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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > J > Jacopone da Todi


JACOPONE DA TODI

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(Properly called JACOPO BENEDICTI or BENEDETTI).

Franciscan poet, born at Todi in the first half of the thirteenth century; died
at Collazzone about 1306. Very little is known with certainty about the life of
this extraordinary man. Although the oldest lives go back only to the fifteenth
century, yet a few earlier records exist. The oldest and most authentic document
we have is Jacopone's signature to the manifesto of Cardinals Jacopo and Pietro
Colonna against Boniface VIII, dated Lunghezza (between Rome and Tivoli), 10
May, 1297. [See text in "Archiv für Litteratur and Kirchengesch.", V (1889), 509
sq.] Angelo Clareno in his "Chronica septem Tribulationum", written about 1323
["Archiv f. Litt. u. Kirchengesch.", II (1886), 308; Döllinger, "Beitrage zur
Sektengesch.", II (Munich, 1890), 492], mentions Jacobus Tudertus among those
spiritual friars who, in 1294, sent a deputation to Celestine V, to ask
permission to live separate from the other friars and observe the Franciscan
Rule in its perfection — a request which was granted. The next reference to the
poet is found in Alvarus Pelagius's "De Planctu Ecclesiae", written principally
in 1330; he quotes two of Jacopone's sayings (lib. II, cc. lxxiii and lxxvi; ed.
Venice, 1560, f. 196 r b, and f. 204 r b), and calls him a perfect Friar Minor.
This passage occurs also in "Chronica XXIV generalium" ("Analecta Franciscana",
III, Quaracchi, 1897, 460), which was compiled in great part before 1369 and
completed in 1374. About 1335 the "Catalogus sanctorum Fratrum Minorum" (in
"Speculum Vitae beati Francisci et Sociorum eius", Venice, 1504, f. 200 r; cf.
the separate reprint of the "Catalogus" by Lemmens, Rome, 1903, 9) uses even
more emphatic words of praise. Some further details about Jacopone are given by
Bartholomew of Pisa in 1385 ["Liber conformitatum" (ed. Milan, 1510), fructus
VIII, pars ii, f. 60 v a to f. 61 v a; cf. "Analecta Franciscana", IV
(Quaracchi, 1906), 235-40]. It may be taken for granted that all these writers
knew nothing of the detailed lives of Jacopone which appear in the fifteenth
century. The "Chronica XXIV generalium" and Bartholomew of Pisa would certainly
have inserted one or other, as they were wont to do in other cases. Those lives
can all be reduced to one, inserted in the chronicle commonly called
"Franceschina", attributed to Jacopo Oddi, O.F.M. (d. 1488; see bibliography).
The historical value of this and similar lives has been recently denied by
Giulio Bertoni ("La Leggenda Jacoponica" in "Fanfulla 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
the 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. The
part of his life is rather to be considered 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 traditions concerning Jacopone still extant among the older friars in the
Umbrian converts 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, 1558, 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 Collemedio (Coldimezzo 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
spectacle 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
roaming life for a full decade (see the poem "Que farai fra Jacopone" in Modio,
73). During this period he was the terror of his friends and relations, and
became a sort of Christian Diogenes. It was then probably that the former proud
doctor of law, Jacopo dei Benedetti, mocked and scoffed at by the boys in the
streets of Todi, received the nickname of Jacopone. 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 wedding 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
> Empazir 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. Fortunato, at Todi, the
so-called party of the "Community" of the Franciscan Order certainly prevailed.
This party was strongly opposed to that of the more zealous friars, called the
"Spirituals". The sympathies of Jacopone were with the latter. Boniface VIII,
who had under unusual circumstances succeeded Celestine V, the friend of
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, Jacopone 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 benefice at Todi,
where his uncle Peter was bishop from 1252 to 1276 (see Eubel, "Hierarchia cath.
med. aevi", I, 530; Tosti, "Storia di Bonifazio VIII", Monte Cassino, I, 1846,
221; Finke, "Aus den Tagen Bonifaz VIII", Münster, 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 today as Castel
San Pietro. Some of Jacopone's most touching, 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, l.c., II, 283). Boniface
VIII was captured at Anagni on 7 Sept., 1303, and upon his death, which occured
shortly afterwards (11 Oct.), Jacopone was set 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, l. 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 "Voce di S. 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 by Bishop Cesi in 1596 and
adorned by a beautiful inscription: "Ossa. Beati Jacoponi. De Benedictis.
Tudertini. Fratris Ordinis Minorum. Qui stultus propter Christum. Nova mundum
arte delusit. Et caelum rapuit. Obdormivit in Domino. Die XXV Martii. An. Dom.
MCCXCVI. Ang. Caes. Episc. Tudert. Hic 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
obviously erroneous. Jacopone is often called blessed, and has been considered a
"blessed" or a "saint", in the technical sense of the words, by different
authors. As a matter of fact, Jacopone has not been beatified or canonized by
the Church, although various efforts have been made in this direction — for
example, by the municipal council of Todi in 1628, and by the chapter of the
cathedral of Todi in 1676. Lastly, in the years 1868 and 1869 the postulator of
the causes of saints of the Friars Minor collected call the documents proving
the cultus ab immemorabili paid to Jacopone, in order to obtain its official
confirmation [see "Tudertina Confirmationis Cultus ab immemorabili tempore
praestiti Jacobo a Tuderto Ord. Min. S. Francisci, Beato Jacopone vulgo
nuncupato (Rome, 1869), in archives of the postulator general O.F.M.]. The chief
obstacle to the confirmation of the cultus lies in the part Jacopone took
against Boniface VIII and the satires he wrote against this much calumniated
pope.

