Bernardin of Sienna

BERNARDIN OF SIENNA: Franciscan; b. of noble parents at Massa (33 m. s.w. of Sienna) Sept. 8, 1350; d. at Aquila (58 m. n.e. of Rome) May 20, 1444. He entered the Franciscan order 1402; became its vicar-general 1437, and effected many reforms in discipline and government. He was the most famous preacher of his time and spoke to great crowds in all parts of Italy with wonderful effect. Three times he refused the offer of a bishopric. He was canonized by Nicholas V in 1450 and his day is May 20. His writings were first printed at Lyons (1501), afterward at Paris (4 vols., 1636; 5 vols., 1650) and at Venice (4 vols., 1745). The first volume contains his life by his scholar, St. John of Capistrano. Bernardin's writings are for the most part tractatus seu sermones, which are not so much sermons according to the modern view as formal treatises upon morals, asceticism, and mysticism.

Bibliography: The older accounts of his life are collected in ASB, 20 May, vi, 262–318. Consult: P. Thureau-Dangin, Un Prédicateur populaire . . . St. Bernardin de Sienne (1380–1444), Paris, 1896, Eng. transl., London, 1906; Berthaumier, Histoire de S. Bernardin de Sienne, Paris, 1862; J. P. Toussaint, Leben des heiligen Bernardin, Regensburg, 1873; F. Apollinaire, La vie et les œurres de S. Bernardin, Poitiers, 1882; E. C. Dargan, Hist. of Preaching, pp. 317 sqq., New York, 1905.