Stephan Fridolin

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Stephan Fridolin OFM (c. 1430 – 17 August 1498), was a 15th century German Roman Catholic friar, author of sermons and texts of spirituality.

Biography

Fridolin was born in Winnenden. He entered the observant branch of the Franciscan order at an unknown time (before 1460). From about 1460 to about 1475 he worked as a preacher at the Church of Our Dear Lady in Bamberg. In 1481, he belonged to the Provincial Council, the governing body of the Province of the Order. In 1477 he became lector of the monastery in Mainz, and from 1479, with a brief interruption — from 1487 to 1489 as preacher in the Clarissan monastery in Basel[1] — he worked until his death in the Nuremberg monastery, where he also took over the spiritual care of the Clarissan monastery there.[2] At the instigation of its abbess Caritas Pirckheimer, he wrote down his sermons.

In 1491, Anton Koberger published in Nuremberg the devotional book Schatzbehalter, which is one of the most beautiful prints of the incunabulum period because of its numerous woodcuts from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff.[3] Today, there are about 140 copies preserved, not counting the engravings that are detached from the work. The theme is the Passion of Christ, which is viewed from a hundred points of view. A special feature are the countless cross-references to the picture plates and other passages in the text, which suggests careful pre-planning.

The theology of the Schatzbehalter and the pictorial program of the woodcuts it contains can already be found in a pictorial panel from the year 1470–1475, the so-called Bamberg panel, also called the Capestrano panel. Fridolin refers to this pictorial work in his book, which preceded the Schatzbehalter and whose contents are now explained in more detail by Fridolin through picture and text. It originally came from the Franciscan monastery on the Schranne in Bamberg and is now in the Bamberg Historical Museum.

Works

Stephan Fridolin is the author of several books. Only one was published during his lifetime.

  • Der Schatzbehalter oder Schrein der wahren Reichtümer des Heils und der ewigen Seeligkeit genannt (1491)[4]
  • Sermons et instructions spirituelles pour les Clarisses[5]
  • Geistlicher Mai[6]
  • Geistlicher Herbst[7]
  • Two works published together in Dillingen by Johannes Mayer under the title Der Geistlich May und Geistliche Hörpst. Außgelegt auff das außwendig vnd inwendig bitter Leyden unsers aller liebsten Herren und Seligmachers Jesu Christi (1581).
  • Lehre für angefochtene und kleinmütige Menschen (1479)[8]
  • His Buch von den Kaiserangesichten, composed in 1486–1487, is preserved in a single manuscript, copied at the request of Hans Tucher for the library of the Nuremberg council: the only secular work by Stephan Fridolin, it is devoted to the history of the Roman emperors illustrated by their portraits on ancient coins found in Nuremberg.

Notes

  1. ↑ Degler-Spengler, Brigitte (1969). Das Klarissenkloster Gnadental in Basel. Basel: Friedrich Reinhardt, pp. 66–67, 102.
  2. ↑ Seegets, Petra (1998). Passionstheologie und Passionsfrömmigkeit im ausgehenden Mittelalter. Der Nürnberger Franziskaner Stephan Fridolin († 1498) zwischen Kloster und Stadt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, pp. 29, 35.
  3. ↑ The book is a folio of 352 leaves, illustrated with 96 full-page woodcuts (five of which are repeated).
  4. ↑ Der Schatzbehalter oder Schrein der wahren Reichtümer des Heils und der ewigen Seeligkeit genannt (The treasure or casket of the true riches of salvation and eternal bliss); it is a meditation on the life and sufferings of Christ, intended for the laity, which had an important influence on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
  5. ↑ In which Fridolin explains the spiritual meaning of the hymns and psalms of the minor hours of Sunday. They have remained in manuscript form.
  6. ↑ A work of spirituality written for the Poor Clares and centered on the sufferings of Christ and his mother, is also known as Der edel weinreb Jesu, der so spricht, Ich bin der waer Weinreb. Preserved in several manuscripts,11 it was printed under different titles in 1533, 1549 and 1550.
  7. ↑ A work of spirituality for the Poor Clares, devoted to the interior passions of Christ, preserved in three manuscripts, was the subject of an undated printing at the beginning of the 16th century and was reprinted in 1575.
  8. ↑ Work of spirituality composed in 1479, for the attention of the Poor Clares, and devoted to the feeling of melancholy and the excesses of scruples.

References

  • Belm, Richard (1962). Stephan Fridolin : Der Schatzbehalter. Ein Andachts- und Erbauungsbuch aus dem Jahre 1491 mit 91 Holzschnitten und 2 Textseiten in Faksimile nach der Originalausgabe von Anton Koberger, Nürnberg. Wiesbaden: G. Pressler.
  • Hall, Cynthia Anne (2006). Treasury Book of the Passion: Word and Image in the "Schatzbehalter". Ann Arbor: Proquest.
  • Hamon, Auguste (1925). Histoire de la Dévotion au Sacré-Cœur, Vol. II. Paris: Beauchesne.
  • Schmidt, Ulrich (1911). Stephan Fridolin: ein Franziskanerprediger des ausgehenden Mittelalters. Munich: J.J. Lentner’sche Buchhandlung.

External links

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