Prepararsi, rimanendo fedeli
(Luca 12:35-39)

A volte nella vita ci lasciamo affascinare da una particolare causa o da un progetto ai quali dedichiamo grande entusiasmo e passione. Con il passare del tempo, però, può capitare che il nostro entusiasmo si affievolisca e la nostra passione si raffreddi. Le priorità cominciano a cambiare.

Come nel Vangelo della scorsa settimana, essere preparati e rimanere fedeli è il fulcro del brano evangelico di questa settimana.

Accumulare tesori davanti a Dio è una buona preparazione. Accumulare i propri beni in granai sempre più grandi non lo è.

Essere pronti significa essere aperti alla venuta del Signore. Vestirsi preparandosi per agire, con le lampade accese e pronti ad aprirgli la porta, è l'antidoto al concentrarsi troppo sui beni materiali, sullo status e sul potere.

I servi fedeli che saranno pronti al ritorno del padrone saranno benedetti dal padrone stesso che li farà mettere a sedere e li servirà. Un classico ribaltamento dei ruoli tradizionali.

La comunità di Luca (e gli altri primi cristiani) si stavano lentamente abituando all'idea che la seconda venuta di Gesù, che secondo loro sarebbe avvenuta ‘da un giorno all'altro’, sembrava tardare. Nella comunità stavano emergendo dei problemi, poiché i funzionari e altri sembravano ‘andare in tilt’. Da qui le espressioni ‘essere pronti’, ‘servire’, ‘avere le lampade accese’ e ‘stringersi le vesti ai fianchi.

La parabola dei servi è un invito a rimanere fedeli e pronti per il ritorno del padrone.

La parabola pone la domanda: ‘Come devono comportarsi i discepoli nel periodo tra le due venute di Gesù? Come i proprietari di casa, dobbiamo essere vigili e attenti alla presenza di Gesù.

Sebbene il testo parli del ritorno finale di Gesù, possiamo anche pensare a stare attenti e vigili per i momenti in cui la presenza di Gesù irrompe improvvisamente nella nostra vita - in un amico malato, in un mendicante per strada, in una persona bisognosa, in un momento di preghiera o di riflessione.

Come credenti vogliamo fare tutto il possibile per costruire la comunità, il Corpo vivente di Cristo nel nostro mondo, e permettere al Vangelo di trasformare le nostre vite, il che si manifesta nella nostra vicinanza a Dio e nelle buone azioni al servizio degli altri.

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Albero sano, frutti buoni
(Luca 6:39-45)

Viviamo in un mondo pieno di parole a causa dei moderni mass media e, in particolare, dei social media. Abbiamo visto come le parole possano essere usate in modo estremamente dannoso per formulare giudizi severi contro le altre persone, e i semplici commenti al vitriolo di alcuni sui social media ci fa riflettere. Ci invita a porre la domanda, implicita nella prima lettura di oggi (Sir 27,5-8): ‘Cosa rivelano le mie parole su di me?’

Il Vangelo di oggi è la nostra lettura finale dal Sermone della Pianura di Luca. Questa settimana, l'insegnamento fondamentale di Gesù continua a concentrarsi sulla generosità abbondante nei nostri comportamenti verso il prossimo.

Il Vangelo si apre con una parabola su un cieco che ne guida un altro ed entrambi cadono in un pozzo. I discepoli, come noi, sono in cammino per la durata della loro vita con Gesù, il nostro maestro. In questo viaggio c'è sempre di più da scoprire, maggiori profondità da scandagliare, nuove intuizioni da acquisire man mano che cresciamo per essere più simili a Gesù; quando passiamo dall'essere ‘ciechi’ a ‘vedere’ con gli occhi di Gesù.

Impariamo gradualmente a lasciare andare la nostra inclinazione moralista che giudica i piccoli difetti degli altri senza mai notare i propri punti ciechi più grandi e distruttivi (la famosa pagliuzza e la trave).

Quando impariamo la via della misericordia e della generosità di Dio, ci asteniamo dal tipo di giudizi che altrimenti limiterebbero la carità, la misericordia e la bontà di Dio che operano in noi. I nostri cuori vengono edificati nel bene.

Come gli alberi che si conoscono dai loro frutti, così i discepoli si conosceranno dalle loro parole e dalle loro azioni, dai loro valori e dai loro atteggiamenti, da chi sono veramente, da ciò che hanno nel cuore.

Il nostro cammino di formazione con Gesù costruisce gradualmente il cuore di Dio nel nostro, così che viviamo, parliamo e agiamo, sempre di più, a partire da quella grande riserva di misericordia e generosità.

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Relazioni generose
(Luca 6:27-38)

Domenica scorsa abbiamo iniziato a leggere il Discorso della Pianura di Luca. Luca ha usato il Discorso della Montagna di Matteo, ma lo ha cambiato e accorciato significativamente. Oggi e domenica prossima leggeremo il resto del sermone.

Questa settimana, l’insegnamento radicale di Gesù si concentra sulla generosità nelle relazioni umane. Le parole di apertura, ‘Amate i vostri nemici’, stabiliscono il tono del resto del testo.

Di nuovo, a prima vista le parole di Gesù sembrano assurde e quasi impossibili da seguire. Dovremmo davvero offrire l’altra guancia a qualcuno che ci colpisce? Dobbiamo davvero dare il resto dei nostri vestiti a qualcuno che ci ruba il cappotto? Dobbiamo davvero non lottare per riavere la nostra proprietà da chi ci ruba? È davvero questo che Gesù ci chiede di fare?

La chiave di questo discorso profetico di Gesù è quello di stimolare i suoi discepoli (e anche noi) a riflettere sull’intero modello di comportamento nelle relazioni umane. Gesù non sta realmente suggerendo regole da seguire alla lettera in determinate circostanze. Piuttosto, siamo invitati a riflettere su come possiamo rispondere alle richieste irragionevoli e alle ferite personali con nient’altro che la generosità, abbandonando ogni pretesa di retribuzione.

Gesù suggerisce, fondamentalmente, di rispondere agli insulti e alle ferite in maniera tale da rompere eventuali cicli di violenta ritorsione e fornire percorsi di pace e riconciliazione. Facendo questo, dice Gesù, possiamo permettere alla totale generosità di Dio di risplendere attraverso di noi. Fare del bene solo a coloro che fanno del bene a noi non è sufficiente per trasmettere la generosità e l’accoglienza di Dio. Solo agendo con generosità e compassione travolgenti, la misericordia, la generosità e la compassione con cui Dio incontra ciascuno di noi può essere vista chiaramente nelle azioni concrete.

C’è una regola d’oro: tratta gli altri come vorresti che gli altri trattassero te.

Quando agiamo con generosità, misericordia e attingiamo dalla compassione di Dio, astenendoci dal giudizio e dalla condanna e concedendo il perdono, veniamo travolti noi stessi dalla appassionata e abbondante generosità di Dio per noi.

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St Andrew Corsini - Saggi

Andrew Corsini was born in Florence at the beginning of the XIV century, one of the twelve children of Nicholas Corsini and Gemma degli Stracciabende. The first mention that we have of him is of Aug. 3, 1338: in a power of attorney he is the eighteenth among the fifty-two religious of the convent of Carmel in Florence. In the second half of April, 1343 (the document is dated 1344, according to the style of Pisa), we find him in Pisa, in a contract between the religious and the Company of the Battuti. In the 1344 chapter of the Tuscan province, he was appointed a counselor of the convent of Florence and bachelor; and he appears as such from June 1 of that year until May, 1347. Then, in the chapter of the following June 15, besides being confirmed as a counselor, he was named a lector of the same convent.

During the year 1348 he went into France for the general chapter of the Order at Metz. There he was made superior Of the Tuscan province, an office that he filled until the first days of 1350, even after his nomination as bishop of Fiesole. The acts of his provincialate of less than two years had to take account of the serious situation that had been created because of the black plague. The necrology of the Carmel records more than a hundred dead during the years 1348-49. That notwithstanding, the building of the church of Carmel did not stop; and the last registered act of his his provincialate, on Jan. 9, 1350, is exactly an accounting of the money for the said building. Meanwhile, with the bull of Oct. 13, 1349, Pope Clement VI had named him bishop of Fiesole, a see that had remained vacant at the death of “Filignus Oliveri Carboni”.

