Sphinge

[Michaelr]

Conceptio immaculata deiparae virginis Mariae, celebrata 1115. Anagrammatibus prorsus puris. Ex hoc salutationis angelicae programmate deductis ... et in psalteria, coronam, pentacrostichidem, monile, atque annum distributis. A Ioanne Baptista Agnensi Cyrneo, Caluensi, ...

books.google.co.uk

Who is the "sphinge" in italics on page 31?

Can anyone offer any help?

 

[Matthaeus]

The Sphinx, I guess.

 

[Michaelr]

I have understood the reference to the "Sphinge" in the sense of an enigma, and as referring to Giovanni Agnensis who was blind. Does this sound right?

 

[Pacifica]

The text is about Giovanni Agnensis who was blind, and the first lines call him a "monster*/prodigy more marvelous than the Sphinx".

*"Monster" may seem like the most direct translation of monstrum, but a monstrum is any unnatural thing, not necessarily a monster as we usually mean it in English.

 

[Michaelr]

Thanks Pacifica. I couldn't make sense out of those first couple of lines.