Dab solver - Bernardino of Siena

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== Sources ==

Two hagiographical lives of Bernardino of Siena were written by two of his friends; the one the same year in which he died, by Barnaby of Sienna; the other by Maffei Veggio, soon after his death.^ref

== Life ==

=== Early life ===
Bernardino was born in 1380 to the noble Albizeschi family in [[Massa Marittima]] ([[Tuscany]]), a Sienese town of which his father, Tollo, was then governor. Left orphaned at six, he was raised by a pious aunt. In 1397, after a course of civil and canon law, he joined the [[Confraternity of Our Lady]] attached to the hospital of [[Santa Maria della Scala]] church. Three years later, when the plague visited Siena, he ministered to the plague-stricken, and, assisted by ten companions, took upon himself for four months entire charge of this hospital.^ref He escaped the plague but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several months.^ref In 1403 he joined the Observant branch of the [[Order of Friars Minor]] (the [[Franciscan Order]]), with a strict observance of ' Rule. Bernardino was ordained a priest in 1404 and was commissioned as a preacher the next year.^ref  About 1406 St. [[Vincent Ferrer]], a  friar and missionary, while preaching at [[Alessandria]] in the [[Piedmont]] region of Italy, allegedly foretold that his mantle should descend upon one who was then listening to him, and said that he would return to France and Spain, leaving to Bernardino the task of evangelizing the remaining peoples of Italy.^ref

[[File:Saint bernardin de sienne Langeais.JPG|thumb|Saint bernardin de sienne Langeais]]
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In January 1427 he was in [[Orvieto]], where his main topic seems to have been the practice of [[usury]], urging the executive to take stringent steps against all such as were addicted to this business, of whom the majority were Jews. In Milan, he was often visited by a merchant who urged him to inveigh strenuously against usury, only to find that his visitor was himself the greatest usurer of the place, whose activities were prompted by a wish to lessen competition.^ref 

Both while he was alive and after his death, Bernardino's sermons were unapologetic (the first edition of his works, for the most part elaborate sermons, was printed at [[Lyon]] in 1501): of severe moralizing temperament, he inveighed against various classes of people he believed were particularly responsible for the moral corruption of Christendom. He spoke out against witchcraft, and called for sodomites (i.e., homosexuals) to be either isolated from society or eliminated from the human community. He thus became the moral [[major domo]] of what historian  has called "the persecuting society" of late medieval Christian Europe.^ref

Bernardino is particularly resented today as being a "major protagonist of Christian anti-semitism". He called for Jews to be isolated from the wider communities in which they lived; blaming the poverty of local Christians on Jewish usury. His audiences often used his words to reinforce actions against Jews, and his preaching left a legacy of resentment on the part of Jews.^ref29 lines hidden (5362 characters)
Bernardino lived into the early days of the [[old master print|print]] and was the subject of  portraits in his lifetime, as well as a death-mask, which were copied to make prints, so that he is one of the earliest saints to have a fairly consistent appearance in art; though many [[Baroque]] images, such as that by [[El Greco]], are idealized compared to the realistic ones made in the decades after his death. 
 
After his death, the Franciscans promoted an iconographical program of diffusion of images of Bernardino, which was second only to that of the founder of the order.  As such, he is one of the earliest saints whose appearance was given a distinct and readily recognisable iconography.  Artists of the late medieval and Renaissance periods often represented him as small and emaciated,^ref with three mitres at his feet (representing the three bishoprics which he had rejected) and holding in his hand the [[Christogram|IHS]] monogram with rays emanating from it (representing his devotion to the "Holy Name of Jesus"), which was his main .^ref He appears to have been a favourite in the works [[Luca della Robbia]], and one of the finest examples of Renaissance art includes relief carvings of the saint, which can be seen on the oratory of [[Perugia Cathedral]].