At the same time, the Pope had communicated the nomination to the chapter of the cathedral, to the clergy, and to the people of the diocese; furthermore, he granted the indult for Andrew's consecration. The inscription on his tomb will say that "he was snatched from Carmel to the church and the miter of Fiesole". These words, perhaps, gave rise to the legend of his flight to the Carthusians and of his later acceptance of the nomination as bishop, as the result of a vision. We do not know when the letter of nomination arrived; but we find Andrew, as provincial, in the convent of Florence on Oct. 29, Nov. 27, and Dec. 6 of 1349. Hence it was not possible for him to disappear for too long a time. Unjustified and useless, therefore, was the haste Of the canons to elect another candidate; as a matter of fact, such a right of election had been revoked from them by the Pope.

We do not know when the consecration or the installation in Fiesole took place. The first recorded act of his episcopate preserved for us carries the date of March 28, 1350. Andrew broke the tradition of more than a century, according to which the bishops of Fiesole resided in Florence, next to the church of St. Mary in the Field. He wanted to remain always near his people, near his cathedral, which was indeed threatening ruin, and in his episcopal palace, even though this needed repairs and furnishings. He restricted his needs to the most indispensable; he reduced to six the number of his attendants, and with these and two religious of Carmel he led a monastic life. He wore the Carmelite habit and carried a small iron chain around his waist (which chain is still preserved today). Scrupulously exact, he himself kept the accounts of administration Of the house, of the episcopal table, and of the contributions to the Pope. He accounted for and directed the various works of the churches and hospitals. The servants themselves entrusted to him the amounts scraped together during their time of service.

He reclaimed for himself the granting of ecclesistical benefices, and kept them free of any kind of trafficking. He insisted that the beneficiaries have holy orders. He ordinarily had two vicars to help him in the government of the diocese, while a third was appointed for Casentino, too far away from Fiesole. He personally took account of the religious situation by means of canonical visitations. Vigilance was especially needed in regard to the conduct of the clergy, which left much to be desired: ignorance, bad habits, gambling, secular clothes. Some clerics were obliged to present themselves within a certain time, to be reexamined; in no way did he tolerate the clerics who failed in their obligation of chastity. Also, a short length of time was allowed to those who did not reside in their parishes; and if they did not return, they were punished by the revocation of their benefice.

For the purpose of having a better clergy in the future, he instituted, in 1372, a confraternity of priests who would contribute, by their example and works, to the scientific and moral formation of future priests. To his personal example he added the ministry of preaching, so that one of the praises engraved on his tomb could call him "marvelous by the example of his life and his eloquence." No less was his care in helping the needy. He defined himself as "the father and administrator of the poor". And the poor were not lacking, especially during his first years as bishop, in consequence of the plague of 1348-49. In fact, it is precisely a regulation on their behalf that on March 28, 1350, he emanated the first documented act of his episcopate. He was demanding in claiming the income of pious legacies, because it was necessary for the poor (to whom he gave "for the love of God") and for the restoration and furnishing of various churches. He also exercised a strict vigilance over the income destined for the sick and for pilgrims.

With regard to the condition of the sacred buildings, he continued the restoration of the cathedral, already begun by his predecessor. He restored the facade; he redid, at least in part, the roof. He had the new choir made by the master Peter Lando of Siena, spending 144 gold florins on the work. Today only the episcopal throne remains. He also restored and beautified the episcopal palace, perhaps with the hope that his successors would be induced to remain there. He restored several other churches, among them St. Mary in the Field in Florence (this church belonged to the bishop of Fiesole). He took particular care of the church of Figline Valdarno; and here he wished to have a room for himself, where he could stay, since it was a zone far from Fiesole. On the first of June, 1368, he consecrated the high altar and, on the following March 25, that of Our Lady in the abbey of Fiesole. He founded a monastery of nuns which was later transferred to Florence and was called that of the Ancoresses of St. Mary of the Flower, or of Lapo. He also gave twenty-four volumes on various subjects to the convent of Carmel. And the last entry signed by his hand is the gift of a rich chasuble to the chapter of the cathedral, on Dec. 28, 1373, nine days before his death.

Also extant are testimonials to the work he accomplished for the sake of peace. Ecclesiastics and rich merchants of Florence and Fiesole, powerful citizens of Prato, Pistoia and other cities had recourse to him as to an impartial and incorruptible arbiter. Not so well documented is the mission of peace with which he is said to have been charged by the Pope in the city of Bologna when this city was restored to the obedience of the Pope, against the intrigues of the Viscounti of Milan. Del Castagno reports it from the account given in Florence by Cardinal Albergati. However, the year is not known; and Father Caioli thinks that there is confusion with the well-known mission of another holy Carmelite, St. Peter Thomas, in 1364.

Andrew died on Jan. 6, 1374 (1373, according to the Florentine calendar).

Del Castagno relates that on Christmas night, 1373, the Blessed Virgin advised Andrew of his death; he also relates other miraculous events. The clergy of Fiesole, notwithstanding the testamentary disposition of the saint of wishing to be buried in the Carmel of Florence, buried him in their own city. But the religious of Florence did not give up: perhaps with the consent of the new bishop, Neri Corsini, a brother of Andrew, named on Jan. 17, they came to Fiesole on the night of Feb. 2, stole the body, and carried it to Florence, where it was clamorously received by all the clergy, exposed for three days in the view of the people, and then buried. Twelve years later, still incorrupt, the body was placed in the monument erected by the relatives of the saint in the church of Carmel. This monument was destroyed in a fire of 1771 (though the body was able to be saved); but it was entirely like that of his brother Neri, still preserved today in the cloister of the Holy Spirit. It contained the Latin inscription attributed by Del Castagno to Coluccio Salutati.

The most ancient biographical notice of Andrew is that of the Catalogue of the Carmelite Saints, at the end of the XIV or beginning of the XV cent. It contains the affirmation of his sanctity, the mention of his episcopate at Fiesole, his death and burial, his miracles — recorded in a general way — and a transcription of the inscription on his tomb. This inscription was placed there in 1385 and tells of his charity towards the poor and of his oratorical eloquence, and reports the precise day of his death. Then one must wait until the middle of the XV cent. to have the first Life. This Life, attributed to the Carmelite, Peter Del Castagno, is quite debatable. Its author pronounced a panegyric of the saint in 1440 before a numerous gathering of Florentines desirous of hearing of the deeds of their illustrious fellow-citizen — from whom, exactly at that time, it was said they had obtained the signal grace of the victory of Anghiari over the troops of Piccinino.

The Life is found in the codex Vat. lat., 3813, ff. 28v-47v (end of the fifteenth century); the Vatican library received it on Aug. 21, 1601. A resume (with some details further developed), in Latin and by an anonymous author, was found in a manuscript of John Gielemans (d. 1484) end was published by L. Surio, De probatis Sanctorum historiis I, Cologne, 1570, pp. 143-48. The same resume — but in Italian, and perhaps contemporary — was published from a codex of the House of Corsini in Florence, in the

Rivista Storica Carmelitana, I (1929-30), pp. 8-20. This had already been published, from a codex of the Magliabechiana, but with the Italian adapted to the modern style, by Father Santi Mattei in his Vita di S. Andrea, Corsini, Florence, 1872.

The Life of Del Castagno was published for the first time by Father Dominic of Jesus in the Acta Canonizationis S. Andreae Corsini, Paris, 1638, pp. 174-224, with the notes on pp. 225-244. However, this was not copied directly from the codex Vaticanus, but from a transcription furnished him by R. Bertholet, a Carmelite and the suffragan bishop of Lyons. The Bollandists republished the work of Father Dominic, preceded by an introduction, in the Acta Sanctorum Januarii, II, Antwerp, 1643, pp. 1061-1073. A comparison with the codex Vaticanus shows some variants, not only in the Latin (generally bettered), but in matters that touch the substance of the text. After this Life, the Bollanists also published the Latin text of the anonymous author (ib., pp. 1073-1077).

