Bartholomew of Trent

Bartholomew of Trent (ca 1200 — 1251) was a Dominican hagiographer and papal diplomat. His Epilogum in gesta sanctorum (Afterword on the Deeds of the Saints), which set a new style in hagiography designed for practical use by preachers, specifically to inspire a lay audience with marvels and moral admonitions, was one of two main sources for Jacobus de Voragine's compendium, Golden Legend.^[1]

A native of Trent, he entered the Dominican Order in Bologna. Bartholomew travelled widely in Italy, France and Germany; politically astute, was often in attendance at both the Papal and Imperial courts. He served as an Pope Innocent IV's envoy in negotiations with Frederick II. He knew Anthony of Padua and was present at the translation of St. Dominic's body in 1233,^[2] for the details of which he is a prime witness.

The Epilogum in gesta sanctorum was completed in the Monastery of San Lorenzo, at Trent, in 1245.^[3] The modern edition is that of Emore Paoli (Sismel, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2001), superseding that of D. Gobbi (1990), transcribing a manuscript from Klosterneuburg.

Notes

1. Irena Dorota Backus, The Reception of the Church Fathers in the West, "The Patristic sources of the Legenda Aurea", 1997:II:240.
2. Regis J. Armstrong, J. A. Wayne Hellmann, William J. Short, eds. Francis of Assisi: early documents, vol. 2 "Dominican hagiography and sermons", p. 782.
3. Backus 1997:240.