PASSAVANTI, Jacopo. — Dominican, orator, writer, born in Florence around 1302 to Banco and Francesca Tornaquinci, died there on 15 June 1357. He entered the convent of Santa Maria Novella around 1317; studied in Paris from 1330 to 1333; taught philosophy in Pisa, theology in Siena and Rome; preached in Florence in 1340; served as prior in Pistoia and San Miniato from 1341 to 1345; and at the end of 1345 became prior in Florence, where he was appointed vicar general of the diocese from 1350 to 1352.
He was an exemplary religious, bold and forthright in speaking the truth, an expert and learned advisor in difficult cases. He oversaw the convent library and, with artistic discernment, supervised the works at Santa Maria Novella, suggesting and directing its frescoes; and at the request of Niccolò Acciaiuoli, he also oversaw the construction of the Certosa. A prolific and fervent orator, his sermons—especially those on Confession during Lent 1354—were so well received that many asked him to reduce them to writing in the vernacular. Thus, in the two years before his death, he composed the *Specchio di vera penitenza* (Florence 1495; ed. by F. L. Polidori, ibid. 1864; ed. by M. Lenardon, ibid. 1923) “for those who are not learned,” intending, and perhaps beginning, a parallel treatise “in Latin for clerics” on the manner of hearing confessions, which he did not have time to complete.
The *Specchio* is divided into five distinctions: the first explains what Penance is; the second, its incentives; the third, its impediments; the fourth, the parts of Penance (contrition and attrition); and the fifth treats of Confession in seven chapters concerning the dispositions of the penitent and the requirements and duties of the confessor. To the fifth distinction are appended treatises on pride and humility, vainglory and vain knowledge, diabolical knowledge (magic), and dreams. These are pages rich in solid doctrine, woven with patristic and scholastic citations and punctuated by “examples” drawn from well-known sources (Helinand, Caesarius, Bede, Jacques de Vitry), which Passavanti selects from the darkest to impress the sinner, and which his art renders luminous. Some are very brief, others have the core and vigor of a powerful novella (Beatrice, Thais, the infernal hunt, the Roman elder tempted by a female devil). Passavanti knows how to touch upon nefarious sins with concise severity, allowing their gravity to be glimpsed without any unhealthy suggestion.
Passavanti’s muse is not solely one of terror (De Sanctis) but also of hope. His stories, predominantly in red and black, also have some gilded margins, especially where the Madonna intervenes. The aesthetic value of the *Specchio* lies in its “examples,” yet these cannot be detached from the dogmatic and preceptive context of which they form a part, distinguished by clarity of observation, precision of psychological analysis, sobriety of reasoning, a tone of melancholy, and at times a dry wit of austere morality. In the treatises, the examples become sparser, but the survey of superstitions, magic, and false interpretations of dreams offers a folkloric interest of the first order. The *Specchio* is important for Passavanti’s judgments on the mission of the learned, on humanistic studies, and on the Italian dialects. Translations of a homily by Origen and two speeches by Livy have been attributed to him, but without foundation.
PASSAU (PASSAVIA), DIOCESE OF
Facade of the Cathedral. Architect Carlo Lurago (1675). The bell towers were completed in 1896–97.