SERVASANTO da FAENZA. — Franciscan theologian and preacher, born at Oriolo (Faenza) in the first half of the 13th century, died probably at Florence around 1300. He entered the Order at Bologna, where he completed his studies and was ordained a priest between 1244 and 1260. He preached in various regions of Italy, but especially in Tuscany and Florence.
His principal works are: Summa or Liber de exemplis naturalibus, divided into three books dealing respectively with faith, the Sacraments, and virtues and vices (unpublished, with the exception of the prologue and the table of contents); Summa de paenitentia (Louvain 1485, under the title Antidatarium animae), considered by the author himself a supplement to the preceding work and intended exclusively for preachers; Summa or Liber de virtutibus et vitiis (unpublished, apart from some excerpts), probably composed at Florence (ca. 1277–85) as an expansion, intended for preachers, of the third book of the Summa de exemplis naturalibus; a Mariale or Liber de laudibus beatae Mariae (unpublished), in which, following the Mariale of s. Alberto Magno, he applies to the Virgin all the good qualities of creation and the figures of the Old Testament. Several cycles of sermons are also attributed to him: Sermones de proprio Sanctorum (published among the works of s. Bonaventura, III, Rome 1596, pp. 237–322); Sermones de communi Sanctorum (ibid., pp. 323–406); Sermones de festivitatibus B. M. V. (cf. ibid., 387a and 391a). At the beginning of the 14th century Bono Giamboni
compiled a collection of these sermons and translated them into Italian under the title Della miseria dell'umana generazione (in Trattati morali, Florence 1836). The works of S., regarded as the greatest moralist of the 13th century, are of particular value for their anecdotal character.