BERNARDINE OF SIENA, Saint. – Franciscan friar, distinguished for his learning and holiness, for his original and highly effective preaching, for his promotion of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and for imparting a new spirit of reform to the Franciscan Order in the 15th century.
I. LIFE
Born into the noble Sienese family of the Albizzeschi, Bernardine was born at Massa Marittima, in the territory of Siena, on 8 September 1380. Having been orphaned at the age of six, he was raised by his closest relatives in Siena, where he completed his studies in rhetoric, philosophy, and jurisprudence. Initially captivated by the love of classical Latin authors, he later devoted himself with great fervor to the study of Sacred Scripture and theology, as well as to more intense practices of piety. At the age of 22, he entered the Franciscan friars. After receiving Holy Orders, he was licensed to preach in 1405, a ministry he continued until his death. Little is known of the first fifteen years of his religious life; it is certain, however, that he spent them chiefly in perfecting his theological learning, preparing abundant material which is preserved in several miscellaneous codices recently discovered and transcribed or commissioned by him during those years (cf. D. Pacetti, I codici autografi di s. Bernardino, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 29 [1936], pp. 231-241, 523-30). His preaching during this period was largely confined to Tuscany and did not arouse great enthusiasm. From 1417 onward, however, Bernardine was able to extend his preaching throughout northern and central Italy with immense fruit, everywhere awakening dormant religious sentiment, recalling people to the practice of the sacraments, settling feuds, suggesting social reforms, and inspiring works of charity and self-denial.
Notable are (and for some we possess the reports) the Lenten sermons preached at Genoa (1418), Milan (1419), Padua (1423 and 1443), Florence (1424 and 1445), Viterbo (1426), Gubbio (1427), Arezzo (1428), Venice (1429), Siena (1434), Massa Marittima (1444); and likewise well known are the series of sermons delivered at Genoa (Advent 1417), Treviglio (11-25 Nov. 1419), Bergamo (June 1422), Verona (1 Nov. 1422-17 Jan. 1423), Vicenza (May-July 1423), Treviso (20 July-24 Aug. 1423), Belluno (25 Sept.-Oct. 1423), Modena (Nov. 1423), Bologna (Jan. 1424), Prato (May-July 1424), Lucca (Sept.-Oct. 1424), Siena (20 Apr.-10 June 1425), Assisi and Perugia (Aug.-Nov. 1425), Todi (Jan.-Feb. 1426), Rome (Apr.-May 1426), Montefalco and Spoleto (June-July 1426), Amelia (Dec. 1426), Orvieto (12 Jan.-16 Feb. 1427), Urbino (June 1427), Siena (15 Aug.-6 Oct. 1427), Forlì (29 May-2 July 1431), Matelica (Sept. 1433), L’Aquila (Aug. 1438), Milan (Dec.-Feb. 1442-43).
The extraordinary success Bernardine enjoyed everywhere was due not only to his exceptional eloquence and the timeliness of his themes but also to the holiness of his life. He was a great promoter of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, which he had painted or carved on tablets bearing the monogram YHS and recommended to the multitudes. On account of this innovation, he was accused by rivals of fostering a superstitious and heretical cult and was twice brought to trial in Rome (1426 and 1431), but was declared innocent; indeed, Eugene IV, unaware that a second process had already been initiated against him, issued on 8 January 1432 a bull containing the most ample praise of Bernardine’s doctrine and morals (cf. E. Longpré, S. Bernardin de Sienne et le Nom de Jésus, in Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 28 [1935], pp. 443-76; 29 [1936], pp. 142-68; 30 [1937], pp. 443-77; 31 [1938], pp. 170-92). Within his Order, he became the principal promoter of the Observant reform, for which he founded many convents and in 1438 was elected its vicar general (cf. Ilario da Milano, S. B. da S. e l’Osservanza Minoritica, in S. Bernardino da Siena. Saggi e ricerche pubblicati nel V centenario della morte [Pubblicazioni dell’Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, nuova serie, 6], Milano 1945, pp. 379-406; D. Pacetti, S. B. da S. Vicario Generale dell’Osservanza con documenti inediti, in Studi Francescani, 17 [1945], pp. 7-69). He died at L’Aquila on 20 May 1444. He was canonized by Nicholas V on Pentecost 1450.