Practically all the Lives depend on Del Castagno, a source with little credibility, Furthermore, the attribution of the Life in the Vat. codex to Del Castagno is not entirely certain, at least in the full sense of the word. In the text, he is mentioned as the panegyrist of the Saint in 1440; and it is declared that “almost everything that has been said he preached publicly before the cardinals,” etc. But several times mention is also made of the writer, who has taken accounts of miracles from notarial briefs: “I, the writer, took from...” These words have been taken as a token of modesty of Del Castagno, who did not want to be called the author; but they can, on the other hand, mean that the writer was someone else, even if for the greater part he used notes from the sermon of Del Castagno. This latter author would be a contemporary or, in any case, from before the year 1446. In this hypothesis, the many omissions and errors attributed to Del Castagno — which could have been avoided without much difficulty — would be more easily understood.

In fact, since Del Castagno was suddenly called on to preach before an assembly convinced of the intervention of the saint in the outcome of the battle, and in the midst of the extraordinary preparations for the festivities, he did not have the time or the opportunity to inform himself as he should have done, at least by consulting the books of administration that he had as close as the library of his convent. These were books that foe (or others) did not even take the trouble to consult, although he (or they) did indeed find a way to look through the notarial acts with more calm, in order to find the reported miracles. These latter were more interesting to the people, and the saint's biographer was prompt to satisfy this interest.

The panegyrical character of the compilation is evident, especially in the section where the words of the hymn of the Confessors serve as his inspiration. With this, we do not mean to say that the author invented these accounts; rather, we can suppose that they were the echo of oral tradition, a tradition which is more ample in regard to the episcopal period in the life of the saint. But it is also true that it was necessary, in the light of critical investigation, to fuse all the information into an organic whole. Only in 1929, however, through the merits of Father Paul Caioli, did hagiographical studies on

Saint Andrew progress notably. Various reviews of his book, however, demanded a still greater independence of Del Castagno; they were not far-fetched observations.

Del Castagno can be accepted (though not always) when he relates things seen or heard by him personally; as for the other material, especially for the period of the religious life of the saint, many elements must be taken as topoi /common types/ of a hagiographical tradition. Among these are, obviously, the sterility of his mother and the consequent vow to offer her firstborn to the Virgin; also his unbridled life-style up to his fifteenth year. Unconfirmed are: the dream of his mother, who believed she was giving birth to a wolf; the date of his birth (Nov. 30, 1301); the particulars of his entrance into religion and of his profession; the miracles worked before and after his ordination as a priest; the celebration of his first Mass in the chapel of St. Mary of the Woods / the Selve/ near Florence and the apparition of Our Lady on that occasion; the flight to the Charterhouse, in order to escape the bishopric; the peace mission to Bologna; and the attribution of the inscription on his tomb to Coluccio Salutati.

On the other hand, it is certain that his mother was not named Pellegrina, but Gemma (and in vain has it been suggested that Nicholas Corsini had two wives); the prior general of the Carmelites, in whose name the saint made his religious profession, was certainly not John Ballester. Moreover, it is not true that the saint studied three years in Paris, or that he passed through Avignon in order to visit his cousin Peter, who had become a cardinal in 1369. The saint was not a prior of the Carmelite convent in Florence; his election as bishop of Fiesole did not occur in 1362, but in 1349. His manner of election (namely, on the part of the chapter) was not that as described; and it is absurd that the body of the saint, carried from Fiesole about a month after his death, was kept seated on a throne, as if he were alive, up until 1440. Furthermore, this notice cannot be reconciled with another, also false, that his tomb was built in 1375. Finally, Del Castagno shows that he himself was completely ignorant of the fact that the saint was also a prior provincial of Tuscany.

Cult

The enthusiasm aroused by the virtues of St. Andrew was not extinguished after his death. Rather, it was fostered by the favors that the people attributed to his miraculous interventions — among which the most famous would have been that of the battle of Anghiari in 1440. The victory of Anghiari, in fact, occurred after a procession to the tomb of the saint, a procession that was said to have been requested by the saint himself on June 5, 1440. The army of Piccinino was defeated on the 29th of the same month.

The celebrations that were held, with particular ceremony, around the body of the saint in consequence of the victory were considered equivalent to a beatification, especially since Pope Eugene IV permitted them to be repeated annually. A special “provision” of the Florentine commune decreed that every year, in perpetuity, on the second Sunday of June, their Lordships and the Six of the Merchants' Union, together with the Captains of the Arts, should go in solemn procession to the Carmelite church, in order to offer a candle at the altar of the blessed Andrew, whose body was to be exposed to the sight of the faithful. Moreover, it was decreed that every year, on June 29, with a sum of 70

florins, twenty poor persons were to be clothed, and these would have the obligation of going to the church of St. Peter Major in order to make an offering and to assist at the solemn Mass. By a new «provision» of 1468, the authorities dispensed themselves from the procession; and it was decreed that, of the 70 florins, 30 be used to clothe Carmelite novices and the remaining 40 for twelve of the poor.

Urgent petitions of the Signoria /government of Florence/ to the Pope for Andrew's solemn canonization were sent in 1465 and 1466. The Pope named a commission in this regard; but only on April 29, 1629, did the solemn ceremony of canonization take place in the Vatican. However, the liturgical office was already being celebrated at Fiesole and in the Carmelite Order. Today the body of the saint reposes in the Corsini chapel, inaugurated on Oct. 24, 1683, of the Carmelite church in Florence; the architect was Francis Silvani.

J. B. Foggini sculptured the three great bas-reliefs, and Luke Giordano painted the saint in glory in the cupola.

Another chapel in the saint's honor was constructed in Rome in 1734, in St. John Lateran's, by Pope Clement XII (Corsini). The design is by the Florentine architect Alexander Galilei; Pincellotti, Cornacehini, Maini, Monaldi, Bracci and Montauti also worked there. Scenes from the life of the saint are illustrated in marble, while on the altar is a copy of the picture by Guido Reni on the occasion of the canonization. (The original is in the Barberini gallery.) Clement XII willed to be buried in this chapel.

The liturgical celebration has the rank of feast for the Carmelites (and obligatory memorial for the Discalced in Italy), and is assigned to Jan. 9.

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY: Catalogus Sanctorum. The description of the cod. Vat. 3813 is found in the Anal. Boll. XVII (18S.8), pp. 314-317. It may be useful to know that a copy of the rare book of Fr. Dominic of Jesus, Acta Canonizationis S. Andrew Corsini, together with the first edition of the biography by Del Castagno, is in the Vatican library, Barber. JJ. I. 30. For the rest one is referred to Fr. Caioli, O. Carm., S. A. C., carmelitano e vescovo di Fiesole, Florence 1929 Among the reviews of this volume, the following offer contributions: Anastasio di S. Paolo, De S. A. C. in Analecta O.C.D., IV (19S0) pp. 238-250; R. Lechat, in Anal. Boll., XLVIII (1S30), pp. 432-434. Also useful are the studies of A. Cuschieri, La biografia di S. A. C. nel secolo e nell'Ordine carmelitano, in Rivista storica carmelitana, I (1929-30) pp. 21-39; B. Zimmerman, Alcune osserv. sul “S. A. C.” del P. Paolo Caioli Carm., ibid., II (1930-31), pp. 37-40; D. Pochin-Mould, Saint A. C. New York (1962); C. C. Calzolai, Santi e beati fiorentini, Florence 1965, pp. 27-31.

Louis Saggi

Iconography

The iconography regarding Andrew is mostly after 1629, the year of his canonization, and is generally related to a few outstanding episodes of his life. Nevertheless, in a XV cent, altar-piece, preserved in the sacristy of the Carmelite

church in Florence, there is narrated the apparition of the saint to the young Andrew Dazzi, whom St. Andrew ordered to suggest to the Council of the Ten an attack, on the feast day of SS. Peter and Paul, on the Milanese army which was devastating Tuscany. The other episodes of the same story are: the young Andrew Dazzi, who, having told of his vision to the the superior of the Carmelites, thanks the saint, who repeats his order

to the youth; the Ten, who question the youth, in order to verify the truth of his message; and the Florentine forces, who, having set out for the attack with the relics of SS. Peter and Paul on the day arranged, are victorious.

