Description: Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444) was one of the major religious figures of the fifteenth century. His charismatic preaching filled the piazze of Italian cities, as thousands of listeners flocked to hear him and to participate in dramatic rituals, which included collective weeping, bonfires of vanities, and exorcisms. He was also a renowned peacemaker, in the Franciscan tradition, who tried to calm feuding clans and factions in the turbulent political world of the Renaissance. His preaching visits would often culminate in mass reconciliations, as listeners were persuaded to exchange the bacio di pace, or kiss of peace.

This study discusses both the external forms of peacemaking and the underlying cultural assumptions that made forgiveness so difficult. Bernardino was sensitive to the demands of secular life and tried to negotiate between Christian ethics and a conflicting code of honor that stressed retaining face in a public world. He argued that the catalyst of civil discord in the urban setting was malicious gossip, which led to insults, and, too often, vendetta by aggressive males. His surprising allies in his peacekeeping mission were the women who comprised the majority of his audience.

Because many of Bernardino's remarkable sermons were recorded as he preached, they provide a nuanced picture of the relationship between preacher and audience, and the dynamics of conversion. Students of medieval preaching, Renaissance society, and popular devotion will be especially interested in the issues raised by this study of one of the greatest preachers in Western Catholicism.

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