II. WORKS
The most important writings left by Bernardine are all sermons in Latin, with the exception of the Florentine Lenten cycle of 1425 (cf. D. Pacetti and B. Bughetti, Intorno agli schemi in volgare di s. B. da S. per la Quaresima Fiorentina del 1425, estratto da Arch. Franc. Hist., Quaracchi 1941, pp. 1-108), a few letters, and some treatises in the vernacular attributed to him (cf. S. B. da S., Le Operette volgari, integralmente edite da D. Pacetti, Firenze 1938). Besides his own writings, many sermons have come down to us as reported by his hearers. Thus we have a twofold series: works written by Bernardine himself and sermons reported by his audience. These reporters, with varying degrees of fidelity and almost always in summary form, took down his words on wax tablets or paper, sometimes in the vernacular in which he always preached, sometimes in Latin; hence we possess both Latin and vernacular reports. Some of these have been published, others remain unpublished. It has happened, for example at Padua in 1423 (cf. D. Pacetti, Una redazione inedita del «Seraphim» predicato da s. B. a Padova nella Quaresima 1423, in Bull. di Studi Bernardiniani, 4 [1938], p. 35 ff.), that several reporters or shorthand writers simultaneously recorded the same course of sermons, so that we possess quite different versions of the same cycle. Although the reported sermons do not have the same doctrinal authority as the Sermones or other written works—inasmuch as the reporters did not always transmit Bernardine’s thought with absolute fidelity—they are fundamental to literature for their vivid expressiveness and spiritual insight, and to civil history for the acute analysis they offer of the social conditions of the time. The Sermones constitute the largest and most important part of the Saint’s writings (almost all are preserved in autograph codices in the Vatican Library and in the Communal Library of Siena; cf. D. Pacetti, I codici autografi, op. cit.). Initially compiled for his own use, and after 1430 expanded, definitively edited, and in large part published by the author for the convenience of preachers (cf. D. Pacetti, Gli scritti di s. B. da S., in S. B. de S. Saggi e ricerche, op. cit., pp. 25-138), the Sermones are in fact theological treatises, especially of moral theology (cf. C. Piana, S. B. du S. teologo, in S. B. da S. Saggi e ricerche, op. cit., pp. 139-201), composed in homiletic form with great acumen and good taste, drawing on the works of the great scholastic doctors and jurists (William of Auvergne, Alexander of Hales, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, Duns Scotus, Gerald Odonis, Francis Mayron, Richard of Middleton, etc.) and of other writers.Berrabbino da Siena, St. — Bernardino monogram of the Name of Jesus on the façade of the Palazzo Vecchio (16th cent.) — Florence.
The Franciscans, especially Ubertino da Casale (cf. E. Blondeel, L’influence d’Ubertin de Casale sur les écrits de st B. de S., in Collectanea Franciscana, 1935, pp. 5-44) and Peter John Olivi, from whose exegetical writings, questions and various treatises he drew with discernment (cf. D. Pacetti, Di alcune fonti cui ha attinto s. B. da S., in Saggi e ricerche, op. cit., pp. 92-130). Of special importance are the Sermons on the Madonna, which together constitute a complete treatise on Mariology (cf. G. Folgarait, Le Vergine bella in s. B. da S., Milano 1939). On account of the novelty and originality of method and the timeliness of their content (cf. Ronzoni, D. D., L’eloquenza di s. B. da S. e la sua scuola, Siena 1899), these writings, once published, met with enormous success; this explains the considerable number of manuscripts (ca. 300) still extant, all copied within about forty years, until they were all printed: Cologne ca. 1470; Strasbourg before 1474; Utrecht ca. 1475; Speyer 1484; Antwerp 1488; Basle ca. 1489, 1490-95 and 1498; Nuremberg 1493 (cf. