Homiletica Vadstenensia

Preaching was one of the main tasks of the Birgittine friars. Not surprisingly, a large part of the medieval manuscripts that survive from the mother house of the Birgittine order, Vadstena Abbey in central Sweden, are sermon manuscripts. In the Swedish and Scandinavian context they represent an exceptional source of knowledge about medieval history. This edition comprises 21 sermons of varying length dating from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth century. They are published here for the first time, mainly from the compilers’ autographs. These sermons were partly composed for a monastic target audience, partly directed to priests ab extra. Among other things, they tell about the striving for monastic and spiritual reform that issued from Vadstena. A large group consists of sermons of an admonitory content addressed to the nuns by the Confessor General. These sermons in particular give unique glimpses of the inner life of the monastery.

Homiletica — Homiletica Vadstenensia ad religiosos et sacerdotes — ed. M. Berggren