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{{Infobox saint
|name=Saint Bernardine of Siena, O.F.M.
|birth_date={{birth date|df=yes|1380|09|08}}
|death_date={{death date and age|df=yes|1444|05|20|1380|09|08}}
|feast_day=20 May 
|venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]]
|image= Saint Bernardino of Siena.PNG
|imagesize=250px
|birth_place=[[Massa Marittima]], Italy
|death_place=[[Aquila, Italy]]
|titles=Confessor
|beatified_date=  
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=24 May 1450
|canonized_place=Rome, [[Papal States]]
|canonized_by=[[Pope Nicholas V]]
|attributes=Tablet with [[Christogram|IHS]]; three mitres representing the bishoprics which he refused
|patronage= advertisers; advertising; Aquila, Italy; chest problems; Italy; diocese of San Bernardino, California; gambling addicts; public relations personnel; public relations work; Bernalda, Italy
|major_shrine= 
|suppressed_date=
|issues= 
}}

'''Bernardino of Siena, O.F.M.''', (sometimes '''Bernardine''') (born in [[Massa Marittima]], [[Italy]], on 8 September 1380 – died in [[Aquila, Italy]] on 20 May 1444) was an Italian priest, [[Franciscan]] missionary, and is a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[saint]]. He is known in the Roman Catholic Church as “the Apostle of Italy” for his efforts to revive the country's Catholic faith during the 15th century.<ref name=cna>[http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/st.-bernardine-of-siena-apostle-of-italy-celebrated-may-20/ "St. Bernardine of Siena,'Apostle of Italy'", Catholic News Agency]</ref> His preaching was frequently directed against gambling, witchcraft, sodomy (with an emphasis on homosexuality) and usury - particularly as practised by Jews.

==Sources==
Two hagiographical lives of Bernardino of Siena were written by two of his friends; the one the same year in which he died, by Barnaby of Sienna; the other by Maffei Veggio, soon after his death.<ref name=butler>[http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/archive/friars/St_Bernardine_Monastery/stf_biography_st_bernardine_of_siena.htm Butler, Rev. Alban, ''The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints'', Vol. V, by the Rev. Alban Butler, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]</ref>

==Life==

===Early life===
Bernardino was born in 1380 to the noble Albizeschi family in [[Massa Marittima]] ([[Tuscany]]), a Sienese town of which his father, Tollo, was then governor. Left orphaned at six, he was raised by a pious aunt. In 1397, after a course of civil and canon law, he joined the [[Confraternity of Our Lady]] attached to the hospital of [[Santa Maria della Scala]] church. Three years later, when the plague visited Siena, he ministered to the plague-stricken, and, assisted by ten companions, took upon himself for four months entire charge of this hospital.<ref name=robinson>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02505b.htm Robinson, Paschal. "St. Bernardine of Siena." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 4 Feb. 2013]</ref> He escaped the plague but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several months.<ref name=foley/> In 1403 he joined the Observant branch of the [[Order of Friars Minor]] (the [[Franciscan Order]]), with a strict observance of <<link:0>>' Rule. Bernardino was ordained a priest in 1404 and was commissioned as a preacher the next year.<ref>Cochrane, Eric, and Julius Kirshner. eds. Readings in Western Civilization: The Renaissance. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986.</ref>  About 1406 St. [[Vincent Ferrer]], a <<link:1>> friar and missionary, while preaching at [[Alessandria]] in the [[Piedmont]] region of Italy, allegedly foretold that his mantle should descend upon one who was then listening to him, and said that he would return to France and Spain, leaving to Bernardino the task of evangelizing the remaining peoples of Italy.<ref name=robinson/>

[[File:Saint bernardin de sienne Langeais.JPG|thumb|Saint bernardin de sienne Langeais]]

===Bernardino as preacher===

The period of Bernardino's public engagement coincided with a time when the Catholic Church was responding actively (through civil and armed means) to pressures that it regarded as heretical, and which were gaining popularity in southern France and northern Italy, as well as to pressures of some reformed [[monastic order]]s. Instead of remaining cloistered and preaching only during the liturgy, Bernardino preached directly to the public.

