Pietro Delcorno

Strategies of Catholic Identity Formation c. 1510–1560 (Chronicle)

On October 31 and November 1, 2011, the workshop Strategies of Catholic Identity Formation in a Period of Religious Confusion (c. 1510-1560), was held at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, as part of the research project Religious Orders and Religious Identity Formation in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 1420-1620.1 The workshop explored ways in which genres of religious instruction and confessional self-understanding were used and transformed before the solidification of Catholic doctrine in the wake of the Council of Trent. The workshop consisted of four sessions: “Reinterpreting the Catholic World Before the Council of Trent”; “Catholic Sermons as Vehicles of Religious Instruction”; “The Bible and para-Biblical Literature”; “Order Chronicles and Saints’ Lives as Representations of Religious Identity.”2 In addition to participants from Nijmegen, the workshop involved researchers from the University of Groningen (the project Holy Writ and Lay Readers: A Social History of Vernacular Bible Translations in the Middle Ages), as well as scholars from England, Italy, and the USA.

In the Mirror of the Prodigal Son

In the Mirror of the Prodigal Son provides a comprehensive history of the function of the parable of the prodigal son in shaping religious identity in medieval and Reformation Europe. By investigating a wealth of primary sources, the book reveals the interaction between commentaries, sermons, religious plays, and images as a decisive factor in the increasing popularity of the prodigal son. Pietro Delcorno highlights the ingenious and multifaceted uses of the parable within pastoral activities and shows the pervasive presence of the Bible in medieval communication. The prodigal son narrative became the ideal story to convey a discourse about sin and penance, grace and salvation. In this way, the parable was established as the paradigmatic biography of any believer.

Following Francis at the time of the Antichrist: Evangelical poverty and worldly riches in the Lectura super Lucam of Peter of John Olivi

Forty years ago, speaking of Peter of John Olivi’s commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John, Raoul Manselli affirmed that these texts prove that Olivi had “a vast knowledge of the exegetes who preceded him, a vivid perception of the role of the Bible within the contemporary life of the Church, and, last but not least, a vivid understanding of the complex significance and value of being Franciscan.”1 Undoubtedly, this judgment can also be extended to the Lectura super Lucam, which Fortunato Iozzelli edited in 2010, thereby becoming the first of Olivi’s Gospel commentaries to be available in a modern edition.2 Iozzelli’s critical edition offers scholars a precious opportunity to better understand a text that, notwithstanding the increasing number of studies on Olivi, has remained largely unexplored and serves to point out the role of this text within the complex exegesis, theology, and spirituality of Olivi.3 His biblical commentaries assume a paramount

Between Pulpit and Reformation: The "Confessions" of François Lambert

As François Lambert (1486/87-1530) experimented with religious identity in his passage from the Franciscan Observance to Lutheran Reform, he presents a valuable witness to the processes of identity formation and self-understanding in a period of religious turmoil that was still open to many different solutions. From 1522 to 1530 his choices led him from Avignon to Genève, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, Basel, Wittenberg, Metz, Strasbourg, Marburg, in a life marked by projects of reform and moments of fear, illusions and delusions, success and failure. Lambert wrote a type of autobiography of this itinerary, which is traceable from his first work composed in Wittenberg until the very last letter that he wrote a few days before his death. Moreover, his non-linear religious journey forced him to come to terms with his previous identity as Franciscan, as friar, as preacher. The existing literature on François Lambert already traces the major details of his life and writings.1 Here, by means of what I suggest calling the “confessions” of Lambert, I would like to investigate the way in which he recounted his experiences, tried to give them unity and meaning, and built his own identity.2 Apart from his radical conversion, this article examines whether it is possible to detect elements of