medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Thomas J. Renna wrote:
> Does anyone know if a vita of a candidate for canonization was required before a process could begin? Did the cardinals at Avignon expect, or at least strongly encourage, a biography to be submitted by those seeking a process? Did the Curia offer any guidelines on how a vita should be written? Or did the writer have to guess at what the committee would expect in a formal Life? Do we know if the Curia ever formally requested a vita? I'm particularly interested in the vita submitted for Nicholas of Tolentino in 1325.
Forgive me for the lateness of this reply, but I have been away from my
email since before this was posted.
In the case of Louis IX, who died in 1270, Gregory X wrote to Louis'
Dominican confessor, Geoffrey of Beaulieu, in 1272, requesting that he
quietly write a vita of Louis, and send it secretly to the curia. Gregory,
I believe, had known Louis personally, and the request from Geoffrey was
one of his first acts as pope. I've always been puzzled by
Gregory request for secrecy. I can provide the references and the text if
anyone wants them. Geoffrey's vita is one of the most important, and was
very influential in the canonization process. Greg X dies before 1275,
and as you all know, it took until 1297 for his canonization to go
through, but Geoffrey's text was clearly very influential, and Boniface
VIII (who canonized Louis) used a number of his anecdotes in the
canonization bull, and Geoffrey's vita was then taken up by Guillaume of
St Pathus who wrote a vita in 1303-03. It is assumed that Geoffrey's vita
was thus part of the canonization package, now lost, but a copy of which
was sent to the curia and another copy of which was housed with the
Franciscans of Paris (whose library went up in flames in 1580). I hope
some of this speaks to Dr. Renna's underlying questions. Fascinating
stuff.
best
cecilia gaposchkin
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