The first vita of Francis of Assisi, by Thomas ... Leggi tutto

The first vita of Francis of Assisi, by Thomas of Celano, in the words of the A., «defined what would become the established icon of Francis». The probable range of dates for the composition of the work, prima facie, extends from the date of Francis's canonization (in July 1228) to the date of the translation of the saint's remains (in May 1230), the latter event having not been mentioned in the vita (as it presumably would have been if it had occurred when Thomas was writing). The early transmission of the work, however, is weakly attested. A campaign was initiated in 1266, with the appearance of a major treatment of Francis by Bonaventure, to destroy all previously issued hagiography memorializing the saint. Before the appearance of the present study, the earliest widely recognized and securely dated manuscript preserving the first vita was a volume (now Barcelona, Arxiu de la Corona d'Aragó, Ripoll 41) known to have been produced in 1253. The A. here, however, points out that a significantly earlier copy survives in Paris, BNF, lat. 3817, a composite volume containing a lectionary for the Divine Office as its first part and a copy of the first vita of Francis as the main text in its second. The A. observes that the second part was «made as a complement of the first one», exhibiting leaves of the «same size, same ruling», and so on. Franciscan scholars, who have generally attributed the contents of the volume to the late 13th cent. or later (even allowing for the varying dates that have been assigned to the distinct parts), seem thus far to have paid scant attention to the recent dating of the lectionary to the 12th cent. and the copy of the first vita of Francis to the second quarter of the 13th cent., in descriptions which appeared in a learned and authoritative treatment of the whole manuscript by J. Sclafer, appearing in a volume, published in 1988, of the Catalogue général of the Bibliothèque Nationale itself. Citing observations by N.R. Ker, the A. here narrows the dating of the copy under consideration (in BNF, lat. 3817) to the 1230s and, in other commentary, he vindicates the authenticity of a note following the end of the vita in that copy, which claims to record an explicit and authoritative confirmation of the work by Pope Gregory IX (effectively by means of a papal nihil obstat) in the year 1229. Review in «Scriptorium» 66 (2012) 25* by Benjamin Victor.
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