Gerhard from Borgo San Donnino

Gerhard von Borgo San Donnino (Italian: Gerardo di Borgo San Donnino ; † around 1276) was an Italian representative of the spiritual within the Franciscan order in the 13th century.

Gerhard came from Borgo San Donnino (today Fidenza ) and studied in Sicily . As a protégé of the order general John of Parma , he was like him a supporter of the millenarian ideas of Joachim von Fiore . He later moved to Paris , where he continued his studies. In the religious convent of Provins he met his confrere Salimbene of Parma in 1248 , by whom he was described as " Joachit to the bone" ( totaliter Ioachimite ). Opposite Salimbene, Gerhard made himself aware of the crusade of King Ludwig IX, which was just beginning . to Egypt ( Sixth Crusade ) and predicted its failure by referring to a corresponding prophecy from Joachim's commentary on Jeremiah. In 1253 Gerhard and Salimbene met a second time in Mantua .

In the year 1254 Gerhard published in Paris, as the first ever, the three writings of Joachim von Fiore ( Concordia Novi et Veteris Testamenti, Expositio in Apocalypsim and Psalterium decem chordarum ) in a book and added a foreword with the provocative title “Introduction to the Eternal Evangelium ”( Liber introductorius ad Evangelium aeternum ). In it he explained Joachim's ideas for the “eternal gospel” and the Franciscan rituals as the new order prophesied by Joachim, which would take over the rule of the church at the return of the Holy Spirit. This writing led to an intensification of the dispute already raging at the Paris University between the brothers of the mendicant orders on the one hand and the spiritual teachers on the other ( mendicant dispute ).

Pope Alexander IV convened a council of cardinals in Anagni in 1255 , which on October 23, after detailed deliberation, condemned the theses of Jochaim of Fiore and the writings of Gerhard. Among other things, this resulted in the deposition of John of Parma and the appointment of Bonaventura to the head of the order. Gerhard himself was arrested in 1263 and taken to a dungeon in Sicily, where he remained until his death.

literature

• Jacques Le Goff : Saint Louis. Gallimard, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-07-073369-6 ( Bibliothèque des histoires ), (German Ludwig the Saint . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-608-91834-5 ).
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz :  Gerhard of Borgo San Donnino. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 214.
• Raniero Orioli:  Gerardo da Borgo San Donnino. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 53:  Gelati – Ghisalberti. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1999.

Web links

• Gerardus de Borgo San Donnino (d. 1278?). In: Franciscan Authors, 13th - 18th Century: A Catalog in Progress. Maarten van der Heijden and Bert Roest , March 23, 2019, accessed on July 27, 2020 . 
• Gerardus de Burgo Sancti Donnini OFM. In: Alcuin - Infothek der Scholastic. Rolf Schönberger , accessed on September 22, 2016 .