Saint Francis of Assisi

,,Dann war der heilige Franz von Assisi gekommen und hatte eine Liebe zur Armut gepredigt, die den Vorschriften der Kirche nicht widersprach [... ]. So hätte nun eine Zeit des Friedens und der Heiligkeit anbrechen können, doch im gleichen Maße, wie der franziskanische Orden wuchs und die besten Männer in seinen Bannkreis zog, wuchs auch seine Macht und sein Hang zu den irdischen Dingen, weshalb immer mehr Franziskaner aufbegehrten und die Brüder zurückführen wollten zur ursprünglichen Reinheit. Was freilich eine recht schwierige Sache war, hatte der Orden doch zur Zeit meines Besuchs in der Abtei schon mehr als dreißigtausend Mitglieder in aller Welt." (Umberto Eco, Der Name der Rose).

Franziskus von Assisi (1181/82 - 1226) war der Sohn des reichen Tuchhändlers Pietro Bernardone aus Assisi und sollte der Gründer eines der beiden großen christlichen Bettelorden werden. In welcher Radikalität Armut innerhalb dieses Ordens praktiziert werden sollte, war bereits zu Lebzeiten des kurz nach seinem Tod heilig gesprochenen Ordensgründers umstritten. Dieser Streit erreichte im ersten Viertel des 14. Jahrhunderts einen ersten Höhepunkt als er sich mit dem politischen Konflikt zwischen Papst Johannes XXII. und dem römisch-deutschen Kaiser Ludwig IV. (dem Bayern) verband.

Overlooking Lago di Orta in the foothills of the Northern Italian Alps, the Renaissance-era Sacro Monte di Orta (a UNESCO World Heritage site) is spectacle and hagiography, theme park and treatise. Sacro Monte di Orta is a sacred mountain complex that extolls the life of St. Francis of Assisi through fresco, statuary, and built environment. Descending from the vision of the 16th-century Archbishop Carlo Borromeo, the design and execution of the chapels express the Catholic Church’s desire to define, or, perhaps redefine itself for a transforming Christian diaspora. And in the struggle to provide a spiritual and geographical front against the spread of Protestantism into the Italian peninsula, the Catholic Church mustered the most powerful weapon it had: the widely popular native Italian saint, Francis of Assisi.Sacred Views of Saint Francis: The Sacro Monte di Orta examines this important pilgrimage site where Francis is embraced as a ne plus ultra saint. The book delves into a pivotal moment in the life of the Catholic Church as revealed through the artistic program of the Sacro Monte’s twenty-one chapels, providing a nuanced understanding of the role the site played in the Counter-Reformation.The Sacro Monte di Orta was, in its way, a new hagiographical text vital to post-Tridentine Italy. Sacred Views provides research and analysis of this popular, yet critically neglected Franciscan devotional site. Sacred Views is the first significant scholarly work on the Sacro Monte di Orta in English and one of the very few full-length treatments in any language. It includes a catalogue of artists, over one hundred photographs, maps, short essays on each chapel, and longer essays that examine some of the most significant chapels in greater detail.

Essay comparing the two painting of Saint Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata accredited to Jan van Eyck.  Based on my research, and the research of experts in the field, I believe that the painting placed in the Johnson Gallery is the authentic piece done by Eyck.

Il lavoro ripercorre in modo non sistematico, bensì occasionale, procedendo per exempla che generalizzino la problematica, esaurendola, il tema della diatriba tra vita attiva e contemplativa, dimostrando come la storia abbia insegnato che questi due modi vivendi debbano essere tenuti separati e distinti, non mischiati nella stessa persona, però debbano esistere entrambi, non bastandone uno soltanto, per il fine ultimo della vita stessa.

This chapter from Sacred Views of Saint Francis: the Sacro Monte di Orta contains short essays describing
each chapel and providing the raison
d’ tre for each. There are twenty chapels in
the park-like setting of the Sacro Monte di
Orta. The architecture, style, and setting are
uneven from chapel to chapel, and can vary
in emphasis and attention to ornamentation.
The essays reflect these disparities: for some
chapels, more space is devoted to a description
of the exterior than the interior; for others,
the frescos receive attention equal to or
greater than the dioramas. Photos of both the
exterior and interior accompany each essay.
Content of the Artistic Program
Despite the distinctiveness of each chapel,
the reader will find unity in the artistic program.
The chapels teach visually what the
Franciscans so adeptly preach, while simultaneously
explaining the identity of the Order
in the program. Each chapel, in its own
way, asserts: (1) the unique status of Francis,
who, according to Franciscan tradition, conformed
to Christ; (2) the distinctiveness of
the Franciscans and their special, penitential
mission in following the gospel life; (3) the
orthodoxy of the Franciscan order and its
close ties with the institutional church; (4)
the program of the Tridentine reform; and
(5) Francis’ role in revitalizing the church of
the thirteenth century and the parallel role
of the Franciscans in revitalizing the church
of the post-Tridentine era.

