BARTHOLI (BARTOLI), FRANCESCO. - Franciscan preacher and writer, also called, erroneously according to A. Mercati, Della Rossa or Rubeae. A native of Assisi, he became a Franciscan toward the end of the 13th century. He was studying at Perugia in 1312, and in 1316 at Cologne, whence he returned to Italy the following year, carrying with him numerous relics of saints. In 1320 and until 1325 he resided at S. Maria degli Angeli and expounded Holy Scripture to the people; guardian of the small convent of S. Damiano in 1332, he is found again in the sacred convent of Assisi in 1334. He had adhered with fervor, in the years 1328-1329, to Fra Michele da Cesena, to whom he had also addressed various letters; but, captured by the Inquisition and tried on 23 Jan. 1330, he confessed his faults, obtaining penance and pardon.
Toward the end of 1334 he wrote his famous work, Historia or Tractatus de Indulgentia S. Mariae de Portiuncula (ed. P. Sabatier [*Opuscules*], Paris 1900, no. 2), which, although not immune from defects, errors and anachronisms, nonetheless has no small historical interest, especially for the documents it contains and various notices drawn from ancient legends and Franciscan memories (he had known and heard Fra Marino, disciple and nephew of the celebrated Fra Masseo, one of the beloved companions of St. Francis). It is the first historical work on the important indulgence, on which many others later wrote.
B. also wrote his Sermones (for feast days and weekdays) delivered at the Porziuncola and a Historia passionis Christi pro die Veneris Sancti concordata per 4 Evangelistas (manuscripts in the library of Assisi). He died very old, around the end of the 14th century.
Bibliography4 works
Lorenzo Di Fonzo