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BOOK REVIEWS 169 Per lo Studio di Fra Remigio dei Girolami (+1319). Contra falsos ecclesie professores cc. 5-37. By EMILIO PANELLA, O.P., Pistoia, Italy: Memorie Domenicane, new series, no. 10, 1979. Pp. 313 plus nine of illustrations (manuscripts: 8) . Lire 15,000. Memorie Domenicane has projected two volumes to celebrate the seventh centenary of the foundation of the Convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The first to appear is this important and erudite work honoring one of the convent's most illustrious sons. Fra Remigio is best known as a Parisian student of St. Thomas Aquinas and as the supposed teacher of Dante Alighieri at Santa Maria Novella-topics studied but not overemphasized in the present work. However, Fra Remigio as preacher, lector, prior, provincial, and eminent civic figure was prominent both in the life of the Dominican Order (and Church) and in the life of his native city of Florence in one of the periods of her most explosive growth. A great number of his writings have been preserved; in this he is more fortunate than many of his contemporaries. Fr. Panella has elected to present a critical edition of a part of the interesting work on ecclesiology, Contra falsos ecclesie prof'essores, chapters 5-37, which deal with the spiritual and temporal authority of the Church. The entire treatise comprises 99 chapters, and in Appendix I Fr. Panella also publishes chapters 1, Q, 3, 4, 46, and 68, and parts of 76, 80, 81, SQ, 97, and 99, with a new and complete index, to illustrate the general inspiration of the book and point out its originality. But besides the section with the text there are three introductory articles and three appendices, all of great interest, along with a list of pertinent manuscripts, an excellent bibliography, and index. Fr. Panella's historical contribution is noteworthy. He has done important work on the manuscripts of Fra Remigio, identifying much of his autograph work. He has studied the chronology of the manuscripts and of the entire literary output of Fra Remigio, identified salient dates in his life for a more accurate biography, and with meticulous care has prepared the best documented catalogue of his works, including some that have been lost. His textual criticism is important, seemingly sound and intuitive. He proposes solutions to some difficult problems arising from the style of Fra Remigio, which is sometimes allegorical and occasionally borders on the enigmatic. The author acknowledges his debt to previous scholars who have devoted attention to Fra Remigio (the most prominent of whom is perhaps Martin Grabmann), but he has surely probed deeper than his predecessors into the spirit of this vivacious Florentine, and his additions and corrections to their studies are praiseworthy. The present work with its many original contributions should stimulate Remigian studies in all sectors, and indeed this is one of the principal purposes of the author and 170 BOOK REVIEWS the editors. Even those whose primary interest is in the remarkable history of the city of Florence, many of whose medieval institutions continue to this day, will find profit in the study of the life and works of Fra Remigio, who helped in the process of moulding the future of the city. A small but interesting contribution of Fr. Panella is the identification of the Distinctiones written by Fra Remigio, not previously documented. He has edited the fragment discovered which is in the calligraphy of Fra Remigio himself (App. III, in fine). Other interesting and rather lengthy texts are also included from time to time, as the study progresses. Among the works of Fra Remigio there are tracts and quodlibeta which remind us that he is a first-generation Thomist, always a cause of interest. At the same time there are collections of sermons and various works that provide other precious insights into the medieval mentality and modus operandi. He will be found quite original in many points; but, as Fr. Verdi remarks in his presentation of this volume, further critical editions of his works are needed before a synthesis of his personality is attempted. In recommending this excellent and rather complete introductory study, we would like to express encouragement to the...

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