18 research outputs found
“Quodam frater hungarus ordinis minorum de observantia”. Osualdus de Lasko’s Identity as a Preacher and Author of Sermons
No full textOsualdus de Lasko (OFM Obs, ca. 1450–1511) composed two sermon collections, which were published in print at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries. However, the readers of his books did not know the name of the author, who was only introduced as “quodam frater hungarus ordinis minorum de observantia”. This paper considers this option for anonymity as a premise for further investigating Osualdus’ identity as an author of sermons and as a preacher, intending to answer questions such as: How is Osualdus presenting or representing himself as an author/preacher? For what reasons and purpose did he compile these sermon collections? How were his homiletic works related to real preaching? Which was his ideal of a preacher? How relevant are the Franciscan affiliation and Hungarian origins for his identity? Grounded on the idea that the author is embedded in his text, this essay explores the prologues of Osualdus’ works and three of his sermons that discuss precisely about preaching’s agents, role, and beneficiaries. The analysis emphasizes that Osvalus’ vision of the ideal preacher and self-representation as author of sermons is shaped by Franciscan concepts of humility, renunciation and imitatio Christi.
Anonymity is also presented as a possible sign of humbleness, in the spirit of Franciscan values. Similarly, his understanding of the goal of spreading the Word of God follows the mission of the Friars Minor in general, and their actions in Hungary in particular: fighting heterodox beliefs, converting heretics and schismatic, defending and strengthening faith at the margins of Christendom. Osualdus’ concern for the catechization of simple people might have also been a consequence of the local experience of Franciscans and their contact with the peasantry in their rural convents. The paper concludes that in Osualdus’ case anonymity is not intended to hide or disguise his identity, which is clearly defined around the two elements used as a signature: the Hungarian origins and the Franciscan affiliation. His authority as a preacher and author of sermons resided in his special commission as a member of the Order of Friars Minor and his messages were mainly intended for the local public and for the safeguard of his homeland. The name of the author/preacher was most probably known to his primary audience. Only for the distant readers of his texts the author became anonymous, but they were made aware of the essential components of its identity, representative for the content as well
BOOK REVIEW: Monica Brînzei, Christopher Schabel (eds.), “The Cistercian James of Eltville († 1393). Author in Paris and Authority in Vienna”, (Studia Sententiarum, 3), Turnhout, Brepols, 2018, 501 p., ISBN 978-2-503-58188-0
No full text The recently published volume dedicated to the Cistercian monk James of Eltiville is one of the results of a broader research regarding the development of theology at European universities, especially in Paris, during the Late Middle Ages, which generated several projects all having in common not just the topic, but also more or less the same team involving mostly early- and mid-career scholars concerned with medieval philosophy, under the guidance of one or both editors of the current volume. Especially two grants (the THESIS ERC starting-grant and the project Philosophy and Theology in Cistercian Commentaries on the Sentences financed by the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research) supported the labour of this book, which gathers contributors from the Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, IRHT Paris, the University of Cyprus, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Catholic University of America. Their endeavour is aimed at retracing the “intellectual journey of the Cistercian James of Eltville”, relaying) mostly on his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Although his sole academic work, it held the attention of the authors of this volume as it survived in about twenty-five manuscripts, making it one of the most popular texts of the genre in the second half of the fourteenth century and, therefore, a relevant case study
Sermon Collections of Johannes Eck in Transylvanian Libraries
No full textSeveral libraries from Transylvania hold in their historical collections works written by an important figure of the early modern Catholicism, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). The present paper looks at the volumes of this author, printed in the first half of the sixteenth century, paying special attention to sermon collections, prevalent among the books found in Transylvania. Their number is rather small, but the analysis of ownerships marks allows formulating some observations. Thus, the bibliographic component of the study, which identifies the preserved volumes, some of which have not been cataloged so far, is accompanied by a historical approach that questions the context of their reception. With a few exceptions, in which the the clues about ownership and the use of books are either missing or very late, Eck\u27s works seem to have been circulated both during the dissemination of the ideas of the Reformation and after the adoption of the new denominations.
