The Bildungsroman of an Anonymous Franciscan Preacher in Late Medieval Italy (Biblioteca Comunale di Foligno, MS C. 85)

Abstract

Between 1484 and 1507, an anonymous Franciscan Observant friar recorded his own preaching in northern and central Italy in a diary now housed in Foligno City Library as manuscript C. 85. The diary is a unique historical document because it enables us to reconstruct the process of sermon preparation from the friar’s perspective. It also allows us to view his growth as a preacher, from novice to expert.In the early years of the diary, the preacher selected his models by topic from past popular preachers’ sermons. In the middle years, he composed his own sermon collections and began to use them in his preaching. In the final years, he added his new collection of sermons. He also recalled and reused sermons that he had delivered before, increasing the number of cross-references in the diary. Consequently, the diary reminded him vividly of his own experiences: the outlines of past sermons, their results, or other pieces of advice to himself. The preacher thus prepared his sermons while maintaining a dialogue with his past self. Examining the twenty Lenten sermon cycles that comprise a large part of manuscript C. 85 in chronological order, I describe the manuscript as a Bildungsroman ante litteram.