4to, [10] ff, large woodcut on title-page, entirely rubricated in red. Small marginal tear skilfully repaired in title-page. Modern cloth binding
Ref. NK 796. Very scarce edition: only 1 copy in USTC (BL). Not in Bibl. Erasmiana Bruxellensis. In Concio de puero Jesu or Sermon of the child Jesus, a child preaches like a priest. This work is connected to a mediaeval tradition still current in the 16th century, namely, the tradition of the Boy Bishop. Each year on Saint Nicholas's Day (6 December), the Roman Catholic cathedral choirboys elected one of them to be bishop. He was dressed in a replica bishop's robe, with staff and ring, whilst the other boys, wearing priests' habits, took possession of the church and led all the ecclesiastic processions and ceremonies save mass. This power reversal lasted until the Feast of the Holy Innocents, 28 December. Erasmus wrote this sermon in 1511, at the request of his friend, John Colet, dean of Saint Paul?s Cathedral in London. The sermon was supposed to be read aloud by a Boy Bishop to inaugurate the new St Paul's Cathedral School