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, nn. 3881-94, Leipzig 1928); Lyons 1501. They were reprinted under the care of F. Ridolfi da Tossignano in Sancti B. Senensis Ordinis Minorum opera quae extant omnia (4 vols., Venice 1591), and then by Giovanni de la Haye in Sancti B. Senensis Ordinis seraphici Minorum opera omnia (5 vols. fol., Paris 1635). This edition was reprinted at Lyons 1650 and at Venice 1743. These editions are very inaccurate. The Fathers of Quaracchi are preparing a critical edition of all the Latin and vernacular works, both published and unpublished, written by the Saint or reported by others. Meanwhile, we may establish the following classification, keeping in view the Venetian edition of 1745:
1. — Certain Latin works: a) Published: Quadragesimale De christiana Religione (completed and published by the Saint between 1430 and 1436), I, pp. 1-319. — Quadragesimale De Evangelio aeterno, vice de caritate (1430-37), II, pp. 1-430. — Tractatus De vita christiana (before 1430), III, pp. 1-18. — Tractatus De B. Virgine (1430-40), IV, pp. 71-116, 119-30. — Tractatus De beatitudinibus evangelicis (1441-43), III, pp. 18-61, 249-51. — Tractatus De Spiritu Sancto et de inspirationibus (1442-44), III, pp. 119-43; IV, pp. 32-50. — Sermones De Tempore, Extraordinarii et De s. Ioseph (1440-44), IV, pp. 1-19, 14-31, 139-230; III, pp. 61-68, 393-121, 448-56; IV, pp. 143-47, 181-86; IV, 231-33. — b) Unpublished: Itinerarium anni seu sylva praedicabilis (1417-24), Siena, Biblioteca Comunale, mss. U. IV, ff. 7-8. — Postillae super Epistolas et Evangelia totius anni, ms. U. V (7), f. 4. — Two incomplete Sermons without title are found in the autograph ms. Chigiano C. VI, 163, ff. 212 r, 214 r., 215 v., 216 r.; 37 drafts of sermons, in the autograph ms. U. III, 1 of the Comunale of Siena; questions, compendia and various autograph notes, in ms. U. V. 6, ff. 99 v.-100 v., 294 v., 331 r., 344 r.-v., 394 v., and in ff. 6 r.-60 V. of the autograph ms. U. V. 5 of the same library. — c) Lost: Accentuale (1417) and Quadragesimale (1418) of Genoa; Postillae super Epistolas et Evangelia a Septuagesima ad Pascha; Opusculum et 23 articula contra Fr. Manfredum Vercellensem.
2. — Doubtful Latin works: Tractatus confessionis, III, pp. 421-437. — De speculo peccatorum, de contengitu mundi, III, pp. 437-40. — De praeceptis Regulae FF. Minorum, III, pp. 440-43. — Tractatus de mortuis (De Morts), III, pp. 377-79. — Sermons: De iussuria; De satisfactione pro peccato; De iudicio extremo; De poenis damnatorum: III, pp. 383-90 (and III, 365-68); 373-77 (and I, pp. 65-69); 379-83.
3. — Spurious Latin works: Quadragesimale De pugna spirituali, III, pp. 69-118. — Commentarii in Apocalypsim, V, pp. 1-117. — Disputatio (dialogus) inter mundum et religionem coram Papa, III, pp. 445-48. — Sermons: De humilitate, or de quatuor novissimis; De miseria conditionis humanae; De vilitate hominis; III, pp. 369-73, 390 ff.; De regno caelorum, IV, pp. 131-36; In Parasceve, vel Dom. 20 Quadragesimae: Assumpsit, ed. 1591, III, pp. 533-55; De Annuntiatione Virginis gloriosae, ed. Venice 1591, III, pp. 540-43.
4. — Vernacular works: Trattato della confessione «Renovamini»; La devota confessione volgare; Trattato dell’amor di Dio; Lettere (ed. D. Pacetti, Operette volgari, Firenze 1938, 1-316). — Quaresimale fiorentino del 1425, ms. no. 28 of the Observance of Siena (cf. D. Pacetti and B. Bughetti, Intorno agli schemi in volgare di s. B. da S. per la Quaresima fiorentina del 1425, op. cit.). — Two sermons on the vanity of women and on widowhood (ed. L. Marri Martini, in La Diana, 1-2 [1930] and in Bull. Senese di Storia Patria, 3 [1931]); a Prologue and eight sermons from the same manuscript (ed. D. Pacetti, in S. B. da S., Prediche volgari inedite, Siena 1935, pp. 205-390).
