CH3600 —

Creating Communal Identity: Early Franciscan Liturgy, Art and Popular Texts

2nd semester Thursday evening Crosslisted as DT3600 (Min. No. 6)

Content

This unit will explore the Franciscan Order’s struggle to define its identity after the death of Francis of Assisi (d. 1226), and the expression of this contested identity in art, liturgy and popular literature of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Texts studied include the official vitae by Thomas of Celano (1229 and 1247) and Bonaventure (1263), liturgical texts such as Celano’s Legend for Use in the Choir (ca. 1266), popular re-tellings of Francis’s life such as I Fioretti di San Francesco (early 1400s) and versified French vitae, and major Franciscan visual cycles such as those in the Upper Church of San Francesco (c. 1295, Assisi) and in the Bardi Chapel of Santa Croce (c. 1305, Florence). The function of the founder in the Franciscan context will be contrasted with the experience of the other major mendicant orders, the Dominicans and the Carmelites. Such a comparison will focus on identifying the particular ideological and liturgical challenges faced by the early Franciscan Order, and the multifaceted nature and expression of Franciscan identity and spirituality in this period.

Prerequisites

At least one unit in Church History at level 2, OR two units in Church History plus one unit Systematic Theology at level 2

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. contextualise the development and expression of Franciscan identity within the broader developments of the medieval Church, and within the early history of the Order itself
2. show an understanding of the politics of identity within the early Franciscan Order and of the importance of the founder figure in this context, with contextual reference to contemporary Dominican and Carmelite experience
3. demonstrate basic skills in analysing primary texts (both visual and written), and in conceptualising the relationship between official and unofficial texts regarding Francis of Assisi
4. exhibit some familiarity with the historiography of Franciscan identity in this period, and its relationship to medieval readings of the primary source material
5. identify integral elements of Franciscan spirituality.

Assessment

1300 word literature review (20%); Class presentation on a text or image (with a 1500 word report) (35%); 2200 word research essay (45%)

Bibliography

Bourdua, Louise. The Franciscans and Art Patronage in Late Medieval Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Francis of Assisi: Early Documents: Volumes 1-3. Edited by Regis J. Armstrong OFM Cap., J. A. Wayne Hellmann OFM Conv., and William J. Short OFM. New York: New York City Press, 1999-2001.

Knox, Lezlie. Creating Clare of Assisi: Female Franciscan Identities in Late Medieval Italy. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Lecturer

Anna Welch