Pineda, in his Preface, treats concerning the Author of this Book; what wrote a great deal on the Canticles; and St. Jerom, from whom we have a Translation of one of Origen’s Comments on this Book, assures us, that this eminent Author excell’d himself as much in this Work, as he has all others in the Comments composed by him upon other Parts of Scripture: Origenes cum in caeteris libris omnes vicerit, in Cantico Canticorum ipse se vicit.
There is another Comment on this Book, much longer than that translated by St. Jerom. The Translation of this last is, by some Manuscripts, attributed to Rufinus, by others to St. Jerom; and it has been printed under his Name.
This last Work contains a long Preface, and four Homilies. The first contains only two Homilies, and goes no farther than these Words of the 2d chapter, ver. 14. Vox enim tua dulcis, & facies tua decora. And the four Homilies of the second, explain no more than the two first Chapters, as far as these Words of the 2d chapter, ver. 15. Capite nobis vulpes parvulas, &c. Origen composed one of these Comments when he was young, the other when he was well advanced in Years.
F. Martianay, in his new Edition of St. Jerom, has published both these Comments; one in the 2d tome, p. 807. and the other in the 5th, p. 603. among the Works that are spurious. This likewise is Erasmus’s Opinion, who believes this Comment was not written by any Greek Author; Author; so far was it from being translated by Rufinus. His Censure of it may be seen in Frobenius’s Edition.
Philo Carpathius, reported to be Epiphanius’s Contemporary, and by the Author of this Saint’s Life, said to have been ordain’d Bishop of Carpasia, in the Isle of Cyprus, was not the Author of the Comment which goes under his Name. Du Pin believes it to be made by some modern Greek, because it contains many Things taken word for word from that of Gregory the Great.
The Comment of this spurious Writer was printed at Paris, in 1537, in 8vo. and afterwards in the new Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. 5. p. 661. There are several Fragments of the Greek Original in the Catena of the Canticles, by Meursius, under the name of Eusebius, at Leyden, 1617, in 4to.
St. Gregory of Nyssa has written fifteen Homilies on the same Work. He does not go beyond the 8th Verse of the 6th Chapter; the rest of this Chapter, and all the two last, he has left intirely untouched. These fifteen Homilies come after those on Ecclesiastes: See higher. There is this difference, that his Explanation of the Canticles is allegorical.
Gregory the Great wrote upon the same Book; and, in the last Edition of this Father, it is demonstrated that the Comment, which goes under his Name, is certainly his, and very different from what St. Paterius and Venerable Bede have composed upon the same Subject, which is scarce any thing more than an Extract of St. Gregory.
This Comment had been before published by Hommey, in the Supplement of the Fathers, at Paris, 1684, in 8vo. Pamelius says, that in all the Manuscripts, Saint Isidore of Seville, is said to be the Author of it. M. Du Pin believes it to be Abbot Claude’s; which may be understood in the manner mentioned above by us, speaking of the Comment upon Kings.
Venerable Bede has written seven Books upon the Canticles; the seventh is intirely taken from what Gregory the Great had said in different Places of his Works upon this Subject. It is in the fourth Volume of his Works. He wrote it to defend the Catholick Faith, against Julian, Bishop of Eclane, who maintained the Pelagian Heresy. And we may say, that after the Example of St. Austin, he performs the part of a true Teacher of Grace.
Aponius, a learned Man, who lived towards the end of the 7th Age, about the Year 670, or 680. is Author of a Comment upon Canticles, which has been printed by itself; and is likewise to be met with in Vol. 14. p. 98. of the Bibliotheca Patrum, together with an Abridgment of this Comment, or rather the Continuation, from chap. 4. ver. 8. ibid. p. 128. composed by Luke, Abbot of St. Cornelius near Liege. Bede has cited Aponius. Angelomus, a Monk of Luxeüil, has inserted several Things taken thence, in his Comment on the same Book. Five or six Places in the Works of Aponius have been taken notice of, as deserving censure. In the Abby of Moyenmoutier there is a very beautiful and very antient Manuscript, at the end whereof these Words are to be read; Utilis iste liber, si correctus foret, esset. His Comment is made from the Greek Version of the Septuagint, and divided into six Books. M. Du Pin thinks there is Wit and Learning in it, and prefers it to many other Comments. One Uldaric Regius wrote a Censure of some Places in the 6th Book, which may be seen in tom. 14. p. 128. of the new Bibliotheca Patrum. We do not know who he was, nor when he lived; but the Continuator was a Præmonstratensis, first Abbot of St. Cornelius, and died in 1157, not in 1237, as F. le Long says: whereas, he who abridged Aponius, was a Benedictine Abbot.
Angelomus, a Monk of Luxeüil, of whom we have already spoken, has written a kind of Manual for the use of the Emperor Lothair, that he might be able to read it with conveniency and ease. It is intirely mystical and allegorical. We find it in the 15th tome of the new Bibliotheca PP. p. 307. and in the 9th of that of Cologn, Part the first.
