Antiphonaries contain the sung portions of the Divine Office, a cycle of daily devotions performed by members of religious orders. They are large in format so that they could be shared by a choir. This volume contains the Proper of Saints, the text and music for the celebration of the major saints’ feast days which are highlighted by illuminated borders and initials. For the feast of St. Nicholas of Bari (6 December)--who is the origin of Santa Claus--the saint is dressed as a bishop and holds a miter and three golden balls representing the dowries he paid for three poor virgins, enabling them to marry.
This book was given to Isabella Gardner by her brother-in-law George A. Gardner who claimed that it had been rescued from a shipwreck of the Bay of Naples. Water damage (see the edges of the cockled leaves) and the recent discovery that it was made for the Dominican convent of the Madonna dell’Arco at Sant’Anastasia, near Naples, suggest that there might be some truth to this legend.