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This short, five-paragraph article introduces the reader to the distinguished preacher Friar Giuseppe Ragusa from Modica (Syracuse). The article begins by talking about preaching in the Franciscan Order. Next, it recounts events in Friar Giuseppe's life. Friar Giuseppe was born in 1806. He professed vows in 1826, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1828. He completed his studies in Catania [Sicily] and in 1836, having earned a Bachelor's degree, he was co-opted by the Order's other college students. After graduating in theology in 1839, he alternated between teaching and preaching. However, he achieved ever-increasing success as a preacher. The grave misfortune that struck his family, the memory of which aroused great horror in Friar Giuseppe, induced him to accept membership in the Province of Bologna, where he was assigned to the friary in Faenza. He became its guardian several times. He was well liked by the clergy and the people. He was also elected the Minister Provincial of Bologna for a three-year term (1849-1852). Longing for quiet, he retired to Longiano, in the Italian Province of Forlì, to the Shrine of the Most Holy Crucifix. He died of cancer on May 19, 1869. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial part of the text is dedicated to the figure of Fr. Michele Mantiglia, a Sicilian transplanted in Bohemia, who distinguished himself above all in Prague, in the Order's new College founded on 4th December 1621 by the Minister General Giacomo Montanari, approved by the popes, of which Mantiglia was the first regent (1622-1625). Later Fr. Michele became the first Provincial of Bohemia, elected in 1627. The part of the article devoted to the history of Prague College also suggests that the original design of the work was to narrate its complete history. It reconstructs, based on partial documents, the names of the regents and bachelor graduates, from the Bohemian foundation to its transfer to Italy, to Fermo, around 1716. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article briefly recalls the figures of the Apostolic Prefects of the Conventual Franciscan missions in China and Zambia. In the climate of great missionary fervour ad gentes (to the nations), inspired by the pope of Missions Pius XI (1922-1939), the Order of Friars Minor Conventual also received from the Holy See the urgent invitation to open a mission in the Far East. The Franciscan Order was born as missionary (chapter XII of the Regula Bullata is dedicated to the missions of unbelievers), but at the time the provinces were recovering from suppression by States. There was therefore resistance, but it was overcome by the generosity of the Sardinian Province which was able to provide six of the eight missionaries in the group of pioneers. The mission in China was opened in 1925, and it developed wonderfully. The Zambian mission desired by the Minister General, Fr. Alfonso Orlini, was opened in 1930 (the document of erection is dated 13 January 1931). Thanks to the Prefect, Mazzieri, it had an exceptional growth. From this territory, the prefecture of Solwezi was born. The first Prefect, Ruppert Hillerich was not very efficient, but his successor Abdon Potani proved to be more active. In addition to the protagonists, other noteworthy characters are mentioned. The mission in China, after the expulsion of the foreign missionaries, is currently tentatively recovering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the figure of Fr. Carlo Belleo, a prominent person of the Friars Minor Conventual and an illustrious philosopher. He was born around 1525 in Ragusa (Syracuse) and died on May 21st 1580 in Padua. He held the chair of Scotist metaphysics at the University. He was the Minister Provincial of St. Agatha and St. Lucy for ten months, regent in various Studies of the Order and a distinguished speaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author notes in the opening caption of the article, which intends to continue the work on the bishops of the Order begun by two OFM Conventual historians: Fr. Domenico Sparacio (1877-1929) and Fr. Giuseppe Abate (18991969). The aforementioned authors wrote in Latin, but very succinctly, especially Sparacio, while the author who uses the Italian language, intends to treat the new profiles in a less concise way, reporting the documentation in the footnotes, which are absent in the writings of Sparacio and Abate. The continuation starts from where the Abate left off (1930). However, the profiles of Francesco Maria Berti, Giovanni Maria Sanna, Pio Leonardo Navarra, Girolamo Mileta and Luigi Bondini are integrated. In this work the profiles of the bishops, with their respective coats of arms (9 and 16 have not been located) a total of 19 between 1907 and 2020. All bishops are deceased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a brief introduction based on the title, the author distinguishes the work in three points: 1) The friary of the Friars Minor Conventual in Gela. 2) The Conventual Friar Minor. 