THEOLOGICAL SUMMA

An untitled theological summa, written in England by an anonymous Protestant theologian deeply versed in patristic literature and scholarship. The author writes in response to Catholic polemic, especially the work of Robert Bellarmine. A fair copy, neatly written but left unfinished and uncorrected, with gaps left in some sentences and pages left blank where text appears to be missing. Every tenth line on pp. 1-95 is numbered for ease of reference, but this is not completed for the remainder. Evidence that the text was written in the early 17th century includes a reference to a brief of Pope Paul V of 1606 (p. 99); a list of Papal attempts to subvert England, beginning in 1533 and continued to 1606 (p. 515); a reference to an old fable which 'in Breviario Romano editto a Pio quinto etiam nunc habetur' (p. 518). Amongst authors cited are John Whitgift and Thomas Cartwright (eg. pp. 269, 283), Thomas Stapleton (p. 268) and the Jesuit Francis Coster (p. 84). The author quotes (eg. pp. 110, 376, 517) Robert Abbot, 'The second part of the defence of the reformed catholicke' (London, 1607); and (p. 520) Pierre Du Moulin, 'A defence of the catholicke faith' (London, 1610). Begins, without title page, with the chapter De scripturis canonicis. The chapter headings are as follows: p. 1. De scripturis canonicis. p. 33. De scripturae sufficientia. p. 41. De scripturarum obscuritate. p. 44. De sensu scripturae. p. 48. De scripturarum lectione. p. 50. De scripturis legendis. p. 55. De traditionibus. p. 67. De caeremoniis. p. 69. De ecclesia visibili. p. 72. De ecclesia. p. 74. De vera ecclesia. p. 93. De authoritate ecclesiae. p. 105. De oecumenicis conciliis. p. 110. De patribus et doctoribus. p. 121. De patribus. p. 129. De providentia Dei. p. 135. De praedestinatione. p. 140. De libero arbitrio. p. 150. De sacramentorum numero. p. 154. De sacramentis. p. 159. De charactere sacramenti. p. 160. De baptismo. p. 162. De baptismi necessitate. p. 167. De baptismo Johannis. p. 169. De peccato originali. p. 179. De transubstantione. p. 193. De Christi praesentia in multis locis. p. 199. De reservatione sacramenti. p. 202. De adoratione sacramenti. p. 203. De privata missa. p. 209. De communione sub utraque specie. p. 219. De sacrificio missae. p. 234. De ignota lingua. p. 252. De confessione. p. 256. De poenitentia. p. 258. De satisfactione. p. 265. De ordinibus ecclesiae. p. 269. De confirmatione. p. 275. De clavibus. p. 281. De capite ecclesiae. p. 285. De primatu. p. 290. De magistratibus. p. 322. De caelibatu. p. 340. De iustificatione. p. 368. De salutis certitudine. p. 379. De bonis operibus. p. 397. De operibus infidelium. p. 401. De meritis. p. 403. De jejuniis. p. 409. De potis. p. 410. De votis monasticis. p. 417. De reliquiis. p. 429. De imaginibus. p. 444. De sanctorum invocatione. p. 455. De sanctorum adoratione. p. 465. De angelorum adoratione. p. 469. De purgatorio. p. 489. De oratione pro defunctis. p. 498. De descensu ad inferos. p. 509. De Antichristo. p. 516. De Roma. p. 518. De miraculis. p. 521. De constitutionibus ecclesiasticis. p. 523. De spectris. p. 530. De indulgentiis. A list of the chaper headings (?19th century) is found on the pastedown at the end of the volume. Found loose in the volume, and now tipped in at p. i, are two letters from William Fisher Audland (d. 1861), Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, to an unnamed clergyman, thanking him for the loan of a manuscript, presumably this, and suggesting that the hand appears to be the same as that in manuscripts at Oxford which belonged to Thomas Barlow (1607-1691), Bishop of Lincoln. 17 Aug. and 30 Nov. 1846.

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