Liber viventium Fabariensis

Liber viventium Fabariensis

The Liber viventium Fabariensis is one of the most valuable book treasures in the Abbey Library of St. Gall and is considered the most artistically significant manuscript from medieval Raetia Curiensis. This historical region encompassed what we now know as Grisons, South Tyrol's Vinschgau, the Sarganserland, Liechtenstein, Werdenberg, the St. Gall Rhine Valley, and southern Vorarlberg, and was once a borderland between Romanic and Germanic Europe. To this day, the codex provides unique insights into the early medieval history of this fascinating region and Pfäfers Abbey.

A Reichenau Affiliation

The abbey is said to have been founded in 731 by monks from Reichenau Abbey and the itinerant bishop Pirmin (c. 690–753), who was later canonized. The abbey was first mentioned in a legal document in 762. From early on, the monastery owned considerable land, controlled an important transport and trade route, and for a long time was the most important religious and cultural center in medieval Raetia Curiensis alongside Chur as the bishop's seat. It is therefore not surprising that one of the monks of its scriptorium was probably responsible for the impressive illumination of this early medieval manuscript. He created the layout of the book in the first quarter of the 9th century.

Carolingian Book Art from Raetia Curiensis

The preliminary result was an evangeliary in four “blocks” with blank pages between the Gospel texts. The latter are not written out in full as in the Bible, but only those passages that were often read during Mass at that time (pericopes) were copied. Each of the four Gospel blocks is introduced by a full-page miniatures of the respective Evangelist symbol. They are the undisputed artistic highlights of the manuscript. The symbols of the evangelists – angel, lion, bull, and eagle – are each surrounded by birds with Christian symbolic meaning and framed by ornate arches whose interlace is reminiscent of Art Nouveau ornaments. They all present a book whose binding design may refers to the original, lost binding of the evangeliary.

Lists of People and Legal Texts in Ornate Frames

The artist who created these wonderful miniatures filled all the blank pages between the liturgical texts with imaginatively ornamented and colorfully painted arcades – each one more beautiful and elaborate than the last. Most of them remained empty at first and were gradually filled with various pieces of text over the following centuries. The extensive lists of clergy and lay people for whom prayers were regularly said in Pfäfers were probably the original intended content. Over time, however, lists of treasures, regulations and legal texts that were important to the abbey were added.

Close to Salvation

The connection between people's names and Gospel texts is no coincidence. Through the Liber Viventium, all listed individuals and communities were automatically part of the worship service when the pericopes from the book were read. In a sense, the names lay on the altar together with the book. In addition, during Mass, the priest recited a special prayer for all living and deceased persons listed, which was intended to serve their salvation and commemorate them. The manuscript is thus also an important testimony to Christian commemorative culture or memoria in the Early Middle Ages. Only six other so-called confraternity books with a similar function from this period have survived.

Prayers for Charlemagne, St. Gall Brothers, and Local Farmers

In total, the lists of names alone contain an astonishing 4,615 entries. They include the names of monks from the abbey itself, members of other religious communities who had entered into a state of spiritual brotherhood with Pfäfers, and benefactors of the monastery. The regional significance of Pfäfers Abbey is illustrated by entries dedicated to Charlemagne (748–814) and his wives Hildegard (c. 758–783) and Liutgard († 800), Louis the Pious (778–840) and his wife Judith (795/807–843), as well as powerful early medieval bishops. The early entries also include the names of monks from the monastery of St. Gall under Abbot Grimaldt and Reichenau Abbey. From royal families and the highest nobility to people of peasant origin, it covers almost the entire spectrum of society. The lists of people also contain the oldest written records of the Ticino community.

Treasures, Books, and Documents

The texts of a more secular nature are no less fascinating and informative. They were added to the codex up until the 14th century and entered wherever there was space available. These include lists of relics and treasures, lists of books, and regulations governing monastic life. A statute by Abbot Gerold, for example, sets out in detail when what was eaten in what quantities and what clothing was appropriate for whom and when. Also particularly significant, even into modern times, were the legal texts of various communities associated with the monastery and deeds concerning donations and taxes copied into the manuscript. This legal component also contributed to the manuscript being preserved in the monastery archives for so long and surviving to this day.