Guido Reni represented the saint in prayer with his episcopal insignia, in a painting of the Corsini gallery in Florence, and the saint standing, with his eyes turned to heaven, in a picture of the Pinacoteca of Bologna. J. B. Foggini (XVII cent.) sculpted, in three marble bas-reliefs for the Corsini chapel of the Carmelite church in Florence, three important moments in the life of St. Andrew: the apparition of the Virgin on the day of celebration of his first Mass (the model of which, in terra cotta, is in the Victoria and Albert museum in London); the promise made to Our Lady by the saint, to accept the bishopric of Fiesole; the apparition of St. Andrew to the Florentine forces during the battle of Anghiari. The memory of this episode was to be preserved also in the sketches of Leonard da Vinci for the lost frescos of the Hall of the Five Hundred in the Palazzo Vecchio /Old Palace/.

During the XVIII cent. Lambert-Sigisbert Adam received from Pope Clement XII (Corsini) the commission to represent in marble the episode of the apparition of the Virgin to the saint, for the Corsini chapel erected in St. John Lateran's. The model of this work, in terra cotta, is found in the Museum of Nancy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Richa Notisie istoriche delle chiese fiorentine,. III, Florence 1755, p. 272; IV, p. 222; VII, pp. 3-5; Künstle, II, pp. 57-58; Kaftal coll. 52-53; Reau, III, pp. 85­ 86; Emond, I, pp. 151-54; II, p. 107.

Sandra Orienti

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION. Excerpt from Saints of Carmel: A Compilation from Various Dictionaries under the direction of the Rev. Louis Saggi, O.Carm. and with the special collaboration of the Rev. Valentine Macca, OCD. Translated from the Italian by the Very Rev. Gabriel N. Pausback, O.Carm. First published by the Carmelite Institute, Rome, Italy 1972.

Peter Thomas (ab. 1305-1366) Saint, patriarch  

Two qualified admirers of Peter Thomas wrote his Life almost on the morrow of his death: Philip of Mézières (d. 1405), chancellor of King Peter of Cyprus and spiritual son of the saint (ed. J. Smet, The Life of St. Peter Thomas by Philippe de Mézières, Rome, 1954), and the Franciscan John Carmesson, minister of the province of the Holy Land, who had delivered the funeral eulogy (ed. Daniel of the Virgin Mary, The Life of St. Peter Thomas..., Anvers, 1666, and in Speculum Carmelitanum /Carmelite Mirror/, I, ib., 1680, pp. 165--225). 

Peter Thomas was born about 1305 into a very poor family (his father, a farm head, was a serf) in southern Périgord, in «a village which is called Salimaso de Thomas, in the diocese of Sarlat» (Phil of M. ed. cit, p. 53, 2-3; see also in Badisimato de Thomas, Carmesson, ed. cit, p. 4), a locality which is not easily identifiable. It is thought to be today's Lebreil, a section of Salles-de-Belves, about forty kilometers to the southwest of Sarlat (Dordogne), a traditional center of devotion to the saint. 

Upon the death of his brother, Peter Thomas, in order not to aggravate the family misery, left his parents and his younger sister while still a young man (Phil, of M., p. 54, 3). He went on to the nearby Castrum vocatum Monpesier /fortified town called Monpesier/ (ib., p. 54, 5), that is, to the small town of Monpazier, forty-five kilometers from Bergerac. Here he attended school for about three years (Carmesson, p. 5), living on alms and teaching younger pupils. He led the same type of life at Agen «for many years, until the age of twenty» (Phil, of M., p. 54, 9-10), that is, until about 1325, and then returned to Monpazier (Carmesson, p. 6). 

The prior of the Carmelite convent of Lectoure took note of him and had him teach for a year in that school. Then the prior of Condom (Phil of M., p. 54, 18) or, more probably, that of Bergerac (ib., p. 187, 18) brought him to his own convent and gave him the Carmelite habit. He made his profession of religious vows at Bergerac and taught there for two years. As a lector of logic at Agen, he studied philosophy there and, after another three years, was ordained a priest. He was helped in his dire poverty by the intervention of Our Lady, and went to teach logic in the Carmelite convent of Bordeaux for one year, then philosophy at the Carmelite house at Albi, and then again in Agen. After a stay of three years at Paris to further his studies, «he was made a lector at Cathurcii» (Phil. of M., p. 57, 1), that is, at Cahors, where, while preaching during a procession held to overcome a tremendous drought, he caused a «miraculous rain» to fall (ib., p. 57). 

After another three years he returned to Paris in order to continue his four-years course and gain the baccalaureate in theology. On his return to his own province he was elected procurator general cf his Order by the chapter of May 15, 1345, and was sent to the Roman curia, that is, to the pontifical court at Avignon. Despite the fact that physically he was not well-gifted (his Father General was ashamed to present him to the cardinals), he was noticed by his fellow-countryman, the cardinal of Périgord, Elias Talleyrand, who had him named apostolic preacher. The cardinal also intervened to permit him, perhaps after the normal three years of his procuratorship (1345-48), to finish his studies at Paris and to be declared a master in sacred theology towards his third year (Phil. of M., p. 59, 10), rather than after the five years prescribed by the university. He returned to Avignon (1351?) and successfully resumed his office of apostolic preacher. At the death of Pope Clement VI, he accompanied the corpse to the Chaise-Dieu, preaching at all the twelve stops along the way (April, 1353). 

From that time on the whole life of Peter Thomas was dedicated to the fulfillment of delicate missions entrusted to him by the Holy See, for peace among Christian princes, for the defense of the rights of the Church before the most powerful monarchs of the age, for the union of the Orthodox Byzantine--Slavs with the Roman Church, for the anti-Muslim crusade and the liberation of the Holy Land. 

His first legation (Oct., 1353) regarded the normalization of relations between Venice and Genoa and between the pontifical court and that of Naples. With a letter of Innocent VI, destined for the Ligurian doge, John Valente (see Innocent VI, Lettres secrètes et curiales, ed. P. Gasnault-M.H. Laurent, I, 2, Paris, 1960, pp. 184-5, 192-3, 196, nn. 569, 584, 596), Peter Thomas travelled to Milan to solicit the intervention of the archbishop, Duke John Visconti, in the Venetian-Genoese quarrel (Smet, Life, pp. 189-92). He then proceeded to Naples, where the pope had to defend the interests of the daughters of Charles of Durazzo, nephew of Cardinal Talleyrand, before King Louis of Taranto (Phil. of M., p. 64; see Smet, pp. 192-3; and Innocent VI, Lettres, 1. c, pp. 191-3, n. 585). 

In the following year, having been consecrated bishop of Patti and Lipari (Nov. 17, 1354), he took part, together with Bartholomew of Traù, in a pontifical mission to Serbia, whose sovereign, Stephen Dusan, had manifested desires of union (see Innocent VI, Lettres, ed. cit., II, Paris, 1962, pp. 206-14). After the mission had left Avignon in the second half of Jan., 1355, on its way to Venice, it renewed the appeal of the pope to Viscounti at Milan, and at Pisa met the German emperor, Charles TV, with whom it was charged to treat in the name of the Holy See (ib., pp. 65, 194-5). During the crossing of the Adriatic the saint intervened to free the group from a Turkish attack and from a tempest (ib., pp. 66-7); the mission reached the Serbian court at the beginning of March, 1355. Although Peter Thomas endeavored to reconcile «many metropolitan and other churches» (p. 70, 1-2) with the Roman See, he failed in his praiseworthy attempt, one reason being the death of Dusan (Dec. 20, 1355). On the return journey to the curia (in the spring of 1356), the nuncio dealt with Louis d'Anjou, king of Hungary, at Buda. (Phil. of M., pp. 67-70; Smet, pp. 195-6). 

