[MANUSCRIT]. [BELGIUM]. [MONS]. [SAINT-GHISLAIN (Abbaye de)]. - YONNE]. [VEZELAY]. Transumptum ex antiquissimo codice manuscripto abbatiae S. Guisleni iuxta oppidum Montis Hannoniae. Transitus sanctae Mariae Magdalenae [followed by] Qualiter corpus eiusdem translatum sit ad ecclesia Viceliacensem. Extract from an ancient codex preserved at the Abbey of Saint-Guislain near Mons concerning the relics of Mary Magdalene and the transfer of her body to Vezelay. In Latin, manuscript on parchment. Belgium, Hainaut (or France, Burgundy?), late 16th or early 17th century. Small in-8°, 9 pages, preceded by 2 paper endpapers and followed by 4 paper endpapers (the last damaged), fine italic script in brown ink, headings in red. Bound in full soft vellum, smooth spine with gilt fleurons, single gilt fillet framing the boards, central oval gilt motif. Late 16th century binding. Binding dimensions: 178x130mm; leaf dimensions: 176x124mm Magdalenian" text, an important piece that the Vézeliens presented to support their claim to possess the relics of Mary Magdalene. On March 19, Vézelay commemorates the transfer of the relics of St. Mary Magdalene from Aix-en-Provence to Vézelay Abbey in Burgundy: Mary Magdalene was indeed the patron saint of Vézelay. This manuscript contains a hagiographic text relating to Saint Mary Magdalene, namely the "Translationis narratio posterior" (BHL 5489- 5492): incipit, "Nunc igitur largiente domino aggredimur exponere...". It remains to be seen which version this is, as the present text is undoubtedly an abridgement of the text which sometimes begins "Nunc ergo largiente...": "In addition, nearly a dozen manuscripts give the story a truncated ending, reproduce only extracts, or preserve only fragments..." (Saxer, 1975, p. 30). This story appears in numerous hagiographic lectionaries from the 11th century onwards. In the 11th century, it was used by the monks of Vézelay to justify their possession of the body of Mary Magdalene, their patron saint. The relics of St. Mary Magdalene were verified and transferred to Vézelay in 1265/1267. In his study of Magdalenian texts and the "Vézelay dossier" on Mary Magdalene, Saxer recalls the northern and Hainaut origins of the first hagiographic accounts of Mary Magdalene's relics. This manuscript was copied from an ancient codex kept at St-Guislain Abbey, as the rubricated title suggests. The abbey was founded by Saint Ghislain, then a forest hermit, around 650, in Wallonia near the Haine river, in Belgium's Hainaut province. Abbot Saint Ghislain ruled the monastery for some thirty years, and the town of Saint-Ghislain grew up around the abbey. The library was largely dispersed when the community was abolished in 1796. For research on this manuscript, please consult: C. Pierard, "Les manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint Ghislain à la bibliothèque publique de Mons", in Scriptorium, 1965 (19-2), pp. 281-286 [in 1962, Judge Camille Wins bequeathed some ten manuscripts from Saint-Ghislain Abbey]; L. Tondreau, "La dispersion des manuscrits de l'abbaye de Saint-Ghislain", in Miettes d'histoire de Saint Ghislain, fasc. 6, 1971. Provenance: 1. Dupont de St Ouën armorial bookplate, pasted on the first spine. - 2. handwritten bookplate: "Joseph le Mayeur, 1816", in ink on front flyleaf. See: Saxer, V. Le dossier vézelien de Marie-Madeleine. Invention and translation of the relics in 1265-1267. Contribution à l'histoire du culte de la sainte à Vézelay à l'apogée du Moyen Age, Brussels, 1975.