Jacobus De Voragine Biography Works External Link

Born at the little village of Varazza, Liguria, near Genoa. He entered the Dominican order in 1244, and besides preaching with success in many parts of Italy, taught in the schools of his own fraternity. He was provincial of Lombardy from 1267 till 1286, when he was removed at the meeting of the order in Paris. He also represented his own province at the councils of Lucca ( 1288) and Ferrara ( 1290). On the last occasion he was one of the four delegates charged with signifying Nicholas IVNicholas IV ne Girolamo Masci ( September 30, 1227 April 4, 1292), was pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292, a native of Ascoli and a Franciscan monk, had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded St Bonaventura as general's desire for the deposition of Munio de ZamoraMunio de Zamora (died 1300) became the seventh Master General of the Dominican Order in 1285, thanks in large part to the manipulations performed by his patron Sancho of Castile, but was dramatically removed from his office in 1290, in an action that invo, who had been master of the order from 1285Events Night watch created in Winchester, England every householder patrols one night in turn Births Emperor Go-Nijo of Japan Pope Benedict XII Deaths March 28 Pope Martin IV 1285., and was deprived of his office by a papal bullA Papal bull is a written communication from the Vatican Chancery, originally sealed with lead (sometimes with precious metal, now more commonly with red ink). The term derived from the Latin bulla referring to the boiled appearance of the seal. There has dated April 12April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). There are 263 days remaining. Events 467 Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire 1204 The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople 1606 The Union Jack i, 1291Events May 10 Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England. August 1 The Swiss Confederation is formed by Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden (the Letter of Alliance). The Sultan of Egypt Khalil captures Acre, ending the Crusader Kingdom o.

In 1288 Nicholas empowered him to absolve the people of Genoa for their offence in aiding the Sicilians against Charles IICharles II known as the Lame ( Fr. le Boiteux (born c. 1248, died 5 May 1309, Naples) was the King of Naples and Sicily, titular king of Jerusalem, and Prince of Salerno. He was a son of Charles I of Naples. He had been captured by Ruggiero di Lauria in t. Early in 1292Events November 17 ( Julian calendar) John Balliol becomes King of Scotland. Births Deaths April 4 Pope Nicholas IV 1292. the same pope, himself a Franciscan, summoned Jacobus to Rome, intending to consecrate him archbishop of Genoa with his own hands. He reached Rome on Palm Sunday ( March 30), only to find his patron ill of a deadly sickness, from which he died on Good Friday ( April 4). The cardinals, however, propter honorem Communis Januae ("for the honor of the commune of Genoa"), determined to carry out this consecration on the Sunday after Easter. He was a good bishop, and especially distinguished himself by his efforts to appease the civil discords of Genoa among Guelfs and Ghibellines. A story, mentioned by the chronicler Eckard as unworthy of credit, makes Pope Boniface VIII, on the first day of Lent, cast the ashes in the archbishop's eyes instead of on his head, with the words, "Remember that thou art a Ghibelline, and with thy fellow Ghibellines wilt return to naught."

He died in 1298 or 1299, and was buried in the Dominican church at Genoa. He was beatified by Pius VII in 1816.

2 Works

Jacobus de Voragine left a list of his own works. Speaking of himself in his Chronicon januense , he says, "While he was in his order, and after he had been made archbishop, he wrote many works. For he compiled the legends of the saints (Legendae sanctorum) in one volume, adding many things from the Historia tripartita et scholastica, and from the chronicles of many writers."

The other writings he claims are two anonymous volumes of Sermons concerning all the Saints whose yearly feasts the church celebrates. Of these volumes, he adds, one is very diffuse, but the other short and concise. Then follow Sermones de omnibus evangeliis dominicalibus or every Sunday in the year; Sermones de omnibus evangeliis, i.e a book of discourses on all the Gospels, from Ash Wednesday to the Tuesday after Easter; and a treatise called Marialis, qui totus est de B. Maria compositus, consisting of about 160 discourses on the attributes, titles, &c., of the Virgin Mary. In the same work the archbishop claims to have written his Chronicon januense in the second year of his pontificate ( 1293), but it extends to 1296 or 1297.

To this list Echard adds several other works, such as a defence of the Dominicans, printed at Venice in 1504, and a Summa virtutum et vitiorum Guillelmi Peraldi, a Dominican who died about 1250. Jacobus is also said by Sixtus of Siena (Biblioth. Sacra, lib. ix.) to have translated the Old and New Testaments into his own tongue. "But," adds Echard, "if he did so, the version lies so closely hid that there is no recollection of it," and it may be added that it is highly improbable that the man who compiled the Golden Legend ever conceived the necessity of having the Scriptures in the vernacular.

His two chief works are the Chronicon januense ("Chronicle of Genoa") and the Golden Legend or Historia Lombardica.

The former is partly printed in Muratori (Scriptores Rer. Hal. ix. 6). It is divided into twelve parts. The first four deal with the mythical history of Genoa from the time of its founder, Janus, called the first king of Italy, and its enlarger, a second Janus "citizen of Troy", till its conversion to Christianity "about twenty-five years after the passion of Christ." Part v. professes to treat of the beginning, the growth and the perfection of the city; but of the first period the writer candidly confesses he knows nothing except by hearsay. The second period includes the Genoese crusading exploits in the East, and extends to their victory over the Pisans (c. 1130), while the third reaches down to tha author's days as Archbishop. The sixth part deals with the constitution of the city, the seventh and eighth with the duties of rulers and citizens, the ninth with those of domestic life. The tenth gives the ecclesiastical history of Genoa from the time of its first known bishop, Saint Valentine, " whom we believe to have lived about 530 A.D., " till 1133, when the city was raised to archiepiscopal rank. The eleventh contains the lives of all the bishops in order, and includes the chief events during their pontificates; the twelfth deals in the same way with the archbishops, not forgetting the writer himself.

The Golden Legend, one of the most popular religious works of the Middle Ages, is a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medieval church. The preface divides the ecclesiastical year into four periods corresponding to the various epochs of the world's history, a time of deviation, of renovation, of reconciliation and of pilgrimage. The book itself, however, falls into five sections: —(a) from Advent to Christmas (cc. 1—5); (b) from Christmas to Septuagesima (6-30); (e) from Septuagesima to Easter (31-53); (d) from Easter Day to the octave of Pentecost (54-76); (e) from the octaye of Pentecost to Advent (77-180). The saints' lives are full of puerile legend, and in not a few cases contain accounts of 13th century miracles wrought at special places, particularly with reference to the Dominicans. The last chapter but one (181), "De Sancto Pelagio Papa," contains a kind of history of the world from the middle of the 6th century; while the last (182) is a somewhat allegorical disquisition, " De Dedicatione Ecclesiae."

The Golden Legend was translated into French by Jean Belet de Vigny in the 14th century. It was also one of the earliest books to issue from the press. A Latin edition is assigned to about 1469; and a dated one was published at Lyon in 1473. Many other Latin editions were printed before the end of the century. A French translation by Master John Bataillier is dated 1476; Jean de Vigny's appeared at Paris, 1488; an Italian one by Nic. Manerbi (? Venice, H75); a Czech one at Pilsen, 1475- 1479, and at Prague, 1495; Caxton's English versions, 1483, 1487 and 1493; and a German one in 1489. Several 15th century editions of the Sermons are also known, and the Mariale was printed at Venice in 1497 and at Paris in 1503. All in all, during the first five decades of printing in Europe, editions of the Legenda Aurea appeared about two a year.

Almost as popular were Jacobus' collected sermons, also termed "Aurea."

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Christian classics Ethereal Library: brief biography

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