Peter Thomas had hardly returned to Avignon when Innocent VI entrusted him (July- Aug., 1356) with a complicated legation, in the company of the Dominican William Conti, bishop of Sizeboiu. This legation aimed at resolving the Venetian-Hungarian conflict and at activating the politico-religious union proposed by the Byzantine emperor, John V Paleologus. Bearing a copious correspondence (A. L. Tautu, Acta Innocentii PP. VI, Rome, 1961, pp. 144-5, 151-76), the embassy reached Venice on Sept. 20, 1356, and Zagreb eight days later. Here it discussed with Louis Of Hungary the plan of leading a crusade against the sucessor of Dusan, Stephen Uros of Serbia. Peter Thomas, having returned to Venice on Nov. 10, was unable to conclude the peace between Venice and Hungary (Phil. of. M., pp. 70-4; Smet, pp. 197-201). 

At Constantinople (not before April, 1357), the papal legate received the submission of the emperor, to whom he gave Eucharistic communion (Phil. of M., p. 75); moreover, he obtained adherence to Catholic unity of several Greek nobles, such as John Lascaris Calofero and Demetrius Angelus of Thessalonica (A. L. Tautau, Acta Urbani PP V, Rome, 1964, p. 124). Perhaps he also played a part in the religious crisis of Demetrius Cydon (Smet, pp. 204-5). Among the theological debates provoked by his presence in the capital, the one that took place in the Pantocrator monastery in Oct. of 1357 is to be mentioned (J. Darrouzes, Conférence sur la primaute a Constantinople en 1357, in Revue des etudes byzantines, XIX /1961/ Melanges Raymond Janin, pp. 76-109; see T. M. Giuliani, Dibattito sul primato del Papa svoltosi a Constantinopoli nel 1357, in Oikoumenikon, 1966, quad. 112, pp. 77-92). 

On November 7 following, John V Paleologus consigned to Peter Thomas a letter for the pope in which the emperor promised to take all the measures necessary for union (Phil, of M., pp. 76-9). The nuncio fell seriously ill on Cyprus, where he had gone to obtain the support of King Hugo in favor of Byzantium. He had scarcely recovered when he set out on a devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, without being harassed by the Moslems. Subsequently he returned to Famagusta on Cyprus, where he was graced with some ecstasies (ib., pp. 80-2). It may be that on his return journey to the curia he stopped over in his own Sicilian diocese (see Acta Innocentii PP. VI, ed., cit. 144-5). 

Meanwhile Innocent VI was reorganizing the anti-Turkish league set up in 1350 by the Apostolic See, Cyprus, Venice and the Hospitallers of Rhodes. On May 10, 1359, he promoted Peter Thomas to the see of Coron (Peloponnesus) and named him his legate in the East, with ample jurisdiction over Morea, Constantinople, and the Venetian territories of «Romania» (ib., pp. 227-32). During the summer of that year Peter Thomas was at Venice, preparing the expedition. He accompanied it in the attack on Lansacco, and in the autumn cooperated in the defense of Smyrna. He prohibited, under pain of excommunication, the use of beards in the Latin patriarchate of Constantinople (Acta Urbani PP. V, I.e., p. 129). He then went on to Candia (Crete), in order to root out an «abominable heresy» (Phil. of M., p. 87, 3) that had arisen among the Latins; on that occasion a fanatic perished at the stake. At Canea he had the bones of a heretic burned. 

About Christmas of 1359, on the way to Rhodes, he became ill and was still feverish when he left the island at the beginning of April, 1360, to go to Cyprus; he disembarked at Pafo or at Cerin. On Easter Sunday, 1360, at Famagusta, he crowned his friend, Peter of Lusignan, king of Jerusalem (Phil, of M., pp. 90-2; L. Macheras, Chronique de Chypre, French trans. E. Miller-C. Sathas, Paris, 1882, pp. 56-9). He sought with «sweet» persuasion, «after many days» (Phil of M., p. 92, 7), to recall the orthodox Cypriots to Catholic unity; but their resistence put the life of the legate in serious danger. Afterwards, however, he reputedly gained all the hierarchy and almost all the dissident priest" to the Roman Church (ib., p. 93, 20-2). The Greek chroniclers, nevertheless, are of a different opinion (Macheras, Chronique, p. 57; see H. J. Magoulias, A Study in Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Church relations on the Island of Cyprus between the Years A.D. 1196 and 1360, in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, X, /1964/, pp. 96-106). 

Spurred on by an intense pastoral zeal, Peter Thomas went to visit his diocese of Coron, going by way of Rhodes. After the conquest of Adalia (Satalia) on the part of King Peter (Aug. 23-4, 1361), Peter Thomas instituted Catholic worship there, then returned to Cyprus. He organized public prayers against the plague that had broken out on the island (Phil, of M., pp. 97-100). He then entered into conflict with the friend of Demetrius Cydon, George the Philosopher (Demetrius Cydones, Correspondance, ed. R.J. Loenertz, Vatican City, 1956, p. 61). 

After he had become the spiritual director of Philip of Mezieres, chancellor of Peter I, Peter Thomas and the latter conceived the idea of a new crusade; and on Oct. 24, 1352, the two left Pafo en route to Europe to solicit the help of the West. After a stop in Rhodes, on Dec. 5 they disembarked in Venice; on Jan. 21, 1363, they were at Milan, and on Feb. 3 at Genoa. At Avignon Peter Thomas found a new pope, Urban V (1362-70), who promoted him to the archbishopric of Crete (March 6, 1363) and proclaimed the crusade (April 11). While Peter of Jerusalem visited the other courts of Europe, the saint accepted the peace-making mission at Milan, to induce Barnabas Visconti to restore Bologna to Card. Albornoz, the representative of the pope. After extenuating maneuvers between Emilia, Lombardy and Avignon, Peter Thomas had to administer the city of Bologna (Jan. 15-Feb. 7, 1364). While there he had to escape a conspiracy; however, on his return to Bologna from a trip to Venice in relation to the revolt of Crete, he assisted at the longed-for treaty of peace (March 13; see Phil of M., pp. 102- 10; Smet, pp. 213-21). 

On his return to the curia, about the middle of May, 1364, he was elected Latin patriarch of Constantinople and papal legate for the crusade, in succession to the deceased Card. Talleyrand. (The documents were deferred until the 5th and 10th of July; see Smet, p. 118, n. 32). It seems he was still at Avignon, and on the point of departure for Crete, when, on June 2, Urban V wrote to the doge of Genoa, Gabriel Adorno (Smet, p. 221, n. 25). Other sources, however, record the presence of the saint as a co-founder, on the same day, at the solemn act of official inauguration of the theological faculty at the University of Bologna (F. Ehrle, Gli statuti della facolta teologica di Bologna del 1364, in Biblioteca de «L'Archginnasio,» 2.a ser., Bologna, 1925, p. CXLII). At any rate, he was back at Bologna, after having definitely left Avignon in the second half of July, in order to confer the degree of master in sacred theology on his fellow-Carmelite, Bernard Aiguani (Smet, p. 119, n. 34). 

Peter Thomas then travelled to Venice, where he nervously awaited the arrival of King Peter. The latter finally returned on Nov. 11, but with his hands practically empty. The  departure of the crusade was further delayed, not only by the winter season, but also by the war that broke out between Cyprus and Genoa. On Jan. 28, 1365, Peter of Jerusalem and on Feb. 20 the pope chose Peter Thomas as a negotiator of peace between the two rival states. «Almost stoned» upon his arrival at Genoa (Phil of M., p. 123, 5-6), the legate succeeded in reconciling the Ligurian republic with the sovereign of Cyprus (treaty of April 18, 1365; see Smet, pp. 222-4). 

