BARTOLOMEO da SALUTIO, Venerable. — Orator, mystic, Franciscan poet, secular name B. Cambi, born in Socana in Casentino on 3 April 1558, called “da Salutio” from the place of origin or residence of his father when he entered the religious life. A Franciscan friar at 18, he studied in the best schools of the Order and, while still very young, began to preach and teach with success. After a brief period of wandering outside the convent, which he atoned for with severe penances, he preached with apostolic zeal, often in apocalyptic tones and sometimes with miracles, throughout Italy, arousing such enthusiasm that the authorities forbade him from preaching. He spent the last fifteen years of his life in contemplation and died in Rome in a reputation for holiness on 15 November 1617.
Of his sermons, which constituted true public events with the suspension of work and the closing of shops, echoes remain in the archives and chronicles of the time, as well as reflections in his spiritual works, in which he also reveals himself as one of the greatest Italian mystics of the 17th century. His spirituality is Franciscan but marked by the Counter-Reformation and his own fiery and impetuous character.
As a prose writer and mystical poet (here he recalls Jacopone), he has indisputable value. Not entirely free from the defects of his time, he surpasses them with his strong personality and the abundance and sincerity of his feeling.