Page 16 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

in suffering is the only right path. For him, life on The Water is ‘very useful and humble and
earth is inseparable from the inauthenticity of ex- precious and chaste.’
istence, human sinfulness, hypocrisy, and greed. The wind is ‘beautiful and playful and ro-
Unlike Francesco, who celebrates all the bust and strong.’
phenomena of the earth as creations of God [Rebay 1971, 7–12]
and speaks of man’s unification with everything
that surrounds him, Jacopone’s work is marked The poet uses suggestive descriptions that
by strict opposition between the divine and the invite the reader or the believer to feel what is
mundane, life and death, pleasure and suffering. stated in the verse. Through the positive images
that the poet hints at, an optimistic and panthe-
Canticle of the Creatures – San Francesco istic representation of the relationship between
d’Assisi the self and the world is created.
It is a pantheism in which the invisible is
16 San Francesco of Assisi wrote in Volgare Can- part of the visible world, which is its spirituality.
ticle of the Creatures, which is thought to be
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 2 / volume 12 (2024), number 2
based on the Song of Songs from the Bible and Since the spirit is one, its recognition will lead
some similar works of Latin prose. The Canti- to the fraternization of men. He appeals for the
cle is Lauda, or a kind of prayer to God without harmonious unification of man with the rest of
the world’s creatures because God’s spirit flows
strict metrics, which symbolically contains 33 through everyone. Hence, both pain and death
verses, symbolizing the age of Jesus at the time
of his death or a doubled sign of the Holy Trin- should be understood as part of human exist-
ity. The author addresses God’s creations found ence. Different moods permeate the poem: in
in this world: the Sun, the Moon, and the stars, the first verses, a joyful mood of love and respect
and the four elements: air, water, fire, and earth; for the harmony in nature prevails, and the acci-
since all things come from God, goodness, holi- dents and diseases that are an integral part of hu-
ness, and justice are incarnated in them. man life are listed further; in the end, the poet
talks about suffering and death and the necessi-
The author begins the poem using hyper-
bolic expressions: ‘Most High, all-powerful… ty of accepting them, i.e. about the transience of
‘To You alone, Most High, do they belong’ (‘the life. The poem ends with the word ‘humility’; if
praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing’) the pain is humbly endured, it becomes a means
and by juxtaposing the greatness of God with of liberation from sin and a condition for union
the smallness of man: ‘and no man is worthy to with God.
mention Your name’ (Rebay 1971, 7–12). The poem differs from other medieval works
In the manner of a Lauda, each verse begins because it celebrates the divine and the human,
anaphorically with the phrase Praised be You, the mystical and the rational. The language is de-
liberately vernacular to appeal more easily to the
which creates a mantric and rhythmic repeti- poor and humble. The calm face of death is sung
tion throughout the poem. The poet celebrates
the essential elements of the world’s creation ac- in parallel with the brightness of daylight so that
cording to old philosophies: the sun, the water, even when the song opens these themes, it pre-
the wind, the fire, and the earth. Each of those serves the optimistic belief in a more authentic,
elements is described through a numbering of higher world.
epithets: The Lament of the Madonna – Jacopone
The Sun is ‘beautiful and radiant in all his da Todi
splendour.’ This most significant and deeply humane dra-
The Moon, stars, and sky are ‘clear and pre- matic Lauda of Jacopone da Todi, The Lament
cious and beautiful.’ of the Madonna (Underhill 1919, 220), thematiz-