On June 27 the ships of the crusade sailed from Venice, and Peter Thomas strengthened the spirits of those who were leaving. In July the fleet had reached Rhodes, where, during the final preparations for the expedition, the legate worked intensely for the spiritual good of all. On Oct. he blessed all the militia Christi, which on the 9th following had already reached the port of Alexandria of Egypt. On the next day, by his words and by the inspiration of the relic of the Cross that he held in his hand at the moment of assault, the legate played a decisive role in the taking of the city (Phil of M., pp. 128-33; G. de Machaut, La prise d'Alexaotdrie ou Chronique du roi Pierre ler de Lusignan, ed. L. de Mas Latrie, Geneva, 1877). The victory could have been «a great and memorable work» (Petrarch, Senilia, VIII, 8) had not the Latin army, through fear of a probable Turkish counter-attack and against the opinion of the legate and a few others, shamefully abandoned Alexandria, after reducing it to a heap of ashes, and returned to Cyprus (Oct. 16). Peter Thomas wrote a pathetic letter to Pope Urban V and to the emperor, Charles IV, about this event (Phil, of M., pp. 135-40). 

In Famagusta Peter Thomas prohibited all commerce with the sultan; he was preparing to embark and return to the curia, when he caught cold during the Christmas feasts of 1365. His condition worsened on Dec. 28; and on Jan. 6, 1366, «reduced to skin and bones» (Phil Of M., p. 151, 15), he piously ended his earthly life «at about the second hour of the night» (ib. 154, 8), after having distributed all his belongings. He died in the Carmelite convent of Famagusta. 

His remains seemed surrounded with light to the women who waked them. The funeral was a veritable triumph; even the dissident Greeks and others who would willingly have «drunk his blood» (ib. p. 156, 3-4) while he was alive participated devoutly. The funeral eulogy was delivered by Carmesson, who several times felt himself mysteriously urged to call the deceased a saint (lb., 157, 8). The body remained exposed for six days, and was visited by a great number of people; cures and other miracles were verified before and after the burial (Smet, pp. 163-84). 

During the Lent of that year (Feb. 18-April 5) Philip of Mezieres wrote his biographical work on the saint (Smet, p. 31); and he was soon followed by Carmesson. who wished to contribute to the ecclesiastical process begun at Famagusta by the bishop, Simon of Leodicea, on April 14, 1366. On May 8 the tomb was opened: the body was found «perfect and whole, and the members as flexible as before» (Carmesson, pp. 100-1). The petition for canonization was presented to the pontiff, Urban V, by Peter of Cyprus himself. At the request of Peter of Jerusalem, on May 21, 1368, papal authority forbade removal of the body from  Cyprus for ten years (Smet, p. 188). And thus the last will of the saint regarding the return of his mortal remains to Beragerac was not respected.

The conquest of Cyprus by the Turks in 1571 and the earthquake of 1735 removed every trace of Peter Thomas on that island, and thus another desire of the saint was realized: to be a corpse «trodden on by goats and dogs» (Phil. of M., p. 148, 14). In 1905 the areheologist E. Enlart had to give up his search for the tomb of the saint among the ruins of the Carmelite church of Famagusta (Fouilles dan les eglises de Famagouste de Chypre, in The Archaeological Journal, LXII /1905/, p. 196). At Lebreil, a small chapel had been erected upon the presumed natal home of the saint, near a spring that reputedly appeared at his intercession. Pilgrims came to the chapel to pray especially to be freed of fever. It was destroyed by the French revolution. In 1895 there was talk of substituting the chapel «with a worthy sanctuary» (A. Parraud, Vie de saint P. T., Avignon, 1895, p. 351, n. 1). 

The fours volumes of sermons and the tract De Immaculata Conceptions B. M. V. that tradition attributes to him were likewise lost (ib., pp. 55, 57). Among the relics dear to the saint is to be mentioned the processional cross offered to him in 1360 by the Christian refugees from Syria and used by him as the standard in the Alexandrian crusade and as a source of strength in his own last agony. He willed the cross to his friend, Philip of Mézières, who on Dec. 23, 1370, gave it to the Grand School of St. John in Venice. This processional cross became the object of intense devotion and was depicted on the city's standard as a symbol of the greatness of His Serene Highness, the doge. It is preserved in the Venetian church of St. John. The cult of Peter Thomas, confirmed by Paul V in 1609 and by Urban VIII in 1628, is celebrated only in the Order of Carmel, on Jan. 8, and in the diocese of Perigueux. In 1944 the Carmelites in Rome dedicated to Peter Thomas a lyceum and a school of philosophy adjacent to their basilica of St. Martin of the Mountains on the Oppian hill. It is a modest tribute to the glory of a humble Carmelite, master in theology, a devotee of the Immaculate Virgin, one chosen for the highest offices of pontifical diplomacy, able craftsman of the Eastern policy of the papacy and of its work in favor of Christian unity, ardent peacemaker involved in a fatal armed enterprise: a European and ecumenical figure of the XIV century ! 

Iconography

In the national Pinacoteca (picture gallery) of Bologna; a picture of L. Caracci commissioned in 1596-8 by the theological faculty of the university of that city represents our saint under the erroneous title Martyrdom of St. Angelus (see above, p. 39; also, BSS, I, coll. 1241-2); he is bearded and clothed in a monastic habit, crucified to a tree trunk, pierced by a Turkish poisoned arrow. The motif is inspired by the legend according to which Peter Thomas reputedly was mortally wounded during the battle for Alexandria and therefore merits the title of martyr. For the identification of the personage here represented no doubts should remain, both because of the episcopal symbols visible on the viewer's left and because of the unmistakable view of Bologna in the background to the right. 

To perpetuate the memory of the establishment of the above-mentioned theological faculty, and to bring renown to the academic sessions by the public disputations that were usually held every year at Bologna on the Sunday after the Epiphany, Lucius Massari, wishing to commemorate the saint, during the same years (1596-8) painted Peter Thomas in the great hall of the Carmelites. He is seated as a universal doctor in a teacher's pulpit in the act of addressing a crowded group of learned men of diverse origins, as if to symbolize the prestige of theology. Although the profound knowledge of the saint cannot be denied, and the possibility that he may have become a Doctor of the Church—given his excellent theological preparation and despite the vortex of his diplomatic activity— cannot be excluded, it seems to us that his fame at Bologna has benefitted from his contemporary of the same name, the Invincible Doctor, that great Scotist, Peter Thomas, O.F.M. On the other hand, the deeds and honors of the Carmelite have in the past been attributed to the Franciscan. 

A miniature of the Acta Collegii Theologici (I, f. lr) represents Peter Thomas, together with the other founders of the Bologna faculty, prostrate at the feet of Pope Innocent VI, from whom he obtains the brief of erection of the same faculty (June 30, 1360). As president of the group of founders of the glorious institution, Peter Thomas, with his patriarchal pallium, is also found in other artistic representations. 

For the representations at Salles-de-Belves and at Lebeil (picture, window, fragment of a statue) and at Paris, see Parraud, op. cit. pp. 349-951. During the XVII cent. a specialist of monastic portraits, Fr. Zurbaran, painted Peter Thomas standing and always bearded, in a monastic habit and with a cardinal's hat, absorbed in the reading of a codex (P. Guinard, Zurbarán et les peintres espagnols de la vie monastique, Paris, 1960, pp. 272-3, tav. 531). In Venice a cycle of pictures illustrates by means of valuable screens or panels—executed by noted artists of the end of the XV cent (G. Bellini, G. Mansueti, L. Bastiani, B. Diana, V. Carpaccio)—the story and the miracles of the precious relic of the cross that strengthened the saint during his agony; today this cycle is found in the Gallery of the Academy (see Pier Tormmaso, Carmelitano, Rome, 1965, pp. 14-7).

