Johannes Gerhard (1582-1637)

ECUMENICAL SET OF TWO RELIGIOUS BOOKS

1674, 1707
Sacrosancti et Oecumenici Concilii Tridentini, Paulo III, Iulio III et Pio IV Pontificibus Maximis celebrati, Canones et Decreta. Quibus in hac editione praefixum est Iacobi Philippi Chiffletii, Abbatis Balernensis, Praefatio. Size 16°, 14x8.4 cm. 287 pp. + appendix, in Latin. Title page executed as a copperplate engraving. Parchment binding with a smooth spine, inside copperplate portraits of all three popes whose pontificates the council encompassed: Paul III, Julius III, and Pius IV. Very good condition. Meditationes Sacrae ad veram pietatem excitandam et interioris hominis profectum promovendum. Item: Exercitium pietatis quotidianum quadripartitum. Size 16°, 10.8x6.5 cm. 529 pp. Title page executed as a copperplate engraving. Period leather binding dated 1760 with four raised bands, skillfully decorated with gilding, especially on the spine. On the pastedown, manuscript notes from which it can be read that the book belonged in 1806 to a certain Conrad Bach of Leipzig; some leaves detached from the binding, occasional minor insect damage, front board cords worn through, overall good condition. The first book contains the official canons, decrees, and reform provisions of the Council of Trent (1545–1563), a key assembly of the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation. The texts systematically regulate Catholic doctrine (e.g. on the sacraments, justification, the authority of the Church) and establish disciplinary reforms of the clergy and Church administration. The publication served as a practical normative handbook for clergy, theologians, and Church institutions for the uniform application of Tridentine decisions. Also included is an appendix to the Tridentine Decrees containing papal and canonical constitutions taken from earlier canon law that were confirmed or modified by the Council of Trent. The second book, Meditationes sacrae, is a Lutheran devotional and meditation handbook intended for personal piety and daily spiritual practice. The text contains meditations on the suffering of Christ, penance, faith, death, and salvation, and aims to lead the reader to inner renewal and deepening of personal faith. The second part ("Exercitium pietatis") offers a practical daily spiritual programme – prayers and meditations divided according to parts of the day. Also bound into the volume is the title Usus Meditationibus Sacris, insuper Benedictiones Matutinae et Vespertinae, ex Johannis Avenarii manuali, by another Lutheran theologian Johannes Avenarius (1521–1590). This additional work served as a practical prayer supplement to Gerhard`s meditations.