Jacopo Maria Calloni

Verse on the months often go with calendars in several types of liturgical books: they may be intended for teaching and mnemonic purposes or may be longer and narrative. A short poem of this sort is copied in a 15th-century breviary (Milan, Cathedral Chapter Library, II.D.3.6), which was probably commissioned and is largely annotated by Francesco Della Croce (1391-1479), vicar of the archbishop of Milan and an expert liturgist. The same little poem is also printed in an incunable of the Ambrosian Missal (Milan, L. Pachel, 1499). No other witness is known. It is a leonine verse. Illustrations in paintings and miniatures and other medieval Latin poems offer loci paralleli, similarity and common sources. Some passages are close to the Carmina de mensibus, written by the Milanese poet Bonvesin da la Riva.