School of Languages, Cultures, and Societies

"This article argues that a portion of the fifteenth-century frescos at the entrance door from the cloister to the cathedral of Bressanone can be seen as a painted sermon. The analysis draws on the frescos of two vaults and the interaction between words and images. In the first vault, just above the entrance of the church, the frescos present not only the contents of a sermon, but also its structure, namely an episode from the Gospel, a catechetical pattern, the quotation of auctoritates and a social goal to be achieved. The frescos of the second vault represent the contrast between virtues and vices using the pairs presented in Matthew 24. 40–41. This text was read by the medieval exegetical tradition as a scheme for the different status of Christian life, thus this vault could be seen as an elaborate catechetical pattern with a large system of biblical quotations. Moreover, the structure of the frescos of the second vault can be read as a sermo modernus based on the divisio of Matthew 24. 40–41. Finally, the comparison with a portion of a sermon by Bernardino da Siena on the theme of avarice confirms that the elements represented in Bressanone were really used both by preachers and painters.
In this way, the images of the cloister are a sermon, which continually preaches to anyone entering or leaving the church, thus organizing the public space as a 'theatre of memory' and offering a message readable at different levels."

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. 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. Apart from his radical conversion, this article examines whether it is possible to detect elements of continuity with his previous commitment to the Franciscan Observant religious life.

La sacra rappresentazione fiorentina Lazero ricco e Lazero povero, basata sulla parabola di Lazzaro e del ricco epulone (Luca 16,19-31), ha ricevuto finora poca attenzione. L’articolo, oltre a pubblicarne per la prima volta il testo, si propone di metterne in luce la struttura e i contenuti, in rapporto al contesto storico-sociale fiorentino. Emergono così i mutamenti attualizzanti rispetto alla parabola evangelica e le connessioni con la tradizione esegetica medievale e con la predicazione contemporanea. Inoltre si analizzano i cambiamenti più significativi tra il testo del manoscritto (1470ca.) e l’editio princeps di Zanobi della Barba (1510 ca.), dalla quale dipendono le successive numerose edizioni cinque e seicentesche. Si indaga infine l’inusuale omonimia dei due protagonisti.

The Florentine “sacra rappresentazione” titled Lazero ricco e Lazero povero, based on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16,19-31), has hitherto received little attention. This article not only provides the first edition of this text of this play but also tries to assess its structure and contents by contextualizing them within the Florentine culture and society of the time. This allows to highlight the author’s topical and peculiar reading of this parable and, on the other hand, to retrace his relationship with medieval exegesis and contemporary preaching. Furthermore, this study analyses the major textual discrepancies between the manuscript (ca. 1470) and the editio princeps by Zanobi della Barba (ca. 1510), on which all later editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth century were based. Finally, it is investigated the unusual homonymy of the two main characters of the religious play.

Nel Vangelo di Luca si narra di Lazzaro, un povero mendicante affamato e piagato alla porta di un ricco gaudente. La parabola ebbe grande fortuna nell’Italia e nell’Europa fra tardomedioevo e prima età moderna, grazie ai predicatori che ne fecero il loro cavallo di battaglia. Seguirne le metamorfosi – come fa questa documentata ricerca – significa pertanto approfondire i modi in cui una articolata comunicazione religiosa rappresentava la società del tempo, attraverso una serie di tematiche come le vesti, i segni del lusso, le regole della carità e la sfuggente identità del povero, la tensione fra ricchezza mondana e destino eterno, le strategie per coniugare denaro e salvezza, l’immaginario dell’aldilà.