Walters Ms. W.342, St. Catherine of Bologna's Le Armi Spirituale Le Armi Spirituale Bologna, Catherine of, Saint, 1413-1463 scribe Bembo, Illuminata, approximately 1410-1493 Beata Bembo Principal cataloger Berlin, Nicole Cataloger Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934 Editor Herbert, Lynley Contributor Damon, Elena Contributor Emery, Doug Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

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 St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463), also known as Catherine de' Vigr, was an Italian nun from the order of the Poor Clares. She was born to a fairly wealthy family and spent time as a young woman at the court of Niccolò III d'Este (1383-1441), the Marquess of Ferrara. Catherine became jaded with court life after Niccolò had his wife Parisina executed for adultery in 1425. In In 1455 she left Ferrara to become the abbess of a new convent, Corpus Domini in Bologna. Her most famous work is Seven Spiritual Weapons Necessary for Spiritual Warfare (Le Sette Armi Spirituali), which she wrote in 1438, then edited between 1450 and 1456. The text encourages the reader to take up the cross as a kind of spiritual arms. According to the colophon on fol. 62r-v, the Walters copy was written in 1466 at the monastery of Corpus Christi in Ferrara by the nun Beata Illuminata Bembo, a companion of St. Catherine. It was copied from St. Catherine's own manuscript found in her cell at the time of her death in 1463 by Father Batista da Modena. Especially wonderful is the sensitively painted portrait of St. Catherine on fol. 1v, which was created in her memory shortly after her death by her friend Beata, and which may therefore offer a lovingly personalized portrait of the saint by someone who knew her well. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.342 The primary language in this manuscript is Italian. 1r - 64v Le Armi Spirituale Cunreuetentia prego per lo dolce e suave amore yhu xpo. qualunqua persona alaquale vignira anotitia de questa picoleta opera... In nome sia dell' Eterno Padre Contains "Le Armi Spirituale" of St. Catherine of Bologna as well as a spiritual chant on fols. 63v-65r that begins "Esu signor piacente / sempre situ laudato" scribe Prego humilemente omne una de uuy la qualle legera questo libro

Medium-weight, cream colored parchment

 Foliation: i+6414.0 10.5 8.6 6.0 Foliation written in modern pencil, upper right corners, rectos

i+Quires 1-6: 10 (fols. 1-59); Quire 7: 8 (fols. 60-66) Written in black ink horizontally on the bottom margin, versos Last folio of Quire 7 is now the back pastedown

 Written in Italian Gothic script; the spiritual chant that begins on fol. 63v is written in another hand Historiated initial "I" with St. Catherine of Bologna holding a cross and book (fol. 1v) along with foliate decoration in the left margin; decorated initial "A" (fol. 55v); both initials with green, pink, blue, and white pigment and gold leaf; penwork in blue and red ink; rubrication in red ink; the text in black ink Historiated Initial "I" with St. Catherine of Bologna Historiated Initial "I," 8 lines Decorated Initial "A" Decorated Initial "A," 7 lines

Original wooden boards covered in a nineteenth- or twentieth-century red silk corded cloth; strap stub on the upper cover and brass catch plate on the lower are both perhaps original; the edges in full gilt with gauffering, likely modern; front pastedown and endleaf a parchment bifolium

 Dated 1466 CE Ferrara, Italy Written in 1466 at the monastery of Corpus Christi in Ferrara, Italy by Sister Beata Illuminata Bembo (according to the colophon on fol. 62r-v) Leo S. Olschki, bookseller, Florence Henry Walters, Baltimore, purchased from Leo S. Olschki; inventory number 17917 written in ink on bookplate that reads "Ex Libris Leonis S. Olschki" on inside of upper board Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest Relevant Works De Ricci, Seymour. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1935, p. 844, no. 497. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Biography Judaism Talmud Collection of Sermons Notable Notable binding Textbook Scholarly compendium Ancient Greece Ancient Rome Literature Japanese Japan Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Private devotional text Christian Italian Book Codex Colophon Historiated initial Illumination Manuscript Miniature Painting Walters Art Museum Italy 15th century Devotion Theology Treatise