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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 635: Writing Sermons in the Late Middle Ages

Tuesday 2 July 2019, 11.15-12.45

Moderator/Chair:Jonathan Adams, Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala Universitet
Paper 635-aA Sermon Collection of the Dominican Friar Marco di Pietro Succhielli
(Language: English)
Yoko Kimura, Osaka City University
Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Sermons and Preaching
Paper 635-bSaint Stephen’s Farsed Epistles as Catechetical Message
(Language: English)
Joan Maria Martí Mendoza, Institut de Ciències de l'Educació, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Liturgy, Sermons and Preaching
Abstract

Paper -a:
The unpublished sermon collection of Succhielli (spanning from 1481 to 1512) shows how a less known Dominican preacher prepared his sermons in Savonarolan Florence. The collection under scrutiny contains a variety of sermons, from intellectual sermons with many citations from auctoritates such as Greek philosophers, Roman poets, and Renaissance humanists, to simpler sermons with popular, vivid exempla. This paper reveals how Succhielli collected his materials, from where he copied them and which books he had on his desk. As a result, we can see Florentine Dominican preaching with a viewpoint different from that of a 'charismatic' preacher like Savonarola.

Paper -b:
If we think a sermon as a material who indicates and shows the correct attitude of life to get the eternal live in Heaven, we also can find it in other liturgical parts as the epistles. One of the most interesting examples is the Saint Stephen’s farsed epistle, both in Latin and in romance languages.

In my paper I will expose how the Saint Stephen’s farsed epistles have a catechetical message. In their texts we can find a lot of references and samples of the correct way to live: the defense of the Christian message, a model death in Christ, the forgiveness of those who give us pain and sorrows are reinforced with farses and tropes to the original Luke’s Acts text both in Latin and, especially, in romance languages: French, Occitan and Catalan from 12th century to 15th.