Rezumat: Colecții de predici ale lui Johannes Eck în bibliotecile din Transilvania. Câteva biblioteci din Transilvania păstrează în cuprinsul colecțiilor lor istorice lucrări ale unui important reprezentant al catolicismului epocii moderne timpurii, Johannes Eck (1486-1543). Lucrarea de față are în vedere volumele acestui autor, tipărite în prima jumătate a secolului al XVI-lea, acordând o atenție specială colecțiilor de predici, predominante în rândul cărților regăsite în Transilvania. Numărul acestora este destul de redus, dar analiza însemnărilor de proprietate permite formularea câtorva observații. Astfel, componenta bibliografică a studiului, prin care sunt identificate volumele păstrate, între care unele nu au fost catalogate până în prezent, este însoțită de o abordare istorică, ce chestionează contextul receptării lor. Cu câteva excepții, în care indiciile referitoare la proprietari și la utilizarea cărților fie lipsesc, fie sunt foarte târzii, lucrările lui Eck par a fi circulat atât în perioada răspândirii ideilor Reformei, cât și ulterior adoptării noilor confesiuni.
Cuvinte-cheie: colecții de predici, Reformă, Johannes Eck, Mediascher Predigtbuch, misiune franciscană
The Book as Object of Lay Devotion in Late Medieval Transylvania (Fifteenth – Sixteenth Centuries)
No full textResearch on late-medieval religiosity in Central and Western Europe has shown that religious books were not only possessed, but also read, and sometimes even copied or disseminated by laymen. The need for a better definition of the relationship between the laity and the religious text leads to the formulation and intensive discussion of concepts such as devotional reading, culture of religious reading, or vernacular theology. Several examples of works that belonged to late-medieval Transylvanian laymen suggest the opportunity and, at the same time, the need to ask whether similar dynamics of pious behaviour can be discussed in their case. In order to provide a convincing answer, this study proposes an analysis of these books from at least three perspectives: theme, language, formal characteristics. The most interesting information is offered, however, by property notes, which suggest that the devotional potential of the book was not activated by reading, but rather by donation. By offering solutions to the everyday necessities of ecclesiastical institutions, these gifts were designed to ensure personal salvation as well. In order to support this hypothesis, I will also address another category of sources from which mentions regarding this kind of donations can be recovered, i.e. last wills.
Rezumat: Cercetări privitoare la religiozitatea specifică evului mediu dezvoltat şi târziu în centrul şi vestul Europei au demonstrat că dincolo de a fi deţinute, cărţile cu conţinut religios erau citite, iar uneori chiar copiate sau diseminate de laici. Din nevoia unei mai bune definiri a relaţionării laicatului cu textul religios au fost formulate şi îndelung discutate concepte precum lectură devoţională, cultura lecturii religioase sau teologie vernaculară. Câteva exemple de lucrări care au aparţinut în perioada premergătoare Reformei unor laici transilvăneni sugerează oportunitatea şi, deopotrivă, nevoia de a ne întreba dacă se poate discuta în cazul lor despre o dinamică similară a manifestărilor pioase. Pentru a oferi un răspuns concludent, lucrarea oferă o analiză a respectivelor lucrări sub diferite aspecte: tematică, limbă, caracteristici formale. Informaţiile cele mai interesante sunt oferite, însă, de însemnările de proprietate, ce sugerează că potenţialul devoţional al cărţii nu era activat prin lectură, ci mai degrabă prin donaţie. Oferind soluţii la necesităţile cotidiene ale unor instituţii ecleziastice, aceste daruri erau menite să asigure, deopotrivă, mântuirea personală. Pentru a argumenta această ipoteză, voi face apel şi la o altă categorie de surse din care pot fi recuperate menţiuni privind asemenea donaţii – testamentele.
