AURIFABER (GOLDSMID), AEGIDIUS

AEGIDIUS AURIFABER (GOLDSMITH), - Ascetical writer of the Charterhouse of Würzburg (Germany), d. 20 Feb. 1466 as vicar of the Charterhouse of Zierikzee (island of Schouwen, Holland). He composed: *Laus cartusiana* (on the contemplative life) and *Sermones* for Sundays and feast days. He is famous for the work *Speculum exemplorum ex diversis libris in unum laboriosae collectum*, which was the most widely circulated book of miracles of the Middle Ages (cf. *La Civiltà Cattolica* [1905, III], p. 672): “From 1481 to 1747 it had 31 editions and 5 translations, including one in Italian: *Specchio universale di esempi*, translated by F. Astolfi (Venice 1613). Fr. Giovanni Major, S.J., produced an improved and enlarged edition of the *Speculum* (Douai 1603), which was widely diffused.”