"Movere et delectare" after St. Jerome : Pier Paolo Vergerio’s Fifth Sermon pro Sancto Hieronymo

Božič, Anja (author)

The present paper analyzes the personal devotion to St. Jerome as expressed in the works of Pier Paolo Vergerio, one of the leading humanist authors of his generation. Jerome’s simultaneous investment in theology and classical learning made him a famed saint among the humanists. By transforming St. Jerome into a model of a pious scholar, Vergerio was, therefore, one of the key proponents in the dissemination of St. Jerome’s cult in the Renaissance. Vergerio’s ten lively Sermones pro Sancto Hieronymo (1392–1408) are considered the earliest examples of the classicizing orations (panegyrics) in the context of devotional public oratory. Vergerio includes traditional elements of Jerome’s hagiography in his orations yet charges them with a personal dimension. Referring to the ancient tradition of his family, Vergerio portrays St. Jerome as their protector and patron saint and commends his recently deceased father into the saint’s care. There is, however, no extant information about the family’s rituals regarding St. Jerome and Vergerio does not refer to their devotion in all of his orations in honour of the saint. This paper explores Vergerio’s creation of a personal cult of St. Jerome and interprets it as a self-fashioning device, aiming to establish Vergerio as an eloquent humanist intellectual.

• Language: English
• Keywords: patron saint, epideictic oration, humanist self-fashioning
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2021
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 525-538
• Numbering: Letn. 81, [št.] 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-163942
• UDC: 27-36-1sv.Hieronim
• ISSN on article: 0006-5722
• DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/02/Bozic
• COBISS.SI-ID: 88001539
• Publication date in RUL: 14.10.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Bogoslovni vestnik : glasilo Teološke fakultete v Ljubljani
• Shortened title: Bogosl. vestn.
• Publisher: Teološka fakulteta
• ISSN: 0006-5722
• COBISS.SI-ID: 8745472

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: "Movere et delectare" po sv. Hieronimu : Vergerijev peti govor pro Sancto Hieronymo

Abstract

Članek obravnava sv. Hieronima kot osebnega in družinskega zavetnika v slavilnih govorih enega najpomembnejših humanističnih avtorjev svoje generacije, Koprčana Petra Pavla Vergerija Starejšega. Hieronim je zaradi svoje ljubezni tako do Biblije kakor do klasičnih avtorjev postal priljubljen zavetnik humanistov, ki so ga razumeli kot ideal sinteze med krščanstvom in antiko. Vergerij je s prevrednotenjem sv. Hieronima v lik pobožnega učenjaka postal eden glavnih glasnikov Hieronimovega humanističnega kulta. Vergerijev slavospev v čast sv. Hieronimu se razlega iz desetih živahnih govorov Sermones pro Sancto Hieronymo (1392–1408), ki jih je Vergerij spisal po vzoru klasičnega slavilnega govorništva. Kljub resda standardnim elementom Hieronimovih hagiografskih upodobitev pa Vergerijevi govori izstopajo zaradi dodatne, osebne note. Humanist sv. Hieronima časti kot osebnega in družinskega zavetnika in mu v skrb priporoča svojega umrlega očeta. Vendar ni znano, da bi Hieronim v resnici veljal za družinskega zavetnika družine Vergerijev, poleg tega pa ga Vergerij ne naslavlja tako v vseh desetih govorih. Članek pojasnjuje Vergerijevo prevzetje sv. Hieronima za osebnega in družinskega zavetnika kot spretno govorniško potezo, ki jo je humanist uporabil predvsem za samoupodabljanje na renesančnem govorniškem odru.

• Keywords: zavetnik, govor, humanistično samoupodabljanje