A central concern of the Carolingian Reform was to raise the level of education of the clergy, so that diocesan priests might be better teachers of their flock. How this was done, however, remains a largely unexplored area. The two books discussed here, a catalogue of works used for the explanation of the creed (Catalogue) and an edition of various hitherto unknown texts on the creedal faith (Explanationes), share the common purpose of tackling this blind spot. Together, they unlock a treasury of sources and data on Carolingian faith instruction.
A Catalogue brings together and organises a mountain of material on the subject, most of which was until now either scattered or difficult to access, or altogether unknown. In its first part, Keefe sums up 393 texts: all kinds of creeds, but also lengthier expositions of the faith, commentaries on the Apostolicum or the Quicumque, clerical interrogations, florilegia, patristic works and homilies. Many antedate the Carolingian Reform but all were copied and used in this period. The Catalogue refers to the witnesses used in existing editions but – quite importantly – also adds a significant number of newly discovered manuscripts. The second part of Catalogue describes all the manuscripts referred to.
The Explanationes is intended to make more of the corpus described in the Catalogue accessible, a project to which Keefe had already made significant contributions in the second volume of her Water and the word (2002). It contains editions of forty-three texts, all but one not printed before. Their common purpose is the instruction on the faith: there are clerical interrogations (T. 1, 6, 13, 15, 16, 26), florilegia (T. 3, 7, 30), a mystagogical sermon in traditione symboli ad competentes (T. 18), and various texts on issues like adoptianism (T. 17), pelagianism (T. 29), or the meaning of word symbolum (T. 24, 25, 31, 34). The collection closes with a hitherto unknown pseudo-Augustinian sermon on the Trinity (T. 43).
Any cursory glance at the apparatus fontium suffices to reveal the importance of the patristic heritage for the Carolingians, but those who analyse in more detail will find that many of these sources were not blindly copied but reworked, simplified and supplemented in independent and purposeful manner (cfr T. 4, 5, 14, 42). The many similarities and parallels between the texts edited point to lively interaction between Carolingian dioceses and bishops, combined with local interests and emphases, rather than to the traditional picture of centralised standardisation.
Also, it is worth noting that in both the Catalogue and the Explanationes a relatively large number of texts pertains to the Apostolicum (twenty out of forty-three in Explanationes of which eleven are phrase-by-phrase commentaries). Also, the Index fontium of Explanationes reveals that the Apostles' Creed was quoted much more often than the Nicene(-Constantinopolitan), and more exactly as well. This is a remarkable pattern. Apparently, not much need was felt for instructing the clergy in detail on the Nicene Creed, even though these creeds were at the time widely copied and referred to as touchstones of the true faith.
Most editions in the Explanationes rest on just one or two manuscripts. Curiously, comparison to the data in Catalogue reveals that there are at least four more Carolingian witnesses of texts 1, 6 and 15. Why these have not been used remains unclear. Another strange point about these three texts is that they are printed as independent works. Again, the Catalogue reveals that they are in fact consecutive excerpts from a clerical interrogation de diversis (cfr Catalogue, p. 86). There is no single comment on this in the Explanationes. The selection as it is obscures the possible interdependence between these fragments. Why not edit the whole work?
The Catalogue is bound to become an indispensable tool for scholars interested in the creed and the explanation of the faith. A limitation to be kept in mind, though, is that Keefe only lists manuscripts of the eighth and ninth century (except for a few argued exceptions). Scholars with interests not limited to the age of Charlemagne will regret this. Some texts appear in very few Carolingian manuscripts but do have promising witnesses of later date. Catalogue, no. 95, for example, an important exposition on the Apostolicum ascribed to Leidrad of Lyons by Bouhot, is also in Saint-Omer, BM 694 and Troyes, BM 1532 (both saec. xii).
As for layout, it should be remarked that navigating is a challenge in the second part of the Catalogue. Place and library are mentioned only once, in a non-distinctive typesetting. Repeated headings such as ‘Paris, BNF (continued)’ would have made a big difference.
Despite a few minor deficiencies and errors (mostly confused numbers), Keefe's painstaking work has resulted in two carefully prepared volumes. Compared to other works of similar nature, such as Lambert's Bibliotheca Hieronymiana manuscripta, the data offered in the Catalogue is of much better quality, mainly because Keefe went to the trouble of consulting many manuscripts herself. Having said that, a few additions and corrections are in order:
(1) Düsseldorf E. 32 and Einsiedeln SB 191 should be omitted from the manuscript list of Catalogue, no. 212, and Phillips 17849 and Paris Lat. 4279 from the list of Catalogue, nos 212 and 47. Whenever a creed appears in a canonical collection, Keefe tends to lists all manuscripts of this collection even if some are merely fragments or otherwise mutilated.
(2) Catalogue, no. 212 (Fides sancti Ambrosii) is described as ‘now generally accepted as Priscillianist’ (at the authority of Donald Bullough). Quite the opposite is true. Bullough's claim rests on the work of Karl Künstle, whose claims on the Priscillianist controversy are now generally rejected.
(3) The best critical edition of Catalogue, no. 212, is in W. Stürner's article on the sources of the Fides Constantini. Keefe omits reference to it (as do most reference works), even though she includes the paper in her bibliography. The same applies to Stürner's edition of Catalogue, no. 47, which draws on several more witnesses than Burn's text (repeated in CCSL ix and xlix).
(4) Manuscript A.II.1 of the Casa Madre dei Padri Maristi in Rome (the Leidrad codex, Catalogue, p. 335) was moved to the Vatican Library in 2006. The new shelf mark is ‘Pagès 1’.
(5) The unidentified quotation from Augustine in T. 11 (lines 45–7) is from sermo Mai 76, 1; perhaps Keefe's emendation in line 46, uel nolentibus, may thence be corrected to coenulentis.
Sadly, the author died shortly after the completion of her work, in August 2012. One could say that these two books form her academic legacy, together with her earlier, well-received two volumes of Water and the word. The nature of Keefe's scholarly work is both explorative and inviting, encouraging scholars to further explore the avenues of research opened up by her and to make use of the results of her efforts for the advancement of the historical-theological discipline. May the invitation be answered.
