Federico Rossi

This research aims to map the dissemination of a selected corpus of devotional texts in the Italian vernacular, including multiple versions of Pseudo Bernard’s Meditatio in passionem et resurrectionem Domini and Planctus beatae Mariae. These are exemplary texts of the affective meditation literature, yet their vernacular tradition remains largely unexplored, despite their historical significance. The project involves a census of the manuscripts transmitting these texts; once inventoried, manuscript copies will be analysed as cultural documents in order to determine their target audience and the devotional practices they served. The study will then address social-historical questions concerning the reception of these texts, with a specific focus on the interplay of religious and lay audiences and on the potential identification of gender-specific forms of piety. Finally, book illustrations will be examined to assess how meditative practices were reflected in pictures. The project will thus make a significant contribution to the fields of late Medieval devotion, vernacular theology, and the history of reading and book culture.

Websites: https://romatre.academia.edu/FedericoRossi ; https://vernaculardevotion.blogspot.com