ANTONINUS FLORENTINUS

The fourth incunable edition of this important theological work concerning indulgences. Antoninus Florentinus (1389-1459) was Dominican Archbishop of Florence and author of influential works on moral theology. He advised the Pope during the Council of Florence (1431-49). ‘Decisio’ is devoted to the pardon, in the form of indulgences, enacted for the fourth Jubilee of Indulgences, in 1450, known as ‘the Golden Year’. Princes from all over Europe and tens of thousands of pilgrims visited Rome in that year. ‘Pope Nicholas V gave his solemn blessing every Sunday, and when the crisis [caused by the huge crowds] became more pressing, he proclaimed an edict that pilgrims would gain the Jubilee Indulgence by making a good confession and visiting the Basilicas in just three days’ (O’Gorman, p.35). It was one of the most successful medieval Jubilees, and Nicholas V ‘revived’ the indulgence in 1455 for those who had not been able to visit Rome in 1450. ‘Decisio’ examines in detail all the technicalities of indulgencies: e.g, whether an indulgence enacted by a living person may apply to a dead person and remove them from Purgatory (a recently codified concept) or from mortal sin; what is the nature of an indulgence and its theological principles; the equivalence between days of indulgence and days of penitence; whether an indulgence may expire after the death of the religious who granted it; regulations concerning visits to specific places to obtain an indulgence; plenary indulgence earned fighting against the Ottomans; who can grant an indulgence and how to interpret the instructions provided in papal bulls in this matter; types of remission of sins, etc. The final few ll. focus on the 1450 Jubilee indulgence, which followed Clement VI’s regulations. An interesting and curious work of theology and ecclesiastical policy.

Only LC copy recorded in the US.