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BOOK REVIEWS S. Bernardini Senensis Opera Omnia, studio et cura PP. Collegii S. Bonaventurae ad fidem codicum edita ( Quaracchi-Florentiae) . Tom. I—II, 1950 ($24.00); torn. Ill—IV—V, 1956 ($40.00). It may seem somewhat of an apologia pro domo sua for me to speak of the work of Quaracchi, yet one cannot help but admire the painstaking labor and careful scholarship that have gone into the preparation and publication of the critical edition of Saint Bernardin's Opera omnia, and at the same time lament the very poor response the edition has received from the Franciscan and / or Italian public. A glory of the Order (perhaps a future doctor of the Church) and a light of Italy, a sound theologian and economist, Bernardin is also a mirror of his times. Hence his Latin works, like his Prediche volgari, are of deep interest not only for the theologian or student of Franciscan history, but likewise for the Renaissance historian, the sociologist and the economist. This is, of course, not the first, but rather the fifth edition of his writings (or even the seventh, though some were but partial editions or mere reprints ). It is, however, the first truly critical edition, since the editors have had direct recourse to the manuscripts which Saint Bernardin wrote himself and to copies made at his direction; whereas earlier editions had, unfortunately , relied on manuscripts of much less authority replete with faulty readings. To make this edition even more accurate and scholarly, the members of the Bernardinian Commission have likewise spared no efforts to trace not only the explicit citations of the Saint but also the innumerable passages he borrowed literally from many sources. Some of these were already known and studied; e. g., his use of Ubertino da Cásale and Pierre Olieu (Olivi); others are made evident for the first times, e. g., William of Auvergne, Hugh of Saint-Cher, Saint Thomas, Gilles de Lessines, etc. (cf. torn. I, pp. xv—xvii; torn. Ill, pp. xiv—xv). The very copies used and annotated by Bernardin have helped the editors in such discoveries. Thus the world of scholarship possesses for the first time, in a handsomely printed form with ample indices (in tome V), the thoroughly authentic text of the most popular preacher of the fifteenth century. These five volumes by no means complete the Latin works of the Saint, but contain his two most important writings : the Lenten series De Christiana religione (written before 1436; torn. I—II), and the second great Quadragesimale , De evangelio aeterno, or De caritate (c. 1436-1440; torn. Ill—V). Neither series represents his actual sermons, but were intended to be sourcebooks for himself and for others. Each article in such sermons, he declared, might provide sufficient material for one popular discourse (torn. II, p. 472). If his written works are of such length as to seem more tracts than sermons, the spoken word need not follow such a procedure: "I abbreviate or expand, 94 Book Reviews95 re-arrange, or vary the material to fit the time and circumstances and the needs of my audience, and expect my readers will do the same" (torn. Ill, P- 17)· Given the nature of these two works, a certain overlapping or duplication of material may well be expected. Yet Bernardin, without adhering to a rigid order of topics, succeeds in achieving a certain unity and distinctiveness in each series. The Lenten course'On the Christian Religion" takes as its central theme the bene vivere of a Christian, ut minus periti discant vivere sicut christianos decet (I, p. 4). It begins with faith as the foundation of the Christian life, providing some apologetics as well as dogma on that virtue; and proceeds to detail the role faith must play in guiding all forms of that life. There is little in mediaeval or Christian society that escapes attention, whether in the priestly or religious life, marriage and the family, the home, or the political sphere. The famous practical, down-to-earth homeliness of Bernardin's Italian sermons is reflected in his Latin texts, as he berates such social vices as detraction, duplicity and lying, blasphemy, gambling, party-politics of Guelfs and...

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