Leaf from a Gradual, with the Initial D ("Dispersit"): The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence

The historiated initial in this leaf commences the text that reads, in translation, “Lavishly, he has given to the poor.” Deriving from Psalm 112, these words relate to an event that led directly to Saint Lawrence’s martyrdom. Pope Sixtus II had appointed Saint Lawrence as archdeacon, entrusting the saint with looking over Church’s treasures. After Sixtus was martyred, however, the prefect ordered Saint Lawrence to turn over the valuables to him. Lawrence asked for three days to do so, during which time he instead distributed the Church’s treasures among the poor. As a result of his actions, Saint Lawrence suffered a fiery martyrdom on a gridiron, as represented in the lurid illumination of this gradual leaf, used on an August 10 feast day for the saint’s martyrdom. The artist, one of the leading book illuminators in Milan, is named for his work in a copy of Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars (Vitae Imperatorum) made for Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.