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SAN BERNARDINO OF SIENA Bernardino of Siena (Massa Marittima 8th September 1380 – Aquila 20th May 1444) was a preacher and priest of the Franciscan Order and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Accounts report that immediately after he took the cloth he began an intense activity as preacher, travelling round and preaching throughout the north of Italy. His preaching was the spur to strong reformation within the church and the Franciscan movement. In his preaching he insisted on devotion to the name of Jesus. It is believed that thanks to his preaching the JHS (Jesus hominum Salvator (Jesus Saviour of men) entered into common iconographic use and became familiar to the people. In fact, wooden tablets with the monogram JHS carved into their surfaces, surmounted by a cross and surrounded by a sun, were given to the faithful who listened to his preaching to kiss. The custom of kissing a religious symbol during the celebration was widespread in the Middle Ages; the religious symbol, usually the cross, represented peace and was presented as such: it was the equivalent of the handshake that nowadays accompanies the Rite of Peace, immediately before Communion. Bernardino did not overlook any practical aspects of the lives of the faithful, with an innovative and decidedly modern analysis. His thinking is remembered in the history of economic thought since he was the first theologist to write a complete work on economy with the title Sui contratti e l’usura (On contracts and usury). In his book he harshly condemned usury and dealt with the subjects of the justification of private property, trade ethics and price and value determination. He also analysed in great depth the figure of the entrepreneur and defended honest work. He has us note in fact that trade can be carried out licitly and illicitly, as can all other occupations and it is not necessarily a source of damnation. If honest, a merchant provides very useful services to all society; he smoothes out the lack of goods in one area by moving them in from an area in which they are abundant, he takes care of them and limits the damage of any eventual famine, he transforms materials that are otherwise rough and useless into treated products. Bernardino maintained that to be honest the entrepreneur is given four great virtues: efficiency, responsibility, diligence (industry) and risk taking. The profits that derive for the few that have known how to keep to these virtues are the just recompense for the hard work done and the risks run. On the contrary, he condemns in no half measures the new rich, who instead of investing their wealth in new businesses prefer lending at usury and strangling society instead of making it grow. Berardino held in fact that property does not “belong to man” but rather “is for man” as an instrument to obtain an improvement in the whole of society. An instrument that comes from God and that man ought to merit, apply and make fruitful. As it was for other important preachers, reconciliation and the resolution of disputes was a theme that was particularly dear to Bernardino. He was very assiduous in his preaching and very explicit in its contents, which made him several enemies. In 1425 he preached every day for seven weeks in the city of Siena. The dens of usurers and the gambling houses were particularly hostile towards him, so much so that they instituted a trial against him for heresy which was held at Rome in 1427. Bernardino was completely cleared of the charge, thanks also to the theologist Paulus Venetus. Pope Martino V met him during the trial and was very impressed by him, asking him to preach in Rome too. Bernardino preached for 80 consecutive days in the city, dedicating a particularly careful effort to this activity: he wrote and rewrote his discourses before entering the pulpit until he was certain of their validity. He refused the office of bishop several times in order to dedicate himself fully to his vocation as missionary: in 1427 in the city of Siena, in 1431 in Ferrara and in 1435 in Urbino. In 1437 he became Vicar General of the Order of Observants. In 1438 he was appointed Vicar General of all the Italian Franciscans. Despite these offices he never stopped dedicating himself to evangelisation. In 1444, even though he was very ill, on the invitation of Bishop Amico Agnifili he went to Aquila to attempt the reconciliation of the two factions in the city that were openly facing each other. He died on 20th May in the same city. It is said that his coffin continued to drip blood until the two factions made peace. He was canonised in 1450 by Pope Niccolò V. The preaching that Bernardino did during his travels was gathered by a loyal disciple and published after his death. It is an example of sacred literature of great interest and bears witness to the tensions of spiritual renewal that were felt in the XV century.The figure of San Bernardino in art After the death of San Bernardino, the Franciscan order immediately wanted to promote his figure as an example of testimony of faith in Christ and of the salvational power of such a faith. The saint’s figure – portrayed whilst holding a tablet with the “monogram of Christ” – is second only to that of the Order’s founder, San Francesco, in paintings found in Franciscan places of worship or in those commissioned by the many devoted that he immediately won. It is probable that the portraits that we have of him are more accurate compared to those of other historical figures of the period. In fact we know that immediately after his death one of his portraits was circulated in Siena. This was then later compared with a death mask made at Aquila and proved to be a very good likeness. It is probable that it served in later years as a prototype of innumerable depictions of Bernardino. The saint’s somatic features – bald headed and strongly emaciated face – almost always appear the same.Bibliography:
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