Guido, Monk of Monte Cassino

GUIDO, monk of MONTECASSINO. — He flourished under Abbot Gerardo (1111–23) and was the teacher of Pietro Diacono (De viris illustribus Casinensis coenobii: PL 173, 1010), who calls him «vir in humana eruditiones clarissimus, religione et vita probatissima» (ibid., 1044–45). He was charged by «quibusdam venerabilibus fratribus» with putting ALBERIGO (v.), a monk of Montecassino, and perhaps educated by G. (A. Mirra, p. 35), had experienced at the age of 10, and whose fame had spread widely.

But G.’s work was not well received because «quamplura descripsit, quamplura dimisit», to such an extent that Alberico himself rewrote it, preserving only G.’s prologue (ed. F. Cancellieri [V. BIBLICA.], pp. 144–45; A. Mirra [V. BIBLICA.], p. 86). According to Pietro Diacono as well (loc. cit.), G. also wrote a history of the emperor Enrico (IV or VI), and some verses on the fate of the same Vision, all of which has been lost.

BIBL.: F. Cancellieri, Osservazioni intorno alla questione... sopra l'originalità della Divina Commedia di Dante, appoggiata alla storia della Visione del monaco cassinese Alberico, Roma 1814, passim, which contains the first ed. of the Visione di Alberico; A. Mirra, La Visione di Alberico, in Miscellanea Cassinese, 11 (1932), pp. 34–36, 48, 86; cf. also L. Tosi, Storia della bodia di Montecassino, II, Napoli 1842, p. 35. Renata Orasi Ausenda
Cite this article

“GUIDO, MONACO DI MONTECASSINO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI (1951), p. 766. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/guido-monaco-di-montecassino.