SPANISH REFORMER IN TRANSLATION

Díaz de Luco, Juan Bernal [Wegman, Hector (trans.)]: Christliche vnd trewhertzige Vermanungen an die Catholische Pfarrherrn vnd Seelsorger [...]. Getruckt zů Ingolstadt: Bey Dauid Schneider, 1577.

Copy in contemporary pigskin binding of the only German edition of Juan Bernal Diaz de Luco’s highly popular and reform-oriented guide for parish priests. The ex dono note in this copy—and the circumstances behind the translation more broadly—shed interesting light on the diffusion of the Spanish reformer’s ideas among the clergy in late sixteenth-century Passau.

Diaz de Luco (1495-1556), the illegitimate son of a clergyman, was vicar-general of the diocese of Salamanca and bishop of Calahorra. He fought for reform at the Council of Trent and encouraged missionary work in Spain’s American colonies. Diaz de Luco’s text was originally published in Spanish as Aviso de Curas, with the known editions comprising ‘one prior to 1536, then 1539, 1543, 1545, 1547, 1550, and 1551, four of which were printed in Alcalá de Henares, where the new university was favourable to church reform.’ (Colahan and Masferrer 2007, p. 12, n. 24).

This German translation, produced by Hector Wegman (d. 1589), Auxiliary Bishop of Passau, introduces a 36-page dedication to Urban Trennbach, Bishop of Passau (d.1598). The text includes chapters 34-36, which first appeared in the final Spanish edition of 1551 and respectively cover responsibilities to parishioners in purgatory, responsibilities to foreigners in the parish, and the importance of not spreading false doctrine. A censor’s note at the end explains the translation history, additionally mentioning an Italian version that we have not traced.

An interesting and attractively presented ex dono note on the rear pastedown indicates that our copy was given on the 28th of August 1597 to Joannes Radter, a newly-appointed priest in Aurolzmünster (in present-day Austria). The book was a gift from Stephanus Waedhover, his adoptive father and the vicarius chori of Passau Cathedral (about 20 miles north of Aurolzmünster).

Description

One volume, 17 x 11.7 cms in binding, octavo, fols. [28] 362 [2]. Title page printed in red and black. Woodcut initials, printed marginal paratext. Bound in contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over boards, metal clasps, handwritten paper label to spine, ‘1577’ in red ink to base of spine. Ex dono note to rear pastedown dated 28 August 1597 transferring ownership from Stephanus Waedhover to Joannes Radter (cf. discussion). Condition (textblock): light browning, light waterstaining to second half, slight worming in blank space of final 27 folios, occasional small stains. Condition (binding): some light staining to pigskin and a few small wormholes to spine, but overall well-preserved. 

Bibliography

VD16 D 1380. Not in Palau (but cf. Palau 72621-72624). OCLC shows no copies outside mainland Europe. See Clark A. Colahan and Roberto Masferrer, Díaz de Luco's Guide for Bishops: Spanish Reform and the Lazarillo (Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007), p. 12.