A Latin Kalendar Leaf for February from Northern France
April 7, 2025 in DRAGEN Lab, Manuscript Studies, University of Waterloo
Medieval Manuscript Fragments
at the DRAGEN Lab
Part 1:
Leaf of Latin Chants
Part 1:
Latin Kalendar Leaf for February
from Northern France
Mildred Budny
[Posted on 5 April 2025, with an update of 7 November 2025]
Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Kalendar Leaf for February, Recto, Top.
To accompany preparations for the 2025 RGME Autumn Colloquium at the University of Waterloo in November, we explore some manuscript and printed treasures at the University’s Medieval DRAGEN Lab (Digital Research Arts for Graphic and Environmental Networks). We thank the staff of the DRAGEN Lab and its director, Steven Bednarski, for permission to examine these materials and share the findings with you.
For information about the Colloquium and registration for it, please visit
[Update: See the revised information for the Colloquium, which will take place at Princeton instead, without support from UWaterloo:
In a series, first we examine leaves from two different medieval manuscripts in Latin.
Standing on its own, without identifying inscriptions or other marks to indicate its origin, date and place of production, early and subsequent ownership, or other features of its transmission, the leaf must or can speak for itself. They are:
I. A single leaf, perhaps from a Book of Hours, carries the portion for the month of February of the liturgical Kalendar (or Calendar) which would have contained all twelve months, with the lists of days designated for veneration of particular saints or occasions within the cycle of the liturgical year.
II. A single leaf from a liturgical manuscript carries a set of chants in a trimmed single column of six lines of text per page. These lines appear below lines of square musical notation on four-line staves drawn in red.
We examine each in its own right, with some observations about their texts and other features.
This post considers the Kalendar leaf. For the musical leaf, see the next post.
I. Kalendar Leaf for February
Recto
Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Kalendar Leaf for February, Recto.
Verso
Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Kalendar Leaf for February, Verso.
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The Feast Days
The list of feasts to commemorate cite these saints and occasions, in calendar order:
1) Serenicus (French: Céneri or Sérène) c. 620 – c. 669.
The manuscript list cites the Italian Céneri (born in Spoleto northern Italy, circa 620; died in 670), said to be a bishop in this calendar. A church dedicated to him survives at Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei, with this tradition:
The church was founded by Saint Céneri, who was born in Spoleto north of Rome around 620 and was a cardinal-deacon in the service of the Pope before moving to north-west France. He led a hermit’s life and settled on the banks of the [River] Sarthe, where he founded a community and built a wooden church dedicated to Saint Martin. He died in 670 and his abbey was destroyed during the Norman invasions in 903.
According to Wikipedia, some facts or surmises about this saint might be known.
Serenicus (French: Céneri or Sérène; c. 620 – c. 669) was an Italian Benedictine monk. He was an early evangelist in Normandy, and founded a monastery and a chapel in a village in Orne that later took the name of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei.
Born into a noble family in Umbria around 620, Serenicus travelled to the province of Maine in 649 during the reign of the Merovingian king Clovis II with his brother, Serenidus, to live a life of contemplation and penance.[2] At first, he lived with Serenidus as a hermit and an ascetic near Saulges in the diocese of Le Mans.[3]
At some point, Serenicus departed Saulges and began to live near a village in Orne near the Sarthe river. He started accepting disciples and found a church dedicated to Martin of Tours and an accompanying monastery. He ended up accepting a few disciples and built a church dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours and a monastic establishment.[3] The church was completed by Bishop, and saint, Milehard de Sées.[1]
It is said that after a long journey Serenicus settled in Orne, where he experienced a miracle in answer to his prayer for water to quench his thirst. According to legend a spring, located near the banks of the Sarthe, sprang up in answer to his prayer. It is believed that the water from the spring has the ability to cure eye problems.[4]
This saint’s feast day is traditionally 7 May. Perhaps its position here at the beginning of February in the Kalendar represents an earlier or local tradition, if not a mistake of some kind.
Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei, Orme, France. Church of Saint Céneri le Gérei, seen from the back. Photograph by Ratachwa, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia.
2) the Purification of the Blessed Mary, that is, Mary, Mother of Jesus (born circa 18 BC– died after 33 AD), otherwise the Feast of Candlemas — 2 February
3) Bishop Blaise of Sebaste, physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Lesser Armenia or modern Sivas, Turkey (martyred 316 AD) — 3 February
4) Agatha of Sicily (circa 231 – circa 251) — 5 February
5) the Merovingian Ansbert of Rouen, for a time Archbishop of Rouen (683 or 684 to circa 680) before being deposed (died circa 695) — 9 February
Rouen Cathedral, Portrait of Bishop Ansbert in stained glass. Photograph (2012) by Giogo, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
6) the Merovingian Austreberta of Pavilly (circa 635 – 704) — 10 February
About this saint, see, for example:
Benedictine abbess; b. Thérouanne, Artois, France c. 635; d. Abbey of Pavilly, Normandy, France, Feb. 10, 704. Her father, Badefridus, was apparently a member of the Merovingian royal family; her mother, Framehilda (d. c. 680), of German royal blood, was later honored as a saint and had a feast celebrated on May 17 at the Abbey of Sainte-Austreberta at Montreuil-sur-Mer. While Austreberta (Eustreberta) was still a young girl, her parents contracted her marriage, but she secretly took the veil in 655–656 under the spiritual direction of Omer, Bishop of Thérouanne. Shortly thereafter, with parental permission, she entered the abbey of Port-le-Grand in Ponthieu. She was prioress there for 14 years until Philibert, founder of Jumièges, persuaded her to become abbess of his foundation at Pavilly. Her relics were transferred to Montreuil-sur-Mer in the ninth century and were venerated also at the cathedral of Saint-Omer, but they were burned in 1793.
via Encyclopedia.com: Austreberta, St.
OR
Austrebertha (Austreberta, Eustreberta, Austreberta of Pavilly; French: Austreberthe) (630–February 10, 704) was a French nun of the Middle Ages, who took the veil very young, and became a nun at the Port Monastery in the Ponthieu. She became abbess to the foundation of Pavilly, where she died at the beginning of the eighth century, at 74. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Her feast day is February 10.
The daughter of Saint Framechildis and the Count Palatine Badefrid, she was born about 630 in Thérouanne, Pas-de-Calais. She refused to be part of an arranged marriage and in around 656 entered the Port-le-Grand Monastery in Ponthieu. She received the veil from Saint Omer [died circa 670] before founding another monastery in Marconne in Artois in the house of her parents. She later established a monastery at Pavilly.
via Wikipedia
7) Saint Valentine (circa 226 – circa 269) — 14 February
8) Juliana of Nicomedia (circa 285 – circa 304) — 16 February
9) the Cathedra (Chair) of Saint Peter (died AD 64–68), Apostle and first Pope or Bishop of Rome — 22 February
Vatican City, Basilica of Saint Peter, The Chair of St. Peter in 2024, exposed for the first time since 1867. Photograph by INFOWeather1 (2024) via Wikimedia Commons.
10) Policarp, Bishop of Smyrna (69—155) — 23 February
2) Matthew, Apostle (active 1st century AD) — 00? February [Although his feast day is customarily 21 September]
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Waterloo, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab, Saint Jerome’s University, Latin Kalendar Leaf for February, Recto, Top.
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Do you recognize these leaves? Do you know of other leaves from the same manuscripts?
We would be glad to hear.
Please leave your notes in the Comments here or Contact Us.
Look for Part 2 in this series.
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