The iconography of Jacopone is not very rich. In the cathedral of Prato is a
beautiful fifteenth-century fresco, often reproduced. The fourteenth-century
Codex Strozzi 174 at the Laurentian Library, Florence, contains a miniature of
the poet; another miniature (certainly conventional) is found in the
"Franceschina" of the Portiuncula. The church of S. Fortunato of Todi is adorned
by two pictures of Jacopone — one over his tomb (1596), another in a side chapel
together with the portraits of four other saints (seventeenth century). Jacopone
was believed to have died not so much from bodily ailment as from the excess of
Divine love, which at last broke his heart (Modio, preface). The chief interest
attaching to Jacopone is derived from his literary works. Of his poems, written
almost all in his native Umbrian dialect, seven early editions exist but no
modern critical one.

 * The first is printed at Florence, 1490. It is almost a critical edition and
   contains 102 Italian pieces. [See accurate description in "Miscellanea
   Francescana", I (Foligno, 1886), 21-29.] The other editions are:
 * Brescia, 1495, containing (in addition to compositions of other poets) 122
   poems, of which seven are in Latin;
 * Venice, 1514 — 139 songs;
 * Venice, 1556 — repetition of the preceding;
 * Rome, 1558 — by Modio, with life of Jacopone in the preface, best edition
   after that of 1490, which it follows in the number of poems (102);
 * Naples, 1615 — reprint of the Roman edition with slight alterations;
 * Venice, 1617 — by Francesco Tresatti, O.F.M. — the best known by least
   critical edition, containing 211 copiously annotated songs, many of which
   certainly do not belong to Jacopone.

Alessandro de Mortara published a few hitherto unedited poems of Jacopone
(Lucca, 1819). Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, Ozanam revived
general interest in Jacopone by his "Poètes franciscains". Since then many have
written on the subject and expressed their appreciation of these medieval songs.
Jacopone was certainly a true poet, so much so that some of his productions, as
"In foco l'amor mi mise" and "Amor di caritate", have been attributed to St.
Francis himself. Both are at the head of Umbrian poets. Jacopone's rhymes,
simple, at times even rough in expression, but profound and tender in sentiment,
were less adapted to the cultured classes than the "Divina Commedia" of Dante,
but were sung with enthusiasm by the people. How much Jacopone's poetry was
appreciated down to the seventeenth century is shown by the numberless
manuscripts which contain them, often in the particular dialect of the region
where they were written, and by the fact that almost every old Italian spiritual
song has been ascribed to him. These laudi 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. Even
the "Stabat Mater Dolorosa", the authorship of which is still attributed to
Jacopone with greater probability than to any other competitor (Gihr), was sung
in the same way. (See, on this point, D'Ancona, "Origini del Teatro Italiano",
I, Turin, 1891, 114, 155-62, 550- 2.)

Jacopone's prose works are much less generally known than his poems. They
consist mainly of small spiritual treatises, somewhat resembling the well-known
golden saying of Blessed Giles (see ÆGIDIUS OF ASSISI), but they are more
connected. The Latin text of these may be found in part in Bartholomew of Pisa
(l. c.) and in many manuscripts. An Italian version, translated from Bartholomew
of Pisa, is found in the "Franceschina" and some other versions of the life of
Jacopone. Another fifteenth century Italian version, ascribed to Feo Belcari,
together with the treatises of Ugo Panciera at Venice (s. d.); ed. Parenti at
Modena in 1832; and finally in "Prose di Feo Belcari edite ed inedite", III
(Rome, 1843), by Gigli; cf. E. Böhmer in "Romanische Studien", I (Halle, 1871),
123-32. Finke (l. c.) suspects that a treatise in the manuscript J 491, no. 799,
in the National Archives of Paris, and directed to the King of France by
"Illiteratus Jacob", belongs to Jacopone.




