Ten Missing Years

Beneath the high altar of the church of San Fortunato in Todi is a crypt containing a large and elaborate marble tomb, constructed in 1596 on the orders of Bishop Angelo Cesi to house the relics of five early “patron saints” of Todi (Fortunatus, Callistus, Cassian, Romana and Degna).  Shortly afterwards, Bishop Cesi also had the remains of Jacopone moved into the crypt, and a new monument placed on the wall.  The monument carries this inscription:

The Monument. Photo credit Armando Pezzarossa

“[Here lie] the bones of
Blessed Jacopone dei Benedetti
of Todi, Friar Minor,
who, being a fool for Christ’s sake,
deceived the world with a new art
and took Heaven by storm.
He fell asleep in the Lord
on the 25th March 1296.

Angelo Cesi, Bishop of Todi
placed this here 1596.”

At first glance this looks like a warm, if overdue, tribute to Jacopone in his home town.

There’s just one problem: 

Jacopone didn’t die in 1296, but ten years later, in 1306.

It seems clear that this is not an unfortunate error, but a deliberate attempt to erase from history the last ten years (ironically, the best documented years) of Jacopone’s life.  Bishop Cesi may have wanted to cover up what he considered Jacopone’s most embarrassing episode in order to strengthen the case for his beatification.  But in fact, the ten years he deleted included the most dramatic and most significant events of Jacopone’s life:

Outwardly,  Jacopone showed himself as man of courage, taking a stand against a powerful opponent for the values he professed and who was willing to pay the price for this (public condemnation and imprisonment).  His actions place Jacopone in the company of Gandhi, King, Mandela and other prisoners of conscience, past and present.

Gandhi, King and Mandela

Inwardly  (and probably more importantly to Jacopone), these years saw him attain the major goals of his life’s journey.  In the most difficult of circumstances, he realised both his Franciscan quest for Gospel poverty and humility and his mystical quest for identification and union with Christ.  This was then reflected in his poetry; in his laudi of mystical ecstasy, Jacopone reached the peak of his poetic inspiration.

Why, then, would anyone want to erase these years?

To understand this, we need to look at the great dispute over poverty that wracked the 13th-century Franciscan movement.