Honorius of Autun, who lived in the 12th Century, wrote a Comment, with an excellent Preface before it; wherein he treats of the different Senses of Scripture, and of the Distribution of the sacred Books; and has added Questions, which relate in particular to this. It is printed with his other Works. See above.
Ambrosius, Autpertus or Ansertus, a Benedictine, who flourished in the 12th Century. I should have easily believed that his Comment had not been printed, if Sixtus of Siena, and F. Labbé, had not assured us that it was. Crovæus takes notice of the Edition of Cologn, in 1536, fol. He is better known by what he has written upon the Revelations; where we shall speak of him.
The Comment written by St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, who died in 1153, is in tom. 1. of the new Edition, p. 1268. He was so much employed in other Business, that notwithstanding he was 18 Years about it, he was not able to finish it. Wherefore Sixtus of Siena is mistaken, when he says that he spent only the last Year of his Life about it. There are 86 Sermons only upon the two first Chapters, and the first Verse of the third, where he left off. Erasmus, in one of his Letters, prefers them to the other Works of this Saint. He was born at Fontaine in Burgundy, in the Year 1091. and died with as much Sanctity as he had lived, in the 62d year of his age; after having been the Oracle of Councils, and the Terror of Heretics.
Abbot Rupert, who died in 1135; his Comment is among his other Works.
St. Thomas Aquinas dictated his Comment, as is said, upon his Death-bed. It was printed at Paris, in 1634, in 8vo. and in the great Collection of his Works, tom. 13.
Ægidius Romanus, or Giles Colonna, has twenty Lectures, which are only in Manuscript, at Cremona, in the Library belonging to the Augustins, according to F. le Long. Crovæus, however, reckons them among his Works, printed at Venice, in 1617, in fol. See above upon Genesis.
The Comment written by Justus Bishop of Urgelle, was printed last at Hall, together with two of his Letters, in the Year 1617, in 8vo. afterwards in the new Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. 9. p. 731. M. Du Pin says he explains the allegorical Sense of this Book in few words, and in a very clear manner. He was a Spaniard, and Bishop of Urgelle in Catalonia; he was at the second Council of Toledo, in 531. and died in 540.
Bruno of Ast, or Signy, whose Comment is with the rest which were written by him; see the Title.
Alcuinus, Cassiodorus, Richard de St. Victor, and several others, have exercised their Pens upon this Book.
Alcuinus’s Comment is among his other Works. It is not very certain whether Cassiodorus wrote upon this Book; and it is almost evident that the Comment which goes under his Name, is not his. See what Garet says of it in his Preface, who published it in the second Tome of his Edition, because it was to be feared that it might be lost; the first Edition of Friburg, in Brisgaw, 1538, fol. being the only one, and that become very rare.
Gilbert of Hoyland, an Abbot of the Cistercian Order, continued St. Bernard’s Work upon the Canticles. He made 40 Sermons, but did not go beyond the 10th Verse of the 5th Chapter; Death having prevented him from finishing his Undertaking. They are in the beginning of the 2d Tome of the new Edition of this Father.
F. le Long is mistaken, when he says that he explain’d the three last Chapters, since he did not exceed the fifth; as we find upon a nearer Examination, in order to rectify this, and some other Faults. This Abbot was an Englishman, and died in 1172; and not in 1168, as we have authentic Proofs to shew, and shall produce in some other Place. The Authors of his Life say that he resembled St. Bernard in all Points.
Philip Harvengius, Abbas Bonæ Spei in Hannonia, of the Order of Præmonstratenses, and Contemporary with St. Bernard, has written likewise on this Book. His Comment is among his other Works; see Harving.
William, Abbot of St. Thierry, and afterwards a Monk of Signy, who lived about the Year 1142, made a Comment on this Book, composed in the very Words of St. Ambrose. He has two Expositions: one whereof we find in the 4th Tome of the Cistercian Library, and goes not beyond the 3d Verse of the 3d Chapter; the other, extracted from St. Ambrose, is inserted in the Supplement of the Fathers, by Hommey, p. 260. more correct in the new Edition of St. Bernard, tom. 1. p. 1546. He was born at Liege; at what time is not said. He came to Rheims, where he took the religious Habit; and must have died after St. Bernard, that is to say, after 1153. Thomæ Cisterc. & Joan. Algrini, de Abbati villa Cardin. in Cantic. simul impressi, in fol. Paris, 1521. The Comment of Thomas, the Cistercian Monk, has had the same fate as the Book concerning the Imitation of Jesus Christ; but after Disputes on one side and t’other, it has been given at last to its true Author, who lived about the end of the 12th Age, and, as Sixtus of Siena says, imitated the Style of St. Bernard.
John Algrin, or Halgrin, made only Notes. He was created Bishop of Besançon in 1225, and Cardinal of St. Sabina in 1227. Many have been mistaken concerning him, as we shall shew elsewhere. M. Du Pin says that he died in 1236. Trithemius tells us that he excelled in Preaching.
