Sancti Gregorii II. Pontificis Agrigentinorum Libri Decem Explanationis Ecclesiastae, Graece primum & cum Latina interpretatione ac commentariis vulgati. Quibus praeposite est Vita ejusdem Pontificis a Leontio Monacho scripta nec hactenus Graeca edita. by LEONTIOS; SAINT GREGORY, BISHOP OF AGRIGENTO & Stefano Antonio MORCELLI (1737-1822) (editor) - 1791

Venice:: Excudebant Fratres Coletii, 1791., 1791. At head of title, in Greek: [Tou en Hagiois Patros Hmn Grgoriou Episkopou Agrigentou Exgses eis ton Ekklsiastn logoi deka]. Tall 4to. [ii], cxxvii, [1], 335, [1] pp. Portrait frontispiece of Gregory, tailpieces, indices; occasional light foxing to final leaves. Printed in parallel columns of Latin and Greek. Contemporary quarter vellum over paper-backed boards, gilt-stamped brown leather spine label; worn, paper label spine foot. Untrimmed. Theological Institute of Connecticut blind-stamps to first and last few pages. Very rare. Very good. FIRST EDITION of Morcelli’s presentation of Leontios’ life of St. Gregory of Agrigento. Besides a collection of letters surviving the Roman patrimony in Sicily, "only one other contemporary source about seventh-century Sicily and Rome survives:. . . (An account of the life of Saint Gregory, bishop of the church of Agrigento), written in about 640 by a Greek monk, Leontios, abbot of the monastery of Saint Sabas near the gate to Ostia in Roma" (Martyn, p. 26). "The standard Greek text has a parallel Latin version by Stephano Antonio Morcelli. . .. This is preceded by an investigatio by Morcelli of the monk Leontios. . .and followed by an account of the Sicilian saint’s life, heavenly honors, and writings. . ., as well as Gregory’s Explanatio super Excclesiasten libri I-X. . ., also in Greek with Morcelli’s Latin version alongside. "This biography is useful in showing how the pope selected bishops. Born in 559, this Gregory was consecrated (when he was a little over 30 years old) in place of one of two eminent clerics sent over with their supporters from Agrigento, for the pope to decide. It shows how a ‘framed’ bishop was imprisoned and tried, how well trained he was in the Classics, rhetoric, and theology, and how he was miraculously able to fast continually and cure illnesses. This Greek biography is an important, contemporary document on the cities, clergy and people of Agrigento, Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople and Rome during Gregory’s papacy" (Martyn, p. 26). Unofficial ecclesiastical sources identify St. Gregory of Agrigento as a 6th-century Italian bishop, not to be confused with his contemporary, Pope St. Gregory the Great. "Gregory was born in the sixth century AD near the town of Agrigentum, in Sicily. He was ordained a deacon while on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was later consecrated bishop of Agrigentum in Rome, serving during the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great, who addressed several letters to him. He died around 594, and is regarded as one of the Early Church Fathers (D’Ambrosio). Atti della Accademia delle scienze di Torino: Classe di scienze fisiche, matematiche e naturali, vol. 57, (1922); Blake, Wilson Wilberforce [bookseller], Catalogue no. 3 of Second-hand Books and Manuscripts: Being a Collection of Rare Volumes relating chiefly to Spanish America, Mexico, 1899, p. 121 (lot 2681); Cavalli, Ferdinando, Biografia di Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Padova, 1851 (p. 14); D’Ambrodio, Marcellino, The Crossroads Initiative; Martyn, John R.C. & Pope Gregory I, The Letters of Gregory the Great, Books 5-9, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004. Locations: Copac: 3 copies; WorldCat (11 copies): Alcuin Library - Saint John’s University; Brown University; Gonzaga University; Bibliotheque nationale de France; Universidad Iberoamericana; BM Lyon; University of Manchester Library; University of Oxford; Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres; University of Amsterdam, Central Library; University of Wales Trinity Saint David (lacks port.).