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Published to date in the Scriptores Celtigenae sub-series and obtainable from Brepols Publishers
No. 1. Liber de ortu et obitu patriarcharum, ed. José Carracedo Fraga.
No. 2. Expositio Euangelii secundum Marcum, ed. Michael Cahill.
No. 3. Pauca problesmata ex Pentateucho Moysi, ed. Gerard MacGinty.
No. 4. Homiliarium Veronense, ed. Lawrence Martin.
No. 5. Liber questionum in Euangeliis, ed. Jean Rittmueller.
No. 6. Psalterium Suthantoniense, ed. Pádraig Ó Néill.
No. 7. Expositiones Psalmorum duae, ed. Luc De Coninck.
A Note on the Sub-Series It had never been a matter of dispute that the Scriptures were the chief object of study in the monastic schools of early Christian Ireland but, in the mid-twentieth century, the case was made, principally and initially by the late Professor Bernhard Bischoff, for regarding these learned circles as particularly prolific in producing exegetical, homiletic and theological works of their own. Many of the Latin-language texts in question survive in manuscripts of which scholars had long been aware, but a Hibernian origin for them had not been mooted because the extant codices were located abroad and did not bear obvious signs, such as insular palaeographical features, to suggest their pedigree. Bischoff's thesis, and the list of `Irish symptoms' which he proposed as diagnostic for texts emanating from Hibernian circles at home and on the Continent, have become widely but not universally accepted since they were first published (as `Wendepunkte in der Geschichte der lateinischen Exegese im Fruehmittelalter') in Sacris Erudiri 6 (1954). However, many of the texts concerned, as well as related ones, have remained unprinted; and it has become clear that only by publishing them can the issue of their origins and interconnections be clarified. Apart from this, these works constitute primary evidence for the period in Latin theological history about which we know least, and thus have an intrinsic scholarly value of their own. Furthermore, they are of importance in other fields of study. For example, the Royal Irish Academy has for many years been undertaking a multi-faceted Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources (DMLCS) project; this project is founded upon a full-text database of the material involved (now being published by Brepols in a series of electronic editions under the title An Archive of Celtic-Latin Literature, or ACLL), and the database will have considerable lacunae in it until editions of the exegetical material have become available for entering therein. It was in such a context, and to try to meet needs such as these, that what is now appearing as the Scriptores Celtigenae sub-series of the Corpus Christianorum was conceived. The first moves were made in the early 1980s when the Irish Biblical Association made contact with the DMLCS Editorial Board and suggested a joint publishing venture, and when a series of meetings between representatives of the two bodies resulted in a form of cooperation designed to avoid any duplication of effort. A corpus of some twenty-six key texts was identified, which all concerned were keenly interested in seeing edited; and in 1986 the Council of the Royal Irish Academy established a Joint Editorial Committee to oversee and coordinate the activities of a worldwide team of editors, several of whom had already started work. In 1987 Brepols joined the venture as a third, and most welcome, partner, it having become apparent that the texts being dealt with would fit appropriately into the renowned Corpus Christianorum. The management structure for the sub-series remained substantially unaltered, although the Committee consolidated the expertise available to it by appointing a voluntary international Authenticating Panel of scholars who would be equipped to assess the various draft editions as they were submitted. This panel remaining anonymous, the present Note is perhaps a suitable place to express the venture's debt to its members and the Committee's gratitude for their assistance. Since that time, and largely thanks to the facilitation accorded to the venture at every stage by Brepols through their Publishing Managers, the Committee has seen the various editions steadily approaching completion. As befits medieval works that are increasingly seen to be related, collaboration between their editors has been encouraged at all times; it culminated in a highly successful International Conference on Early Irish Exegesis and Homiletics held at Maynooth in 1993, at which a common ethos behind the various texts could be discerned. This encouraged Brepols to undertake publication of the Conference Proceedings, and gave them and the Committee the confidence to name the sub-series Scriptores Celtigenae; only further study resulting from (rather than antecedent to) the appearance of its volumes will be able to indicate how appropriate a unifying title that has been. As it is, Scriptores Celtigenae (whether its name eventually proves to have been suitable or not) can perhaps be seen as an appropriate continuation of the inspiring labours of the late Revd Professor Robert McNally, whose volumes of Scriptores Hiberniae Minores have provided a pattern to follow within the Corpus Christianorum, and whose unpublished work provided a starting point for many of the editors in the present sub-series.
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