No âmbito do seminário de História do Cristianismo Antigo e Medieval foi oportuno propor-se a realização de uma leitura sobre a espiritualidade de Francisco de Assis.
Em 11 páginas realizou-se uma leitura crítica dos capítulos da obra de Vauchez sobre a espiritualidade de São Francisco de Assis.

2015, La Famiglia Feconda di Francesco d'Assisi nel "De Conformitate Vitæ" di Bartolomeo da Pisa. Liber I, Fructus VIII

Bartolomeo da Pisa nacque a Rinonico, presso Pisa, verso il 1335 ed entrò nell'Ordine dei frati Minori a Pisa nel 1352. Prima del 1373 aveva conseguito il titolo accademico di baccelliere a Pisa, e divenne lector nei vari centri di studio dell'Ordine, particolarmente a Padova e a Firenze. Nel 1373 fu mandato dal capitolo generale di Tolosa a Cambridge, per conseguire il titolo di magister in teologia, ma a causa della Guerra dei Cento Anni non potè andare in Inghilterra. Dopo aver concluso i suoi studi a Bologna, Bartolomeo conseguì il titolo di magister da Papa Gregorio XI nel 1375. Il 2 agosto 1399 Bartolomeo presentò al capitolo generale dei Minori, radunato ad Assisi, il suo capolavoro voluminoso, intitolato "De Conformitate Vitæ Beati Francisci ad Vitam Domini Iesu". Il volume fu approvato dallo stesso capitolo. Il “De Conformitate" è una vasta compilazione, nella quale Bartolomeo elenca 40 doppie conformità tra la vita di Gesù e quella di San Francesco. L'idea base del "De Conformitate" fu espressa come un bisogno di sequela e imitazione di Cristo da parte di Francesco e dei suoi compagni. Durante il tempo della prima generazione monolitica, e particolarmente nelle fonti francescane che dipendono dalla "Legenda Maior" di San Bonaventura e la seguono in ordine cronologico, la nozione di conformità divenne una certezza che, tra tutti i santi, San Francesco era unico nel suo essere vicino a Cristo in modo tale che divenne, se non identico, certamente conforme a lui. Abbiamo scelto di tradurre l'ottavo frutto e conformità, intitolato "Iesum cœtus prosequitur - Franciscus fecundatur" per l'importanza che investe nella compilazione sui primi compagni di San Francesco e sulle prima generazioni di frati Minori sparsi nelle diverse provincie dell'Ordine.

Parole chiavi: Conformità, Compagni di S. Francesco.

My dissertation, “Jordan of Giano’s Evangelical Vision: The Battle over the Franciscan Order in the Thirteenth Century,” explores the relationship between memory and narrative as found in Jordan of Giano’s (c. 1185–c. 1262) Chronica (1262). While the primary theme that this dissertation explores is the nature of Franciscan mission, that topic is considered in connection with the subjects of martyrdom, clericalization, education, simplicity, hierarchy, language, and the role of the cardinal protector. More to the point, this dissertation investigates the manner in which Jordan drew on Franciscan collective memory and his own personal memories of events pertaining to mission in order to discuss these themes as points of contention with respect to expressions of Franciscan identity. It is Jordan’s process of creating a new or a reinterpreted narrative that provides us with the most apparent insights into how friars as individuals and as groups remembered events and how they shaped those memories for the purpose of creating a group identity for the Friars Minor.
My dissertation aims to revise the extant historiography in two main areas: First, in contrast to the prevailing methodological approach to the text—which views Jordan’s Chronica as a source of fairly factual information that can be employed to answer the Franciscan Question, or the attempt to compile a biography of the historical Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226) and to ascertain his ideal intentions for the Order —this study emphasizes how Jordan relied primarily on personal and collective memory to compose the Chronica and how this reliance affected the resulting narrative. Second, instead of viewing the Chronica as merely recounting the primary events that occurred in relation to the Franciscan mission to Germany in 1221, this dissertation suggests that Jordan uses his narrative to express a clerical identity for the order, one that runs counter to an identity of simplicity that was expressed in Franciscan legenda composed in Italy during the early to mid thirteenth century. This dissertation argues that, in addition, we should read the sources in terms of the authors’ evolving understanding of the Order, how narrative construction affects the expression of that understanding, and to the extent to which this construction differs depending on the memories availably to the author as well as the author’s intent in constructing a particular narrative.

