[Dogmas of the Church and devotional materials in Nahuatl]

Creator

Gante, Pedro de Molina, Alonso de León, Nicolás Bernardino

Place

[Mexico City?]

Date

[after 1572]

Notes

Author misidentified as Bernadino de Sahagún by Dr. Nicolás León in his Biblioteca mexicana, printed in Mexico City, 1896

Text written primarily in black ink with some colored rubicated initials

In some parts of the manuscript the leaves are numbered as pages and it is unclear whether this was done at the time of composition; leaves as they are bound in the manuscript may not necessarily be in order

Title supplied by cataloguer

Research by Louise Burkhart, which is included in the JCB bibliographical file, has demonstrated that it is not the work of Sahagún or his pupils, and contains none of his handwriting

Some descriptions of this manuscript have claimed that the last two parts are in the Tarascan language but the manual is uniformly in the Nahuatl language, aside from some brief passages in Latin and some Spanish loan words

Approximate date of publication can be assumed from the inclusion of text translated by the Franciscan father Alonso de Molina of a 1572 text concerning members of the Confraternity of the Rosary, and some text drawn from Doctrina Christiana en lengua mexicana / by Pedro de Gante, first printed in Mexico City, 1553

The manuscript includes some translated extracts of the Bible, counter to official Catholic Church practice following the Council of Trent. It also includes a translation by the Franciscan father Alonso de Molina of a 1572 text concerning members of the Confraternity of the Rosary, and some text drawn from Doctrina Christiana en lengua mexicana / by Pedro de Gante, first printed in Mexico City, 1553

Ms. codex

Local notes

John Carter Brown Library copy bound in contemporary full limp vellum and housed in a brown cloth slipcase meausuring 17 cm. tall

Provenance of the John Carter Brown Library copy: Dr. Nicolás León: bookplate on front pastedown

John Carter Brown has a short paper by Louise Burkhart describing this manuscript housed in the JCB bibgliographical file

John Carter Brown Library copy imperfect: text is incomplete and what is numbered as leaf [1] recto begins in mid-sentence; many leaves are stained and brittle on foredges and some leaves are fully detached; it is unclear whether the text is incomplete on leaf [125] verso; some leaves are trimmed and torn with loss ot text

Contents

Dogmas of the Catholic Church and catechistical expositions including sections on sin and atonement (leaves [1 recto-31 verso]) -- On the sacraments of Holy Communion in six chapters (leaves [31 verso-48 verso]) -- Exposition of the significance of various major Christian festivals, espeically the Nativity and the Assumption of the Virgin (leaves [49 recto-78 verso]) -- A rough drawing, in pen and ink, representing Jesus (leaf [78 verso]) -- Forms of the offices of the Church, including Vespers and Compline, with many prayers in adoration of Jesus Christ or invoking the Virgin (leaves [79 recto-104 recto]) -- Further devotions undifferentiated with apparently historical exposition running from 1520 (leaf [112 recto]) to 1569 (leaf [113 recto]) (leaves [104 verso-125 verso])