3) The Franciscan Cardinal. The first point illustrates the town of Gela, formerly Terranova di Sicilia, which at the time of Panebianco was a village of about 9,000 inhabitants, but thanks to its commercial port and tourism, today it has over 70,000 inhabitants. The friary of St. Francis, founded in the countryside around 1265, was given to the Capuchins in 1574, when the Conventuals moved to the coast. There are many prominent Gelesi Conventuals. The second point is dedicated to the life of Antonio Panebianco. Born in Gela in 1808, he trained in Catania before being counted among the students of the College of St. Bonaventure in Rome (1834). All documentation of the sacred ordinations of the Panebianco were found in the Archbishop's Archives in Catania. Unfortunately, the date of his priestly ordination is missing. From other documents, however, it is certain that he was ordained a priest in 1832. He held many positions in his Province of Sicily, which he also governed as Minister Provincial. He was Assistant General and he missed out by a few votes on being elected Minister General. The third point, the Franciscan Cardinal, begins with the appointment of Panebianco as Consultor of the Holy Office, a prelude to elevation to Cardinal of the Congregation for Indulgences and Sacred Relics [S.R.C.] (1861), to the return of the Delegation to Transylvania led by the Nuncio in Vienna Antonio De Luca on mixed marriages, concluded to the satisfaction of the Holy See and the Emperor of Austria. As Cardinal his title church in Rome was St. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, instantly changed to that of The Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles. As Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Relics, he was a member of almost all the Roman congregations. He participated in the First Vatican Council (1870). He was very close to the Holy Father Pius IX and shared his ambition for the fall of the Papal State (1870). He was among the papabile in the conclave of 1878 in which Leo XIII was elected. He died on November 21, 1885 at SS. Apostoli, where he remained in community as a cardinal. He is buried at Campo Verano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until 1986, St. Francis Anthony Fasani was known only as a great orator, with a following of many devotees both in Lucera and in the regions of Daunia (both places are in the province of Foggia). However, his stature as a Franciscan writer was unknown. Thanks to the commendable and hard work of Fr. Bonaventura Danza OFMConv from Puglia, the manuscripts of the Maestro, Fasani, almost all in Latin, documented by typewriter, are now more accessible to scholars, who immediately had the pleasant surprise of being confronted by a writer worthy of the name. The appreciative discovery dates back to 1986, the year of the canonization of the Saint Francis Anthony Fasani. At that time Fr. Eugenio Galignano, then Minister Provincial of Puglia, invited a team of professors of Saint Bonaventure’s College (Seraphicum), to collaborate and these responded enthusiastically to the appeal. In 1986, professors from the Theological Faculty of the Order edited the first Rosary of Fasani for the numerous editions of Messenger of St. Anthony of Padua, and Fasani’s seven Marian novenas were published with various examinations by the same professors. Again, through the Faculty and the editions of the Messenger of St. Anthony, a large volume appeared on Fasani in 1989 between apostolic history and doctrine. In 1997, the Committee for the Cultural Promotion of Fasani was established. This committee, in the years 1997 - 2000, edited the following new works by Fasani: A short commentary on the Our Father, a second Rosary, a Second Commentary on the Our Father. A new work by Fasani entitled “God probes the heart” was published in 2018 in Lucera, with a corresponding Italian translation by Fr. Eugenio Galignano, a great promotor of the cultural movement of Fasani. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Author analyses the painful story of friar Giovanni Pesce of the Friars Minor Conventual (ca. 1355-1448), bishop of Catania (1431-1447), who was removed from his Diocese by Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447). Giovanni Pesce was of a noble family from Catania; he was a professor of theology, orator, Minister Provincial of Sicily, and a councillor at the court of Alfonso the Magnanimous. Elected bishop of the diocese of Etna, he, together with the archbishop of Palermo, Nicola Tudisco was sent by King Alfonso to the Council of Basel where both took part in the conciliar decisions that weakened the authority of the pope, as well as adhering to the antipope Felix V. He returned to orthodoxy when the king was reconciled with Eugene IV in 1443 and withdrew his subjects from the council. Established in