Introduction The original sin passes from Adam and Eve to the whole humanity as it happens for the sons born in slavery. On that, the progenitors of the humanity were bad merchants (“mali mercatores fuerunt”). After the redemption, if the prince of this world has been expelled from it (cf. John 12), how does he continue his nefarious work and how does he attack the human beings? Lucifer sends “in odium Ihesu Christi et invidiam nostri” seven devils who are captains of a uncountable army of devils. They are symbols of the seven capital vices [presented in the SALIGIA order] and are worst (nequiores) of Lucifer not in their hatred but in their effects. Seven biblical demons, each connected with a vice: Leviathan for pride; Mammon for greed;  Asmodeus for lust;  Beelzebub for envy; Belphegor for gluttony; Baalberith for wrath; Astaroth for sloth.

Introduction Craftsmanship (ars) fixes the defects of nature (candle, stairway, ship...). There are three periods in history: ante legem, sub legem, tempus gratie. The law is like a craftsmanship (ars) that corrects the defects of [postlapsarian] nature and a figure of grace. References to the thema: Christ comes in the latest phase of history and the ship connects first with the Virgin Mary (allegory) and then with penance (moral interpretation): “vel navis designat penitentiam que nos de periculis mundi in sero huius temporis potest deducere ad portum salutis” (3K). - Two quaestiones (quaestio), connected with the two interpretations. Access to divine mercy. Christ is the source, yet the Virgin Mary is “quasi singularem imperatircem”. On the cross, Christ entrusted John to his mother, she is the only one who kept the faith, so to her he entrusted the Church (i.e. the ship): “ideo nunc habeas curam de ea cum filio quem tibi committo, ut navis ecclesie tua misericordia gubernetur” (3L). The divine mercy is received in the Church, through the Virgin. Is penance in extremis salvific? Penance needs to be true, that in extremis is risky since free will and deliberate conscience can be absent: “debet esse voluntaria et propter deum”, while there is the risk that it is motivated only by fear of eternal pain (“propter timorem pene”). It is also difficult to change nature (as an Ethiopian or a leopard do not change colour...). Yet, true penance is always salvific, also at the last moment (exemplum of Manasseh, 2 Chronicles 33). During this life, nobody should despair – but for this reason, no one has to postpone repentance. - Divisio  - First part  Necessity to watch (symbolized by the disciples working during the night on the boat) to protect oneself from the persecutor, i.e. the devil. Four vigils during the night symbolize different types of good works connected with different symbolic birds: first, the works of contrition and penance - brief discussion on confession, with the exemplum of the peacock; second, works of sanctification (comparison with the sparrow); third, works of compassion and mercy (associated with the crane); works of devotion (Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat; Ct 5), is the contemplation, exemplified by the nightingale (philomena). - Second part Importance of the presence of Christ, pilot (gubernator) of ship that has to cross the dangerous sea of this world. In the Gospel, he invites to trust him: Confidite, ego sum, nolite timere”. Three types of people need to trust him. incipientes quos informat ne pereant proficientes quis confortat ut compleant perfecti quos conservat ut permaneant [3S] 2.1. The beginners are those who begins the penance by putting the boat on the sea. Yet, as soon as one wants to make penitence, he is assaulted by pirates, symbol of pleasure (“obviat pyrata infernalis vento voluptatis”): depending on his character, they cause bad thoughts, stop him, capture him (3S). Long exemplum of Ulysses and Circe, referring to Boethius. In the moral interpretation, the transformation in beasts is connected with social sins, while Ulysses symbolizes the person who wins through the power of reason and by smelling the flower given to him by the queen of Troy - i.e. Christ which is given to a person by the Virgin Mary - and begins to do penance (3T). 2.2. Those half way are in the middle of the ocean and can be affected by sloth, lose the initial energy and relax too much, thinking that is natural to eat, drink, sleep, and make themselves comfortable – i.e. a relaxation in the ascetic effort. Sloth and laziness are the wind against, which is sent by the devil. Reference to the fable of the sirens mentioned by poets (“de quo in fabulis poetarum recitatur..”; 3V]), first in general, and then in connection with Ulysses “ut recitat Alexander in cincillario poesis” (?). Interpretation: syrens (the devil) want to move someone away from the commitment to navigation; Ulysses closing the ears of his fellows means to control the five senses; the mast of the ship is the Cross (3X). 2.3. The perfect people must be careful, since the perils increase getting close to the port, particularly the storms. Particularly dangerous is the spiritual pride and the poison of vainglory as well as to trust in oneself and in its merits (merit), for instance by recalling the good works done, while instead one has to trust only in Christ. The nautical imagery is prolonged with the story of the sea monster that becomes like a island, on which the sailors land, tying their ship to it and when they kindle a fire to cook, the monster awakes and sinks dragging them with itself. The monster symbolizes the world, due to its instability (instabilitas) and its being covered in mud by sins; the perfecti sometime stop to worry about the world, trust to much in themselves, and are suddenly overwhelmed by it (3Y). - Third part Miracles of Christ and his curative nature (he is compared with plants such as the pomegranate and with gems). In the Gospel, the people is cured by touching his garment. He has a triple garment (symbolism of clothes): 3.1. Purplish (purpurea), symbolo of the blood of his Passion - several biblical references – which can be touched by means of meditation. 