Telesforo of Cosenza

TELESFORO OF COSENZA. - An enigmatic writer, who in the pseudo-prophetic literature that claimed to trace back to the authority of Joachim of Fiore holds a notable place on account of his De statu Ecclesiae et de tribulationibus futuris, written between 1356 and 1365. Abridged and better ordered by a certain Fra' Rusticano (who composed the dedicatory letter to Antonio Adorno, doge of Genoa, 3 Sept. 1386), it was printed in 1516 in Venice.

The book presents itself, from the very beginning, as the work of T. of C. "priest and hermit, learned and holy," who lived "near Thebes, a city (their land called Luzzi)," as D. Martire puts it. T. is said to have "summarized the books of Cyril, of Joachim, the histories written by Archbishop Luca of Cosenza and others." Furthermore, he is said to have written another book of histories and the life of the blessed Joachim, and to have died at Luzzi, probably in the famous monastery of the Sambucina. In reality, the De statu Eccl. is a florilegium; "the prophecy reflects a nationalist tendency regarding the extinction of the schism that began after the election of Urban VI" (P. Paschini). E. Donckel, followed by P. Paschini, vindicates the historicity of the aforementioned reports concerning the person of T.: "It is not a pseudonym, but rather a Franciscan hermit, perhaps of the congregation of Clareno, who seems later to have passed to the Hieronymites approved by Gregory XI in 1373." F. Foberti, on the other hand, energetically reaffirms the thesis already prevalent (F. Kampers, H. Grundmann, L. Pastor), that T. is a pseudonym: "The title of the book echoes the Tractatus de ultimis tribulationibus of the earlier Joachimite pseudo-literature."

Francesco Spadafora