Osnabrück

In cooperation with Dr. Földváry’s organization in Hungary, we commissioned the scanning of the Osnabrück Missal, which is housed in the Osnabrück Diocese Archive. I received the PDF this morning and have been reviewing it with great interest.

The Osnabrück Missal is unique for several reasons. Along with Paderborn (c. 1425), it is both handwritten and noted (musical notation for the Psalm verses).

Osnabrück is a missale festivum or missale speciale, a highly abbreviated missal containing masses only for the chief festivals and occasions. Where a typical missal would have around five-hundred occasions, Osnabrück has but thirty-seven. The Osnabrück library catalog dates the missal to the 15th/16th century. I suspect that it was produced early within this time period, perhaps no later than 1450.

Osnabrück was the only diocese missing from our sources for The Lutheran Missal. With the acquisition of the Osnabrück Missal, we will now have representation from every pre-Reformation diocese in Germany.