Franciscan Authors
Franciscan Authors

Aegidius Assisiensis (Egidio di Assisi, ca. 1190-1262)

Aegidius Assisiensis (Egidio di Assisi, ca. 1190-1262) OM. Italian friar. Originally a farmer, he became (after an unknown man from Assisi, Bernard of Quintavalle and a further unknown convert who died rather quickly) the fourth disciple of Francis, on 23 April 1208. Throughout his life, he displayed a special love for manual work and poverty. Before and after Francis's death he lead an itinerant life as preacher and mystic, and travelled through Italy, Northern Africa and the Near East. Eventually, he settled down in the hermitage of Monteripido, near Perugia. Famous for his mystical aphorisms that were collected after his death into a series of Dicta Aurea/Detti . He is mentioned by many Franciscan hagiographers and spiritual authors and received several vitae of his own, of which that ascribed to friar Leo, is the best-known. (In the order the feastday for his commemoration is 23 April).

Works

  • Dicta Beati Aegidii Assisiensis etc. For a full stemma, see the 2011 study of Brufani mentioned in the literature section. There are a number of editions: Dicta Beati Aegidii Assisiensis , Bibliotheca franciscana ascetica medii aevi (Quaracchi, 1905/1939). (transl. By Nello Vian in: I Mistici. Scritti dei mistici francescani secolo XIII , ed. L. Iriarte et. al. (Assisi, 1995), I, 65-169)

    1995 Assisi
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  • Sententia S. Patris Aegidii Assisinatis Ordinis Minorum ad Christianam Perfectionem Aspirantibus Utiles Fonti agiografiche dell’Ordine Francescano: Passione dei santi frati martiri in Marocco. Dialogo sulle gesta dei santi frati Minori. Vite di Antonio di Padova: Vita prima o Leggenda “Assidua” – Vita seconda – Legenda “Benignitas” – Legenda Raimondina – Legenda Rigaldina. Vita Perugina – Vita Leonina – Detti del beato Egidio di Assisi, Atti del beato Francesco e dei suoi compagni , ed. Maria Teresa Dolso (Padua: Efr-Editrici Francescane, 2014). See also: Detti di Frate Egidio (Le vie della Cristianità, 2016). In the modern editions, the Dicta deal in 33 little ‘chapters’ with 1) grace, virtues and vices, 2) faith, 3) love, 4) humility, 5) fear of God, 6) patience, 7) the ready spirit and the strong heart, 8) negation of the world, 9) chastity, 10) spiritual warfare, 11) penitence, 12) prayer and its effects, 13) contemplation, 14) the active life, 15) spiritual precaution, 16) useful and non useful science and on preachers, 17) good and bad words, 18) how to persist in the good, 19) security in the religious ‘status’, 20) obedience, 21) the reminder/memory of death, 22) the flight from the world, 23) persistence in prayer, 24) the graces and virtues to be acquired in prayer, 25) prelates involved with canonising friars [ironic?], 26) how to solve some important questions, 27) Beato chi s’ingegna a vincere se stesso, 28) Tutta la gente che non vuole…, 29) Bo, bo, molto dico, poco fo, 30) Chi più ama, più brama, 31) Devi essere uomo di virtù…, 32) Cosa pensava del beato Francesco, 33) Gli ammaestramenti di frate Egidio. For a more in-depth discussion of the various subsequent redactions of the Dicta made between the year of Egidio's death and the mid fourteenth century, see the 2011 study of Brufani mentioned below. There are also early modern editions. See for instance Sententia S. Patris Aegidii Assisinatis Ordinis Minorum ad Christianam Perfectionem Aspirantibus Utiles (Antwerp: Michael Hillen, 1634).

    1634 Antwerp
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  • Dialogus cum fr. Gratiano Dialogus cum fr. Gratiano : Naples Naz. XII.F.32 f. 183r (see Cenci, Napoli .)

    Naples
    Naples Naz. XII.F.32 f. 183r (see Cenci, Napoli .)
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  • Dicta Aurea Dicta Aurea : a.o. MSS Brussels, Bibl. Royale, IV 436 ff. 233r-255v

    Brussels
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  • Assisi, Sacro Convento 403 & 676

    Assisi
    Sacro Convento 403 & 676
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  • Florence XIX, 10

    Florence
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  • Munich Clm 11354

    Munich
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  • Aegidius von Assisi. Die Weisheit des Einfachen Aegidius von Assisi. Die Weisheit des Einfachen , ed. A. Rotzetter & E. Hug (Zürich, 1980)

    1980 Zürich
    ed. A. Rotzetter & E. Hug (Zürich, 1980)
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  • Ed. Messaggero Egidio di Assisi, I Detti , ed. & trans Taddeo Bargiel & Nello Vian, ‘I Mini Grandi’ (Padua: Ed. Messaggero, 2001)

    2001 Padua
    Egidio di Assisi, I Detti , ed. & trans Taddeo Bargiel & Nello Vian, ‘I Mini Grandi’ (Padua: Ed. Messaggero, 2001)
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  • Centro Italiano di Studi dull’Alto Medioevo Egidio d’Assisi, Dicta , ed. Stefano Brufani, Edizione nazionale delle fonti francescane, 1 (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi dull’Alto Medioevo, 2013)

    2013 Spoleto
    Egidio d’Assisi, Dicta , ed. Stefano Brufani, Edizione nazionale delle fonti francescane, 1 (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi dull’Alto Medioevo, 2013)
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Literature