Catania in 1444, the General Studio defended the heritage of the Episcopal See on which the Municipality wanted to make the financing of the study heavy, attracting, still, due to the ambiguity of the king, the hatred of the jurors and citizens who asked for it to be replaced. In fact Eugene IV, in the consistory of 3 February 1447 expelled Bishop Pesce from his diocese. There is not however the motivation in the document of condemnation that, according to A., should be sought out in the case of the Studio. A friend of St. John of Capestrano, of the Observant Minors, Pope Eugene favoured this reform, opposed the Conventuals, who were accused of having betrayed the Franciscan Rule in matters of poverty and of living in a depraved manner. It was therefore necessary to expel them from their friaries. Beginning in Rome, Pope Eugene took from them the friaries of St. Francis a Ripa and Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Giovanni Pesce belonged to the Conventuals, the Order loathed by Eugene IV because of their dishonesty, and therefore could not be the head of a diocese. Following this expulsion, a titular bishop of Plovdiv in Syria survived for a year, dying before December 2, 1448. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists no study on the origin of the Corda Pia, the pious devotion practiced among the Conventual Friars and attributed to the Minister General Philip Gesualdi of Castrovillari. This article begins with an overview of the Franciscan sources that deal with the perfect conformity of the stigmatized St. Francis to Christ that serves as the background for the inspiration of the Corda Pia. Then, the first part of the article treats the origin of this devotion highlighted in the movement of the Devotio Moderna (15th Century), that considered devout extra-liturgical practices most suitable to nourish the spiritual life. The second part looks at the text of the hymn or sequence "Corda pia". Whoever compiled this hymn took some verses from the hymn of the office of mattins from the feast of the Stigmata of St. Franics that was composed in 1340 by the Minister General Gerald Oddone, as is shown by a comparison of the two hymns. The third part presents reproductions of texts of the Corda Pia (lest they be lost) in chronological order, so as to understand how the devotion was celebrated up to the Second Vatican Council. In order to restore the Corda Pia and harmonize it with the rites of today's extra-liturgical devotions, the fourth part of the article advances the proposal to celebrate this venerable and pious Franciscan custom as it is separated into ten points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, divided into five sections, presents the work of the Franciscan historian Philip Rotolo. Section I presents the figure of this Conventual friar of the Province of Sicily. The remaining sections are devoted primarily to the more engaging monographs on Franciscan churches in Sicily. Section II treats two outstanding volumes dealing with the Basilica of Saint Francis in Palermo. Section III presents profiles of several Franciscans, including Blessed Gerard of Valenza, OFMConv (+ 1342) and Blessed Matthew of Agrigento, OFM (+ 1450). The treatment of the latter of these friars serves to illustrate the rapport between the Conventuals and Observants in the 15th Century. Section IV considers Rotolo's scholarly treatment of the activity of several artists in Sicily, in particular a painter, Antonello of Messina, (+ 1479) and an architect, Matthew Carnilivari (+ 1506). Section V examines studies that were published in the Miscellanea Francescana that deal with a variety of historical topics. A noteworthy characteristic of the works of Philip Rotolo is the sheer volume of scholarly documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, divided into fi ve sections, presents the work of the Franciscan historian Philip Rotolo. Section I presents the fi gure of this Conventual friar of the Province of Sicily. The remaining sections are devoted primarily to the more engaging monographs on Franciscan churches in Sicily. Section II treats two outstanding volumes dealing with the Basilica of Saint Francis in Palermo. Section III presents profiles of several Franciscans, including Blessed Gerard of Valenza, OFMConv († 1342) and Blessed Matthew of Agrigento, OFM († 1450). The treatment of the latter of these friars serves to illustrate the rapport between the Conventuals and Observants in the 15th Century. Section IV considers Rotolo's scholarly treatment of the activity of several artists in Sicily, in particular a painter, Antonello of Messina, († 1479) and an architect, Matthew Carnilivari († 1506). Section V examines studies that were published in the Miscellanea Francescana that deal with a variety of historical topics. A noteworthy characteristic of the works of Philip Rotolo is the sheer volume of scholarly documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]