Humiliation and self-ridicule worked as surprisingly important tools of evangelical outreach in the first decades of the Franciscan Order (c.1210–50). According to early Franciscan texts such as the Assisi Compilation (c.1240s) and Jordan of Giano's Chronica (c.1260), St Francis and his earliest followers sought to win supporters by stripping naked in public, mocking learned preachers and ludicrously imitating animals. Yet within a few decades of the founder's death this type of humour had been erased from Franciscan texts. Chronicles now omitted references to Francis's laughter, while humiliating behaviour came to be condemned by Franciscan preachers, chroniclers and theologians alike. From being a means of undermining dignity and reason, joking was now instead celebrated as a tool of upholding these very same values. Describing the nature of this shift, and contextualising it within the evolving institutional priorities of the Franciscans under the leadership of Bonaventure (d.1274), this article will complicate debates about the development of medieval humour, while also reflecting on laughter's role as a means of resistance to the significant social and cultural upheavals of the 1200s.

The work traces the story of Francesco using two opposing interpretations: illusion and disappointment. The four stages of the Saint's history are thus retraced, highlighting the existential movement that marks the development of his Christian identity and relations with his friars.

The year 2014 saw the celebrations of the 800th anniversary of the pilgrimage of Saint Francis of Assisi to Santiago de Compostela in many parishes, shrines, brotherhoods and associations related to the cult of Saint James the Greater and on European Ways of St James. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the pilgrimage of St Bishop Józef Sebastian Pelczar to the tomb of St James and the 25th anniversary of the World Youth Day in Santiago de Compostela (15-20 August 1989) in which Pope John Paul II participated. Throughout centuries, the pilgrimage route to Compostela was traversed by “Christians of any status: from kings to the humblest peasants, Christians of all spiritual levels: from saints like St Francis of Assisi or St Bridget of Sweden (not to mention many other Spanish saints) to expiating public sinners.”
The 800th anniversary of the pilgrimage of the Poor Man of Assisi to the tomb of St James the Apostle encouraged the Scientific and Organisational Committee of the 7th International Scientific Conference to invite scientists and researchers of Camino de Santiago to focus on the issue related to the pilgrimages of saints and blessed to Santiago de Compostela. As in the case of previous conferences, this meeting was also an opportunity to present the results of scientific research, exchange experiences and determine the ways to coordinate works related to the marking of subsequent sections of Camino de Santiago in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine. It is worth noting that in 2014 the length of marked sections of the Way of St James in Poland exceeded 5,500 km. The current year is also the record year in terms of the number of pilgrims from Poland who reached the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela (on foot, by bike or on horseback).
This publication which is being handed over to the Readers contains papers presented during the 7th International Scientific Conference “Saints and Blessed on the Way of St  James – on the 800th Anniversary of the Pilgrimage of St Francis of Assisi to Santiago de Compostela” which was held on 6-7 September 2014 at the Higher Theological Seminary of the Krakow Archdiocese in Krakow and at the Diocesan Seminary of St James in Więcławice Stare.
The total of 32 people prepared articles for this publications. Most of them were representatives of scientific circles: Stanisław J. Adamczyk, PhD (the Holy Cross University in Kielce); doc. (Assistant Professor) Oresta Bordun (the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv); Beata Gałuszka, BA (the Jagiellonian University in Krakow); Sylwia Gołąb (the Institute of Geography of the Pedagogical University of Krakow); Professor Michaela C. Hastetter, PhD (Universität Freiburg); Jacek Marian Hołub, MA (the University of Rzeszów, the Bronisław Markiewicz State Higher School of Technology and Economics in Jarosław); Cezary Jastrzębski, PhD (the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce); Agnieszka Jaworska, PhD (the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw); Rafał Koszek, BSc (the Geography Student Research Club at the Pedagogical University of Krakow); Alfred Krogmann, PhD (Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa in Nitra); Bogna Matuszewska-Sulima, MSc (the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of the Jagiellonian University); Franciszek Mróz, PhD (the Pedagogical University of Krakow, the Podhale State Higher Vocational School in Nowy Targ); Łukasz Mróz, MSc (the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of the Jagiellonian University); Wojciech Mruk, PhD (the Jagiellonian University in Krakow); Arkadiusz Niedziółka, PhD (the University of Agriculture in Krakow); Marek Okoń, PhD (the Catholic University of Lublin); Kazimiera Orzechowska-Kowalska, PhD (the University of Physical Education in Krakow); Rev. Prof. Maciej Ostrowski, PhD (the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow); Adam Perchał, MSc (the Częstochowa University of Technology); Jan Rája, MSc (Ostravská Univerzita v Ostravě); Prof. Waldemar Rozynkowski, PhD (the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń); Lucia Šolcová, PhD (Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa in Nitra); Sylwia Zydek, PhD (the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wrocław); Ewa Zys, MA (the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań). Other Authors have links to individual sections of the Way of St James or represent regional organisations and associations related to the Way of St James: Leszek Zegzda – President of the Małopolska Tourism Organisation (Małopolska Organizacja Turystyczna); Ewa Grabińska, PhD – employee of the Małopolska Tourism Organisation; Barbara Karpała – conductor and art manager of Schola Cantorum Cracoviensis in Krakow; Regina Madej-Janiszek from the “Friends of the Way of St James in Poland” Association (Stowarzyszenie “Przyjaciele Dróg św. Jakuba w Polsce”); Lt. Col. (Res.) Eng. Ryszard Bożek, MSc (Military Ordinariate of Poland); Captain (Res.) Eng. Wiesław Czajka, MSc (Military Ordinariate of Poland); Lt. Col. (Res.) Eng. Jerzy Pawlikowski, MSc (Military Ordinariate of Poland) and Łukasz Stefaniak, PhD (Military Ordinariate of Poland).

