RODOLFO di BIBERACH. - Franciscan mystic,
having under it the sees of Milos, Nicaria, Carpathos, Chios, Tinos, and Mycone.
Under Turkish rule (1522-1912) the number of Catholics was small; their spiritual care has been permanently entrusted to the Franciscans from 1719 to the present day. The Holy See erected the apostolic prefecture in 1897 and raised it to the rank of archbishopric in 1928. After the end of the Second World War R., Dodecanese (v.), was incorporated into Greece, which unfortunately also took possession of the
b. at the beginning of the 14th century at Biberach (Ulm, Württemberg), d. in 1360.
He exercised great influence in the 14th century through his mystical works: De septem itineribus aeternitatis (80 manuscripts; in German, manuscript 278 of Einsiedeln); De septem donis Spiritus Sancti (21 manuscripts; these two works were repeatedly printed under the name of, and together with the works of, St. Bonaventura); Undecim Sermones super Canticum Canticarum (manuscript A W 35 of the abbey of St. Peter at Salzburg and manuscript B IX 25 of the Municipal Library of Basel); De officio Cherubyn (Theologische Quartalschrift, 88 [1906], pp. 411-36); De excellenti praerogativa benedictae Virginis (a copy of a sermon in manuscript I, 2°, 148, 6° of the University Library of Breslau).