Sacramentary (MS G.21)

This silver-gilt binding with an ivory plaque of St. Theodore is more splendid than the manuscript within. The book, however, was regarded as a relic, presumably having belonged to two eleventh-century saints: Dominic Loricatus, a Camaldolese hermit (d. 1060), and Peter Damian (d. 1072), his biographer. The central medallion at the top represents the Etimasia (preparation), signified as an empty throne with a book, symbolizing Christ’s Second Coming; it is flanked by two others with the Archangels Raphael and Gabriel. The other medallions, moving clockwise, show St. Paul, St. Luke, Archangel Michael (with kneeling donor), St. Mark, and St. Peter. The twelfth-century binding may have been made by Greek artists working in Ravenna.

Sacramentary, use of Sant’Apollonaire in Classe, in Latin, Northeastern Italy, perhaps the Abbey of St. Fonte Avellana, ca. 1050, MS G.21.