Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2006
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Presbyter Donatus writes a gloss in his codex of Ambrosiaster`s "Commentary on the Letter to the Romans" in the monastery of castellum Lucullanum, near Naples (Italy), AD 569/570. Manuscript Casinensis 150, subscription on page 248.
Donatus gratia Dei presbyter proprium codicem Iustino Augusto tertio post consulatum eius in aedibus beati Petri in castello Lucullano infirmus legi legi legi.
 
(after Vogels 1966: XXXV)
Donatus of poor health, presbyter by the grace of God, I have read, I have read, I have read my own codex in the third year after the consulship of Iustinus Augustus [i.e. 569/570] in the church of the blessed Peter in castellum Lucullanum.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Emperor Justin II was a consul in 566 and 567, so the third year mentioned by Donatus will be 569 or 570.
 
The same Donatus as a deacon in 561 wrote a gloss in another codex he owned which contained Rufinus's De adulteratione librorum Origenis and his Latin translation of Origen's Peri archon, it was later copied in the tenth century to ms. Metz 225 (printed by Koetschau in the introduction to his edition of Peri archon, 1913: lx). See also Hammond Bammel 1984: 367.
 
After the demise of the Roman administration in the province of Noricum, the body of saint Severinus was translated from Lauriacum to Castellus Lucullanus near Naples where the noble woman named Barbaria founded the mausoleum for the burial (see Eugippius, Life of Severinus 46, [XXXXXXX]). Later Eugippius founded a monastery there and most probably in its library Donatus read and commented on Ambrosiaster and Origen. See also Hammond Bammel 1978: 442, 445.

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy south of Rome and Sicily
City
  • Naples

About the source:

Origin: Naples (Italy south of Rome and Sicily)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Manuscript 150 from the library of the monastery in Monte Cassino consists of 458 folios with 30 verses of text on every page. It contains Ambrosiaster's Commentary on Paul`s Letter to the Romans, written in the semi-uncial Beneventan script datable to the sixth century. Donatus placed his gloss on p. 248 under the text EXPC AD ROMANOS. INCIPIT AD CORINTHOS PRIMA (see illustration). The text of Ambrosiaster is annotated in several places by the a sixth-century hand, possibly by the same Donatus (see Palma 1998 and 2000).
Edition:
M. Inguanez, Codicum Casinensium manuscriptorum catalogus, vol. 1, Monte Cassino 1915
E.A. Lowe, Codices latini antiquiores, vol. 3, no. 374a
F. Steffens, Paléographie latine : 125 fac-similés en phototypie accompagnés de transcriptions et d'explications avec un exposé systématique de l'histoire de l'écriture latine, Trèves 1910, pl. 23 (illustration)
H.J. Vogels ed., Ambrosiastri qui dicitur commentarius in epistulas Paulinas, p. 1 In epistulam ad Romanos, Vienna 1966
Bibliography:
C.P. Hammond Bammel, "Products of fifth-century scriptoria preserving conventions used by Rufinus of Aquileia III: Nomina sacra", Journal of Theological Studies 30 (1978), 430-462
C.P. Hammond Bammel, "Products of fifth-century scriptoria preserving conventions used by Rufinus of Aquileia: script",  Journal of Theological Studies 35, 347-393
P. Koetschau ed., Origenes, Werke, vol. 5, Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller 22, Berlin 1913
M. Palma, "Per lo studio della glossa tardoantica: il caso di Donato, prete napoletano", Scrittura e Civiltà 22 (1998), 5–12.
M. Palma, "Die patristischen Glossen des neapolitanischen Geistlichen Donatus in einigen Handschriften des 6: jahrhunderts", Scrittura e Civiltà 24 (2000), 5–16

Categories:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Objects of luxury
Former ecclesiastical career - Deacon
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Writing activity
Monastic or common life
Education - Theological interest
Devotion - Reading the Bible and devotional literature
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2006, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2006