Texts

Virtutes sancti Fursei ‘The miracles of St Fursa’

  • Latin
  • Irish hagiography
Anonymous Latin text about St Fursa (d. c.650) and his miracles, composed perhaps around 800, or a little later. It was probably written as a supplement to the saint’s first Life, Vita sancti Fursei (7th c.), a role which it maintained in the manuscripts, where the Virtutes is always found in association with the Vita. BHL 3213.
Title
Virtutes sancti Fursei
‘The miracles of St Fursa’
al. Miracula sancti Fursei.
Manuscripts

In Bruno Krusch’s classification of the manuscript witnesses of the Vita and the Virtutes (A-D), the Virtutes is particularly associated with class C. While copies of the Virtutes are also attested with Vitae of other classes, Krusch assigned many of them to class C, too. This list is not yet comprehensive. 

Class C
Wormsley Park, Getty Library, MS BM4149
ff. 62v–66v
C2b (Krusch), preceded by a version of the Vita which Krusch assigned to class A.
The Hague, Royal Library, MS 71 H 66
C3 (Krusch)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS Clm 17137
ff. 58v–61
C3b (Krusch). Version without ch. 1-3, followed by the Additamentum.
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 17625
ff. 124v–130v
C4a (Krusch, who mentions this witness in the variant readings).
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 11749
ff. 10v–13
C4b (Krusch).
London, British Library, MS Egerton 2797
ff. 101–108v
C4c (Krusch). Krusch notes that the text has been changed by a later hand.
Cambrai, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 864
ff. 105–108v
C4c1 (Krusch). Follows a Vita of class B (B2a4).
ff. 149v–151v
C4c1* (Krusch). Follows a Vita of class B (B2a4*).
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, MS lat. quart. 122
C5 (Krusch).
Class D
Rein, Stiftsbibliothek, MS 51
D2b* (Krusch). Omits ch. 1-3 (cf. Munich MS Clm 17137).
Language
  • Latin
Date
c.800 or early 9th century (Krusch).

Classification

Irish hagiographyIrish hagiography
...

Irish hagiographyIrish hagiography
...

Subjects

Fursa
Fursa
(fl. 7th century)
Irish monk and missionary

See more

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Krusch, Bruno (ed.), Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici (II), MGH Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 4, Hanover, 1902.
Digital MGH: <link>
440–449 direct link

Secondary sources (select)

Ó Riain, Pádraig, “Les Vies de Saint Fursy: les sources irlandaises”, Revue du Nord 68 (1986): 405–413.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
May 2011, last updated: January 2024