AGOSTINO da MONTEFELTRO. - Franciscan, orator, b. at S. Agata Feltria on 1 March 1839, d. at Marina di Pisa on 4 April 1921. First a secular priest and canon, then having become a religious (1871), after a period of spiritual straying followed by sincere repentance, he devoted himself to sacred preaching, in which he acquired a reputation as a supreme orator throughout Italy in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
Stripped of every romantic legend (and popular imagination created many around him), the true figure of A. is that of an exceptional apostle, who knew how to grasp the whole soul of his time and interpret its aspirations in the universal charity of the Gospel. Gabba, Toniolo and Saccardo noted this with clear scholarly intent - from the very years of his greatest triumphs. If in his preaching the influence of the French school may surprise us, there nevertheless remains a highly personal foundation, which is the principal factor of his extraordinary success and which alone explains the secret of the invincible fascination aroused everywhere by the humble friar.
In the social field A. contributed effectively to preparing the ground for Rerum Novarum of Leo XIII (15 May 1891). The great Pontiff wished him to preach in Rome, and A. held the Lenten sermons there in 1889, at S. Carlo al Corso. It was such an event that it was believed the good opportunity had come to attempt approaches for a pacification between Church and State on the basis of private initiatives, approaches that had differing echoes in the press. A. remained silent, then and always, on the delicate affair. To the apostolate of the pulpit he joined that of charity. In 1887 he opened a girls' orphanage in Pisa, in 1893 another at Marina di Pisa, establishing his own Congregation of Sisters, the Figlie di Nazaret, entrusted with its direction.
Bibliography4 worksAmong the numerous stenographic records of A.'s sermons, preference should be given to that of the Elettrice of Florence (ed. M. Ricci, 1887
BIBL.: Among the numerous stenographic records of A.'s sermons, preference should be given to that of the Elettrice of Florence (ed. M. Ricci, 1887) and that of the Rugantino of Rome (ed. E. Perino, 1889). A complete life and study of A. does not yet exist. To be noted in the meantime: F. Saccardo, P. A. da Montefeltro, Vita e Predicazione, Milan 1890; Per P. A. da Montefeltro dei Minori riformati, gloria dell'Ordine, onore del nome italiano, single issue, in S. Pisa 1886, divided into three parts totaling 187 pp. (Noteworthy, in the first part, are the studies by prof. C. F. Gabba and prof. G. Toniolo, mentioned above; in the third part, the judgments of the Italian press); B. Sderci, In Memoria del P. A. da Montefeltro, Duocoro e note biografiche, Arezzo 1921. Of the many single issues published in various places in honor of Fr. A., the one from Pisa, cited above, is the best from the critical and biographical standpoint.
Pierotti, Adamo. “Agostino da Montefeltro.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 517. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/agostino-da-montefeltro.
MLA
Pierotti, Adamo. “Agostino da Montefeltro.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 517. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/agostino-da-montefeltro.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_agostino_da_montefeltro,
author = {Pierotti, Adamo},
title = {Agostino da Montefeltro},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {517},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/agostino-da-montefeltro}
}
One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.
Click or scroll to zoom · drag to pan · Esc to close
