PASSAVANTI, JACOPO. – Dominican, preacher, writer, born in Florence around 1302 to Banco and Francesca Tornaquinci, and died there on 15 June 1357. He entered the convent of S. Maria Novella around 1317; studied in Paris from 1330 to 1333; was lecturer in philosophy at Pisa, master of theology at Siena and Rome; preacher in Florence in 1340; prior at Pistoia and S. Miniato in 1341–45; at the end of 1345 he became prior in Florence, where he was appointed vicar general of the diocese from 1350 to 1352.
He was an exemplary religious, bold and steadfast in speaking the truth, an experienced counsellor and learned in difficult cases. He cared for the convent library and, with artistic taste, supervised the Opera of S. Maria Novella, suggesting and directing its frescoes; at the request of Niccolò Acciaiuoli he also took charge of the construction of the Certosa. A prolific and fervent preacher, he was so well received for his sermons, especially those on Confession during Lent of 1354, that many people begged him “to reduce them to a certain order in vernacular writing.” He therefore composed, during the two years preceding his death, the Specchio di vera penitenza (Florence 1495; edited by F. L. Polidori, ibid. 1864; edited by M. Lenardon, ibid. 1925) “for those who are not learned,” intending—and perhaps beginning—a parallel treatise “in Latin for the clerics” on the manner of hearing confessions, which, however, he did not have time to compose.
The Specchio is divided into 5 distinctions: the first demonstrates what Penance is; the second its incentives and the third its impediments; the fourth deals with the parts of Penance (contrition and attrition); the fifth treats Confession in 7 chapters concerning the penitent’s dispositions and the requirements and duties of the confessor. The fifth distinction is followed by short treatises on pride and humility, vainglory and vain knowledge, diabolical knowledge (magic), and dreams. These pages are nourished by solid doctrine, interwoven with patristic and scholastic quotations and punctuated by “examples” drawn from well-known sources (Elinand, Caesarius, Bede, Jacopo da Vitry), which P. chooses from among the darkest in order to impress the sinner, and which his art renders phosphorescent. Some are extremely brief; others contain the substance and sinew of a powerful tale (Beatrice, Thais, the infernal hunt, the old hermit tempted by the female devil). P. knows how to touch upon heinous sins with incisive concision, allowing their gravity to be glimpsed without unhealthy suggestion.
The muse of P. is not only terror (De Sanctis), but also hope. His tales, predominantly in red and black, also have some gilded margins, especially where the Madonna intervenes. The aesthetic value of the Specchio lies in the “examples”; yet they cannot be detached from the dogmatic and prescriptive context of which they form part, and which is distinguished by clarity of observation, precision of psychological analysis, sobriety of reasoning, and the sadness—and at times the wit—of an austere, though not rigid, morality. In the treatises the examples become less frequent, but the survey of superstitions, magic, and false interpretations of dreams offers folkloric interest of the highest order. The Specchio is important for P.’s judgments concerning the mission of the learned man, humanistic studies, and the Italian dialects. Translations of a homily by Origen and of two speeches by Livy were attributed to P., but without foundation.