This thesis analyses images of male saints defending their chastity against transgressive women. The studied images were produced in post-Tridentine Italy – a period when Catholic dogma, through Church reform, emphasised the superiority of the virginal state and the danger of carnal desire. The rule of mandatory celibacy for the clergy was one of the questions discussed during the Council of Trent, the chief movement of the Catholic Reformation (1545-1563). Critical voices regarding the Catholic Church’s lack of control and strictness towards the sexual misconducts repeatedly performed by their clergy were raised both within the Church and by their Protestant opponents. When the Catholics, unlike the Protestants, reaffirmed the rule of compulsory clerical celibacy, the essential importance of sexual abstinence was accentuated by confirming its connection to the true Christian doctrine.

The thesis aims to examine, firstly, how the temptation episodes are communicated visually for them to function as a promotion for the reformed Catholic Church, and secondly, how the images reflect the current attitude towards gender and sexuality. The study's visual source material consists of paintings, drawings and engravings of temptation scenes from the lives of St. Anthony the Great, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Jerome, St. Philip Neri, St. Thomas of Aquinas and St. Eligius. The images are seen as cultural and religious expressions of their time and are studied in close connection with their textual sources, e.g. the hagiographies of the saints, and are approached through an iconographic reading. For critical perspectives and material information, the examination is further conducted with the support of fields outside art history; theology, gender studies and history.

The result shows that images of carnal temptation were not only increasingly produced during the sixteenth century, but also addressed to expanding audiences of laymen and not just monks and priests. I argue that the reaffirmation of the importance of chastity played an essential role in the introduction and elaboration of new temptation imagery. The images of tempted, yet withstanding, male saints served to promote the heightened sexual morality of the post-Tridentine Church. By presenting the female sex as an immediate danger to the patriarchal order, the motifs uncover a long established misogyny. The images show a Catholic male ideal where masculinity was defined by exemplarily mastered flesh. The observation that the pictured events solely present male saints underlines that such grace is exclusively masculine. The Catholic Church's attitude towards sexuality as well as its patriarchal power structure, give the artworks a clear symbolic meaning: when a man manages to overcome the desires of the flesh, he transforms his passion into a spiritual desire that is satisfied through the love of God.

