BERNARDINO da COLPETRAZZO. - Capuchin historian and preacher of the Umbrian province, b. 25 Nov. 1514; he passed from the Observant Minors to the Capuchin Minors on 11 Jan. 1534; d. 7 Feb. 1594.
Master of novices, provincial vicar of Umbria, adviser to various ministers general, from 1580 to 1594 he composed three accounts of the early period of the Order, recently published by Fr. Melchiorre da Pobladura under the title Historia Ord. Min. Capuccinorum: I, I, Praecipui nascentis Ordinis eventus (Assisi 1939); I, II, Biographiae selectae (there 1940); I, III, Ratio vivendi Fratrum. Ministri et Vicarii generales, Cardinales protectores (Monumenta historica Ord. Min. Capuccinorum, 2, 3, 4), Rome 1941.
The author, an authoritative witness to the events, describes with simplicity, for edifying purposes, the virtues of the first Capuchins, whose reform he extols as a faithful restoration of the ancient Franciscan life. Writing from memory, he falls into chronological errors; following the hagiographical form, he gives credulous prominence to the supernatural element. An evangelical preacher, he enacted the statutes of the Monte Frumentario or dell'Abbondanza, which he had erected at Colpetrazzo and Torre Lorenzana.