. masc.; fem. benezecta, 2.10, 2.11, 2.22; bezeita, 2.12.
Blessed. Benezech, -ecte, “béni” (PD 45). Corresponds to Cat. fem. beneven-
turada, 3.12; masc. pl. benaventurats, 3.12.
Calennas, 1.9, n. fem. pl. Christmas. Calendas, “Noël” (PD 60). Corresponds
to Nadal, 2.12; die nativitatis domini, 3.3.
casset, 2.32, 3rd pers. sg. preterit of cazer, to fall. “Choir, tomber” (PD 73).
clami, 1.16, 1st pers. sg. pres. indic. of clamar, to call upon, invoke. “Invoquer”
(PD 78).
copia, 2.36, n. fem. Copy. “Copie” (LR 2:473).
darre, 1.9, adv. In a row, one after the other. Darre, “de suite” (LR 3:12). Are,
“de suite” (PD 27); “der Reihe nach, hinter einander” (SW 1:80: “D’arre zu
schreiben . . . scheint mir nicht nötig”).72
desimar, 2.32, inf. To tithe. Desmar, Lat. decimare, “dı̂mer, décimer” (LR
3:32, SW 2:147). Cf. decima, “dı̂me” (PD 106), mod. desmar (Honnorat,
Dictionnaire provençal-français, 1:700); deima, “dı̂mer” (Mistral, Lou trésor
dóu Félibrige, 1:716).73
destintamen, 2.18, adv. Distinctly. Distinctament, “distinctement” (LR 3:60).
Corresponds to Lat. spaciose, 3.11.
dizes, 2.20, 2nd pers. sg. pres. indic. of dire, to say (stressed dı́zes). Cf. Carl
Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie, 6th ed. (Leipzig: Reisland, 1930), item
107.18, and COM2 (tu dizes).
e, 1.10, 3rd sg. pres. indic. of eser, to be; normal Occ. es, Fr. est.
epidimia, 1.8, 1.16, n. fem. Epidemic. “Épidémie” (LR 3:132).
etat, 2.13, n. fem. Age. Edat, etat, “âge” (PD 134).
foc, 2.4, 3rd pers. sing. preterit of eser, to be. “Aussi foc, avec -c analogique”
(Ronjat, Grammaire istorique 3:283, par. 635).
jotz, 2.3, adv. Below. Jos, jotz, “à bas, en bas” (PD 218).
lauros, 1.13, n. masc. pl. (?). Laissar lauros. Cf. lauron, n. masc., “surgeon
d’eau, source à fleur de terre” (PD 223, Mistral 2:193), “Springquell” (SW
4:338); hence laissar lauros, “to leave at ground level, in an undeveloped
state, undone” (?). Or is laissar lauros a scribal error, a dittography that

72
SW: Emil Levy, Provenzalisches Supplement-Wörterbuch, 8 vols. (Leipzig: Reisland, 1894–1924).
73
Simon Jude Honnorat, Dictionnaire provençal-français, 3 vols. (Marseille: Lafitte, 1971); Frédéric
Mistral, Lou trésor dóu Felibrige, 2 vols. (Aix-en-Provence: Veuve Remondet-Aubin, 1879–87).

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690 Prayer Against the Plague
should be emended by deleting lauros, leaving non laissar confession general,
“do not omit general confession”?
mal caut, 2.34, n. masc. + adj. Fever. OFr. le mal chaut, “la fièvre chaude”
(Godefroy, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française, 5:106, quoting a
document from Auvergne, 1449: “certaine maladie, que on appelle ou pais
[Auvergne] le mal chaut”); chaut mal, “ergotisme, mal saint Antoine” (Tobler
and Lommatzsch, Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 5:953).74 Cf. Occ. caut, adj.,
“chaut” (PD 72); mal, n. masc., “maladie” (PD 232).
meritis, 1.16, meritz 2.21, n. masc. pl. Merit. Merit, -ite, -iti, “mérite” (PD
245).
monestié, 2.7, n. masc. Monastery. Mostier, mones-, “couvent” (PD 254).
Nadal, 2.12, 2.24, n. masc. Christmas. “Noël” (PD 256).
nota, 1.10, inf. without -r. To take note. Notar, “noter” (PD 262).
partiran, 2.20, 1st pers. pl. fut. of partir, to leave; normally partirem. Fut.
partiram, “Gaskonismus” (Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie, p. xxii).
Cf. fut. auram, deuram (Clovis Brunel, Les plus anciennes chartes en langue
provençale, 2 vols. [Paris: Picard, 1926–52], 2:xxix), in Rouergue, near Saint-
Antonin. For the 1st pers. pl. ending -n, cf. temen, 2.19, and Ronjat, Gram-
maire istorique, 3:157 (“Pour toutes les conjugaisons le vpr. avait -m de lat.
-mus; -m ne s’entend aujourd’hui que dans les parlers l[anguedociens] voisins
du cat[alan] . . . et dans les parlers aq[uitains] . . . ; ailleurs -n”).
pas: d’a pas, 2.18, adv. Slowly. “Lentement” (PD 280).
pobol, 1.10; popol, 1.13, n. masc. People. Poble, pobol, “peuple” (PD 299).
prohada, 1.12; proada, 2.3, 2.5, 2.17, past participle, fem. from proar, “prou-
ver” (PD 308).
respiech, 1.11, n. masc. Respect, regard. Respech, “égard” (PD 324).
segonda, 2.12; segonna, 1.8; segonna, 1.9, adj. fem. Second. Segon, “second”
(PD 338). Corresponds to Lat. secunda, 3.3.
temen, 2.19, 1st pers. pl. pres. of temer, to fear. “Craindre” (PD 359). Usually
reflexive: se temer de, “sich fürchten vor; fürchten vor, besorgt sein um”; esser
temens (de), “sich scheuen, Bedenken tragen” (SW 8:112). For -n, ending of
the 1st pers. pl. (normally -m), see Appel, Provenzalische Chrestomathie,
p. xxiii, and cf. partiran, 2.20; siam, 2.20.
tempesta, 2.20, n. fem. Tempest, agitation. “Tempête; agitation” (PD 360).
tenes, 1.15, 2nd pers. sg. pres. indic. of tener, to have, hold; stressed ténes. The
ending -es (usually -s) recurs in COM2 (tu tenes).
traylat, 2.2, n. masc. Translation. Traslat, trai-, “copie; traduction”
(PD 369).