O presente artigo estabelece um paralelo entre a vida de Cristo e a vida de São Francisco de Assis, no contexto da imitatio Christi, ou seja, na mútua conformidade entre eles, sob o prisma da interpretação espiritual e alegórica das Sagradas Escrituras, a exemplo do Poverello de Assis. Para tanto, serão examinadas suas fontes biográficas primitivas, nas quais os hagiógrafos utilizavam com frequência passagens bíblicas numa clave espiritual e alegórica, aplicando-as à vida de seu Fundador. /// This article establishes a parallel between the life of Christ and the life of St. Francis of Assisi, in the context of imitatio Christi, namely in their mutual conformity, from the perspective of the spiritual and allegorical interpretation of Sacred Scripture, after the example of the Poverello of Assisi. To this purpose his primitive biographical sources will be examined, in which the hagiographers made frequent use of biblical passages on a spiritual and allegorical plane, applying them to the life of their Founder.

Analysis of Raphael's Madonna di Foligno (1511-1512) shows that surprising esoteric knowledge is embedded in this masterpiece. For instance, the painting refers to two different Jesus children, and also to the solar eclipse during which Saint Francis of Assisi received his stigmata.

In 1932, Luigi Pompilj published his translation and analysis of Jordan of Giano's "Chronica." Of all of the translations and analyses of Jordan's work, Pompilj's study was the most difficult to locate, since very few copies of his book exist.

For this document, the original book was scanned and transferred to digital form through optical character recognition. The digital text was compared to the original to correct errors. Formatting, line breaks, and pagination were updated. The only significant changes were the correction of a couple of endnote designations, one italicization of the preposition "de" in the Forward, one French spelling error in an endnote, and a few spacing alterations to preserve pagination. The text was not otherwise altered.

Two understandings of leprosy prevailed at the turn of the thirteenth century. The dominant perception of leprosy since pre-Christian times was as a disease of the vile and sinful. The view that lepers were in fact the blessed of God began to gain ground in the late twelfth century. This thesis considers one of the key factors in this change — namely, the influence of charismatic religious figures. Previous scholarship on the history of leprosy in the high Middle Ages has not sufficiently considered the role played by such figures in reforming, or at least offering an alternative to, the reigning popular perception. This thesis presents the exemplary case of Saint Francis of Assisi, highlighting the role that one man may have played in the evolving religious and social understandings of medieval leprosy after the turn of the thirteenth century.

Saint Francis’s interactions with the lepers constituted unprecedented transgressions of social boundaries and taboos. While Francis’s vitae followed in a long tradition of saints interacting with lepers for highlighting their piety, his actions were not merely a hagiographic topos. The kiss Francis bestowed upon a leper in the plains below Assisi came at a decisive moment in the Middle Ages where society was at a crossroads between the two societal perceptions of the disease. By examining the changes after the turn of the thirteenth century in the care of the leprous, the rise in saints who cared for the lepers, and the changes in the attitudes of the Church towards the leprous, this thesis argues that Francis’s effect on the social perception of leprosy is undeniable.

The Catholic Church celebrated two important centennials in 2016: on the one hand the 800th recurrence of the papal approbation of the Dominican Order, and on the other hand the remembrance of the 700th anniversary of the death of the Majorcan layman, polymath and missionary Ramon Llull. This article does not establish an artificial connection between these two anniversaries, but has instead a historical justification: although older research has already discussed the tension-filled relationship between this powerful institution and the charismatic individual person, more recent studies on the common research field of »missionary work« among nonbelievers are calling for a reassessment of this relationship between religious order and individual. The comparative study of the two »biographies« not only deepens our understanding of the productive crisis-ridden nature of the early missionary history of the Dominican Order, but also our understanding of the parameters of pastoral-missionary work among nonbelievers since the 13th century in general.

Alberto Savinio avrebbe voluto dare alla sua esperienza nel primo conflitto mondiale la forma di un romanzo, che tuttavia resterà incompiuto. Nella sua produzione, i riferimenti al tema della guerra si presentano secondo le modalità del «dilettantismo» saviniano: sono brevi e frequenti pennellate o divagazioni ironiche, nei continui passaggi da una forma artistica all’altra (romanzo, racconto, saggio, sceneggiatura).

L’ipotesi che il mio contributo si propone di esplorare è che Savinio, al di là delle apparenze, costruisca la sua riflessione sulla Grande Guerra come un discorso solido e una critica coerente nei confronti di ogni «stilizzazione»  ideologica della guerra e in particolar modo della sua sacralizzazione. Vorrei far emergere gli elementi costanti di questa riflessione e quelli che si modificano in seguito alla rilettura di questa esperienza durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale.

