Reflections on Two 'Capistranian' Manuscripts in Friedsam Memorial Library at St. Bonaventure University

During my stint as a visiting scholar at St. Bonaventure University, I stumbled on two very interesting manuscripts that are not as well known as they deserve to be. I would like to make these two 'pebbles' more accessible to other scholars and to anyone who desires to approach this valuable material, which is preserved in the Friedsam Memorial Library.

The First Manuscript: A "Handbook" for the Observant Friars

At St. Bonaventure University, I was working on the sources concerning John of Capistrano's polemics against the Jews and the Turks. To this purpose, I scanned the Ottokar Bonmann Archive at St. Bonaventure for letters, sermons, and treatises. At the same time I was working on the critical edition of Capistrano's La dichiarazione in volgare sulla Regola di san Francesco, which amounts to a vernacular explanation and interpretation of the Rule of St. Francis. It is one of the first vernacular texts of its kind, providing, in a few simple words, an explanation of the meaning of Franciscan spirituality. As its author is one of the "four columns" of the Observant family, it can, in fact, be understood as a vademecum for the Observants. My first impressions in this direction were confirmed and reinforced by looking at the manuscript Holy Name College, cod. 35, which is now preserved in the Friedsam Memorial Library of St. Bonaventure University (NY).

Chiappini² lists three manuscripts containing La dichiarazione:

1. 1. L'Aquila, Archivio di Stato, cod. S.73, ff. 461b - 469b (1440)³

2. 2. Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale, cod. XII.G.5 n. 2⁴

3. 3. Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, cod. B.131, ff. 53r-66v⁵

Bonmann found six other manuscripts:

1. 1. Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (= BAV), Vat. lat. 13100, ff. 80r-94v

2. 2. Rome, Biblioteca S. Isidoro 1/68, ff. 244r-254v

3. 3. Rome, Biblioteca S. Isidoro 1/85, ff. 10r-24r

4. 4. Washington DC, Library Holy Name College, cod. 35

5. 5. Zara, Biblioteca Paravia, cod. 1552, ff. 3v-13v

6. 6. Private collection of Giovanni Pansa

Since I have not yet been able to see the last two manuscripts (that is the Zara manuscript and the one kept in Pansa's private collection), some questions remain concerning their actual contents. When we consider the Zara manuscript, for example, we notice that Chiappini claims it to contain on folios 3v-13v the Expositione della Clementina de Clemente V, sopra la regula de li frati minori, traslata ad litteram de latino in vulgare per lo venerabile frate Iohanni de Capestrano (1430?). Based on the similarity of subject matter and the use of the vernacular language, Bonmann inferred that this text included Capistrano's dichiarazione. The circumstances surrounding the manuscript in Giovanni Pansa's private collection present us with a real detective story. This Italian bibliofile described the manuscript for the first time in 1887, when it resided in a library in Sulmona. Pansa subsequently bought the manuscript and sold it in Rome before 1925 to the antiquarian bookstore of Ermanno Loescher & Company. Since then, the manuscript has disappeared without leaving any trace. All details concerning this story can be found in the work of Chiappini,⁶ who wrote that the manuscript contains the Postilla in clementina "Exivi" super Regulam fratrum minorum per sanctum Ioannem de Capestrano. This might be the same Postilla as that found in MS. 20 of the Capestrano library. Based on all this, I believe that Bonmann misunderstood Chiappini's reference.

Thus far I have found one manuscript not mentioned by Chiappini or Bonmann, namely MS Roma, Biblioteca S. Isidoro, 1/87, ff. 66ss. Hence there are now either ten or perhaps only eight manuscripts available for the creation of a critical edition (if, as I suspect, the Zara and Pansa manuscripts should be discarded). One of these, as I have indicated above, is manuscript Holy Name College, cod. 35, currently kept in the Friedsam Memorial Library of St. Bonaventure University. As I had the opportunity to study this manuscript, I can provide a more precise description of its codicological properties and contents.

Manuscript Holy...