BIANCO (di SANTI) da SIENA. – Mystical poet and Jesuate, one of the most notable figures of the movement begun by b. Colombini and the finest religious lyric poet of the second half of the 14th century. Born at Lanciolina (or Anciolina) in the upper Valdarno, he was also called the B. da Lanciolina. We know little about his life. In Siena, in his youth, he practised the wool-working trade as a weaver, and in 1567 was received among the COLOMBINA (v.). For many years he wandered through central Italy, publicly singing his verses. He was endowed with extraordinary graces, and after a holy life died in Venice at the beginning of the
15th century. A Laudario remains from him, first published by T. Bini in 1851 and by F. Ageno in 1939.
By overenthusiastic admirers he was compared with Iacopone da Todi. Although his lauds are artistically inferior, they are not lacking in linguistic vigour and originality of content; after Iacopone, he is the greatest Italian mystical poet. Singing of the love of Jesus, of Maria S.ma, and of the mysteries of the soul, especially its renunciation of all the vanities of the world, often through paraphrases of liturgical prayers or psalms, he does not limit himself to the play of images, like the lyric poets of the 14th and 15th centuries, but evokes vivid spiritual experiences. His lyric poetry consequently possesses a singular interest that is not merely literary, but also theological. Particularly significant for their similarities to the poetic motifs of s. Giovanni della Croce are Laude XVIIIa, Ottima tenebria privami della luce, and XXa Ferito m'ha l'Amore di saetta di fuoco.