Kaup, Matthias, ed., trans.; Lerner, Robert E., ed., trans., Gentile of Foligno Interprets the Prophecy 'Woe to the World,' with an Edition and English Translation (Traditio 56: 149-211)
Text name(s):
Number of pages of primary source text: 11
Author(s):
Dates: 1300 - 1350
Archival Reference:
Original Language(s):
- Latin
Translation:
- Translated into English.
- Original language included.
Translation Comments: facing page Latin-English
Geopolitical Region(s):
- Italy
County/Region:
Record Types:
- Prophecy
Subject Headings:
- Papacy
- Clergy - Monks, Nuns, Friars
- Reform
- Theology - Eschatology
Apparatus:
- Introduction
Comments:
During late 14th century, Europe was in the throes of the papal schism (during which as many as 3 rival popes were elected). In an atmosphere of shaken faith in the institutional church and its servants, apocalyptic prophecies abounded, many of them disseminated by radical members of the mendicant orders. Gentile of Foligno, an otherwise obscure Augustinian canon who seems to have been a friend of the prominent Franciscan Spiritual Angelo da Clareno, wrote one such text commenting on the Catalan physician and mystic Arnaud de Ville Neuve’s prophecy on the coming of the Antichrist before the year 1376. Appended to this brief article is a Latin edition of Gentile’s commentary, followed by an English translation.
Introduction Summary:
The editors’ 38 pp introduction considers the authorship and dating of the work, deducing that Gentile must have been an Italian Augustinian friar relatively prominent in his order, writing during the 1320s or later. They consider the relationship of Gentile’s work to the “Bells of the Church” of Arnaud de Villneuve, who presented his prophecy to the Paris faculty of theology in 1300. They also comment upon the commentary’s major themes, and its treatment of various individuals and countries affected by the prophecy, particularly the popes (and anti-popes) and German emperors. The editors also provide a discussion of the manuscripts in which the text survives, and upon which this edition is based.
Cataloger: MCB