For more than 30 years, Bernardino preached all over Italy and played a great part in the religious revival of the early fifteenth century. Although he had a weak and hoarse voice, he is said to have been one of the greatest preachers of his time.<ref name=foley>[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1389 Foley, O.F.M., Leonard, "St. Bernadine of Siena", ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media, ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7]</ref> His style was simple, familiar, and abounding in imagery. [[Cynthia Polecritti]], in her biography of Bernardino, notes that the texts of his sermons “are acknowledged masterpieces of colloquial Italian.” He was an elegant and captivating preacher, and his use of popular imagery and creative language drew large crowds to hear his reflections. And, as Polecritti also notes, the subject matter of his sermons reveals much about the contemporary context of 15th-century Italy.<ref name=horan>[http://www.hnp.org/publications/hnp_today_view.cfm?iid=175&aid=3665 Horan OFM, Daniel, "The Complicated History of and the Popular Preaching of St. Bernardine of Siena", ''HNP Today Newsletter'', Vol. 45, No. 10, May 18, 2011]</ref>

He traveled from place to place, remaining nowhere more than a few weeks. These journeys were all made on foot. In the towns, the crowds assembled to hear him were at times so great that it became necessary to erect a pulpit on the market-place.<ref name=thureau>[http://archive.org/stream/saintbernadineof00thuriala#page/n9/mode/2up Thureau-Dangin, Paul, ''Saint Bernardine of Siena'', J.M.Dent & Co., London, 1906]</ref> Like Vincent Ferrer, he usually preached at dawn. His hearers, so as to ensure themselves standing room, would arrive beforehand, many coming from far-distant villages. The sermons often lasted three or four hours. He was invited to [[Ferrara]] in 1424, where he preached against the excess of luxury and immodest apparel. In [[Bologna]], he spoke out against gambling, much to the dissatisfaction of the card manufacturers and sellers. Returning to [[Siena]] in April 1425, he preached there for 50 consecutive days.<ref name=thureau/> His success was claimed to be remarkable. "[[Bonfire of the Vanities|Bonfires of the Vanities]]" were held at his sermon sites,<ref name=robinson/> where people threw mirrors, high-heeled shoes, perfumes, locks of false hair, cards, dice, chessmen, and other frivolities to be burned. Bernardino enjoined his listeners to abstain from blasphemy, indecent conversation, and games of hazard, and to observe feast days.<ref name=thureau/>

In January 1427 he was in [[Orvieto]], where his main topic seems to have been the practice of [[usury]], urging the executive to take stringent steps against all such as were addicted to this business, of whom the majority were Jews. In Milan, he was often visited by a merchant who urged him to inveigh strenuously against usury, only to find that his visitor was himself the greatest usurer of the place, whose activities were prompted by a wish to lessen competition.<ref name=thureau/>

Both while he was alive and after his death, Bernardino's sermons were unapologetic (the first edition of his works, for the most part elaborate sermons, was printed at [[Lyon]] in 1501): of severe moralizing temperament, he inveighed against various classes of people he believed were particularly responsible for the moral corruption of Christendom.   He spoke out against witchcraft, and called for sodomites (i.e., homosexuals) to be either isolated from society or eliminated from the human community. He thus became the moral [[major domo]] of what historian <<link:2>> has called "the persecuting society" of late medieval Christian Europe.<ref>R. Moore, ''The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe,'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987</ref>

Bernardino is particularly resented today as being a "major protagonist of Christian anti-semitism". He called for Jews to be isolated from the wider communities in which they lived; blaming the poverty of local Christians on Jewish usury. His audiences often used his words to reinforce actions against Jews, and his preaching left a legacy of resentment on the part of Jews.<ref>Franco Mormando, The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underground of Early Renaissance Italy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.</ref>

On sodomy, he keenly pointed out the reputation of the Italians beyond their own borders.<ref>For the most-recent, most- thorough scholarly discussion of Bernardino's campaign against sodomy, see [[Franco Mormando]], ''The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy'' (University of Chicago Press, 1999, Chapter Three, pages 109-163). In the same work is a detailed analysis of Bernardino's preaching against witchcraft and Jews. Mormando's book also contains the most current and correct data on Bernardino's career and influence on his society.</ref> He particularly decried Florentine lenience; in [[Verona]], he told his hearers, a man was quartered and his limbs hung from the city gates; in [[Genoa]], men were regularly burned; and in [[Venice]] a sodomite had been tied to a column along with a barrel of pitch and brushwood and set to fire. He advised the people of Siena to do the same. In 1424, in the course of a Lenten sermon preached in Santa Croce, he admonished his hearers:

