tuo prefazio (“O Pope Boniface, I bring your sentence,”
number 56 in Ageno and 55 in Mancini) and Lo pastor
per mio peccato/posto m’à for de l’ovile (“Because of
my sin the shepherd has cast me out of the sheepfold,”
number 57 in Ageno and 67 in Mancini)—that Jacopone
twice begged the pope for absolution. Although the
pope granted absolution to many in the jubilee year of
1300, Jacopone was not among them. In 1303, however,
Jacopone received personal liberty and release from
religious censure from Boniface’s more compassionate
successor as pope, Benedict XI.
The elderly Jacopone then retired to the convent of
San Lorenzo in Collazzone, where he died on Christmas
eve, 1306. In 1433, his remains were discovered in the
convent of Santa Maria di Montecristo, and in 1596
his tomb in the crypt of the Franciscan church of San
Fortunato in Todi was dedicated. Although he has not
been beatifi ed or canonized by the church, Jacopone is
inscribed in the Franciscan martyrology and is popularly
referred to and venerated as “blessed” or “saint.”
Jacopone wrote approximately 100 laude in the
Umbrian vernacular that express the mystic’s innermost
sentiments about the state of his soul and seek to instruct
others who are seeking greater closeness to God. Unlike
many laude composed by others at this time (which was
the form’s most fertile period), Jacopone’s hymns were
written not for the general lay public but for his own
personal use, and possibly for his Franciscan brothers.
Jacopone’s laude treat a wide range of subjects and
present a variety of tones and moods. His important
themes include the following (for each example, the
number in Ageno is followed by the number in Mancini):
praise of God (e.g., La bontade enfi nita, “The infi nite
goodness,” 79, 21), Christ (Ad l’amor ch’è venuto, “To
the Love that came,” 65, 86), and the Virgin Mary (O
Vergen più che femina, “O Virgin more than woman,”
2, 32); Saint Francis and the Franciscan ideal of poverty
(Povertade enamorata, “Beloved poverty,” 59, 47);
the condemnation of all types of secular temptation
(Guarda che non caggi, amico, “Be careful not to fall,
my friend,” 6, 20); detailed descriptions of disease,
death, and dying (Quando t’alegri, “When you are
glad,” 25, 61); soul-searching self-criticism (Que farai,
fra Iacovone? “What will you do, Brother Jacopone?”
55, 53); extreme self-abnegation (O Signor, per corte-
sia,/mandame la malsanìa, “O Lord, please infect me
with disease,” 48, 81); biting political satire (Que farai,
Pier da Morrone? “What will you do, Pier da Morrone?”
54, 74); laments on the state of the church (Piange la
Ecclesia, “The church weeps,” 53, 35); descriptions of
the mystical stare of ecstasy, akin to madness, that the
poet entered during his spiritual meditation (Senno me
pare e cortesia, “It seems to be wise and courteous,” 84,
87); and the passionate praise of divine love (O iubilo
del core, “O heartfelt joy,” 76, 9; and Sopr’onne lengua
amore, “Ineffable love,” 91, 92). Misogyny is patently
evident in some of his laude (e.g., O femene, guardate,
“Women, beware,” 8, 45), revealing Jacopone to be a
man of his time. However, there is also evidence that
he gave some thought to the diffi cult living conditions
of many women in the late thirteenth century (e.g., O
vita penosa, “O sorrowful life,” 24, 58). One simple yet
supremely elegant lauda—Donna del paradiso (“Lady
of Paradise,” 93, 70)—is important because it represents
the pinnacle of Jacopone’s poetic art and also because
it constitutes a crucial step in the evolution of Italian
religious theater: it has four speakers, and many scholars
consider it the fi rst religious drama in Italy.
Although critics are not in complete agreement re-
garding Jacopone’s authorship of a number of works in
Latin, the following have variously been attributed to
him: the famous sequence Stabat mater dolorosa, now
a part of the Roman Catholic liturgy; pithy moral say-
ings known as the Detti; and Trattato (Treatise), whose
subject is mystical union with God.
See also Boniface VIII, Pope; Celestine V, PopeFurther Reading
Editions
Contini, Gianfranco, ed. Poeti del Duecento, 2 vols. Milan and
Naples: Ricciardi, I960, Vol. 2, pp. 61–166.
Jacopone da Todi. Le laude, ristampa integrale della prima ed-
izione (1490), ed. Giovanni Papini. Florence: Libreria Editrice
Fiorentina, 1923.
——. Le laude secondo la stampa riorentina del 1490, ed.
Giovanni Ferri. Bari: Laterza, 1930.
——. Laudi, Trattato, e Detti, ed. Franca Ageno. Florence: Le
Monnier, 1953.
——. Le laude, ed. Luigi Fallacara. Florence: Liberia Editrice
Fiorentina, 1955.
——. Laude, ed. Franco Mancini. Bari: Laterza, 1974.
Menestò, Enrico, ed. Le vite antiche di Iacopone da Todi. Flor-
ence: La Nuova Italia, 1977.
——, ed. Le prose latine attribuite a Jacopone da Todi. Bologna:
Pàtron, 1979.
Ugolini, Francesco A., ed. Laude di Jacopone da Todi tratte da
due manoscritti umbri. Turin: Istituto Editrice Gheroni, 1947.
Translations
Jacopone da Todi. The Lauds, trans. Serge Hughes and Elizabeth
Hughes. New York: Paulist, 1982.
Underhill, Evelyn. Jacopone da Todi: Poet and Mystic 1228–1306:
A Spiritual Biography. London: Dent; and New York: Dutton,- (Reprint, Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries, 1972.)
Studies
Ageno, Franca. “Modi stilistici delle laudi di Iacopone da Todi.”
La Rassegna d’ltalia, 5, 1946, pp. 20–29.
——. “Motivi francescani nelle laudi di Iacopone da Todi.” Let-
tere Italiane, 2 , 1960, pp. 180–184.
Apollonio, Mario. Jacopone da Todi e la poetica delle confra-
ternite religiose nella cultura preumanistica. Milan: Vita e
Pensiero, 1946.
Bettarini, Rosanna. Jacopone e il Laudario Urbinate. Florence:
Sansoni, 1969.
JACOPONE DA TODI