| Historiated initial P(rima virtus viri sancti) from the first Responsory of the first Nocturn from Vigils on the feast of Bernard in an Antiphonary from c 1500 belonging to the Benedictine nuns of Vorst near Brussels. Although not nimbed, nor carrying a book or crozier, the position of this image introducing his feast identifies the figure in a black cowl, lifted to show a white tunic underneath, as Bernard. He is shown standing in the middle of a room with a brocade hanging behind him. On the left is a group of four kneeling monks with their hands clasped in prayer and on the right a similar group of four nuns. These are all in black cowls and, in view of the ownership of the Antiphonary, are probably Benedictines. Bernard has a bundle of myrrh in his left hand which tells us that he was preaching on the Song of Songs, and more precisely Sermon 43 which he begins with the quotation 'My beloved is to me a little bundle of myrrh that lies between my breasts' ('Fasciculus myrrhae dilectus meus mihi, inter ubera mea commorabitur')(Song 1:12).
|
