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Monday, August 01, 2005

UPDATE: Syllabum Omnium


UD’s posts on the Syllabum Omnium have attracted a good bit of attention in the blogosphere, and now there's something to add, an intriguing development that suggests there’s nothing really new in the tendency of professors to bulk up their syllabi.

A church historian working in the Vatican library has uncovered what he claims is an early invocation to the Syllabum Omnium. “It looks as though medieval instructors appended this little prayer to their syllabi,” Fr. Stephen Fratelli, who found the verse scrawled in the corner of an illuminated manuscript, comments in an interview in the Vatican newspaper.

Here is the prayer, along with a rough translation:

Syllabum Omnium, o melle dulcius,
Puris amicum mentibus
Puris amandum professoribus
In corde regnes omnium. Amen.



Syllabum Omnium, sweeter than honey,
Friend of pure minds,
Loved by true professors,
May Thou reignest in the hearts of all who love. Amen.



UD finds it extremely charming, and invites all authors of Syllabi Omnii to add it to their syllabi.
Posted at: 8/01/2005 08:08:00 PM