ARNALDO (ARNOLDO, RENALDO) da FOLIGNO.
Franciscan. It was wrongly said that he was from Corbie. Contrary to the opinion of Sbaralea (I, 103), it seems certain that Brother A. was from Foligno and not French; he should therefore be distinguished from the like-named *zealous* friar, struck down with the other Spirituals of Provence by John XXII in 1317 (C. Eubel, *Bullarium Francisc.*, V, Rome 1898, no. 293, pp. 132-3). He was a relative, secretary, and confessor of the Blessed Angela (v.) of Foligno, to whom his fame is linked. Under her dictation (converting into Latin what she was dictating in the Umbrian-Folignate vernacular) he wrote the autobiography or *Book of the Many Visions and Divine Consolations* of the blessed (c. 1292). This work, impeccable in its historical fidelity and sincerity, was, according to the blessed woman, inferior to the supernatural reality of the revelations, which are inexpressible in human language, yet approved by God. The work, examined by Cardinal Giacomo Colonna (before 1297) and by a commission of eight Franciscan theologians, was found to be free of censure.
The Franciscan Martyrology calls him “blessed” in popular parlance. He died at Foligno, most probably toward the end of the summer of 1300 (according to others, on 17 June 1313).