5. — Reported sermons: a) Published in Latin: Avventuale of Genoa 1417 (brief drafts of the first nine sermons, reported by an anonymous Servite hearer, ed. F. Delorme, La prédication de st B. à Gênes en 1417 et 1418, in Bull. di Studi Bernardiniani, 7 [1941], pp. 185-215). — Quadragesimale “Seraphim” of Padua (1423) reported by D. de Purziliis together with the sermons preached by the Saint before and after the said Lent, III, pp. 146-362; and ed. Venice 1591, IV, pp. 77-95. — The last two sermons of Padua (1443), ed. S. Bastanzio, in Bull. di St. Bernard., 8 (1942), 3-9. — b) Unpublished in Latin: Quadragesimale “Seraphim” of Padua (1423) reported by an anonymous, Rome, arch. FF. Minori conventuali, ms. D. 41 (cf. D. Pacetti, Una redazione inedita del “Seraphim”, op. cit., pp. 35-65, 97-125, 162-88; Una predica sul SS. Nome di Gesù tenuta a Padova nel 1423 da s. B. da S. e raccolta da un suo anonimo ascoltatore, in Miscell.).
Francescana, 42 [1942], pp. 257-76). — Course in Siena (2425), reported by G. N. de Griffiths, cod. Magliab. cl. LXXXIX, 60 (cf. S. Tosti, Di alcuni codici delle prediche di S. B., in Arch. Franc. Hist., 12 [1919], pp. 198-210). — Course in Assisi and Perugia (1425) reported by S. Giovanni da Capistrano, cod. di S. Cataldo, Modena (cf. D. Pacetti, La predicazione di S. B. a Perugia e ad Assisi nel 1425, in Col. lect. Franciscana, 9 [1939], pp. 494-520; 10 [1939], pp. 528-61-88; G. Cantini, Due sermoni sul nome di Gesù secondo il cod. di S. Cataldo, in Bull. di St. Bernar., 2 [1936], pp. 288-300; 3 [1937], pp. 290-95). — Course in Amelia (1426) reported as incomplete, cod. Vat. lat. 6966, f. 169 r.-176 V. (cf. D. Pacetti, Le Prediche volgari inedite, op. cit., p. 22 sgg.). — Lenten Cycle of Padua (1443), reported by D. de Purziliis, Bergamo, Civica Library, cod. A. A. 23 (cf. D. Pacetti, Nuovo codice di prediche inedite, in Bull. di St. Bernar., 1 [1935], pp. 191-204). — c) Published Vernacular Works: Sermon on the Most Holy Name of Jesus, 1418-21 (ed. E. Bulletti, in Bull. di St. Bernar., 8 [1942], pp. 3-29). — Florentine Lenten Cycle of 1424 (ed. C. Cannarozzi, S. B. da S., Le Prediche volgari, 2 vols., Pistoia 1934). — Florentine Lenten Cycle of 1425 (ed. C. Cannarozzi, S. B. da S., Le Prediche volgari, 3 vols., Firenze 1940). — Course in Siena of 1427 (ed. L. Bianchi, Le Prediche volgari di S. B. da S. dette alla piazza del Campo l'anno 1427, 3 vols., Siena 1888-88; P. Bargellini, S. B. da S., Le prediche volgari [I classici Rizzoli], Roma-Milano 1936). — Three Sermons "De bene-facite" (ed. Z. Lazzeri, in Bull. di St. Bernar., 6 [1940], pp. 93-141). — d) Unpublished Vernacular Works: Florentine Lenten Cycle of 1425, Siena, Convent of the Observance, Cod. no. 27, f. 28r.; 2 187r.; anonymous independent report differing from the published version noted above. The 1st sermon, The Hidden Judgments of God (ed. D. Pacetti, in Le Prediche Volgari inedite, op. cit., pp. 155-77). Course in Siena of 1425, Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale, cod. Magliab. cl. XXXV, 240; Pavia, University, cod. Ald. 162; anonymous report. Some sermons, ed. D. Pacetti, in Le Prediche Volgari inedite, op. cit., pp. 393-550; that on the Necessity of Study, in Bull. di St. Bernar., 2 (1936), pp. 301-21; G. De Angelis, Four unpublished sermons of S. B., ibid., 6 (1940), pp. 177-202; 7 (1940), pp. 50-57.