medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (10. September) is also the feast day of:
Nicholas of Tolentino (d. 1305). The Augustinian preacher and
miracle-worker Nicholas of Tolentino was born in 1244 or 1245 in the
March of Ancona at today's Sant'Angelo in Pontano (MC). Prompted by an
angelic dream-visitation, his parents had made a pilgrimage to the
church of St. Nicholas at Bari to obtain that saint's intercession in
overcoming the aging mother's apparent sterility; while they were there,
St. Nicholas appeared to them in a dream, told them on the authority of
Christ that they would have a son and that his name would be Nicholas in
honor of the saint who had assisted them. Early Lives of our N. tell us
this; that by Peter of Monterubbiano (BHL 6230) is clearly and elegantly
written and repays reading.
At perhaps the age of fourteen N. became an oblate at the Augustinian
convent in his native town; he studied both here and later at Cingoli
(MC; "The Balcony of the Marche"), where he was ordained into the
priesthood. M. spent the remainder of his life as a spiritual counselor
and confessor in nearby Augustinian houses, working principally with the
poor and the infirm; for approximately thirty years until his death he
was based at the Augustinian convent at Tolentino. During this time
tales of his miracles began to spread; after his death these increased
to such an extent that an official inquiry in 1325 took note of over 300
of them. By 1320 the Augustinians of Tolentino had built a large hall
(the so-called Cappellone di San Nicola) over N.'s gravesite, attaching
it to their thirteenth-century church and richly decorating it with
frescoes executed over the next five years by artisans from Rimini.
Shortly after his canonization in 1446 an altar and a wooden cult statue
of N. were added to the Cappellone.
Years of wear, damage, and rebuilding at this major pilgrimage site have
left relatively little that is medieval (other, of course, than the
Cappellone itself). Medieval elements may be seen, however, in this view
of today's basilica:
http://www.ospitalitalia.it/img/common/default/schede/2740.jpg
and in these views of the cloister:
http://www.associazionemusicalegabrielli.it/tolentino/chiostro.gif
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/basilica/images/guida/chiostro_zoom.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/aqhc5
Almost lost in this Baroque facade is a portal from 1435 by Nanni di
Bartolo:
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/basilica/images/guida/facciata_zoom.jpg
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/7ww7o
Some views of the Cappellone:
http://tinyurl.com/amu26
http://www.arengario.net/momenti/imm/momenti33c.jpg
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/cappellone/images/cappellone_zoom.jpg
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/ajnoq
Bill Thayer's page on the Cappellone, with views and English-language
discussion, is a work in progress:
http://tinyurl.com/8ppby
Cappellone detail (vault):
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/cappellone/images/volta_zoom.jpg
A page with details of the wall frescoes (four expandable thumbnails plus
three hotlinks ["l'ordine superiore", etc.] leading to further details:
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/cappellone/pareti.html
An illustrated, Italian-language discussion of the frescoes:
http://www.arengario.net/momenti/momenti33.html
N.'s body was rediscovered in the 1920s and now reposes in a modern
crypt below the Cappellone:
http://tinyurl.com/d66mn
Two pages of expandable views of images of N. (some medieval):
http://santiebeati.it/immagini/?mode=album&album=34600&dispsize=Original
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/ddybw
http://santiebeati.it/immagini/?mode=album&album=34600&start=20
TinyURL for this: http://tinyurl.com/eyuh8
Today is the seven-hundredth anniversary of N.'s death. An illustrated,
Italian-language site for the septicentenary features a guided tour of
the basilica:
http://www.sannicoladatolentino.it/index.htm
There have been at least two important publications this year on N.'s
iconography:
_San Nicola da Tolentino nell'arte. Corpus iconografico_ (Tolentino
[Macerata]: Biblioteca Egidiana, Convento San Nicola, 2005- ).
Contents, vol. 1.: Dalle origini al Concilio di Trento / coordinamento
scientifico: Valentino Pace; repertori iconografici a cura di Roberto
Tollo. - 2005. - 465 p. : ill..
At head of title: Centro studi Agostino Trapč di Tolentino .../
AND
Maria Giannatiempo López, _Immagine e mistero. Il sole, il libro, il
giglio: iconografia di San Nicola da Tolentino nell'arte italiana dal
XIV al XX secolo_(Milano: F. Motta, 2005; catalogue of an exhibition of 100
representations of N.).
Best,
John Dillon
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