Gerard of Borgo San Donnino () was an Italian friar of the Order of Friars Minor.

Biography

Gerardo was born at an unknown date in

Borgo San Donnino Fidenza (Parmigiano: ; locally ) is a town and ''comune ''in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. It has around 27,000 inhabitants. The town was renamed Fidenza in 1927, recalling its Roman name of ''Fidentia''; before, it was cal ...

(now Fidenza), then an independent commune, now part of the

Province of Parma The Province of Parma ( it, Provincia di Parma) is a province in the Emilia–Romagna region of Italy. Its largest town and capital is the city of Parma. It is made up of 47 ''comuni''. It has an area of and a total population of around 450,000 ...

. He went to Paris to complete his studies. There, in 1248, according to Salimbene di Adam, he attempted to convince King

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the ...

not to organize the

Sixth Crusade The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actua ...

. He was a

Joachimite The Joachimites, also known as Joachites, a millenarian group, arose from the Franciscans in the thirteenth century. They based their ideas on the prior works of Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135 – 1202), though rejecting the Church of their day more st ...

, a follower of the millenarian ideas of Abbot Joachim of Fiore (''Gioacchino da Fiore''). Around 1250 Gerardo published in Paris a book entitled ''Introductorium in Evangelium Aeternum'' (''An Introduction to the Eternal Gospel''), where he identified the "Order of the Just," supposed to rule the Roman Catholic Church after the advent of the Age of the Holy Spirit, in the Franciscan Order. This text was examined by a commission of cardinals set up by Pope Alexander IV, who was worried about the diffusion of Joachimite theories among the Friars Minor. In 1255, the council ordered the destruction of the book and in 1263 Gerardo was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. He remained in prison until his death in 1276, still refusing to recant his beliefs. {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnino, Gerardo Of Borgo San 1276 deaths People from Fidenza Italian Friars Minor Franciscan scholars Year of birth unknown