I pellegrinaggi in Terrasanta dei monaci Pietro de Sardinea e Mauro Lapi : tra trattatistica e agiografia

Abstract

Mauro Lapi (1390-1478), a Camaldolese monk from St. Michael of Murano, wrote an interesting collection of writings centered on the Holy Land after his pilgrimage in 1459. To this day they have remained unpublished and these pages will provide an examination of them. One is a treatise on gratitude and another is about cases of conscience that could happen to Christians in the Holy Land. It is also a note on the expenses incurred during the trip and especially the Itinerarium Ierosolimitanum. This work, in 21 chapters, deals with the theme of pilgrimage from different points of view, from the motivation on going to the Holy Land to spiritual meanings and eschatological Jerusalem. It also urges Christians to undertake the pilgrimage and it provides practical advice including which objects to bring, how to behave when dealing with unbelievers, etc. The Vita donni Petri, another hagiographic work, also reconstructs the pilgrimage of one of his brothers, the Blessed Peter of Sardinia, which he completed in the first decade of the 15th century. It identifies, in his experience, a determinant factor for the growth of his holiness. A translation is included in the chapter devoted to the pilgrimage of Peter.