Introduction (also to the sermon collection and first three sermons) Line of preachers: Christ, the apostles, the current preachers Preaching to disseminate and grow the faith, since the absence of faith (infidelitas) is the origin (origo) of all the evil of the world, since those who don’t believe in the punishment of wrong actions do not restrain themselves. The true faith (vera fides) is instead the foundation (fundamentum) all the good. Hence, it will be the key topic of all the sermon collection: «Idcirco de ipsa vera fide tractaturus continue» (f. b1r) Program of the first three sermons: preaching; sermon; fruits of listening. Three causes of the faith: revelation (superior), miracles/proclamation (exterior); mental adhesion (internal). Yet, its origin is in God, so ifaith is for grace, not for merits.  - Division (see above) -  Corpus of sermon 1) The mission (missio) necessary to preach (reference to Romans 10.15). Ecclesiastical hierarchy, different levels: the pope, the bishop, the prelates – limits for the lay people, and the duty of the priests (curati). Friars preach thanks to privileges (ex privilegio). Heretics instead usurp this office: they claim to have a direct and invisible mission given directly from God, yet, to be true it should be accompanied by miracles (see exempla at the end) or testimony of the Scripture, such as for Moses and John the Baptist.  - 2) Preaching as laborious task (laboriosa actio), since it is universal, as attested by four sources: Scripture; rational judgment (censura); risk of loss; future rewards. 2.1. A series of predictable biblical quotations. 2.2. Three reasons: a) ratio diletionis, i.e. the love of the neighbours, since preaching is a help for eternal salvation; b) ratio electionis, since preaching is the best task in the Church («predicatio in ecclesia militante est melior aliis virtuosis operibius»; f. b2v) so it is superior to confess sinners and to baptize (cf. Paul, quoting from Thomas Aquinas) also because the common good is superior to the personal good; c) ratio donationis, the few who has the gift of wisdom and the ability to speak (diserta locutio) cannot dismiss it for laziness or fear, according to the command: «gratis accepitis, gratis date». 2.3. Risk of eternal loss: if you don’t help/instruct those who need it, you are a ‘murderer’ («et talis homicida appellandus»), as one who does not feed those who are starving. Reference to the parable of talents (Matthew 25:14-30). 2.4. Future reward, since it is a holy negotium and a fruitful lucrum to contribute to save the souls for who Christ shed his blood – the example should be the apostles and martyrs who exposed themselves to death for this mission. Direct address to the preachers: “O vos predicatores divini verbi [...] vos certe estis lux mundi, vos estis cultores vinee dei altissimi, vos estis duces gregis dominicis, vos estis expurgatores et terrores demonum, vos estis causa salutis animarum...” – and admonitions to the negligent preachers. It serves also as a recap of what just said. - 3) Fruitful, since preaching is public teaching («Dicens: Predicate, hoc est publice docete»; f. b3v). Proverbs 30.29-30: "tria sunt qui bene gradiunt..". Lion (Christ), rooster (apostles), ram (prelates).    3.1. Follow the words/example of Christ, who preached wiselly, fervently, and patiently (sapienter; ferventer; patienter). He waited until he was thirty, surely without being lazy before that (so, probability he worked as carpenter...). So a preacher should not be hasty to teach, but prepare himself carefully. Yet, preacher should NOT imitate Christ in his harsh critics, when he announced the explusion of someone from salvation: «non omnia Chirsti sacra sunt imitanda [...] non debet publice aliquem in sermone reprehendere» (f. b4r).  3.2. Apostles did like the rooster, which first hits its wings before crying (topos). Interesting reference to the presence of the weathercock on the top of towers: «Et tales (?) quam chari deo et ecclesie sacre sint ostenditur ex hoc quod supra pinaculum figura galli frequenter reponitur aperto ore se contra ventum contrarium volvendo, ut ex hoc innuat quod preco veritatis contra populi vicia clamare sit paratus» (f. b4r) 3.3. Examples of the Church of the origins. The miracles listed by Matthew 28 now happen on a spiritual level, in the fight against evil. So, although invisible, these miracles are even greater: «Que nimirum miracula tanto maiora sunt quanto spiritualia, tanto maiora quanto per hec non corpora sed anime suscitantur» (f. b4v). New vivid address to the preachers: «O devoti predicatores et spirituales canes [...] per vos dilatatur catholica fides, per vos donantur virtutes omnes, per vos diriguntur ad salutem homines. Felix terra et beata regna civitates et castella ubi resonant verba dei, ubi seritur vestra doctrina. Et econtrario, meledictum illud regnum...». Also this time, it serves also as a recap, mentioning again the three symbolic animals. -  One has to be also incited by the examples of holy preachers. Three detailed exempla. Saint Dunstan of Canterbury (d. 988), «in sua legenda», who postponed his ‘ascension’ to heaven: when a host of angels invited him he said that first he had to preach, since it was the vigil of the Ascension and many people came to hear his sermon: «Hodie est solemnissimum dies et incumbit mihi pane verbi dei plebem reficere et ostendere illis quomodo ad hoc gaudium possunt pervenire, propter quod multi convenerunt, nec debeo eos decipere, ideo venire non possum» (f. b4v). He preached then three times during the same liturgy, before he died.  Saint Equitius (d. 570), as referred by Gregory the Great in his Dialogues. This is an interesting case, which connects with the first point of the sermon. The story is about a preacher without ‘canonical mission’ and for this reason accused to usurp the ministry; yet, he had a miraculous mission directly from God and, when he was accused by his adversaries (the prelates of Rome), another miracle and the vision had by the pope will confirm it. Negative example of the damned cancellarius of Paris, who had a great fame as preacher so much so that when he preached all the Dominican and Franciscan friars stopped from their work and went to hear him. The bishop, who appreciated him, when visiting him before his death, commands the cancellarius to appear him after 13 days to certify about his destiny (which is supposed to be of glory). Yet, with great surprise, when this request is fulfilled, it turned out that this great preacher had been condemned to hell, since he sought worldly honours and pleasures, acting as if the wisdom came from himself and not from God. Additionally, when he appeared after 13 days from death, he thought a long time had passed and that it was already the doomsday, “quia sicut nix cadit de celo, ita intrant anime ad infernum” (f. b. 5v).