as 'Constitutiones venerabilis patris Walteri de Cantilupo, Dei gratia Wigornensis episcopi, in sancta synodo sua in Cathedrali ecclesia promulgatae in honorem Dei et sanctae ecclesiae in crastino S. Iacobi Apostoli anno Domini MCCXL anno pontificatus sui tertio.' The article relating to the teaching of priests directs that 'each of them should have at least a simple understanding of the Faith according to what is contained in the Psalm which is called Quicunque vult, and in the greater as well as the lesser Symbol, that in these they may know how to instruct the people committed to their care'.'

14. The Constitutions of Walter de Kirkham, Bishop of Durham, issued A.D. 1255 or thereabouts, are a document of the same nature as the Constitutions of Walter de Cantilupe. The clause of the former relating to instruction in the Faith so closely resembles in language the corresponding clause of the latter, as to show either that the one was drawn from the other or else that they both had a common source 2.

15. The Constitutions of Peter Quivil, Bishop of Exeter, were published at a synod summoned by him and held in Exeter Cathedral in the year 1287. In the twenty-first chapter, which relates to the inquiry to be made respecting the literary knowledge of ecclesiastical persons, he enjoins

''Habeat etiam saltem quilibet eorum fidei simplicem intellectum secundum quod continetur in psalmo, qui dicitur Quicunque vult et tam in maiori quam minori Symbolo, ut in his plebem sibi commissam noverint informare.' Wilkins, Concilia, vol. i. p. 669, Londini, 1737

2" Habeat quoque unusquisque eorum simplicem intellectum fidei, sicut in Symbolo tam maiori quam minori, quod est in psalmo Quicunque vult et etiam in Credo in Deum expressius continentur, necnon in Oratione Dominica, quae dicitur Pater noster, et salutatione beatae Mariae." Constitutiones Walteri de Kirkham episcopi Dunelmensis.' Wilkins, Concilia, vol. i. p. 704. The text has obviously undergone some corruption, which has rendered it ungrammatical and unintelligible.

the archdeacons to be diligent in such inquiries—to make and hold frequent trial of parish priests, whether they know the Decalogue . . . also the seven deadly sins. . . also the seven Sacraments of the Church . . . and whether they have a simple understanding of the articles of the Faith of Christians, as they are contained in the Psalm Quicunque vult and in both Symbols, in which articles they are bound to instruct the people committed to their care with all the greater earnestness, since none who believes not firmly the Catholic Faith can be saved 1.' This is probably the usual form of inquiry made by the officials of English bishops at their visitations in the thirteenth century, and it may be earlier, from which it would appear that Walter de Cantilupe and Walter de Kirkham drew the language of their injunctions. The former declares that in his directions he follows in the footsteps of his predecessors. From these codes, so to speak, we learn that the Athanasian Creed was a subject of episcopal inquiry and direction in the middle ages in our own country as well as on the Continent.

The Quicunque is here termed a Psalm, because it was at the time sung as a Psalm, and with the Psalms in the service of the Church, and had been so sung for ages; and the fact of its being so called is an evidence of this use. That these bishops of the thirteenth century regarded it at the same time as a Creed is shown by their speaking of the Articles of the Faith or the Faith being contained in it as

14

Singulis Archidiaconis iniungimus ut diligenter inquirant, qui rectores, vicarii, aut sacerdotes in literatura enormem patiuntur defectum... De parochialibus sacerdotibus frequenter assumant experientiam et habeant, an sciant decalogum . . . an etiam sciant septem peccata mortalia sciant etiam septem sacramenta ecclesiastica ... et an articulorum fidei Christianorum simplicem habeant intellectum, prout in psalmo Quicunque vult et in utroque Symbolo continentur; in quibus plebem sibi commissam tanto tenentur studiosius informare, quanto quilibet, qui Fidem Catholicam firmiter non crediderit, salvus esse non poterit.' Wilkins, Concilia, vol. ii. p. 144.

well as in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Waterland refers to instances of the Apostles' Creed, and even the Lord's Prayer, being called a Psalm.

16. In the Ordo ad visitandum infirmum' according to the old Use of Salisbury, printed in Maskell's Monumenta Ritualia', the dying man, if a priest, is called upon to express his assent to a form of Faith consisting of the fourteen Articles issued in Archbishop Peckham's Constitutions, the seven first of which relate to the Trinity, the remainder to the Incarnation, the condemnatory clauses of the Quicunque being annexed. These Articles are described in Peckham's Constitutions as a comprehensive and brief summary of the Articles which all the Ministers of the Church are bound to know,' and hence, it may be presumed, were considered a fitting Confession of Faith to be made by a priest in his last moments: that they are supplemented by the minatory clauses of the Quicunque in order to enforce the necessity of a belief in the Catholic Faith, thus summarily expressed, can only be regarded as another proof that at the time when this Office for the Visitation of the Sick was compiled, the language of the latter was familiar as household words to all who took part in the services of the Church. This formula will be found in Appendix C. It cannot be deemed earlier than the Constitutions of Peckham, which were enacted at the Council of Lambeth held A.D. 1281.

1 2nd edition, Oxford, 1882, vol. i. p. 89.

CHAPTER III.

MANUSCRIPT COPIES NOW EXTANT, OR WHICH, THOUGH NOW LOST, ARE KNOWN TO HAVE EXISTED.

OWING to the use of the Athanasian Creed from a remote period in the services of the Western Church, MS. copies of it are exceedingly numerous, as it is commonly found together with the Scriptural Canticles, which were also sung in the congregation, at the end of Psalters. It is found also in some collections of Canons and Formulae of Faith. For the purpose of illustrating its antiquity and early use and reception it will be sufficient to notice a very few comparatively, including of course the oldest.

1. The earliest known MS. of the Athanasian Creed is contained in a thin 4to volume of a few leaves deposited in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and bearing the pressmark O. 212. Muratori, who was custodian of the library, gives some account of the MS. in the second volume of his Anecdota, published in 1698, and describes it as 'most ancient, written a thousand years ago and more,' i. e. before the eighth century. Montfaucon, who saw and examined the MS. when he visited the library in the course of his literary tour in Italy in 1698, pronounced it to be written in the eighth century1. The present librarian, Dr. Ceriani, agrees with Montfaucon as to the date. Nor has any

1 Diarium Italicum, p. 18.

well as in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. Waterland refers to instances of the Apostles' Creed, and even the Lord's Prayer, being called a Psalm.

16. In the Ordo ad visitandum infirmum' according to the old Use of Salisbury, printed in Maskell's Monumenta Ritualia1, the dying man, if a priest, is called upon to express his assent to a form of Faith consisting of the fourteen Articles issued in Archbishop Peckham's Constitutions, the seven first of which relate to the Trinity, the remainder to the Incarnation, the condemnatory clauses of the Quicunque being annexed. These Articles are described in Peckham's Constitutions as a comprehensive and brief summary of the Articles which all the Ministers of the Church are bound to know,' and hence, it may be presumed, were considered a fitting Confession of Faith to be made by a priest in his last moments: that they are supplemented by the minatory clauses of the Quicunque in order to enforce the necessity of a belief in the Catholic Faith, thus summarily expressed, can only be regarded as another proof that at the time when this Office for the Visitation of the Sick was compiled, the language of the latter was familiar as household words to all who took part in the services of the Church. This formula will be found in Appendix C. It cannot be deemed earlier than the Constitutions of Peckham, which were enacted at the Council of Lambeth held A.D. 1281.

1 2nd edition, Oxford, 1882, vol. i. p. 89.