Among the Moderns, without including those who wrote upon the whole Bible, is reckon’d Robert Holkot, an English Dominican, who wrote a Comment which was printed at Venice, in 1509, in folio. Sixtus of Siena thinks there is a great deal of fine-spun Erudition in it. Vossius says he was a Man of great Learning; he spared no Pains, and grudged no want of Rest to attain it.
Francis Titelman has inserted Notes in his Comment taken from the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Texts. The fourth Edition is of 1554, in 8vo. at Lyons.
Maldonat wrote only Scholia, which were printed with his Comment upon the four great Prophets, at Paris, 1643, in folio. Delrio made four sorts of Comments, which Possevin calls Varium Opus, eruditum & spissum; printed at Ingoldstadt, 1604, in fol.
John de Jesu Maria, a Carmelite, made only a plain Explanation; printed at Cologn, in 1610, in 8vo. the fourth Edition. It is among his other Works.
Michael Gislerius, a Canon Regular among the Theatins, who died in 1646, put out the Canticles according to the different Translations from the Hebrew and Greek Septuagint, at Rome, 1609, in fol. at Venice, 1613, an Edition corrected and enlarged; at Lyons, 1620, the last Edition.
Lewis Soto Mayor, a Dominican; his Explanation was printed at Lisbon, in 1599, and 1601, in fol. at Paris, 1605. He has also put out shorter Notes, ibid. 1611, in 4to. He is called Mayor, to distinguish him from Dominicus Soto. He was a Portugueze, and died in 1610. He was, says Possevin, a Man of Probity and great Sweetness. We shall speak again of him upon the two Epistles to Timothy.
Jerom Osorius, the Nephew; see upon Ecclesiastes.
Gaspar Sanctius, see upon the Psalms: Agellius, ibid.
Libertus Fromondus; his Comment was printed at Lovain, 1657, in 4to. the second Edition; and with his other Comments, ibid. 1670, in fol. which we shall hereafter speak of; and of him, upon St. Paul.
Paulus Aresius, his Work contains some inconsiderable Difficulties relating to the spiritual and historical Sense of this Book; at Milan, 1640, in 4to. He was himself of this Place, turned Theatine at 14 years of age; and Paul nominated him to the Bishoprick of Tortona in Italy, in the Year 1620. He died at a great Age, in 1644, or 1645.
Lewis of Leon, his Explanation was printed at Salamanca, in 1589, in 4to. the third Edition.
Gilbert. Genebrardi Canticum Canticorum Versibus & Commentariis illustratum, adversus Trochaicam Theodor. Bezæ Paraphrasin. Adjuncti sunt tres Rabbini Jarchi, Aben Ezra, & Anonymus, cum Versione; Paris, 1585. Genebrard, besides his Comment in 8vo. put out larger Observations at Paris, 1570, in 4to.
We may add Francis Aurat, who published a literal Exposition at Lyons, 1693, in 8vo. He was a Frenchman, and a Priest. He was living in 1704.
In Pez’s Anecdotes, tom. 2. part 1. p. 368. we find an allegorical Comment by Abbot Irembert, upon some Places of this Book.
That of Thomas, Abbot of Verceil, ibid. p. 503, 689.
Abbot Robert wrote a short Exposition; whereof we have the Prologue, and some short Sketches, in the first Tome of Analecta, p. 125. We are told, in our Benedictine Annals, who this Robert was, tom. 4. p. 369. He had made profession of the rule in the Monastery of St. Michael, in Periculo Maris. From thence he was taken to be Abbot of St. Vigor in Bayeux; and went to Rome under Gregory VII. This Pope being dead, he retired to his first Monastery of St. Michael, where he took the Sirname of Tumbalenia. This Robert’s Exposition has been improperly attributed to Raoul de Fontenel. He lived till after 1096.
St. Francis de Sales, in his Works printed at Paris, 1652, in fol. expounds this Book mystically.
Paul Albinian de Raias wrote a literal Comment, wherein he describes the Marriage of the Word with the Church; at Genoa, 1659, in fol. He published only the first Tome. There are still three Manuscripts of it in being, according to Southwel. Some will have him to be a Portugueze, others a Spaniard of Valentia, a Jesuit, and Professor of the holy Scriptures. He died in 1667. This is all we have of his.
An Explanation of the Canticles in verse, applied to the Blessed Virgin, with Notes and Passages from the Fathers; at Paris, 1717, in 8vo. in French. This Work was never made for such profane People as endeavour after nothing more in their Readings than an agreeable and pleasant Amusement. It is not so much the Author’s Intention in this Place to please, as to instruct and edify; Christians, and not Men of the World are spoken to; nor is any thing more aimed at than to make them perfect, devoted only to the Glory of Christ, and the Service of Mary, to whom a just Application is here made of every thing that is to be met with in this divine Book.