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UBERTINO DA CASALE (1259–c. 1329)
The Franciscan reformer Ubertino da Casale was the
author of the Arbor vite crucifi xe Jesu—sometimes
translated as The Tree of the Crucifi ed Life of Jesus. This
work had a strong effect on later Franciscan rigorists
and on some prelates and monarchs; fi gures who were
infl uenced by it include Dante, Giovanni dalle Celle,
Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Bernardino, John Brug-
man, and King Martin I of Aragon.
Most of our information about Ubertino until the
time when he composed the Arbor vite in 1305 comes
from its fi rst prologue, but its chronology is not always
clear. Ubertino was a native of Casale Monferrato in
the diocese of Vercelli and in the Franciscan province
of Genoa. He was received into the Franciscan order
(Friars Minor) at age fourteen. Scholars disagree about
the next period of his life. Some think that he remained
in his province for a considerable time, until c. 1284 or
1285; but others—on the basis of his own testimony that
he studied for nine years et Parisius fui—believe that
after his novitiate he went to Paris and remained there
until c. 1284. In any event he spent the years 1285 to
1289 (dates on which all the scholars agree) at Santa
Croce in Florence. There, he was probably a subordinate
lector in its studium, since he says that he was occupy-
ing the offi ce of lector when he heard, at Pentecost, of
John of Parma’s death, which occurred in March 1289
(Arbor vite, 5.3).
It seems likely that Ubertino’s studies in Paris had
preceded this period in Florence rather than that, as
some scholars hold, he went to Paris only after 1289.
Ubertino associates Paris with a time when he was lax
and ambitious. He tells us that his coming to Tuscany
was accompanied by a conversion to a more ascetic life.
Half of his four-year stay in Florence coincided with
the lectorate there of the reformer who was to have the
greatest infl uence on him, Petrus Johannis Olivi. Uber-

tino would have been exposed to Olivi’s doctrine of usus

pauperi, or “poor use,” as essential to the Franciscan

way of life—that is, the austere use of necessities and

the avoidance of economic security and all superfl uity.

He must also have heard Olivi prophesy the persecu-

tion of the “spiritual” church by the “carnal” church.

Ubertino’s fi rst meetings with Olivi—and with Margaret

of Cortona, Cecilia of Florence, and John of Parma (who

was in retirement at Greccio)—must have taken place

just before or during 1285–1289. His crucial encounter

with Angela of Foligno may also have been at this time.

(There is confl icting evidence in the manuscripts on the

date of this meeting: some say “in the twenty-fi fth year

of my religion.”) According to Ubertino, these were the

meetings that brought about his real conversion, after

“almost fourteen years of external observance.” It is

diffi cult to believe that he then relapsed into what he

calls laxity and ambition.

Ubertino learned a great deal from Olivi at Santa

Croce; but unlike Olivi, he had no vocation to be a pro-

fessional theologian, or to continue as a lector. Instead,

Ubertino abandoned teaching to become a wandering

preacher, traveling through Tuscany, Umbria, and the

Marches, and denouncing both the heresy of the Breth-

ren of the Free Spirit and the corruption of the offi cial

church. It is clear from the Arbor vite that he considered

the resignation of Pope Celestine V and the subsequent

election of Pope Boniface VIII illegitimate—a point

on which he differed from Olivi. In the Arbor vite he

identifi ed Boniface, as well as Boniface’s successor

Pope Benedict XI, with the mystical Antichrist. How

far Ubertino went in expressing these radical views in

his public sermons is uncertain, but some hint of his

opinions must have reached Benedict XI, because the

pope summoned and arrested him. Ubertino was freed

only because of the entreaties of a delegation of Perugian

citizens; he was then sent by his Franciscan superiors