This single vellum leaf, originally part of a Book of Hours, contains the opening lines of the Litany,
an essential section of prayers which usually occurs after the recitation of the Seven
Penitential Psalms, as was the case in this manuscript. Dating from the Early Christian period,
the Litany is an appeal for help in the form of a list of saints who are beseeched ora pro nobis
(pray for us). The Litany opens with the three-fold Kyrie (Lord have mercy) and continues
with invocations of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael,
followed by the list of apostles, saints, martyrs, confessors, incomplete on our leaf.
Notes from "The Illumined Word." University of Kentucky Art Museum.
Catalog, 1983.
N.B. The marginal dragons and floral decorations line up exactly recto verso suggesting that a single traced border served as the pattern for both sides.
Verso
Detail Images
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