3.2. Golden, i.e. the splendour of his virtues, which can be touched through imitation (imitatio). 3.3. The third garment of Christ was the womb of the Virgin Mary, which is ‘multicolour’: “istud vestimentum est stragulatum, vulgariter: gestryffelt” [note the vernacular expression]. Biblical reference: “Stragulatam vestem fecit sibi; bissus et purpura indumentum eius” (Proverbs 31:22). This leads to a Marian ending of the sermon, where each colour of the womb is connected with a virtue: plauenus = patience (which needs to be lined with joy: “istud vestimentum nihil valet nisi infuteratum, illa fuderatura est letitia ut leta sit patientia”; 3Z); candid = virginity; purplish = love (caritas)

Introduction It underlines that the current plague is a divine punishment for sins that the preacher wants to expose, so that the people correct themselves: «In presenti sermone volo vobis ostendere et declarare aliqua gravia peccata propter que deus est iratus conta nos. Ideo mittit ista tribulationes pestilentiarum mortalitatum per mundum. Ut ergo ista peccata corrigantur et cesset ista plaga volo nunc ista peccata declarare” (f. p1v).  A taxonomy of sin: against the neighbour are iniquitates; against the body (debauchery, lust, sloth) are peccata (“i.e. pecorum acta secundum ethymologiam [...] acta pecurum”); against the soul are delicta, since they poison and kill the soul, when one does not take care of the soul, which is therefore derelicta; against God (swearing, denying, blasphemy) are scelera. The last typology will be the topic of the sermon. - Sermon structured on Ezekiel 8 (which is not the thema): long account of this vision and moral interpretation of four sins (scelera). - 1) “Hec civitas est christianitas”. The city is founded by Christ, one enters it through the baptism (notation to expand on this: (“Dic modum baptizandi”). The idol in the vision (idolum zeli) symbolizes those who turn to the devil by means of necromancers (divini) when they are in trouble for different reasons: “in nostris necessitatibus recurrimus ad diabolum vel per sanitate habenda, vel per reperdita ad inveniendum, vel per filiis habendis, vel si estis maleficiati statim vaditis ad idolum, scilicet divinum in quo est diabolus...” (f. p2r). Attack against the divini who are traitors who subtract the people from their king, Christ, and bring them to the devil. It recalls that in the Leviticus the pain for necromancers is the lapidation, since the whole people need to get rid of this type of sin. When in a city or state (“in una villa vel patria”) a divinus is welcomed, God sends great tribulations, floods, death (biblical references: the deluge, Saul and the witch of Endor). Political reading: the idol is connect with the divisions in the city and the sin of those who have a political office: “Vel si sit divisio propter regimem. Dic quomodo illud idolum significat domum consilii” (f. p2v). The idolum zeli provokes envy and emulation “in hac villa”. “Omnes laborant ut habeant regimen. Ex quo sequuntur multa mala, invidie, destructiones communitatis, et rancores”. In particular: perjury (when one betrays the oaths pronounced taking the office); thefts (one spends a lot of money to obtain an office, so he wants to recover them – or even worse, he uses for himself the common wealth); damage to the community (compared to a ship). Hence, in public assemblies one must take care of the common good, not of relatives or friends. - 2) The bestial images to which incense is offered symbolize the game of dice (“significat ludum taxillorum; quid sunt taxilli quam imagines bestiarum depicte quibus maiores et seniores dant incensum?”). Complain that once only rogue people played with them, while now also respectable people. The incense is the blasphemy “ex quo peccato veniunt multa mala et plaga mortalitatum”. Exhortation to eliminate this practice, since it is convenient: yes, one loses the gain of a type of taxation, yet it saves his/her soul and his goods from storms (tempestates), “ideo providetis etc”. - 3) Women that cry in front of the idol of Adonis (glossed as the god of love: “secundum poetas deus amoris”; f. p2r) symbolize the mothers who cry and say “multa parola et stulta contra deum” when a young son or daughter dies (the reference seems to death of children), when instead they should rejoice, since God took them while they are still innocent as one would rejoice if a king or a queen had welcomed them at their court. In this way, these women show their lack of hope. Instead, they should cry for their adult sons and daughters, who are headed to Hell due to their sins. - 4) Those who turns their back to the temple and worship towards east symbolize those who work on Sunday and on the feasts, or who spend them in a brothel or inn (“in lupanari vel in taberna”). Since in this way one subtracts the time due to God, the plague subtracts time from him/her: “ista ratione veniunt mortalitates quia ille qui debebat vivere 40 vel 70 annis moritur cras” (f. p3r).