REGOLE, E STATUTI: della venerabile archiconfraternità del Santissimo Nome di Maria

4to, pp. [xvi], 52; woodcut device of the Confraternity on title-page, woodcut initial on p. 1; aside from a couple of light marginal stains, clean and fresh throughout; stamp of the Fürstenberg library at Donaueschingen on verso of title-page; in slightly later vellum, boards with gilt borders; some wear and staining, especially to lower cover.

First edition, rare, of the statutes and rules governing the newly established Archconfraternity of the Holy Name of Mary.

The confraternity was formally approved in 1688, in the wake of the establishment of the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary by Pope Innocent XI in celebration of the victory over the Turks in the second siege of Vienna in 1683. A cult devoted to the Holy Name made its home in 1685 at the Roman church of San Stefano del Cacco, under its founder, the Sylvestrine monk Giuseppe Bianchi; it was to move firstly, in 1684, to the church of San Bernando, which was swiftly deemed to be too small, and was replaced with a new building, now dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary, in the Foro Traiano.

The present statutes set out, in three parts, the workings and organisation of the confraternity. In the first part, it describes its origins, the feast that inspired it, and arrangements both liturgical (the celebration of the Mass and Office, processions) and practical (the visiting of the sick, the burial of the dead). The next is devoted to the membership: the acceptance of brothers and of sisters, their habits, the duties of the superior and office-holders, and their election, and things that might prove an impediment to a member's election to office, alongside detailed descriptions of every role. The third part goes into detail about discipline within the confraternity, the importance of maintaining stability and peace between members, and the observance of the statutes, rules, and constitutions.

OCLC records copies at Stuttgart, the Biblioteca nazionale centrale in Rome, and Emory (Pitts Theological Library).