UBERTINO da CASALE. - Leader of the Franciscan Spirituals, born in 1259 at Casale Monferrato (Vercelli), he entered the Franciscan order in the province of Genoa in 1273. Sent to study at Santa Croce in Florence in 1285, he first went to Rome and then to Greccio, where the Blessed John of Parma initiated him into the apocalyptic prophecies concerning the decline and renewal of the Franciscan Order.
In the prologue of Book I of the Arbor vitae and throughout its five books, Ubertino describes the path by which his spiritual formation was accomplished between 1285 and 1305. During his first stay in Tuscany, where he devoted himself to preaching, he found that the spirit of Jesus was strongly “seething” in many virtuous people, among them Pietro Pettinato (cf. Dante, Purg., XIII, 125–29) of Campi in Chianti near Siena, the virgin Cecilia of Florence, and Peter Olivi (cf.). In Paris (1289–98), Ubertino continued his study of sacred texts and also held the office of lector. Carried away by the general laxity, he lost the fruits of his earlier spiritual formation. Regaining his senses, he returned to Umbria, where the Blessed Angela of Foligno transformed him completely. A fervent promoter of the spiritual renaissance, Ubertino distinguished himself by 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 confined to La Verna (spring 1304), where on 28 September 1305 he completed the Arbor vitae.
From late 1309 to May 1312, Ubertino vigorously defended strict observance of the Franciscan Rule and the orthodoxy of Olivi before Clement V; the bull Exivi de Paradiso (6 May 1312), which maintained the Franciscan life in its traditional rigor, and the general decree Fidei catholicae fundamento (1312), which spared Olivi any formal condemnation, attest to Ubertino’s influence in the controversy among the Franciscans at the Council of Vienne. After the dispute, Ubertino probably retired to Avignon with Cardinals Colonna and Orsini. To shield him from the hostility of his adversaries (Michael of Cesena, Bonagrazia of Bergamo), John XXII permitted him to join the Benedictines of the abbey of St. Peter at Gembloux, in the diocese of Liège (1 October 1317). In reality, Ubertino remained in the service of Cardinal Orsini and successfully conducted various political-ecclesiastical negotiations. In the controversy over the poverty of Christ and the Apostles under John XXII, Ubertino rendered a moderate judgment inspired by the papal position of St. Bonaventure (1322). Accused of heresy and rebellion against the Holy See, he fled from Avignon in 1325, perhaps to join Louis of Bavaria. The date of his death is unknown.
II. WRITINGS
At the request of others, Ubertino composed the Arbor vitae crucifixae Jesu on La Verna in 1305. It not only reflects his fiery personality and the spiritual environment in which he lived, but also his theological, mystical, and political thought. The mysteries of the Life, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, together with the loving compassion of Mary, are adapted to the roots, trunk, branches, crown, and fruits of the allegorical tree (cf. St. Bonaventure’s Lignum vitae) and are contrasted with the betrayal of the unfaithful Church, whose return to the Tree of Life Ubertino announces in accordance with the Joachite predictions. Ubertino urges the reader to a deeper meditation on the interior life of Jesus and on the sufferings of His Heart, the first motive of redemption, foundation of every grace and merit (Book IV, ch. 21; fol. 164v). A century before St. Bernardino of Siena, Ubertino exalted the Name of Jesus and envisaged it as a triumphal banner (Book II, ch. 2; fols. 41r–44v). Concerning Mary, he especially expounds her divine motherhood and mediating mission (Book II, ch. 5; fol. 51r). He also devotes tender pages to St. Joseph (Book II, ch. 6; fol. 62r).The tone changes when Ubertino treats of the state of the Church, especially in ch. 7 (Jesu despectus iterum) and ch. 8 (Jesu falsificatus) of Book V (fols. 224r–34v). Seduced by Joachimism, Ubertino judges the Church—and therefore the Franciscan Order—according to the theory of the seven states, in which the sixth is the spiritual renewal of the Church through St. Francis and his faithful lovers of “Lady Poverty” amid general decline. Although in the prologue of the Arbor vitae he professes complete submission to the Roman Church, Ubertino distinguishes between the carnal Church and the spiritual Church, rejecting the former as the great harlot of Babylon, and declares that after the invalid abdication of St. Celestine V—whose resignation he claims was obtained by cunning and fraud on the part of Cardinal Caetani and his accomplices—there has been no legitimate pope. Boniface VIII is the beast of the Apocalypse, Benedict XI the second beast, and Clement V will oppress the Apostolic See until he who shall sit legitimately comes and reforms all things (Book V, ch. 8, fols. 228r–34v). Once the storm has passed, the humble ministers of Christ will lead back to the true Church those who had been seduced by the proud usurpers (Book V, ch. 9, Jesu doctor humilium, fol. 234r).
Book V of the Arbor—which Dante knew—was later cited by both the rebellious friar who wrote the Decalogue of evangelical poverty (1340) and Matthias Bellintani of Salò in his Historia Caucicina (1588) to support their tendentious theses. Ubertino’s meditations on the lives of Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph, and St. Francis, as set forth in the other books, exercised a deeper and more widespread influence (e.g., on St. Bernardino of Siena, St. James of the Marches, James Gruytrode, Trithemius). St. Bernardino found in the Arbor the substance of his Christological preaching as well as his doctrine on the universal meditation of Mary and the patronage of St. Joseph. The wide diffusion of the manuscript of the Arbor, especially in Italy, Spain, and the Low Countries among the most diverse circles, attests to its influence.
Other notable writings by Ubertino are: the Responsio to the four questions of Clement V on the observance of Franciscan poverty and the doctrine of Olivi (early 1310); the Rotulus in which he denounces twenty-five violations of the Franciscan Rule (late 1310 or early 1311); Super tribus sceleribus Damasci, in which he maintains that the Franciscan friar can have no use of things except what is strictly necessary (July 1311); and Sanctitati apostolicae, which is the apology of Olivi (cf.) presented at the beginning of summer.