The sermon was edited from a single ninth-century manuscript by Edward Kennard Rand in 1904 (Chicago) and has been re-edited in the Brepols volume Sermo de confusione diaboli et inferni (2025); both records are Latin editions (HOLLIS Primo 'Sermo de confusione diaboli': https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Sermo%20de%20confusione%20diaboli&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 The English-language Brepols monograph on the related pseudo-Eusebius material (A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and its Medieval Reception, 2026) describes itself as critically editing the newly identified Latin documents and discussing them against their Greek sources; its contents announcement names no translation of the Sermo. The text is absent from Ante-Nicene Fathers 8 (https://archive.org/details/antenicenefather08buff) and from Elliott's contents (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Apocryphal%20New%20Testament%20Elliott&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 No English translation was located.
This short sermon is one of the earliest Latin pieces to dramatise the devil's discomfiture at the harrowing of hell, and it stands in the direct line between the Greek sermons of pseudo-Eusebius and the medieval Descensus. Without a translation, its role in the formation of the Latin descent tradition can be studied only by Latinists; the only electronic copy found is a JSTOR scan, so no open text is recorded.
| Record | Citation |
|---|---|
| Devil's mortal weapons : an anthology of late medieval and protestant vernacular theology and popular culture | Miles, Joanna. "Devil's mortal weapons : an anthology of late medieval and protestant vernacular theology and popular culture." Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, [2018]. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99153750264803941 |
| A Sweet Tea Communion | Hardy, Kristian (AB, Harvard University, 2024). "A Sweet Tea Communion." Harvard University, 2024. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99157855065003941 |
| Capturing Hannah Duston : The Making of an American Legend | Jampel, Serena Frances, (AB, Harvard College, 2025). "Capturing Hannah Duston : The Making of an American Legend." Harvard University, 2025. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99158639634403941 |
| All that most maddens and torments | Thornton, Elliott (AB, Harvard University, 2020). "All that most maddens and torments." Harvard College, 2020. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/99155659517703941 |
| The strumpet muse : art and morals in Chaucer's poetry | David, Alfred, 1929-. "The strumpet muse : art and morals in Chaucer's poetry." Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1976. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990008424780203941 |