CAVALCA, DOMENICO. — Born in Vicopisano between 1260 and 1270 into a family of notaries. It is not known with precision what his first education was. It is certain, however, that after his initial literary studies he entered the Dominicans at the age of sixteen at the convent of St Catherine in Pisa, at a time when the convent was at the height of its splendor. In the Dominican studium, Cavalca studied philosophy and theology and was able to complete his literary education.
He spent most of his life in Pisa, and the chronicle of the convent tells us that he was justly considered a saint because he exemplified the Rule in an exemplary manner. Around 1300 he was an advisor to the vicar Bonaparte, Pope Pius III, and in the same year was appointed confessor to the Dames of Mercy, a distinguished institution in the city. In 1342 he arranged for the foundation of the convent of St Martha so that converted prostitutes might be gathered there, entrusting it to the Dominican nuns.
The sick in the hospitals had him as their material and spiritual guardian: they called him Domenico the Hospitaler.
Cavalca’s literary activity did not arouse much interest during his lifetime. The many pages he wrote or dictated remained almost unknown for a long time. An intelligent and expressive writer, with a very particular vividness, he is to be considered among the most effective prose writers of the fourteenth century. Discussions and controversies arose around his work. Franceschini maintained that Cavalca would have vulgarized the work of the Blessed Simone Fidati of Cascia. Mattioli instead attributed the controversial works of Cavalca to Fra Giovanni of Salerno. Significant is the critical study by C. Naselli, who vindicates Cavalca’s works. He translated from Latin the Lives of the Holy Fathers, the Dialogue of St Gregory, the Acts of the Apostles, and St Jerome’s Letter to Eustochium.
His original works include: Treatise on Patience or Medicine of the Heart; Mirror of the Cross; Mirror of Sins; Pungillunga; Fruits of the Tongue; Thirty Fools; Discipline of the Spirituals; Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed. An excellent edition of many of these works is due to Monsignor Giovanni Bottari, published between 1738 and 1764.
The chronicle of the convent of St Catherine in Pisa (Archivio storico Italiano, vol. VI [1845, 11], pp. 508-509) states that Cavalca fell asleep in peace in November 1342 and that his funeral was attended by the entire town, especially the poor and the afflicted.