{{bquote|Whenever you hear sodomy mentioned, each and every one of you spit on the ground and clean your mouth out as well. If they don't want to change their ways by any other means, maybe they will change when they're made fools of. Spit hard! Maybe the water of your spit will extinguish their fire.<ref>Louis Crompton, ''Homosexuality and civilisation'', Harvard University, 2003</ref>}}

===Trial in Rome===

Especially known for his devotion to the [[Holy Name of Jesus]], Bernardine devised a symbol—IHS, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek, in Gothic letters on a blazing sun. This was to displace the insignia of factions (for example, Guelphs and Ghibellines). The devotion spread, and the symbol began to appear in churches, homes and public buildings. Opposition arose from those who thought it a dangerous innovation.<ref name=foley/> It was said that he calmed strife-torn cities, that [[feud]]s and factionalism were reconciled by his counsel and that [[miracle]]s took place.

In 1427 he was summoned to Rome to stand trial on charges of [[heresy]] himself for his promotion of the devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. Theologians including [[Paulus Venetus]] were present to give their opinions. Bernardino was found innocent of heresy, and he impressed [[Pope Martin V]] sufficiently that Martin requested he preach in Rome. He was acquitted and thereupon preached every day for 80 days. Bernardino's zeal was such that he would prepare up to four drafts of a sermon before starting to speak. That same year, he was offered the [[bishopric of Siena]], but declined in order to maintain his monastic and evangelical activities. In 1431, he toured Tuscany, [[Lombardy]], [[Romagna]], and [[Ancona]] before returning to Siena to prevent a war against Florence. Also in 1431, he declined the [[bishopric of Ferrara]], and in 1435 he declined the [[bishopric of Urbino]].

[[John Capistran]] was his friend, and [[James of the Marches]] was his disciple during these years. Both Pope Martin V and [[Pope Eugene IV]] were urged by their cardinals to condemn Bernardino, but both almost instantly acquitted him. A trial at the [[Council of Basel]] ended with an acquittal too. The [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Sigismund]] sought Bernardino's counsel and intercession and Benardino accompanied him to Rome in 1433 for his coronation.

===Franciscan Vicar General===

Soon thereafter, he withdrew again to [[Capriola]] to compose a further series of sermons. He resumed his missionary labours in 1436, but was forced to abandon them when he became vicar-general of the Observant branch of the Franciscans in Italy in 1438.

Bernardino had worked to grow the Observants from the outset of his religious life: although he was not in fact its founder ( - the origins of the Observants, or ''[[Zelanti]]'', can be traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century.) Nevertheless, Bernardino became to the Observants what [[Bernard of Clairvaux|St. Bernard]] had been to the [[Cistercians]], their principal support and indefatigable propagator. Instead of one hundred and thirty Friars constituting the Observance in Italy at Bernardino's reception into the order, it counted over four thousand shortly before his death. Bernardino also founded, or reformed, at least three hundred convents of Friars. He also sent missionaries into Asia, and he is credited with helping ensure that many ambassadors from different schismatic nations attended the [[Council of Florence]]{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}.

Being Vicar General inevitably cut back his opportunities to preach, but he continued to speak to the public when he could. Having in 1442 persuaded the pope to finally accept his resignation as vicar-general so that he might give himself more undividedly to preaching, Bernardino again resumed his missionary work. Despite a [[Papal Bull]] issued by [[Pope Eugene IV]] in 1443 which charged Bernardino to preach the indulgence for the [[Crusade]] against the Turks, there is no record of his having done so. In 1444, notwithstanding his increasing infirmities, Bernardino, desirous that there should be no part of Italy which had not heard his voice, set out to the [[Kingdom of Naples]].

He died that year at [[L'Aquila]], in the [[Abruzzi]]. According to tradition, his grave continued to leak blood until two factions of the city achieved reconciliation.

==Canonisation and Iconography==
[[File:Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio. St Bernardino 196x89cm. ca.1444. Pinacoteca, Siena.jpeg|thumb|left|An early painting of St Bernardino, c. 1444, by [[Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio]].]]
Reports of miracles attributed to Bernardino multiplied rapidly after his death, and Bernardino was [[canonized]] as a saint in 1450, only six years after his death, by [[Pope Nicholas V]]. His [[feast day]] in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] is on 20 May, the day of his death.

