Sistine Chapel Missals of Leo X and Clement VII
Missale Romanum ad usum Cappellae Sistinae — Missals of Leo X and Clement VII
Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam.
Our renderingI will go to the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.
What it is
Two distinct missals commissioned for the Sistine Chapel under consecutive Medici popes: the first begun under Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici, r. 1513–1521) and illuminated by Attavante degli Attavanti c. 1520; the second completed under Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici, r. 1523–1534) and illuminated in 1525 by the Florentine painter Blasius and Vincent Raymond. Both volumes carry Medici emblems — interlinked diamond rings, the word 'Semper' with feathers, and the motto 'Suave' — fusing dynastic identity with papal liturgical authority. Cuttings survive in the Morgan Library (MS M.1134), the V&A, and Vassar College after Napoleon's forces requisitioned the Sistine Chapel volumes in 1798 and they were later dispersed by the dealer Luigi Celotti.
Why it still matters
The Roman Rite Mass text these missals contain is the same Extraordinary Form Mass that can be attended or celebrated today; praying the Ordinary of the Mass from any traditional Latin Missal or facsimile edition offers direct continuity with this Medici devotional practice.
Kept alongside
Book of Hours of Eleonora di Toledo ('Eleanor of Toledo Hours')
Libro di ore ad usum Romanum — Eleonora di Toledo Hours
This richly decorated Book of Hours (Victoria and Albert Museum, National Art Library, London; MSL/1953/1792) was made in Florence for Eleonora di Toledo, Duchess of Florence, after her marriage to Cosimo I de' Medici in 1539, completed by the scribe Aloysius on 10 February 1541 with her post-marriage heraldic arms prominently displayed. It contains the Hours of the Virgin, a Mass for the Virgin, the Penitential Psalms with Litany, and the Hours of the Cross. Decoration features elaborate miniatures with full borders incorporating both Medici and Emperor Charles V emblems, reflecting Eleonora's dual Spanish-Florentine identity. A Spanish inscription dated 22 September 1576 confirms the manuscript was in Madrid by that date, consistent with Eleonora's Spanish entourage.
Book of Hours of Lorenzo de' Medici the Younger (Hours of Lorenzo II)
Libro de horas de Lorenzo de Medici el Joven
A pocket-sized Book of Hours on parchment (Biblioteca Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid, Inv. 15512 / Ms 13312) commissioned by Pope Leo X as a wedding gift for his nephew Lorenzo II de' Medici and Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne in May 1518. Despite the tragedy of both recipients dying within a year of the marriage, the manuscript survives as a witness to the private devotional culture Leo X fostered for the Medici family. Its 316 parchment pages carry the canonical Hours of the Virgin (Use of Rome) with eleven full-page miniatures and sixteen pages of ornamental borders adorned with Medici emblems — diamond rings inscribed 'Semper' and interlocking rings symbolising faith, hope, and charity.
Hours of Catherine de' Medici
Heures de Catherine de Médicis — Livre d'heures, use de Paris
A magnificently illuminated Book of Hours (BnF, Smith-Lesouëf 42, Paris) made c. 1525–1528 and associated by tradition with Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), though the BnF catalogue itself describes it as 'so-called because it may have belonged to Catherine de Médicis' — ownership is traditional attribution, not documentary. Catherine was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and thus granddaughter of Lorenzo the Magnificent, making her a first cousin once removed of Clement VII, who arranged her 1533 marriage to the future Henri II of France. The manuscript carries the calendar, four Gospels, Little Office of the Virgin, Votive Offices, Penitential Psalms, Litany of Saints, and Office of the Dead in Franco-Flemish Renaissance style. Its transmission history before acquisition by Auguste Lesouëf (donated to BnF 1913) passed through nineteenth-century English auction sales, precluding a firm Medici ownership chain.