Forming Devotion in a Lollard Ave Maria Commentary

This essay is part of the ‘Forms of Faith’ cluster, curated by Mary Raschko and Elizabeth Schirmer. Rice examines the Ave Maria commentary found in London, British Library, MS Additional 30897, a lollard devotional anthology, to suggest the importance of literary form to lollard spiritual formation. In the commentary, explication and meditation become means for teaching readers to embody fidelity to scripture, consistency of intent, word, and practice, and a loving approach to the Virgin that downplays her intercessory agency. The commentary reshapes the textual/devotional form of meditation on Christ’s Holy Name into a vehicle for deepening devotion to Christ. This lollard Holy Name meditation complements the Holy Name tract of the Pore Caitif, included in the same manuscript anthology