Library › Latin: Early Christian Writings › Praefatio in Homilias
This short preface of about a hundred and fifty words introduces a collection of homilies. The writer, who calls himself a humble brother and monk, says that at the request of beloved fathers he agreed to compose homilies, that is, sermons for the people, as far as his talent allowed; he did so unwillingly, but trusting in the one who says, Open your mouth, and for the sake of devotion and obedience. Like one going untrained into battle, he asks for their prayers so that he may begin the work clearly and in order, so that the beginning agrees with the middle and the middle with the end, and he asks anyone who finds faults to correct them with the file of charity.
The preface is printed among the works of Heiric of Auxerre, whose homilies for the church year survive, and its modest tone is typical of Carolingian prefaces. The name in the text is given as Heinricus, a form of the same name. It is a brief but useful witness to how monastic preachers presented their work, and it ends by turning to the mystery of the Incarnation, with which the homilies begin.
About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 124, Parisiis 1852), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.