74
Frédéric Godefroy, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française, 10 vols. (Paris: Vieweg, 1881–
1902); Adolf Tobler and Erhard Lommatzsch, Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 12 vols. to date (Berlin:
Weidmann, 1925–).

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va, 3rd pers. sg. present of anar, to go; as auxiliary, expresses sense of preterit,
as in Cat.: va cessar, 2.16; va dire, 2.10, 2.11. “Présent de anar + infinitif
équivalant au prétérit du verbe simple, van cridar = crideron” (PD 20). The
construction is “rare” for Jensen, The Syntax of Medieval Occitan, 229, par.
684.
viala, 2.36, 2.37, n. fem. Form of vila, town. “Ferme; ville” (PD 384). This form
is known in the départements of Haute-Garonne, Aude, Aveyron, Cantal,
Puy-de-Dôme (SW 8:769).
vossas, 2.20, 2.34, n. fem. pl. Lump, tumor. Bosa, “bosse; tumeur; peste” (PD
51).
vossi, 2.32, n. masc. Bite, mouthful. Bosin, “morceau, bouchée” (PD 51).

Catalan
clam, 3.15, 1st pers. sg. pres. indic. of clamar, to invoke. “Invocar” (Faraudo).75
diguist, 3.14, 2nd pers. sg. preterit of dir, to say, tell. Lat. dixisti; cf. dicit (Ezek.
33.11).
esmena, 3.14, n. fem. Amends. “Correció, reparació” (Faraudo). “Correcció,
millorament; subsanació d’un defecte, error, vici, etc.” (Alcover 5:359).76 Cf.
Occ. emenda, es-, “réparation, correction” (PD 138).
glanoles, 3.16, n. fem. pl. Bubo. Glanola, “tumor, bua, bubó” (Faraudo).
Glànola, “inflamació pestilencial dels ganglis limfàtics, principalment dels
engonals, de l’aixella o del coll; cast. bubón, peste bubónica” (Alcover 6:311).
hou, 3.13, 2nd pers. sg. imperative of oir, to hear. Lat. audi. Recurs in Hou bé,
no dormes, / perque t’informes, “Hear well, do not sleep, in order to learn,”
Spill o Libre de les Dones, ed. Roque Chabás y Llorens (Barcelona: L’Avenc,
1905), v. 10231, quoted by Alcover 7:874. Corresponds to augatz nos, 2.19,
for sense, although hou is sg., augatz pl. (see comments on vos versus tu
under augatz).
inten, 3.13, 3rd pers. sg. pres. indic. of entendre (de), to be attentive to, intent
on. Entendre, “atendre, prestar atenció,” intr., with de (Alcover 5:46). For the
ending, see the paradigm in Alcover 5:49. Change in meaning: tenes, 1.15,
“you hold (me)”; temen, 2.19, “we fear”; inten, 3.13, “I am intent.” An
unstable moment in the tradition: the singular, passive speaker (1) becomes
plural, fearful speakers (2), and then a singular, more active speaker (3).
The evolution in sense was facilitated by the paleographic resemblance in the
series tenes / temen / inten.

75
Ll. Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online at
www.iec.cat/faraudo, consulted 20 August 2013.
76
Antoni Maria Alcover, Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., 2nd ed. (Palma de Mallorca:
Alcover, 1968–69).

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tempestat, 3.16, n. fem. Tempest, agitation. “Agitació violenta, com de crits,
soroll, baralles, pertorbació intensa de l’ànim, etc.” (Alcover 10:206). Cor-
responds to tempesta, 2.20.
vertoles, 3.16, n. fem. pl. Tumor. Vertola, “glànola o glàngli” (Faraudo).
Vèrtola, “infart ganglionar” (Alcover 10:754); “inflamació d’una glàndula
sudorı́para; hidroadenitis” (Diccionari.cat online, consulted March 30,
2013).

William D. Paden is Professor Emeritus of French at Northwestern University (e-mail:

wpaden@northwestern.edu).

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