Breviary of Ercole I d'Este
Breviarium secundum consuetudinem Romanae Curiae (Breviary of Ercole I d'Este)
Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
Our renderingO Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
What it is
One of the grandest personal breviaries ever produced for an Italian Renaissance ruler, this manuscript was commissioned by and presented to Duke Ercole I d'Este of Ferrara in 1504. Following the Roman rite in full, it contains the complete Breviarium Romanum: Calendar, Temporale, Psalter, Sanctorale, Common of Saints, and Auxiliary Texts, decorated with 45 full-page and 11 half-page miniatures and thousands of ornamental initials representing the apex of Ferrarese court illumination. Ercole was known for his intense personal piety and his patronage of Savonarola, and this breviary was the physical instrument of his daily prayer through the final years of his reign. It is now held at the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria in Modena (MS Lat. 324).
Why it still matters
The Psalter and canonical hours in this breviary are structurally identical to the modern Roman Breviary; any Christian using a current edition of the Liturgy of the Hours is praying the same offices Ercole I prayed from this manuscript. It is a vivid reminder that the daily office has remained essentially continuous across five centuries.
Kept alongside
Offiziolo Alfonsino (Book of Hours of Alfonso I d'Este)
Offiziolo Alfonsino — Libro d'ore di Alfonso I d'Este
Considered the last great masterpiece of the Ferrarese school of manuscript illumination, this book of hours was commissioned by Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, between approximately 1505 and 1510 and illuminated by Matteo da Milano. It contains a liturgical calendar, Gospel canticles, the Hours of the Virgin, and prayers to the Virgin and saints, framed by 29 full-page miniatures and elaborately decorated borders that reflect both the power and the devotional seriousness of the Este court at the height of the Renaissance. The original miniatures were subsequently removed and dispersed: the main manuscript is now at the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon (MS L.A. 149), while detached miniatures survive at the Strossmayerova Gallery in Zagreb. Its commission by a warrior-duke who was also the husband of Lucrezia Borgia underscores the coexistence of court violence and genuine personal piety in this period.
Officium Parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis (Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
Officium Parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis
The devotional core shared by virtually every Book of Hours owned or commissioned by the Este and Sforza courts — including the Sforza Hours, the Gualenghi-d'Este Hours, the Offiziolo Alfonsino, and the Hours of Anna Sforza — is the Officium Parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This eight-hour daily cycle of psalms, hymns, antiphons, and versicles drawn from the Roman Breviary structured the devotional day of lay aristocrats across 15th- and 16th-century Italy, making it the single most important vehicle of formal prayer among the nobility. Its texts are essentially unchanged since the 11th century, and every Book of Hours from both courts contains it as the central and longest section.
Seven Penitential Psalms (with litanies)
Septem Psalmi Poenitentiales cum Litaniis
The Seven Penitential Psalms (Pss. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143) followed by litanies of the saints formed a standard and obligatory devotional unit in every Book of Hours from the Este and Sforza courts, attested in the Sforza Hours (British Library Add. MS 34294), the Black Hours of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Gualenghi-d'Este Hours, and the Breviary of Ercole I d'Este. Used both for private penitential prayer throughout the liturgical year and as preparation for sacramental confession, they represent the most universal form of personal reckoning with sin in the medieval and Renaissance Church. Savonarola's Infelix ego — composed at the Este court's printing nexus in Ferrara — is a direct devotional outgrowth of this tradition, being itself a meditation on Psalm 51, the most central of the seven.