Magda Hayton
(Religious Studies Department, Missouri State University)

“Pierre d’Ailly and the Oraculum angelicum Cyrilli”

Abstract of Paper
Intended To be presented at the 55th International Congress on Medieval Studies [CANCELLED]
(Kalamazoo, 2020)

Session on “Prologues in Medieval Texts of Magic, Astrology, and Prophecy”

Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
Organized by Vajra Regan

2020 Congress Program

[Published on 22 March 2020]

*****

Abstract

In a sermon preached in 1385, the future cardinal and chancellor of the University of Paris, Pierre d’Ailly, cites a number of medieval prophetic sources as he considers whether or not one can have “knowledge about the determined time of the persecution of Antichrist or the consummation of the age.” Among the sources he lists is the Oraculum angelicum Cyrilli, a thirteenth-century prophecy purportedly given to a monk Cyril by an angelic messenger whom is described at length in the prologue.

This paper investigates Pierre’s use of the Oraculum, paying particular attention to the glossed and annotated versions of the Oraculum found in two prophecy collections compiled by Pierre or someone close to him. Of particular interest is how the angelic interlocuter is presented in the prologue and how this relates to Pierre’s approach to prophecy in his sermons, as well as in the philosophical treatises in which he considers prophetic discourse and the questions of divine foreknowledge.

*****