Bartolomeo da Breganze – Wikipedia

Bartolomeo da Breganze , or, more correctly, from Vicenza (Vicenza, about 1200 – Vicenza, 1270), was an Italian Catholic Bishop of the thirteenth century, beatified in 1793.

At the service of the papacy [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

The biographical news about his account is very scarce. It does not seem to have the foundation of the chronicle tradition that would like him to exponent the noble family from Breganze (he himself always signed himself how Bartholomew Vicentus ), a family that lived in the Upper Vicenza area, with most of the possessions including a castle with fiefdom, on the hills of Breganze, then in the Vicenza area, but in the diocese of Padua. Perhaps born on 8 September of the early years of the century. XIII (1206?) ^[first] , does not know much of his formation, nor the entrance to the order of the preacher friars, probably in Padua around 1220 ^[2] .

Bartolomeo completed his theology studies in Bologna; Ordained priest, he had the task of teaching the sacred writing with the chair of the “general study”. He then went to Lombardy and Parma.

He fully participated in the movements that involved enthusiastic masses, aimed at fighting heretics and promoting the moral reform of the Church, such as the movement of the alleluia. In this context, in 1233 he founded a monastic-corking order in Parma, the Militia of Jesus Christ ^[2] .

He was then professor in the study of the Roman Curia and official councilor of Pope Innocent IV (1237), regent of the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Curia or Master of the Sacred Palace (an assignment that is now called “Theologian of the Pontifical House”)) ^[first] . In 1252 he was consecrated bishop of Limisso, in the then Latin kingdom of Cyprus. He then went to Palestine, in Jaffa, Sidone and Acri, appointed apostolic nuncio at Luigi IX of France, engaged in the VII Crusade.

On 18 December 1255 Pope Alexander IV, engaged in the fight against Ezzelino III from Romano, against whom two days later he would have called the crusade, named him directly – without requesting the opinion of the chapter of the Cathedral, too weak to oppose Ezzelino – Bishop of Vicenza, where, however, he could not settle until 1259, the date of the death of the Lord of the city.

He waited for this moment in Padua, the Guelph city most engaged in the war against the tyrant, then in Rome. In 1259 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Henry III of England and, on his return, he stopped in Paris, where Luigi IX gave him a golden display case, containing a cross made of the wood of the true cross of Christ and one of the thorns of thorns crown.

Lord of Vicenza [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Bringing with him the precious relics, he arrived in 1260 in Vicenza, where the clergy and the people went to meet him, acclaiming: “Benedict the one who comes in the name of the Lord” ^[3] . Already in the same year he wanted that the construction of the church of Santa Corona and the annexes of the Dominicans began. The church was over in 1270, in time to welcome Bartolomeo’s remains, who died in that same year.

Immediately after his settlement, he reaffirmed the elegant prerogatives from which in the Ezzelinian period the bishop had been exhausted, convening the vassals to review the feudal concessions ^[3] , but he also took care of having the Bassanesi and Marosticense territories that Padua had stolen and to carry out a peaceful action between the cities of the Veronese brand returned to Vicenza.

He raised the fate of the Vicenza Church, which fell into a miserable state of degradation in the last years of the dominion of Ezzelino, during which he had not been able to settle in the episcopal office. As a good Dominican and responsible for the Inquisition, he faced the Cathar Church of Vicenza in public debates, managing to convert many of the members to it and to send others on the stake ^[4] .

Man of great culture and righteousness, with concrete actions promoted his studies and moral remediation in a city still permeated with hatreds and violence and where wear was practiced ^[5] . He received a huge trust from the population and the Municipality, who made him the undisputed referee of every dispute in the city, of which the fact of the de facto became for three years ^[6] . The Vicenza came to the point of lent him a oath of fidelity.

After that in 1264 Vicenza was subjugated by Padua, he lost much of his power and lived his last few years in the despair and disappointment that reflect in his writings. In 1267 he turned to Pope Clement IV to be exempted from the government of the diocese and devote himself exclusively to the government of the order; However, the Pope did not accept his resignation. He died in 1270 in Vicenza, after leaving as a universal heir of what the convent of Santa Corona owned ^[7] ; He was buried in his church, now completed.

Of him remain, in addition to Conversations , a Exposition of Songs and a treaty The hunting of love Inspired by the thought of the pseudo-Dionysius ^[2] . Of particular importance are his marian sermons, i Conversations about the Blessed Virgin , one of the most interesting collections of the thirteenth century ^[8] .

The subject of popular devotion since death, the cult of Bartolomeo di Breganze was confirmed on 11 September 1793 by Pope Pius VI, who proclaimed him blessed. His liturgical memory occurs on October 27th.

• Bartolomeo from Breganze O.P., Conversations of the Blessed Virgin (1266) , edited by Laura Gaffuri, Padua, 1993. (“Sources for the history of the Venetian mainland”, 7).

• **, Bartolomeo da Vicenza , in Biographical Dictionary of Italians , vol. 6, Rome, Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia, 1964.
• Giorgio Cracco, Between Venice and mainland , Rome, Viella, 2009, pp. 415–422 E 526-535.
• Giovanni Mantese, Historical memories of the Vicenza Church , vol. II. From the thousand to the thousand three hundred, Vicenza, Olympic Academy, 1954.
• Laura Gaffuri, Dominican preaching on Mary in the thirteenth century , in Clelia Maria plate (edited by), The studies of medieval Mariology. Historiographic budget , Florence, Sismel-Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2000, pp. 193-215. (“Medieval Millennium”, 19 / “Conference Acts”, 6).
• Tiziano Rizzato, Iconographies of Blessed Bartolomeo from Breganze , in Breganzese notebooks of Art History and Culture , n. 2-3, 1997-1998, PP. 55-58.