Nomen proprium Floris Nazaraei
- First performance: 1st June 1740, Prague - Nové Město, the lowest grammar class (rudimantistae)
- Author: Antonius Kaliwoda, SJ (1716–1753)
Given the age of their students, the Jesuits usually chose themes where the main protagonist was at a childhood or juvenile age, which also held true for plays about saints. The play The Flower of Nazareth’s Proper Name deals with a story from the youth of St Edmund of Canterbury (1175–1240) to whom Jesus revealed himself during his studies in Paris. Kaliwoda transferred the plot to the settings of a Jesuit school, and he used a popular motive of an object which is stolen from the main protagonist by his envious peers. In this case, the object is a wax figure of Baby Jesus, which Edmund received as a reward for the best homework and his ill-wishing classmates, led by his brother Florimundus, steal it. Edmund weeps over the loss, until Jesus in the form of a handsome boy reveals himself to him. By force of this experience, the culprits confess to stealing the figure and return it. More info in Czech
Text
[Antonius Kaliwoda]: Nomen proprium floris Nazaraei, ex amicitiae lege Amicus alter ego
innocentiae flosculo Edmundo ad salutarem lusum olim factum commune, hodie in theatrum
translatum ibidemqve exhibitum a Perillustribus, Praenobilibus ac Ingenuis
adolescentibus rudimentistis in academico gymnasio Soc. Jesu Pragae ad S. Ignatium anno
1740, mense Junio, die 1.
National Archives, fond Stará manipulace, sign. J 20/17/18, box 999, f. 804r–816r.
Synopsis
F. B. Mikovec, Staré české divadlo, Lumír 10. 4. 1851, s. 235–236.
(Lumír 10.4.1851 | Moravská zemská knihovna | Digitální knihovna Kramerius (digitalniknihovna.cz)
Magdaléna Jacková: Nejmírnější Pallas. Hry určené gramatikálním třídám jezuitských gymnázií. Praha: Academia, 2016. (= Theatrum Neolatinum. Latinské divadlo v českých zemích, 2.), p. 125–185.
Bibliography
Magdaléna Jacková: Jesuit school plays from provincia bohemia SJ written for grammar classes. In A. Steiner-Weber– F. Römer (eds.): Acta conventus Neo-latini Vindobonensis, Leiden, Brill 2018, p. 369–378. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004361553_029
