was meant to serve. Atto thus saw the appropriation of holy cloth during funeral services as a fault of the clergy: in his opinion, the ecclesiastics who performed this practice were unaware of the appropriate way to treat articles that are instrumental in sacred worship. In the centuries before Atto's time, clerics from the lowest to the highest ranks were known to take counsel from magicians, or seers. This practice – and the general fear that clergymen were corrupted by or becoming magicians – died out in the middle of the 9th Century. Atto inexplicably decided to warn against the consultation of magicians and seers in all ranks of the clergy during his time as Bishop of Vercelli, although there is little evidence that it was still widely regarded as a problem. Works Atto of Vercelli's literary canon survives in partial form, and is largely instructional. His sermons can be found in contemporary anthologies, such as Atto's “on Palm Sunday (Sermon VII)” in Ray C. Petry's No Uncertain Sound: Sermons that Shaped the Pulpit Tradition, published in 1948. Alongside his larger works, Atto also wrote The Exposition on the Epistles of Saint Paul, a commentary that would have been used to educate the clergymen of Vercelli. A small collection of Atto's Epistolae, or letters, has been preserved, probably compiled from the codices of Vercelli and the Vatican library. This collection includes nine letters that Atto wrote, and two directed to Atto from other authors. De pressuris ecclesiasticis The earliest of his principal compositions, De pressuris ecclesiasticis was written around 940 CE. It is sometimes referred to as its full name, De pressuris eclesiasticis libellus, meaning “Book on the Pressures of the Church.” It contains discourse regarding the jurisdiction of the Church and its law, and argues against the maltreatment of laypeople. Alongside this, it disproves accusations against the clergy, including matters regarding the ordination of ecclesiastics, especially to the position of bishops, as well as the unwarranted expropriation of church property after a bishop's death. Polypticum Sometimes referred to as Perpendiculum, meaning “perpendicular,” “line,” or “plummet,” this work seems to have been completed near the end of Atto's life, perhaps in his last months. It may have been sent to a friend or colleague of Atto's, who wrote the foreword using Latin similar to that of Atto, before being published. It has been suggested that only the first two drafts