Cuvinte cheie: cărţi religioase, practici devoţionale, donaţii pioase, testamente, laici
BOOK REVIEW: Agnes Fischer – Dardai, Istvan Lengvari, Eva Schmelczer – Pohanka (eds.), “University and Universality. The Place and Role of the University of Pécs in Europe from the Middle Ages to Present Day”, (A Pecsi Egyetemi Konyvtar Kiadvanyai, 16), Pécs, 2017, 394 p., ISBN: 978-963-429-191-6, DOI: 10.15170/pte650.lib.2017
No full text The 650th anniversary of the foundation of the first Hungarian university occasioned various events and publications in 2017, among which the book reviewed now. The collective volume presents the proceedings of an international conference with the same title, organized during the 12th and 13th October 2017 by the University Library of Pécs and the Centre for Learning of the same university, together with the Department of Medieval and Early Modern History of the Faculty of Humanities and the University of Pécs Archives. The colloquium managed to create a dialogue between Hungarian researchers and academics from Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Poland and Slovakia
„Those Last Days...” Reflections upon an Apocalyptical Text from 18th Century Transylvania
No full textThere is large evidence concerning a dynamic circulation of apocryphal literature in eighteenth-century Transylvania. These texts are characterised above all by a variety of types of writings and of themes. The End is recurrently approached in its immediate meaning of death as well as from an eschatological point of view. The latter is also the major theme of an unpublished text, part of a miscellany, copied most likely in north-western Transylvania in 1761 and entitled: Istoriia pentru naşterea lui Antihrist şi pentru perirea lui şi pentru judeţul lui Hristos. Therefore, this study intends an analysis of its content, integrated within the wider discussion about apocalyptical literature through an evaluation of the whole manuscript. Its investigation is justified by the fact that sources of this kind can unveil specific expectations to which all copyists’ efforts are put forth, while marginalia might offer information about their reception as a cultural product. Nonetheless the image of Antichrist and the story of its future coming are topics insufficiently researched by Romanian scholars concerning Apocrypha. Which are the narrative sequences of this text? What other writings, canonical or not, are similar in their contents? What particular elements can be identified? Which are the other texts this manuscript miscellany consists of and how do they assemble to create a unitary discourse? All these are questions that lead to preliminary observations regarding this unpublished source and to which I will try to answer in the present paper.
Rezumat: Acele ultime zile... Reflecţii pe marginea unui text apocaliptic din Transilvania secolului al XVIII-lea. În Transilvania secolului al XVIII-lea literatura apocrifă se bucură de o circulaţie dinamică, iar textele vehiculate se caracterizează prin varietate: una a scrierilor în sine, alta a temelor pe care ele glisează. Sfârşitul, atât în înţelesul său imediat, ca moarte, cât şi ca sfârşit al lumii, revine mereu. Acesta devine o temă majoră a unui text inedit provenind dintr-un miscelaneu, copiat la 1761 – cel mai probabil în zona nord-vestică a Transilvaniei –, intitulat: Istoriia pentru naşterea lui Antihrist şi pentru perirea lui şi pentru judeţul lui Hristos. Drept urmare studiul de faţă propune o analiză asupra conţinutului său, iar, prin raportare la manuscrisul din care face parte, o integrare în discuţia mai largă asupra literaturii apocaliptice. Studierea lui se justifică din perspectiva faptului că fiecare astfel de manuscris vorbeşte despre un orizont specific de aşteptare pe care copiştii urmăresc să-l satisfacă, în timp ce însemnările marginale pot oferi informaţii despre receptarea lui, aşadar despre intenţionalitatea unui produs cultural şi despre impactul acestuia. De asemenea, imaginea lui Antihrist şi povestea legată de venirea sa au fost destul de puţin aprofundate în cercetările româneşti asupra apocrifelor. Care sunt secvenţele textului? Ce alte scrieri, canonice sau nu, cuprind pasaje similare? Ce elemente particulare pot fi identificate? Care sunt celelalte texte cuprinse în acelaşi miscelaneu şi cum se articulează ele într-un discurs unitar? Sunt întrebări ce conduc spre observaţii preliminare asupra acestei surse inedite şi care îşi găsesc răspunsuri în această lucrare.
