Fra Jacopone da Todi, O.F.M. (ca. 1230 – 25 December
1306) was an Italian Franciscan friar from Umbria in the 13th
century. He wrote several laude (songs in praise of
the Lord) in the local
vernacular. He was an early pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of the
earliest scholars who
dramatised Gospel subjects.
Life
Born Jacopo
dei Benedetti, he was a member of a noble family. He studied law in Bologna and became a
successful lawyer. At some point in his
late 20s, he married a young noblewoman, named Vanna according to some
accounts, who was a pious and generous woman. Due to his reputation as a
worldly and greedy man, she took it upon herself to mortify her flesh in atonement for
his behavior.[1]
Not long after their
wedding, Benedetti urged his wife to attend a public tournament. In the course
of the spectacle, she was killed when part of the stand in which she was
sitting gave way. Rushing to her side, he discovered that she had been wearing
a hairshirt. Shocked, he realized
that she had performed this penance for his sake.[2]
Benedetti gave up his
legal practice, gave away all his possessions and from about 1268 lived as a
wandering ascetic, joining the Third Order of St. Francis. During this period,
he gained a reputation as a madman, due to his eccentric behavior, acting out
his spiritual vision, earning him the nickname he was to embrace of Jacopone.
Examples of this behavior included appearing in the public square of Todi,
wearing a saddle and crawling on all fours. On another occasion, he appeared at
a wedding in his brother's house, tarred and feathered from head to toe.[1]
After about ten years
of this life, Benedetti sought admission to the Friars Minor, but they were
reluctant to accept him due to his reputation. He soon composed a beautiful
poem on the vanities of the world, which led to his admission into the Order in
1278. He chose to live as a lay brother.[2]
By this time, two
broad factions had arisen in the Franciscan Order, one with a more lenient,
less mystical attitude and one
being more severe, preaching absolute poverty and penitence (known as the
"Spirituals" or Fraticelli). Jacopone was
connected with the latter group and in 1294 they sent a deputation to Pope Celestine V to ask permission to live separately from the
other friars and to observe the Franciscan Rule in its perfection. The request
was granted. But Celestine resigned the papacy before action was taken and was
succeeded by Pope Boniface VIII, who opposed the more rigorous views.[3] During the
struggle that followed, Jacopone publicized the Spirituals' cause by writing
verses highly critical of their opponents, the Pope included. When two
brother-cardinals, the Colonnas, sided with the Spirituals and with the king of
France against Pope Boniface, and Fra Jacopone gave his support to the
Colonnas, politics and even war entered upon the scene.[3] The Pope excommunicated them. A battle between the two rival parties
ensued, ending with the siege of Palestrina and the
imprisonment and excommunication of Jacopone in 1298. He was freed in 1303 upon
the death of Boniface, having been specifically excluded from the Jubilee Year of 1300 by papal bull.
Broken and in poor health,
Jacopone retired to Collazzone, a small town
situated on a hill between Perugia and Todi, where
he was cared for by a community of Poor Clares. His condition
deteriorated toward the end of 1306, and he sent word requesting that his old
friend, John of La Verna, come to give him
the last rites. John arrived on
Christmas Eve and comforted him, as he died about midnight.[1]
Jacopone's body was
originally buried in the monastery church. In 1433 his grave was discovered and
his remains transferred to a crypt in the Franciscan Church of San Fortunato in
Todi.[1]
Poetry
Jacopone's satirical
and denunciatory Laude witness to the troubled times of the warring city-states of northern
Italy and the material and spiritual crisis that accompanied them. The laude are written in his native
Umbrian dialect and represent
the popular poetry of the region. Many hundreds of manuscripts attest to the
broad popularity of his poems in many contexts - although anonymous poems are
often attributed to him by the tradition. Other laude extol the spiritual value
of poverty.
Some of his laude were
especially in use among the so-called Laudesi and the Flagellants, who sang them in the
towns, along the roads, in their confraternities and in sacred dramatical
representations. With hindsight, the use of the laude may be seen as an early
seed of Italian drama that came to fruition in later centuries.
The Latin poem Stabat Mater Dolorosa is generally attributed to
Jacopone, although this has been disputed. It is a fine example of
religious lyric in the Franciscan
tradition. It was inserted into the Roman Missal and Breviary in 1727 for
the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
celebrated on the Friday before Good Friday. Following changes
by Pope Pius XII, it now appears on
the Feast of Our Lady's Sorrows celebrated on 15 September.
Many composers have set it to music, including Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Palestrina, Alessandro Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Gioacchino Rossini, Toivo Kuula, Antonín Dvořák and Ernő Dohnányi.
Veneration
From the time of his
death, Jacopone was considered to have been a saint by his followers, both
within and outside of the Franciscan Order. He is honored as Blessed within the Order.
Several attempts were made
over the centuries to have the Catholic Church recognize his sanctity. In the
17th century, both the City Council and the cathedral chapter of Todi petitioned the Holy
See to do so. In the 19th century, the Postulator for the causes
of saints of the Order of Friars Minor collected documents for this step.
To date, however, the
Church has never formally approved this devotion. One possible reason for this
may be the conflict between Jacopone and Pope Boniface VIII.[1]
Legacy
Jacopone was steadfast
in condemning corruption, especially through his satirical Italian poems.
Jacopone would not recant his position on the requirement of ascetic poverty,
believing that the mainstream church had become corrupt and that its ministers
were not interested in the welfare of the poor. This criticism is echoed in the
contemporary Alleluia Movement. It was a time
of famine and poverty in
Italy and many mystics and preachers like Gioacchino da Fiore anticipated the end of the world and the coming
of Christ. They also said kings
and clergy had become too attached to material goods and too interested in
their personal wars rather than the welfare of the country.
Jacopone's preaching
attracted many enthusiasts and Dante praised him in
his Paradiso.
See also
References
1.
^ Jump up to:a b c d e "Jacopone da Todi". Catholic
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
2.
^ Jump up to:a b "Blessed Jacopone
da Todi". American Catholic.org.
Retrieved 23 December 2012.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b McNamara, Fr. Robert
F., St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Irondequoit, New York
Sources
· Giudice,
A. e Bruni, G. Problemi e scrittori della letteratura italiana.
Torino, Paravia, 1981.
· Sapegno,
N. Santo Jacopone. Torino, Edizioni del Baretti, 1926, p. 30.
· Novatti,
F. Freschi e minii del Dugento. Milano, Cogliatti, 1925,
pp. 202–204.
Bibliography
·
Venuti, Lawrence. Translation Changes Everything. Routledge, 2012. Chapter 4:
Translating Jacopone da Todi: archaic poetries and modern audiences.
External links
·
Works by Jacopone da
Todi at Project Gutenberg
·
Works by or about
Jacopone da Todi at Internet Archive
·
Works by Jacopone da Todi at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
·
Underhill,
Evelyn. Jacopone da Todi, Poet and Mystic, J.M. Dent & Sons
Ltd, London, 1919
