FIDATI, SIMONE da CASCIA, blessed. - Born at Cascia about 1295; he died, it is not known whether at Florence or at Rome, on 2 February 1348. A disciple of Angelo Clareno, leader of the Franciscan Spirituals, he entered the Order of the Augustinians and, after being ordained priest, devoted himself to preaching in central Italy; among his admirers were Giovanni delle Celle and Taddeo Gaddi. A decree of Gregorio XVI in 1833 recognized his cult ab immemorabili.
Some works by Calvalca circulate under his name, and the question has not yet been settled. In 1912 A. Muller called F.’s theology an inspiration for Luther, but on the basis of passages detached from their context. Among F.’s writings, the Ordine della vita cristiana is cited by the Vocabolario della Crusca as a linguistic text. He also wrote the Regola e dottrina ad una figliolo spirituale; in Latin, the De gestis Domini Salvatoris and numerous letters.
disti in una questione letteraria del sec. XIV, ibid. 1902; I. Malone, Fra S. F. e Taddeo Gaddi, in L'Orie, 17 (1914), pp. 100-10; A. V. Muller, Una fonte ignorata del sistema di Lutero, Il b. F. da C. e la sua teologia, Rome 1921. Cf. the review by N. Paulus in Theologische Revue, 21 (1922), cols. 18-20; id., S. F. von Cascia und sein Verhältnis zu Luther, in Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 46 (1922), pp. 169-76.