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 JACOPONE

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JACOPONE

in "FanfuUa della Domenica ", Rome, 10 June, 1906), on the ground that this legend has too many points of resemblance with the "Legends of St. Francis". But these resemblances between the lives of saints have already become a commonplace, and in this case are not to be taken seriously. On the other hand, Bertoni is right in rejecting the description of the circumstances in which each poem of Jacopone was written. This part of his life is rather to be con- sidered as a commentary on the poems of Jacopone. As to the real sources of his life, the author himself, in the Tobler version (see bibliography), points out that he has collected the reminiscences and tra- ditions concerning Jacopone still extant among the older friars in the Umbrian convents of his epoch.

With the help of the aforesaid sources and of some allusions in Jacopone's poems, we can gather the following facts of his life. Born at Todi (1228?), of the noble family of Benedetti, Jacopone took up the study of law — probably at Bologna, as might be inferred from the fact that this was the most famous school of law at the time, and from the manner in which he speaks of Bologna in the poem "Senno me pare e cortesia" (Modio, "I Cantici del B. Jacopone da Todi", Rome, 15.58, 109). On returning home, he exercised — the legends say with some avarice — the profession of an advocate (procuratore). In course of time (1267?) he married a noblewoman, who in one version of the legend is called Vanna, daughter of Bernardino, Count of CoUemedio (Coldi- mezzo near Todi) (La Verna, IV, 1906, 386). It was the great piety and the tragical death of his young spouse that brought about an entire change in Jacopone. A great feast was being celebrated at Todi — probably in 1268. Among the onlookers was Jacopone's wife in rich array. Suddenly the raised platform from which she was witnessing the specta- cle gave way, crushing her fatally. When the poet reached her side Vanna was already dying; on opening her dress, he found a hair cloth beneath the splendid robes. The terrible blow caused by his wife's death, together with the evidence of her secret penance for his sins, made such an impression on Jacopone that for many years he seemed to be no longer himself. Abandoning his profession, and wearing the habit of a Franciscan Tertiary {bizochone), he led a roam- ing life for a full decade (see the poem "Que farai fra Jacopone" in Modio, 7.3). During this period he was the terror of his friends and relations, and be- came a sort of Christian Diogenes. It was then probably that the former proud doctor of law, Jaeopo dei Benedetti, mocked and scoffed at by the boys in the streets of Todi, received the nickname of Jaco- pone. Once, saddled and bridled like an ass, he crawled on all fours in the public square of Todi; on another occasion, to the great confusion of his family, he appeared at a wedtling in his brother's house, tarred and feathered from top to toe. When asked by a citizen to carry home a pair of capons for him, Jacopone brought them to the man's family tomb, saying that this was his true house. Jacopone's folly was however the folly of the Cross, as he says: — ■

Senno me pare e cortesia

Erapazir per lo bel Messia.

A wise and courteous choice he'd make

Who'd be a fool for the dear Lord's sake. About 1278 he .sought admission into the Order of Friars Minor at his native town, a request which after some difficulty was granted. Out of humility he chose to be a lay brother. In the great convent of S. I'ortunato, at Todi, the so-called party of Ihe "Community" of the Franci.scan Order certainly firevailed. This party was strongly opposed to that of the more zealous friars, called the "Spirit- uals". The sympathies of Jacopone were with the lattiT. Boniface VIII, who had under unusual cir- cumstances succeeded Celestine V, the friend of the

Spirituals, having recalled all privileges granted by his predecessor and thus subjected anew the zealous friars to their regular superiors, and having engaged in a struggle with the two Cardinals Colonna, Jaco- pone took sides with these two protectors of the Spirituals against the pope. Perhaps there were also personal reasons for enmity between Boniface and the poet, dating from the time when the former, then a young man (1260), obtained an ecclesiastical bene- fice at Todi, where his uncle Peter was bishop from 1252 to 1276 (see Eubel, "Hierarchia cath. nied. »vi", I, 530; Tosti, "Storia di Bonifazio VIII", Monte Cassino, I, 1846, 221; Finke, "Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII", Munster, 1902, 4). Palestrina, the stronghold of the Colonnas, having been taken in 1298 by the papal troops, Jacopone was imprisoned in the fortress above the town, known to-day as Castel San Pietro. Some of Jacopone's most touch- ing, and also most aggressive, poems were composed in this dungeon. Not even in the great Jubilee of 1300 did Jacopone obtain pardon, the Colonnas and their partisans having been excluded from the Jubilee by a special Bull (see text in Tosti, 1. c, 11,283). Boni- face VIII was captured at Anagni on 7 Sept., 1303, and upon his death, which occurred shortly afterwards (11 Oct.), Jacopone was s'et at liberty. Now an old man, broken down, tried and purified by hardships, he withdrew first to Pantanelli, a hermitage on the Tiber, three hours distant from Orvieto (La Verna,' 1. c, 390), then to Collazzone, a small town situated on a hill between Perugia and Todi. There is no record of a Franciscan monastery at that place, but there was a Poor Clare Convent, S. Lorenzo, served as was usual by Franciscan Friars (see Livarius Oliger, "Dove e morto il B. Jacopone da Todi?" in "VocediS. Antonio", Quaracchi, 13 Feb., 1907). It was here that Jacopone died on 25 Dec, 1306, just at the moment when the priest was intoning the Gloria in Excelsis Deo at the midnight Mass; his last moments were consoled by the presence of his faithful friend, Blessed John of La Verna, from whom he had especially desired to receive the Last Sacraments, and who really arrived just before the poet's death. His body was brought to Todi and buried in the church of the Poor Clares of Montecristo (Tobler's version of the legend) or Montesanto (Bartholomew of Pisa, Marianus Florentinus), outside the walls of Todi. In 1433 it was discovered in Montecristo and removed to the Franciscan church of S. Fortunato inside the town, where his tomb is still to be seen, embellished l)_y Bishop Cesi in 1596 and adorned by a beaiififul iusciiption: "Ossa. Beati Jacoponi. De Benedictis. Tudcrtini. Fratris Ordinis Minorum. Qui stultus propter Christum. Nova mimdum arte delusit. Et caelum rapuit. Obdormivit in Domino. Die XXV Martii. An. Dom. MCCXCVI. Ang. Cses. Episc. Tudert. Hie collocavit ann. MDXCVI. " "Here lie the bones of Blessed Jacopone dei Benedetti da Todi, Friar Minor, who, having gone mad with love of Christ, by a new artifice deceived the world and took Heaven by violence. . . " (translation of Knox Little). The date, 25 March, 1296, is however ob- viously erroneous. Jacopone is often called blessed, and has been considered a "blessed" or a "saint", in the technical sense of the words, by diifcrent authors. As a matter of fact, Jacopone has not been beatified or canonized by the Church, although va- rious efforts have been made in this direction — for example, liy the miuiioi]ial council of Todi in 1628, and by the chapter of the oatlicdnd of Todi in 1076. Lastly, in the years ISliSaud l.s(i'.) the /«i.s7»/(//(ii- of the causes of .saiuts of the Friars Minor enlli'rted all the documents proving the culliia ah iiiimtiiionihili paid to Jacopone, in order to obtain its oliieial confirma- tion [se(^ "Tndertina Confinuatiouis Cultus ab im- memorablli tempore iirastili .lucobo a Tuderto Ord. Min. S. Francisci, Beato Jacopone vulgo nuncupate