Vineyard weather protection using image of Vincent Ferrer. Unrecorded.

[Wine] / [Weather] / [Vincent Ferrer]. Benedizione de’ campi, e vigne coll’ invocazione del taumaturgo de’ miracoli S. Vincenzo Ferrerio, Prodigiosissima a preservare li loro frutti da ogni sinistro accidente di furiose tempeste, gragnuole ec. Prescritta dallo stesso Santo, e con maraviglia non ordinaria osservata efficacissima dovunque divotamente si pratica. Milan: appresso Giuseppe Marelli, 1751. 8vo [16.5 x 10.8 cm], 16 pp. Bound in contemporary speckled paper over card. Binding well preserved, early pencil annotations inside upper cover. Internally well preserved.
 
 
Unrecorded 1751 first(?) edition of this pock-sized ‘Benediction’ meant to be recited in the vineyard or field to defend crops against damaging weather. At the end of the prayer, it is advised to pin up an ‘image’ of St. Vincent Ferrer facing the vineyard/field to prolong the protection.
 
The titlepage informs us that this is “A blessing of fields and vineyards, with the invocation of the miracle-worker St. Vincent Ferrer, which is most prodigious in preserving their fruits from any unfortunate accident of furious storms, hailstorms, etc. Prescribed by the Saint himself, and observed with extraordinary wonder, most effective wherever it is devoutly practiced.”
 
An Italian preface recounts episodes from Vincent Ferrer’s life in which he saved crops from inclement weather. It is noted that in recent years Ferrer’s weather ‘benedictions’ have been used to great effect in the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples.
 
Latin prayers (versicle, response, Oremus, antiphon, etc.) follow. The book closes with an Italian note stating that “Once this ‘Benediction’ has been completed, a blessed image of St. Vincent is to be placed in a high and decent place, from which position the field, or vineyard, etc., is visible, and which is kept free from rain; and the owner of the vineyard, or field, etc., is to be reminded to recite an ‘Our Father,’ a ‘Hail Mary,’ and a ‘Glory Be’ every day in honor of St. Vincent; and then he is to give a portion of the first fruits to the Saint as a sign of gratitude, etc., and for the greater glory of God, and so be it.”
 
An early annotation inside the upper cover both states that the volume came from the Biblioteca di S. Antonio in Ticino and muses about the if the bones in the Convento di Lambrugo (Benedictine nuns) should be associated with the relics of St. Vincent Ferrer.
 
 
This 1751 first (?) edition is not located by OPAC/SBN/ICCU, OCLC, or KVK. A few later editions are preserved in just one or two copies each, with the 1753 edition being the second to appear (Ferrara ed in Pesaro: nella stamperia Gavelliana, 1753).