La mia analisi prende avvio dalle carte rare e inedite del Fondo Savinio (Archivio Bonsanti, Firenze), focalizzandosi sulla sceneggiatura inedita del film su San Francesco, che fin dal preambolo, l’autore presenta come un’opera contro la guerra. Cercherò di mostrare quali forme prenda questa riflessione critica nelle varie fasi del lavoro preparatorio, in cui Savinio si confronta con il mezzo cinematografico, che rappresenta una nuova sfida per il suo «dilettantismo».

Francis of Assisi is well known for his devotion to all God’s “creatures,” from worms and fish to moon and stars. Francis’s devotion also has some little known dimensions that are unprecedented in his own time but that anticipate central tenets of post-humanist animal theory and ecotheology. In the earliest Franciscan documents, suppressed soon after his death, Francis asserted that he obeyed non-human animals as an expression of faith. He worshiped with them, protected their lives, and conflated their material welfare with their symbolic meanings. These aberrant features of Francis’s piety were suppressed soon after his death, but they merit close attention for the ways in which they anticipate contemporary theorists’ efforts to de-center the human, recognize animal participation in human cultures, and envision a coherently material and spiritual theology.

This article revisits the legends about Friar Anselm Turmeda / ʿAbdullāh al-Tarjumān (d.ca. 1427), drawing upon the historical method and the argument of John Tolan’s Saint Francis and the Sultan. First, the essay recalls Tolan’s work, including the crucial notion of lieux de mémoire. Second follows a sketch of Turmeda’s life and the internal contradiction in his writings. The third and longest section examines the development of the Turmeda legend, noting stages in the evolution of that legend that parallel Tolan’s observations about the memory of Francis of Assisi. Fourth and finally, the essay revisits the matter of historical method and suggests some ways in which the life and work of Turmeda provides helpful guidance for Muslim-Christian dialogue today, both in Muslim-majority lands and in the West.

La devozione di san Francesco nei confronti dell’Eucaristia e dei sacerdoti è manifestata in una delle sue Lettere più belle. In quel testo – qui riproposto e commentato – il Santo di Assisi fa emergere tutto il suo amore per il Corpo e il Sangue del Signore e per coloro che, con le loro mani, lo consacrano e lo donano agli altri.

Resumen: A través de este artículo, se pretende presentar los conventos masculinos franciscanos que han existido en Vizcaya. Para ello, en primer lugar se trata el nacimiento de los cinco conventos que se dio durante la Edad Media. A continuación, las relaciones y problemas que vivieron los conventos, a veces entre ellos mismos, durante el Antiguo Régimen, y, finalmente, la desaparición gradual de los claustros durante el siglo XIX. Asimismo, también se hacen referencias a la actualidad, tanto si existen como si no, y qué ha sido del espacio en el que existió la comunidad. Obviamente se ha utilizado bibliografía existente, pero la base y, a la par, la novedad de este artículo son las fuentes documentales que se utilizan, muchas de ellas inéditas. Además, también se ha querido ver las diferencias y similitudes que existieron entre las comunidades, y no presentarlas de manera individual, como se ha hecho en ocasiones anteriores.

Maranesi, docente di teologia dogmatica e francescana presso le facoltà di Assisi e Roma, affronta col suo testo Caro Leone ti scrivo. Gli autografi di Francesco: memoria di una grande amicizia (Prefazione di A. Bartoli Langeli, Edizioni Messaggero Padova, 2020, 202 pp., 17 euro) studia l'amicizia tra Francesco e frate Leone attraverso i due autografi che il primo ha indirizzato al secondo e che questi custodì fino alla morte assicurandone poi la trasmissione al fine di far conoscere la santità di chi li aveva scritti. Il valore di tali autografi è grande giacché a partire da essi è possibile accostare il Francesco colto nel suo rapportarsi al suo forse più caro e stretto amico. Le due pergamene in questione sono il cosiddetto biglietto di Spoleto e quello di Assisi. Il primo contiene un consiglio, il secondo una benedizione. Maranesi dedica la prima parte del suo studio a offrire notazioni sui due autografi dal punto di vista paleografico, filologico, codicologico, della storia della redazione, del loro rinvenimento e del posto che hanno occupato nella letteratura francescana. L'Autore passa poi a scandagliare le fonti agiografiche per ricostruire i moventi e gli scopi per i quali furono scritti, per poi passare, nei due capitoli successivi, alla loro lettura esegetica e teologica, rispettivamente.

