HORTULUS ANIMAE

The Little Garden of the Soul, a type of devotional book of prayers, intended for the laity, that was widespread in Germany in the early 16th century. The hortuli are to be distinguished from the medieval Psalter, which contained Psalms and part of the liturgical Office, with perhaps a supplement of miscellaneous prayers. They were similar in general content and arrangement to many of the Latin Horae, or books of hours, or to the English primers, from which they developed; however, they were more popular in character. The hortuli contained the Little Office of Our Lady, extracts from the Gospel accounts of the Passion, the Penitential Psalms, and the Litany of the Saints, with a large selection of supplementary devotional matter. This material of private prayer had the tendency to increase in size and in extravagance. For example, promises of spurious indulgences and of complete forgiveness of sins became attached to many prayers. That these devotional books were very popular can be judged by the number of editions. Early copies c. 1500 had numerous woodcuts, sometimes by famous artists such as Hans Holbein. After the Reformation the Lutherans put out a modified version. The Council of Trent legislated against the accretions, the false promises of indulgences, and the incorrect versions of the Little Office of Our Lady. A bull of Pius V (March 11, 1571) demanded rigorous censorship of all editions. A modern "Garden of the Soul" is the book of prayers and instructions in the spiritual life written by Richard Challoner in 1740 and reprinted seven times by 1757.

See Also: prayer books.

Bibliography: h. thurston, "The Original Garden of the Soul, " American Ecclesiastical Review 26 (1902) 167–187. a. a. schmid and a. boeckler, in Handbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft, ed. f. milkau, 3 v. (2d ed. Leipzig 1931–40) 1:121.

[m. m. barry]