Medieval Preaching and Popular Piety

This paper aims to present the unifying force brought by a Marian devotion to two
towns located in two places with different circumstances in Philippine Church history. In
the spiritual geography of the religious orders in the Philippines, the parishes of Bataan were administered by the Dominicans since 1588 while the parishes of Bulacan were administered by majority by the Augustinians since 1572. La Virgen Milagrosa del Rosario del Pueblo de Orani grew as a Marian devotion that has gathered pilgrims in many years. The image was brought to Bataan and eventually completed the triumvirate of Dominican patrons with Abucay being devoted to St. Dominic de Guzman in 1588 and Samal being devoted to St. Catherine of Siena in 1596. When Orani was separated to be an independent parish in 1714, the devotion grew further. Then, between the 1700s to the 1800s, a brown-skinned image of the Virgin and the Child Jesus was discovered along the riverbanks of Hagonóy, Bulacan, under the Augustinians at the other side of the Manila Bay. This image was very similar to Orani's La Virgen Milagrosa, which in turn would be recognized as Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy. Though a Dominican-propagated devotion, this local rosary devotion and the image grew in this town with various traditions such as Marian poetry and the promotion of the Block Rosary movement. Orani's image would later on be further venerated not only in Bataan but in the neighboring provinces. Though Hagonóy can be found farther East from Bataan and Pampanga, the rosary devotion in this town seemed a visage of the Bataan patroness. By 1942, the fall of Bataan caused Bataeños to travel to Hagonóy and settling in the western barrio of the town. This was eventually named Sto. Rosario in honor of the Virgin of the Rosary. There the Bataeños saw their patroness in the image of the discovered Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy. The circumstances of the
relations between the people of the two towns resulted in the establishment of the parish of Sto. Rosario, Hagonóy in 1952. Further propagation of these two devotions allowed for the recognition of both Marian devotions by their dioceses and by the Holy See. Orani's image was granted a canonical coronation in 1958. Eventually, the church of Orani was granted the titles diocesan shrine in 2004, an affiliate of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in 2012 and a minor basilica in 2019. The devotion to Nuestra Señora del Santisimo Rosario de Hagonóy, on the other hand, was granted an episcopal coronation also in 2019. The impact of the local Marian devotion in these two towns became a way to unite the Catholic faithful, like a link of the beads of the rosary which identify the country as “Pueblo amante de Maria.

Nei diversi territori che oggi fanno parte del Piemonte, ancora durante i secoli XIII-XV, il latino, anche se fortemente intaccato, continuava a funzionare come lingua ufficiale di comunicazione 1 . Come noto, ad insidiarne il predominio erano essenzialmente le nascenti parlate locali, in contrapposizione all'espandersi del volgare italiano importato da altre regioni (e di cui non ci occuperemo in questa sede) ma anche il francese, il provenzale e il franco provenzale, con reciproche influenze. Per queste ultime, si trattava di un fenomeno in parte culturale e in parte 'geografico', in quanto a venire utilizzate in territori 'piemontesi' erano essenzialmente le lingue parlate nelle regioni d'Oltralpe e diffuse lungo le vie dei commerci, del transito delle merci e dei viandanti o pellegrini che scendevano dalle Alpi verso il centro Italia 2 . Un breve richiamo alle cosiddette 'scritture esposte', tramite alcuni esempi, può essere un pertinente approccio ad uno studio più completo circa la storia multilinguistica della regione e delle sue dinamiche di sviluppo.

This is the First Edition of our Annuario Academico for 2016-17, which we are sharing on Academia.edu to solicit interest from prospective students to study with us. Note that the edition is Polyglot, but the canonical version is the English.

The ScholastIcum is an institute for the study of Scholastic Theology and Philosophy, headquartered at Rome, dedicated to the promotion of the greater appreciation and understanding of Medieval Theology and Philosophy as it was taught at the University of Paris in the mid 13th century.

For that purpose, the Scholasticum focuses its attention on three fields of study, Medieval Philosophy, Medieval Biblical Studies and Scholastic Theology, offering graduate courses of Specialization in Medieval Studies, at Rome and via video-conferencing to students throughout the world, of the following kinds:

a) Preparatory courses in Latin, Philosophy, History and Medieval Studies, aimed at orientating the students for the three principle course-work.

b) Baccalaureatus Philosophicus: 2 year Course on medieval
Philosophy focusing on the Scholastics and pre-Scholastics
authorities and texts in Philosophy.

c) Baccalaureatus Biblicus: 2 year Course on medieval scriptural studies, based on the Glossae and Commentaries of that age.

d) Baccalaureatus Sententiarius: 2 year course on the Four Books of sentences of master Peter, taking as its text books, the Commentaria of Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio on the same.

e) Magister Sacrae Doctrinae: 1-2 year specialization program for Doctoral students, seeking to fully grasp the Scholastic method of theological instruction.

In the study of which, the Institute has the following academic objectives:

a) To impart to the student an authentic historical understanding of the authors, language and methods used at the University of Paris, in the mid 13th century.

b) To educate students with profound and complete knowledge of Peter Lombard’s Four Book of Sentences, in Latin and in translation.

c) To give the student a profound and practical experience in the understanding, formulation, crafting and argumentation of the Scholastic Method, as employed by Sts. Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.

d) To form students and instructors capable of Scholastic argumentation, analysis and research.

The faculty is to comprise full and part-time positions, with a frequency of visiting professorships, to provide a wide and broad exposure to the current research on the topics
treated of in this general description of the Institute.

Remarks on the role of mendicant orders in the ministry in rural areas of the State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia

Summary

At the beginning of 13th century, the main purpose of Dominican and Franciscan mendicant orders rise was to take religious care of people living in the suburbs of fast growing cities in Western Europe. Preachers worked not only in cities, but also in a given monastery’s collection county, their terminus. In the article, the author has tried to describe the situation in the State of Teutonic Knights in Prussia, searching for answers to questions about the role and scale of mendicants’ engagement in the ministry in rural areas in the Middle Ages, especially in the ministry among the indigenous people in Prussia. There were a few phases of mendicant orders participation in the ministry in Prussia. First, they were engaged in missionary activity among the local Prussians (Dominicans, Gdańsk). When towns were located, the first Dominican and Franciscan monasteries were founded as well (Chełmno, Toruń). In 14th century, the third mendicant order, Augustinians hermits, built their monasteries in Prussia. At the end of 14th century, Carmelites, and in the 2nd half of 15th century, Franciscans of very strict rule, Observants, appeared. Apart from working in towns, all mendicants toured around their collection county. Undoubtedly, their activity included preaching, hearing confessions, and other ministry tasks. Church fairs which gathered people from rural areas were very important for the ministry too. The mendicants’ activity was not, however, to replace the activity of rural parishes parsons.