Bernardino lived into the early days of the [[old master print|print]] and was the subject of  portraits in his lifetime, as well as a death-mask, which were copied to make prints, so that he is one of the earliest saints to have a fairly consistent appearance in art; though many [[Baroque]] images, such as that by [[El Greco]], are idealized compared to the realistic ones made in the decades after his death.   
    
After his death, the Franciscans promoted an iconographical program of diffusion of images of Bernardino, which was second only to that of the founder of the order.  As such, he is one of the earliest saints whose appearance was given a distinct and readily recognisable iconography.  Artists of the late medieval and Renaissance periods often represented him as small and emaciated,<ref name=dictionary>{{cite book|last=Farmer|first=David Hugh|title=The Oxford dictionary of saints|year=1997|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=9780192800589|pages=56–57|edition=4.}}</ref> with three mitres at his feet (representing the three bishoprics which he had rejected) and holding in his hand the ''[[Christogram|IHS]]'' monogram with rays emanating from it (representing his devotion to the "Holy Name of Jesus"), which was his main <<link:3>>.<ref>Emily Michelson, "Bernardino of Siena Visualizes the Name of God," in: ''Speculum Sermonis: Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Medieval Sermon'', ed. Georgiana Donavin, Cary J. Nederman, and Richard Utz (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 157-79.</ref> He appears to have been a favourite in the works [[Luca della Robbia]], and one of the finest examples of Renaissance art includes relief carvings of the saint, which can be seen on the oratory of [[Perugia Cathedral]].

A portrait is known to have circulated in Siena just after Bernardino's death which, on the basis of physiognomic similarities with his death mask at L'Aquila, is believed to have been a good likeness. It is thought probable that many subsequent depictions of the saint derive from this portrait.

The most famous depictions of Bernardino are found in the cycle of frescoes of his life, which were executed towards the end of the fifteenth century by [[Pinturicchio]] in the [[Bufalini Chapel]] of [[Santa Maria in Aracoeli]], Rome. There is also an altar panel at the [[Alte Pinakothek]] in Berlin, done by Pietro Perugino, known as ''[[The Virgin appearing to St. Bernard]]''. This shows the saint experiencing a vision of the [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]].

Saint Bernardino is the Roman Catholic [[patron saint]] of [[advertising]], [[communication]]s, [[compulsive gambling]], [[respiratory system|respiratory]] problems, as well as any problems involving the chest area. He is the patron saint of [[Carpi, Emilia-Romagna|Carpi]] (Italy); the Philippine barangay [[Kay-Anlog]]; the barangay Tuna in Cardona, Rizal; and the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino|diocese]] of [[San Bernardino, California]]. [[Siena College]], a Franciscan Catholic liberal arts college in [[New York]] state, was named after him and placed under his spiritual patronage.

His cult also spread to England at an early period, and was particularly promulgated by the [[Franciscans|Observant Friars]], who first established themselves in the country in [[Greenwich]], in 1482, not forty years after his death, but who were later suppressed.<ref name=dictionary />

==See also==
{{Portal|Saints}}
*[[Santa Maria delle Grazie (Arezzo)]]
*[[Saint symbolism]]
*[[List of Catholic saints]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* {{Catholic|wstitle=St. Bernardine of Siena}}
* Polecritti, Cynthia, ''Preaching Peace in Renaissance Italy: San Bernardino of Siena and His Audience'', (UC Berkeley, 1988)

==External links==
*[http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/bernardino.html St. Bernardino page] at ''Christian Iconography''
*[http://archive.org/stream/MN5033ucmf_1#page/n1/mode/2up Saint Bernardine of Siena, "Sermons"]

{{Persondata 
| NAME              = Bernardino of Siena
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = 
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = 
| DATE OF BIRTH     = 8 September 1380
| PLACE OF BIRTH    = [[Massa Marittima]], Italy
| DATE OF DEATH     = 20 May 1444
| PLACE OF DEATH    = [[Aquila, Italy]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardino Of Siena}}
[[Category:1380 births]]
[[Category:1444 deaths]]
[[Category:Evangelists]]
[[Category:Franciscans]]
[[Category:Franciscan saints]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Grosseto]]
[[Category:15th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:Economic history of the Holy See]]
[[Category:Medieval Italian saints]]
[[Category:Incorrupt saints]]

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Dab solver - Bernardino of Siena

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