Caracciolo, Roberto

CARACCIOLO, ROBERTO. - Franciscan preacher (more commonly Fra' Roberto da Lecce), b. at Lecce in 1425, d. there on 6 May 1495. Of the noble Caraccioli del Leone, in deference to his parents he entered the Observant Friars Minor as an adolescent, but in 1452 he passed to the Conventuals. A Master of Theology, for nearly 50 years he was an indefatigable and ardent popular preacher, from as early as 1448 (Perugia, Rome) arousing enthusiasm throughout Italy, as St. Bernardino of Siena had done before him. Trithemius calls him "a man of excellent intellect, gentle and ornate in speech, distinguished in life and conversation, a most celebrated preacher and famous throughout the whole Christian world; by word and by example he drew many back from iniquity." He was dear to Nicholas V and Callistus III; the latter (1456) sent him as apostolic nuncio to the duke and the people of Milan; Paul II appointed him apostolic preacher (1465). Ferrante I of Aragon wanted him as royal preacher at Naples, where he was enrolled in the Pontanian Academy. In 1475 he became bishop of L'Aquila, in 1477 he was translated to Aquino by Sixtus IV, and in 1483-84 he passed to the see of Lecce, retaining the bishopric of Aquino.

He left admired collections of sermons both in Latin and in the vernacular: De laudibus sanctorum, printed in ten cities; Discorsi sul timore dei giudizi di Dio (they had 13 editions); Specchio della fede cristiana (6 editions); Opus Quadragesimale perutilissimum quod de paenitentia dictum est (30 editions); Quaresimale dei peccati (8 editions); Quaresimale della Penitenza (24 editions); Sermones de adventis et de timore iudiciorum Dei (13 editions); Trattato contro la separazione dei frati Minori dell'Osservanza dai Conventuali, to which Fr. Nicola d'Osimo replied around 1453. Other works were attributed to C., perhaps to give them greater credit. All of C.'s works were printed in three volumes (Venice 1490), and in one (Lyons 1513, from the press of Alemanni).

Ferdinando Diotallovi