Folio. (XVIII) p., CCL columns, p. CCLI-CCLXVIII; 416 p., columns 417-426, p. 426-472; (2),(2 blank) p. Calf 41.5 cm. 'A fundamental edition of one of the most precious treasures of Christian antiquity' (Ref: Brunet 2,462/63; Hoffmann 1,495; Graesse 2,317; Ebert 5602. Quasten 3, p. 366) (Details: Back with 6 raised bands, and a black gilt shield in the second compartment. Woodcut printer's mark on the title, depicting within a baroque framework 2 griffins, 2 putti and 2 piles of spoils. Some woodcut headpieces. At the beginning of Cyrillus' text a big engraving made by J.B. Scotin, depicting an emperor presiding over an assembly. Printed in 2 columns, Greek text with parallel Latin translation) (Condition: Binding scuffed and scratched. Leather on the boards renewed long ago. Front hinge slightly cracking. Paper of 2 pages, 'g2 verso' and 'h1 recto', soiled. Some superficial damage by insects to the right lower corner of the lower board. Bookplate on the front pastedown. First leaves thumbed. Occasional old ink underlinings and marginalia. Last blank leaf pasted to the flyleaf) (Note: Cyril of Jerusalem, or Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, born ca. 315 at Jerusalem, became in 350 bishop of his hometown, which thanked its centrality as a Christian metropolis to its biblical past and an increasing number of holy sites. The bishop of Jerusalem was together with the bishops of Rome, Antioch and Alexandria, a person of great authority within Christendom. Cyrillus was a defender of the Holy Trinity of the Nicene creed, maintaining the doctrinal formula for the 'homoousios'. Cyrillus died in 381. The Roman Catholics venerate him as a Saint, so do the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church. A series of 24 catechetical lectures (catecheses), most of which he delivered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, survive, and they are among the most precious treasures of early Christian literature, though they also betray Cyrillus' anti-Jewish sentiment. § The works of Cyrillus in this edition of 1720 were edited by the Benedictine of the Maurist Congregation, Dom Antoine-Augustin Touttée (1677-1718), and published posthumously. They are preceded by his extensive and learned dissertations on the life, writings, and doctrine of the bishop of Jerusalem. Touttée's studies, covering circa 140 pages, are the first important studies on Cyrillus, they consist of 1: 'De vita et rebus gestis S. Cyrilli Hierosolymitani'; 2: 'De scriptis S. Cyrilli, ac potissimum Catechesibus'; 3: 'De variis Cyrillianae doctrinae capitibus'. § The collection opens with Cyrillus' 19 (i.e 1 + 18) lectures/catecheses addressed to the candidates looking forward to baptism at the coming Easter (p. 1/302), the first of which is the 'Procatechesis', an introductory catechesis (p. 1/14). In it Cyrillus greets the neophytes, 'you who are to be enlightened', in compassionate manner: 'Vos iam adstat beatitudinis odor, o illuminandi' (p. 1). He then stresses the gravity of the step which they are about to take, and the need for repentance and preparation. The first of the next 18 lectures deals 'with the temper of mind requisite for baptism. It urges us to lay aside all mundane concern, forgive personal enemies (...) and feed the soul by reading the Bible'. (Quasten 3,364) The second catechesis treats penitence and temptations, the 3rd baptism and salvation. The 4th is a summary of the Christian doctrine, the 5th treats the nature and origin of faith. The other lectures contain 'expositions of the successive articles of the Jerusalem Creed, of which the most important was the baptismal formula used by those who were baptized, to confess their faith publicly: 'Credo in Patrem, et in Filium, et in Sanctum Spiritum, et in unum Baptisma poenitentiae', or 'I believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and in one Baptism of repentance' (Catechesis 19, cap. 9. page 309). After these 19 lectures follow 5 so-called 'Mystagogical Catecheses', which were directed to the newly baptized during Easter week. (p. 303/332) The first 3 deal with baptism and chrismation (confirmation), the 4th with the eucharistic doctrine, and the 5th with the eucharistic liturgy. The mystagogical lectures are followed by Cyrillus' only surviving homily, 'Homilia in paralyticum ad piscinam probaticam jacentem', a sermon on chapter 5 of the gospel of John, a story about the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda, who was healed by Jesus on a sabbath (p. 333/344). A letter of Cyrillus to the emperor Constantius, 317-361 A.D., 'De viso Hierosolymis lucidae crucis signo', survives too. (p. 345/356). In this letter Cyrillus 'reports about about the miraculous apparition of a great cross of light that was seen from Jerusalem on May 7, 351'. (Quasten 3,367) After this letter are printed some spurious works of Cyrillus, 'De occursu Domini', some spurious letters, one to and one from Augustinus (p. 357/388), and also 'variantes lectiones', and 'praefationes' of earlier editions, and the 'praefatio' of bishop Thomas Milles to his Cyrillus edition of 1703, together with his commentary (p. 389/416). At the very end a 5 page description of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, together with an engraved table) (Provenance: A linoleum cut bookplate of 'P.A. Kasteel'. Petrus Albertus Kasteel, 1901-2003, was a wellknown Dutch journalist, civil servant and diplomat. He wrote his name also on the front flyleaf.) (Collation: pi2, a-e4, f-2k2, 2l1; A-3F4, 3G-3V2 (leaf 3V2 blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)