The survey, by using the methods of historical research, focuses on the transformation of mountains, which, from terrifying and uninhabited environments, gradually became among the most significant places of the soul and religious spaces. Resorting to historical, literary and archival sources, the study, of an interdisciplinary nature, aims to reconstruct a little-known aspect of Italian history, in particular of history of culture and ideas. Mountains, which constitute a significant portion of Italy, were considered by the Ancients antithetical to human civilization. With Christianity a new image of mountains made its way, where, according to the Scriptures, some decisive episodes of the history of salvation had taken place. The hermits who wanted to dedicate themselves only to God began to take refuge in the mountains, but the ideological prejudice transmitted by classical authors remained fixed in the collective imagination and upland areas continued for centuries to be misunderstood and rarely visited. An important turning point came with two religious orders, the Camaldolese and the Franciscans, who gave a fundamental contribution to the 'taming' of mountains. Thanks to Saint Romuald, in Camaldoli, on the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines, an experience was born that combined evangelization, forest management and interventions on the mountain territory. In their settlements the Camaldolese, while cultivating the fields, regulating the waters and taking care of the woods, at the same time promoted education, culture and work for the people who lived nearby. From Assisi and the mountains of Umbria began the revolution of Saint Francis, which involved men and women, animals, fields, fruits, flowers, forests, rocks: all like God's creatures. Thus the Apennine mountains, the true backbone of the Italian peninsula, became increasingly popular open spaces, places of meeting and of spiritual and material life, based on a balanced and exemplary relationship between man and nature.

Uomini e donne che furono “voce dello Spirito”, pur nella diversità di tradizione religiosa o fede, di epoca o stato di vita. “Mistici” li definiamo, ma nella consapevolezza che lo sono non nella loro stravaganza e irraggiungibilità. Ma nell’aver accolto con gratitudine e impegno il dono di stare “faccia a faccia con Dio” giorno dopo giorno. Isacco il Siro apparteneva alla Chiesa siro-orientale, detta anche “nestoriana”. Rabi‘a è una mistica musulmana del IX secolo. Francesco d’Assisi è il santo che tutti conosciamo. Suor Kinga della Trasfigurazione è stata una carmelitana ungherese, morta nel 2009.

Autori:

Sabino CHIALÀ è monaco della Comunità monastica di Bose, laureato in lettere classiche e dottore in filologia e lingue orientali presso l’Università di Louvain-la-Neuve, in Belgio.

Caterina GREPPI, dopo la laurea in filosofia e gli studi di islamistica seguiti in Italia, si è perfezionata nella lingua araba soggiornando a Tunisi e a Damasco. Docente invitata di lingua araba al Pontificio Istituto Orientale a Roma, ha coltivato contatti personali con esponenti del sufismo.

Iacopo IADAROLA è frate carmelitano scalzo, laureato in lettere classiche presso l’Università La Sapienza di Roma, ha conseguito la licenza in teologia spirituale presso la Facoltà teologica del Triveneto e attualmente è dottorando nella medesima disciplina presso la Facoltà teologica del Teresianum in Roma. Collabora a varie testate quali «Rivista di Vita Spirituale», «Il Santo», «La Stampa – Vatican insider». Con le Edizioni Messaggero ha pubblicato Cantare il creato. Con san Francesco e con san Giovanni della Croce (2019).

Fabio SCARSATO è frate francescano conventuale, direttore editoriale del «Messaggero di sant’Antonio» e delle Edizioni Messaggero Padova.

Overlooking Lago di Orta in the foothills of the Northern Italian Alps, the Renaissance-era Sacro Monte di Orta (a UNESCO World Heritage site) is spectacle and hagiography, theme park and treatise. Sacro Monte di Orta is a sacred mountain complex that extolls the life of St. Francis of Assisi through fresco, statuary, and built environment. Descending from the vision of the 16th-century Archbishop Carlo Borromeo, the design and execution of the chapels express the Catholic Church's desire to define, or, perhaps redefine itself for a transforming Christian diaspora. And in the struggle to provide a spiritual and geographical front against the spread of Protestantism into the Italian peninsula, the Catholic Church mustered the most powerful weapon it had: the widely popular native Italian saint, Francis of Assisi.Sacred Views of Saint Francis: The Sacro Monte di Orta examines this important pilgrimage site where Francis is embraced as a ne plus ultra saint. The book delves into a ...