SOURCES

(1) LIVES.-- In Franceschina, a manuscript chronicle by JACOPO ODDI (d. 1488),
of which four codices exist: two at Perugia, one at Portiuncula (Assisi), one at
Norcia (Umbria). Description of the one existing in the public library at
Perugia is given by PERCOPO, La Vita e le Laudi di Fra Jacopone da Todi nello
Specchio de l'Ordine Menore (Franceschina) in Il Propugnatore, XIX (Bologna,
1886), 151-212. Almost identical with this is the life edited by TOBLER in
Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie, II (Halle, 1878), 26-39; cf. ibid., III
(1879), 178-92; and another of MARIANO FLORENTINO (?), edited by LIVARIUS OLIGER
in Luce e Amore, IV (Florence; 1907), 418-26; 473-89. There is also a shorter
version: POSSEVINO, Vite de' Santi e Beati di Todi (Perugia, 1597), 98-113;
MODIO, I Cantici del B. Jacopone da Todi (Rome 1558), preface; DAL GAL, La Verna
(Rocca S. Cassiano, 1906), 385-92; JACOBILLI, Vite de Santi e Beati dell'
Umbria, III (Foligno, 1661), 215-19; WADDING, Annales, V (2nd ed.) 407-14, VI,
77-84. (2) MODERN LIVES AND TREATISES.-- MACDONNELL, Sons of Francis (London
1902), 354-86, with good samples of translations of Jacopone's poetry — see
also, ibid., 401-2; ANON., Jacopone da Todi in Quarterly Review (London, Jan.,
1910), 53-72; DORSEY, The Mad Penitent of Todi (Notre Dame, Ind., s. d.) (a
novel); OZANAM, Les Poètes franciscains en Italie au treizième siecle (Paris,
1852), many successive editions — German tr. by JULIUS (Munster, 1853), Italian
tr. by FANFANI (Prato, 1854); D'ANCONA, Jacopone da Todi, il Giullare di Dio del
secolo XIII in Nuova Antologia, 2nd series, LI of the whole collection (Rome,
1880), 193-228, 438-70, reprinted in D'ANCONA, Studi della Letteratura italiana
dei primi secoli (Ancona, 1884), 3-104; THODE, Franz von Assisi und die Anfange
der Kunst der Renaissance in Italien (2nd ed., Berlin, 1904), 440-51; GEBHART,
L'Italie mystique (Paris, 1890), 257- 70; ALVI, Jacopone da Todi (Todi, 1906) —
full of inaccuracies, see Voce di San Antonio, XII (Rome, 1907), 19-20;
BRUGNOLI, Fra Jacopone da Todi, publication of Società internazionale di Studi
Francescani in Assisi (Assisi, 1907). (3) ON WORKS AND PARTICULAR QUESTIONS.--
BOHMER, Jacopone da Todi ... in Romanische Studien, I (Halle, 1871), 123-61;
MOSCHETTI, I Codici Marciani contenenti Laude di Jacopone da Todi (Venice,
1888); TENNERONI, Inizii di antiche Poésie italiane religiose e morali con
prospetto dei Codici che le contengono e Introduzione alle Laudi spirituali
(Florence, 1909), preparatory work for critical edition of Jacopone. Partial
German translation of Jacopone's poetry, with good introduction: SCHLUTTER AND
STORK, Ausgewahlte Gedichte Jacopone's da Todi (Munster, 1864); FELDER,
Jacopones Marienminne (Stans, 1903), French tr. La Madonne dans les Poésies de
Jacopone de Todi in Etudes Franciscaines (Couvin, Belgium, March and April,
1904); LATINI, Dante e Jacopone e loro contatti di pensiero e di forma (Todi,
1900). On the Stabat Mater Dolorosa see JULIAN, Dictionary of Hymnology (2nd
impression of 2nd ed., London, 1908), 1081-84, where the numerous English
translations, old and new, are indicated; see, ibid., 575 and passim; CHEVALIER,
Repertorium Hymnologicum, II (Louvain, 1892), 599-600, with copious
bibliography; HENRY, The Two Stabats in American Cath. Quarterly Review, XXVIII
(1903); GIHR, Die Sequenzen des römischen Messbuches (Freiburg im Br., 1887),
80-130; TENNERONI, Lo Stabat Mater e Donna del Paradiso (Todi, 1887); COLARULLI,
La Satira, "O Papa Bonifatio, molt ay jocato al mondo", e la Sequenza "Stabat
Mater" di Fra Jacopone da Todi (Todi, 1906); MARINI, L'Estetica dello Stabat
Mater (Siena, 1897); GIOIA, LO "Stabat Mater Speciosa" di Jacopone da Todi
(Rome, 1892); GHILARDI Il B. Jacopone da Todi e la sua prigionia in Luce e
Amore, III (Florence, 1906), 931-36.


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Oliger, L. (1910). Jacopone da Todi. In The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08263a.htm

MLA citation. Oliger, Livarius. "Jacopone da Todi." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08263a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by David Joyce.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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