Bibliography

Acta SS. Ianuarii, III, Paris 1863, pp. 60.5-38; N Jorga, Philippe de Méztères 1327-1405 et la croisade au XIV' siecle ibid. 1896 (v. index s. v. Thomas); J. Smet, The Life of Saint Peter Thomas by Philippe de Mézières Rome 1954 (with an ample bibl.); F. J. Boehlke, Pierre de Thomas Scholar, Diplomat and Crusader, Philadelphia, (1966); (cf. Dissertation Abstracts, XIX (1958), pp. 781-82); T. M. Quagliarella, Vita di S.P.T., Carmelitano patriarca di Costantinopoli, Naples 1960; G. Arrighi, Sulla via dell'ecumenismo, in Oikoumenikon, 1965, I, quad 91 pp. 309-322; J. Darrouzés Conference sur la primauté du pape a Constantinople en 1587, in Revue des Etudes Byzantines, XIX (1961), pp. 76-109; versione italiana a cura di T. Giuliani, in Oikoumenikon, 1966 I, quad. 112, pp. 77-92; I>. Pochin-Mould, The life of P.T., New York, 1961; G. Mesters, in LThK, XIII2, col. 382; (Lector). S.P.T. e la sua diplornazia, in L'Osservatore Romano, 22 genn. 1965, p. 6; S P.T., Carmelitano, Rome 1965; Emond I, pp. 147-151.  For the papal documents, cf. Lettres secrètes et curiales des papes du XIV siècle. Innocent VI (1352-1362), ed P. Gasnault e M.-H. Laurent, 3 fasc, Paris 1959-62; Urbain V (1362-1370), ed. P. Lecacheux (v. fasc. 4 index care of G. Mollat), ibid. 1955, col. 88; Acta Innocenti PP. VI (1352-1362), Acta Urbani PP. V (1362-1370), ed. A. L. Tautu (=Pont. Commissio ad redigendum Codicem Iuris Canonici Orientalis. Fontes. Ser. III, voll. X-XI) Rome 1961-64; N.P.T. Quagliarella, Della missione Pacifica dei papi di Avignone a mezzo del grande paciere del tempo S.P.T. carmelitano (documentario avignonese-vaticano 1352-1365),, Naples 1967. 

For a general picture: F. Giunta, Sulla political orientale di Innocenzo VI, in Miscellanea in onore di Roberto Cessi, I, Rome 1958, pp. 3O5-20; N. P. Zacour Talleyrand, the Cardinal of Périgord, 1301-l364, Philadelphia 1960; A. Pellissier, Innocent VI le Réformateur, deuxiene Pape limousin, 1352-1362, Tulle 1961; T. M. Quagliarella, Vita di S. Pier Tommaso carmelitano..., Naples 1961; B. Guillemain, La Cour pontificate d'Avignon (1309-1376) Etude d'une société, Paris 1962; W. de Vries, Die Papste von Avignon und der christliche Osten, in Orientalia Christiana Periodica, XXX (1964), pp. 85-128; G. Mollat, Les Papes d'Avignon (1370-1378), Paris 1965; A. Leotand, A Benedictine Pope Urban V (1310-1370) in The Downside Review, LXXXIII (1965), pp. 351-69. Daniel Stiernon 

Guardando al passato, non sarà mai abbastanza ciò che si fa per chiedere perdono e cercare di riparare il danno causato. Guardando al futuro, non sarà mai poco tutto ciò che si fa per dar vita a una cultura capace di evitare che tali situazioni non solo non si ripetano, ma non trovino spazio per essere coperte e perpetuarsi.

Lettera del Santo Padre Francesco Al Popolo di Dio 20 de agosto de 2018

Il Capitolo Generale del 2019
dell’Ordine dei Fratelli della Beata Vergine Maria del Monte Carmelo
durante la Sessione XXV approva il seguente

DECRETO

Disposizione per la tutela dei minori e delle persone vulnerabili

Tutelare le persone significa proteggerle dai pericoli, ma anche promuovere ed elogiare positivamente ciò che viene eseguito correttamente e il valore di ogni essere umano. Il punto di partenza dell’approccio carmelitano al tema della tutela dei minori e degli adulti vulnerabili si basa sulla necessità di “una conversione continua e profonda dei cuori, attestata da azioni concrete ed efficaci…” (Vos Estis Lux Mundis, 2).

• Considerato il dovere, la responsabilità e l’esigenza di proteggere il diritto dei minori e delle persone vulnerabili;
• ai sensi dei canoni 1395 § 2, 1717, 1722, 695 § 2 del Codice di Diritto Canonico;
• ai sensi dell’art. 6, motu proprio Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, 30 aprile 2001, del motu proprio Normae de gravioribus delictis, 21 maggio 2010, del motu proprio “Come una Madre Amorevole”, 4 giugno 2016 e del moto proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundis, 7 maggio 2019, del rescritto art.1, modifiche all’ 6 § 1,2º Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela, 17 dicembre 2019
• ai sensi degli articoli 228 e 229 delle Costituzioni O.N.;

Si dispone quanto segue:

a) L'Ordine Carmelitano si impegna a creare e mantenere un ambiente sicuro per i suoi membri e tutti coloro che lavorano per l'Ordine.

b) Si tratta di un ambiente privo di abusi e molestie di qualsiasi forma, fisica, sessuale, psicologica o verbale.

c) L'Ordine presta particolare attenzione alla creazione di un tale ambiente sicuro per minori e adulti vulnerabili.

d) L'intero Ordine si impegna a seguire le migliori prassi e linee di condotta ovunque operi, al fine di raggiungere un ambiente sicuro e proteggerlo.                        

e) Tutte le Province, i Commissariati e le Delegazioni devono sviluppare delle linee di condotta e delle procedure conformi alle leggi e alle norme civili ed ecclesiastiche. Tali politiche devono essere inviate al Consiglio Generale.

f) Tutti i frati, siano essi superiori o meno, devono obbedire alle leggi e alle norme civili ed ecclesiastiche dei luoghi in cui vivono e operano. Ciò include le leggi e le norme relative alla denuncia delle accuse.

g) L'Ordine si impegna a garantire a coloro che si dichiarano vittime, insieme alle loro famiglie, di essere trattati con dignità e rispetto e siano accolti, ascoltati e sostenuti.

h) La reputazione e la privacy di tutte le persone coinvolte, così come la riservatezza dei loro dati personali, devono essere protette.

i) Il Consiglio Generale, così come i Consigli provinciali e dei Commissariati, revisioneranno periodicamente le procedure sulla tutela e le aggiorneranno alla luce dei cambiamenti delle disposizioni civili ed ecclesiastiche.

La norma di vita di Sant'Alberto Avogadro, data ai Carmelitani tra il 1206 e il 1214 e approvata definitivamente come vera e propria Regola del Carmelo da Innocenzo IV nel 1247, ha avuto in seguito alcune mitigazioni mai incluse nel testo. La Regola carmelitana afferma che è fondamentale "vivere nell'ossequio di Gesù Cristo e servire fedelmente a Lui con cuore puro e con buona coscienza" (n.2). Per vivere sulle orme di Gesù Cristo i Carmelitani si impegnano più specificamente a:

• sviluppare la dimensione contemplativa dell'essere umano aprendosi al dialogo con Dio
• trattarsi come fratelli, con piena carità 
• meditare giorno e notte la Parola del Signore 
• pregare insieme o soli più volte al giorno
• celebrare ogni giorno l'eucaristia
• lavorare con le proprie mani, come Paolo apostolo
• purificarsi da ogni traccia di male
• vivere da poveri, mettendo in comune i pochi beni 
• amare la Chiesa e tutte le genti
•  conformare la propria volontà con quella di Dio ricercata nella fede con il dialogo e con il discernimento.

La Regola carmelitana è la più breve fra le Regole note, è composta quasi esclusivamente di precetti biblici. Ancora oggi è ricca di ispirazione per la vita. I numeri del paragrafo della regola di sant'Alberto sono tra parentesi quadre per indicare che non fanno parte della regola originale. Sono stati concordati dai Consigli Generali di entrambi gli Ordini Carmelitani e pubblicati nel 1999.

[1] Alberto per grazia di Dio chiamato Patriarca della chiesa Gerosolimitana, ai diletti figli in Cristo B. e agli altri eremiti che sotto la sua obbedienza, dimorano presso la fonte nel monte Carmelo: salute nel Signore e benedizione dello Spirito Santo.

[2] Molte volte ed in vari modi i santi padri stabilirono in che modo ciascuno in qualunque ordine sia o qualunque modo di vita religiosa abbia scelto debba vivere in ossequio di Gesù Cristo e servire lui fedelmente con cuore puro e buona coscienza.