Cuvinte cheie: apocrife, miscelaneu, Antihrist, Viziunea lui Daniel, discurs moralizato
Carlo Baja Guarienti, “Il bandito e il governatore. Domenico d\u27Amorotto e Francesco Guicciardini nell\u27età delle guerre d\u27Italia“, Viella, 2014, 235 p., ISBN 978-88-6728-208-1
No full textThe work of the young researcher Carlo Baja Guarienti, published in 2014, represents the outcome of his doctoral research, finished seven years ago. Guarienti is currently a professor of Modern History at the Department of Humanist Studies form Ferrara University. This is the institution where he obtained his BA in Classical Studies and later completed his PhD in models, languages and traditions in Western culture. The PhD thesis, Francesco Guicciardini e il bandito Amorotto. Poteri e culture in conflitto nella Reggio del Cinquecento, as well as the articles and studies published in scientific journals in recent years, reveal Guarienti’s deep knowledge of his subject matter, based on both successive accumulations and refined understanding of this area of investigation
Pre-Reformation Sermon Collections in Transylvania. Evidence concerning their circulation in rural areas
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Interventions for enhancing medication adherence.
No full textPeople who are prescribed self administered medications typically take only about half their prescribed doses. Efforts to assist patients with adherence to medications might improve the benefits of prescribed medications.The primary objective of this review is to assess the effects of interventions intended to enhance patient adherence to prescribed medications for medical conditions, on both medication adherence and clinical outcomes.We updated searches of The Cochrane Library, including CENTRAL (via http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cochranelibrary/search/), MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO (all via Ovid), CINAHL (via EBSCO), and Sociological Abstracts (via ProQuest) on 11 January 2013 with no language restriction. We also reviewed bibliographies in articles on patient adherence, and contacted authors of relevant original and review articles.We included unconfounded RCTs of interventions to improve adherence with prescribed medications, measuring both medication adherence and clinical outcome, with at least 80\% follow-up of each group studied and, for long-term treatments, at least six months follow-up for studies with positive findings at earlier time points.Two review authors independently extracted all data and a third author resolved disagreements. The studies differed widely according to medical condition, patient population, intervention, measures of adherence, and clinical outcomes. Pooling results according to one of these characteristics still leaves highly heterogeneous groups, and we could not justify meta-analysis. Instead, we conducted a qualitative analysis with a focus on the RCTs with the lowest risk of bias for study design and the primary clinical outcome.The present update included 109 new RCTs published since the previous update in January 2007, bringing the total number of RCTs to 182; we found five RCTs from the previous update to be ineligible and excluded them. Studies were heterogeneous for patients, medical problems, treatment regimens, adherence interventions, and adherence and clinical outcome measurements, and most had high risk of bias. The main changes in comparison with the previous update include that we now: 1) report a lack of convincing evidence also specifically among the studies with the lowest risk of bias; 2) do not try to classify studies according to intervention type any more, due to the large heterogeneity; 3) make our database available for collaboration on sub-analyses, in acknowledgement of the need to make collective advancement in this difficult field of research. Of all 182 RCTs, 17 had the lowest risk of bias for study design features and their primary clinical outcome, 11 from the present update and six from the previous update. The RCTs at lowest risk of bias generally involved complex interventions with multiple components, trying to overcome barriers to adherence by means of tailored ongoing support from allied health professionals such as pharmacists, who often delivered intense education, counseling (including motivational interviewing or cognitive behavioral therapy by professionals) or daily treatment support (or both), and sometimes additional support from family or peers. Only five of these RCTs reported improvements in both adherence and clinical outcomes, and no common intervention characteristics were apparent. Even the most effective interventions did not lead to large improvements in adherence or clinical outcomes.Across the body of evidence, effects were inconsistent from study to study, and only a minority of lowest risk of bias RCTs improved both adherence and clinical outcomes. Current methods of improving medication adherence for chronic health problems are mostly complex and not very effective, so that the full benefits of treatment cannot be realized. The research in this field needs advances, including improved design of feasible long-term interventions, objective adherence measures, and sufficient study power to detect improvements in patient-important clinical outcomes. By making our comprehensive database available for sharing we hope to contribute to achieving these advances
