Marianus of Florence

Marianus of Florence, Friar Minor and historian, b. at Florence about the middle of the fifteenth century, exact date of birth uncertain; d. there, July 20, 1523. Very little is known of the life and personality of this great chronicler of the Franciscan Order. That his writings should, likewise, share in this general oblivion is due to a number of causes, principal among which is the difficulty of procuring them, not any of his chronicles or other works ever having been published. In his most noted work entitled “Fasciculus Chronicarum”, there is contained a history of the Franciscan Order from the beginning up to the year 1486. That Marianus should have written three centuries after the death of St. Francis in no way tells against his trustworthiness as a historian, for he had access to original sources now lost, of which some precious fragments have been passed on to us through him. The crudeness and inelegance of his style of which Wadding complains may, perhaps, have been due to the impatience of the good nun Dorothea Broccardi (Dorothea scripsit appears on all her handiwork), who offered to be his amanuensis and who was continually pressing him for copy. Marianus fell a victim to the plague while engaged in administering the last sacraments to the stricken inhabitants of his native city. Besides the “Fasciculus Chronicarum”, he is the author of a “Catalogus seu brevis historia feminarum ordinis Sanctae Clarae” which contains biographical sketches of more than 150 illustrious women of the Second Order of St. Francis. Among his other writings may be mentioned “Historia Montis Alverniae”, “Historia Provinciae Etruriae Ordinis Minorum”, “Itinerarium Urbis Romae”, and “Historia Translationis Habitus Sancti Francisci a Monte Acuto ad Florentiam” which has been translated into Italian and published by Fr. Roberto Razzoli in his monograph, “La Chiesa d’Ognissanti in Firenze, Studi storicocritici” (Florence, 1898).

STEPHEN M. DONOVAN