[3] Tuttavia poiché richiedete da noi che secondo il vostro proposito consegnamo a voi una formula di vita che dovrete osservare in futuro:

[4] Questo in primo luogo stabiliamo che abbiate come priore uno di voi che sia eletto a questo ufficio per consenso unanime di tutti o della maggiore e più sana parte, al quale ciascuno degli altri prometta obbedienza e promessa(la) studi di osservar(la) con la verità dell’azione insieme con la castità e la rinuncia della proprietà.

[5] Potrete poi avere abitazioni negli eremi o dove vi saranno donate adatte e convenienti all’osservanza della vostra religione secondo che al priore e ai frati sembrerà convenire.

[6] Inoltre, secondo lo spazio del luogo che avrete proposto di abitare ognuno di voi abbia una cella individuale separata come per disposizione dello stesso priore e con l’assenso degli altri frati o della parte più sana le stesse celle furono a ciascuno assegnate.

[7] In modo tuttavia che nel comune refettorio consumiate le cose che vi saranno distribuite, ascoltando in comune qualche lettura della Sacra Scrittura dove si potrà osservare comodamente.

[8] Né sia lecito ad alcun frate se non con licenza del priore di quel tempo cambiare dimora a lui assegnata o scambiarla con un altro.

[9] La cella del Priore sia presso l’ingresso dell’abitazione perché venga incontro per primo ai venienti alla stessa abitazione, e in seguito ciò che si deve fare tutto proceda secondo l’arbitrio e la disposizione dello stesso.

[10] Rimangano soli nelle proprie celle o presso di esse meditando giorno e notte nella legge del Signore e vigilanti nelle orazioni a meno che non siano occupati in altre giuste occasioni.

[11] Coloro che sanno dire le ore canoniche con i chierici le dicano secondo la costituzione dei santi Padri e la consuetudine approvata dalla chiesa. Coloro che non le sanno dicano venticinque volte il Pater noster nelle veglie notturne eccettuate le domeniche e i giorni solenni nelle cui vigilie il predetto numero stabiliamo di raddoppiare in modo che si dica il Pater noster cinquanta volte. Sette volte poi sia detta la stessa orazione nelle lodi mattutine anche nelle altre ore similmente si dica sette volte per ciascuna la stessa orazione eccetto gli uffici vespertini nei quali dovete dirla quindici volte.

[12] Nessuno dei frati dica qualcosa sua proprietà ma tra voi tutto sia in comune e sia distribuito a ciascuno per mano del priore cioè per mezzo del frate da lui deputato allo stesso ufficio, secondo quanto occorre a ciascuno avuto riguardo all’età e necessità dei singoli.

[13] Asini poi o muli secondo quanto richiederà la vostra necessità vi sarà lecito avere e qualche allevamento di bestiame o di volatili.

[14] L’oratorio secondo che si possa fare più comodamente sia costruito in mezzo alle celle dove al mattino ogni singolo giorno dovete convenire ad ascoltare la celebrazione della Messa quando questo si potrà fare comodamente.

[15] I giorni di domenica anche o in altri dove fosse necessario trattate della custodia dell’ordine e la salute delle anime dove anche gli eccessi e le colpe dei frati se queste in qualcuno fossero colte siano corrette con carità.

[16] Osserverete il digiuno ogni giorno eccettuate le domeniche dalla festa della Esaltazione della Santa Croce fino al giorno della domenica di Risurrezione a meno che l’infermità o debolezza del corpo o altra giusta causa consigli di sciogliere il digiuno perché la necessità non ha legge.

[17] Vi asterrete dal mangiar carne a meno che la prendiate per rimedio alla infermità o debolezza. E poiché voi dovete più frequentemente mendicare viaggiando per non essere onerosi agli ospiti fuori delle vostre case potrete mangiare cibi cotti con carne; ma sul mare sarà lecito mangiare anche carni.

[18] Poiché in verità la vita dell’uomo sulla terra è tentazione e tutti quelli che vogliono vivere piamente in Cristo patiscono persecuzione e anche il vostro avversario il diavolo come leone ruggente si aggira cercando chi divorare con ogni sollecitudine studiatevi di indossare l’armatura di Dio per poter resistere contro le insidie del nemico.

[19] Dovete cingere i fianchi col cingolo della castità. Bisogna fortificare il petto con pensieri santi è scritto infatti, il pensiero santo ti preserverà. Si deve indossare la corazza della giustizia per amare il Signore Dio vostro con tutto il cuore e con tutta l’anima e tutta la forza e il prossimo vostro come voi stessi. Si deve impugnare in tutte le cose lo scudo della fede in cui possiate estinguere tutti i dardi infuocati del maligno; senza fede infatti è impossibile piacere a Dio. Inoltre si deve porre sul capo l’elmo della salvezza perché speriate la salvezza dal solo Salvatore che salvò il suo popolo dai propri peccati. La spada poi dello spirito che è la parola di Dio abiti abbondantemente nella bocca e nei vostri cuori; e tutte le cose che dovete fare si facciano nella parola del Signore.

[20] Dovete fare qualche lavoro perché sempre il diavolo vi trovi occupati perché dalla vostra oziosità non riesca a trovare un passaggio di entrata alle vostre anime. Avete in ciò il magistero e parimenti l’esempio del beato Paolo nella cui bocca parlava Cristo che è stato posto e dato da Dio predicatore e dottore delle genti nella fede e nella verità, se lo avrete seguito non potrete sviarvi. Nel lavoro, dice, e nella fatica fummo tra di voi lavorando notte e giorno per non essere di peso ad alcuno di voi; non come se noi non ne avessimo il diritto ma per darvi noi stessi come esempio per imitare noi. Infatti, quando eravamo presso di voi, questo vi annunziavamo: che se qualcuno non vuol lavorare non mangi. Sentivamo infatti che tra voi alcuni vivevano in agitazione senza far niente. A coloro che sono così intimiamo e scongiuriamo nel Signore Gesù Cristo che lavorando in silenzio mangino il proprio pane. Questa via è santa e buona, camminate in essa.

[21] Raccomanda poi l’Apostolo il silenzio quando comanda di lavorare in esso e come il Profeta testimonia, Culto della giustizia è il silenzio; e di nuovo, Nel silenzio e nella speranza sarà la vostra forza. Perciò stabiliamo che detta compieta osserviate il silenzio fino alla recita di prima del giorno seguente. In altro tempo poi, sebbene non si abbia del silenzio una osservanza così grande con diligenza tuttavia ci si guardi dalla loquacità perché come sta scritto e non meno insegna l’esperienza Nel molto parlare non mancherà il peccato E, Chi è sconsiderato nel parlare, sperimenterà i danni. Ancora, chi usa molte parole, lede la sua anima. E il Signore nel Vangelo: Di ogni parola oziosa che gli uomini avranno detto renderanno conto di essa nel giorno del giudizio. Applichi quindi ciascuno una bilancia alle sue parole e freni adeguati alla sua bocca perché per caso non cada con la lingua e incurabile sia la sua caduta mortale Custodendo con il Profeta le sue vie per non cadere con la sua lingua e il silenzio nel quale è il culto della giustizia diligentemente e cautamente si studi di osservare.

[22] Tu, poi, frate B., e chiunque dopo di te sarà istituito priore sempre tenete in mente e osservate nelle opere quello che il Signore dice nel vangelo. Chiunque vorrà tra voi diventare più grande sia vostro servo, e chiunque tra voi vorrà essere il primo sarà vostro schiavo.

[23] Voi anche fratelli tutti, onorate umilmente il vostro priore pensando piuttosto che a lui a Cristo che lo pose sulle vostre teste e ai preposti delle chiese dice, Chi ascolta voi ascolta me e chi disprezza voi, disprezza me perché non veniate in giudizio per disprezzo ma dalla obbedienza meritiate il prezzo della vita eterna.

[24] Queste cose abbiamo scritto brevemente per voi stabilendo la formula della vostra vita secondo la quale dovrete vivere. Se qualcuno poi avrà dato di più il Signore stesso, quando ritornerà, glielo renderà. Si usi tuttavia la discrezione