UBERTINO DA CASALE. — Head of the Franciscan Spirituals, b. in 1259 at Casale-Monferrato (Vercelli), he donned the Franciscan habit in the province of Genoa (1273). Assigned to S. Croce in Florence for study (1285), he first went to Rome and then to Greccio, where the blessed Giovanni da Parma initiated him into the apocalyptic prophecies concerning the decline and renewal of the Franciscan Order.
In Prologue I of the Arbor vitae and throughout its five books, U. reveals the paths by which his spiritual formation took place, from 1285 to 1305. During his first stay in Tuscany, where he devoted himself to preaching, he found that the spirit of Jesus was strongly “boiling” in many virtuous persons, among them Pietro Pettinaio (v. Dante, Purg., XIII, 125-29) from Campi in Chianti near Siena, the virgin Cecilia da Firenze, COLIVI (v.). In Paris (1289-98), U. continued to study the sacred books and also served as a lecturer. Carried away by the prevailing laxity, he lost the fruits of his initial spiritual formation. Coming to his senses, he returned to Umbria, where the blessed Angela da Foligno completely transformed him. A fervent propagator of spiritual renewal, U. distinguished himself through passionate attacks against those who opposed his dreams of reforming the Church and the Franciscan Order. Denounced to Benedict XI and even accused of immorality, he was relegated to La Verna (spring 1304), where on 28 September 1305 he completed the Arbor vitae.
From the end of 1309 to May 1312, U. vigorously defended the strict observance of the Franciscan Rule and the orthodoxy of Olivi before Clement V; the bull Exivi de Paradiso (6 May 1312), which maintained Franciscan life in its traditional rigor, and the general decree Fidei catholicae fundamento (1312), which spared Olivi any nominal condemnation, attest to U.’s influence in the heated controversy among the Franciscans at the Council of Vienne. After the bitter dispute, U. probably withdrew to Avignon, where he stayed with Cardinals Colonna and Orsini. To remove him from the hostility of his adversaries (Michele da Cesena, Bona-
grazia da Bergamo), John XXII allowed him to join the Benedictines of the abbey of S. Pietro at Gembloux, in the diocese of Liège (1 October 1317). In reality, U. remained in the service of N. Orsini and successfully carried out various political and ecclesiastical missions. In the controversy over the poverty of Christ and the Apostles, under John XXII, U. gave a moderate judgment inspired by the Apologia pauperum of St. Bonaventure (1322). Accused of heresy and rebellion against the Holy See, he fled Avignon in 1325, perhaps to the court of Lodovico Bavaro. The date of his death is unknown.
II. WRITINGS
At the request of others, U. composed the Arbor vitae crucifixae, Jesu sulla Verna (1305). It reflects not only his fiery personality and the spiritual milieu in which he lived, but also his theological, mystical, and political thought. Adapted to the roots, trunk, branches, summit, and fruits of the allegorical tree (cf. the Lignum vitae of s. Bonaventura) are the mysteries of the Life, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, together with Mary’s loving compassion, set in contrast with the betrayal of the unfaithful Church; U. nevertheless announces its return to the Tree of Life according to tendentious Joachimite predictions. U. urges the reader to a deeper meditation on the interior life of Jesus and the sufferings of his Heart, the first motive of redemption and the foundation of every Grace and every merit (l. IV, 21; f. 164). A century before s. Bernardino da Siena, U. exalted the Name of Jesus and conceived the idea of making it a triumphant standard (l. II, cap. 2; f. 41°-44°). Of Mary he expounds above all her divine maternity and mediating mission (l. II, cap. 5; f. 51°). U. also devotes tender pages to s. Joseph (l. II, cap. 6; f. 62°).The tone changes when U. deals with the state of the Church, especially in cap. 7 (Jesus despectus iterum) and cap. 8 (Jesus falsificatus) of l. V, ff. 224-34. Seduced by Joachimism, U. judges the Church and consequently the Franciscan Order according to the theory of the seven states, in which the sixth is that of the Church’s spiritual renewal through the work of s. Francesco and his faithful lovers of “madonna povertà” amid general decadence. Although, from the prologue of the Arbor vitae onward, he professes the most complete submission to the Roman Church, U. distinguishes between the carnal Church and the spiritual Church, rejects the former as the great whore of Babylon, and declares that after the invalid abdication of s. Celestino V—whose renunciation was obtained through the malice and fraud of card. Castani and his accomplices—there was no longer any legitimate pope. Bonifacio VIII is the evil beast of the Apocalypse, Benedetto XI the proud beast, and Clemente V will oppress the Apostolic See until the one who will sit legitimately and reform everything arrives (l. V, cap. 8, ff. 228°-34°). Once the storm has passed, Christ’s humble ministers will lead back to the true Church those who had been seduced by the proud usurpers (l. V, cap. 9, Jesus doctor humilium, f. 234°).
In l. V of the Arbor (which Dante knew), both the rebellious friar who authored the Decalogus evangelicae paupertatis (1340) and Mattia Bellintani da Salò in his Historia Capuccina (1588) repeatedly draw upon it to support their tendentious theses. A deeper and more extensive influence was exerted by his meditations on the lives of Jesus, Mary, s. Giuseppe, and s. Francesco, set forth in the other books (for example, on s. Bernardino da Siena, s. Giacomo della Marca, Giac. Gruytrode, Tritemius). S. Bernardino da Siena found in the Arbor the substance of his Christological preaching, as well as of his teaching on universal meditation on Mary and the patronage of s. Giuseppe. The very distribution of the manuscripts of the Arbor, especially in Italy, Spain, and the Low Countries, in the most diverse circles, proves its popularity.
U.’s other notable writings are: the Responsio to Clemente V’s four questions on the observance of Franciscan poverty and the teaching of Olivi (beginning of 1310); the Rotulus, in which he denounces twenty-five violations of the Franciscan Rule (end of 1310 or beginning of 1311); Super tribus sceleribus Damasci, in which he maintains that a Friar Minor may have nothing other than the strict use of necessary things (July 1311); Sanctitati apostolicae, which is Olivi’Apologia (v.) presented at the beginning of the summer of
1311; Declaratio fr. Ubertini et sociorum eius, a reply to the procurator Raimondo da Fronsac and to Bonagrazia da Bergamo, in which he emphasizes his work in suppressing the heresy of the freedom of the spirit and once again defends Olivi (summer 1311). The Sentenza sulla povertà apostolica, of 1322 (Wadding, Annales, n. XIX), was developed in a Traetatus de altissima paupertate Christi et apostolorum eius et verorum apostolicorum, hitherto unpublished (Vienna, Hofbibliothek, ms. 809).