Giotto di Bondone - Legend of St Francis - 11

Illuminatus of Arce ( it, Illuminato dell'Arce) or Illuminatus of Rieti (''Illuminato da Rieti'') was an earlier follower of

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

. Illuminatus was born around 1190, probably in Rocca Antica or Rocca Sinibalda, villages southwest of

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...

, or possibly in the region of Arce in the plain around

Assisi Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...

. In 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, he accompanied Francis on his mission to the court of

al-Kāmil Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth Ayyubid dynasty, Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defea ...

sultan of Egypt Sultan of Egypt was the status held by the rulers of Egypt after the establishment of the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin in 1174 until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. Though the extent of the Egyptian Sultanate ebbed and flowed, it generally i ...

. In 1224, he was the first to spot the stigmata on Francis at La Verna. He convinced Francis to publicize the miracle. He was living at

Greccio Greccio is an old hilltown and ''comune'' of the province of Rieti in the Italian region of Lazio, overhanging the Rieti valley on a spur of the Monti Sabini, a sub-range of the Apennines, about by road northwest of Rieti, the nearest large to ...

in 1246. He is reported to have died either in 1260–1262 or in 1266. While earlier sources confirm that Francis had a companion in 1219, Bonaventure, in his ''Legenda maior'' (), is the first to name him: "a brother named Illuminatus, a virtuous and enlightened man" (''Illuminato nomine, viro utique luminis et virtutis''). It has been speculated that Illuminatus was one of Bonaventure's informants. A letter appended to the '' Legenda trium sociorum'' names Illuminatus as a source. Although this ''Legenda'' was written in the 1240s, the earliest manuscript dates to 1311 and the letter may be a later addition, perhaps influenced by Bonaventure. It has even been suggested that Bonaventure invented the name Illuminatus ('enlightened one') because he did not know the companion's actual name. There is, however, a 14th-century compilation of Franciscan

exempla An exemplum (Latin for "example", pl. exempla, ''exempli gratia'' = "for example", abbr.: ''e.g.'') is a moral anecdote, brief or extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point. The word is also used to express an action performed by an ...

that includes one attributed to Illuminatus. In the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

, Illuminatus is pictured in the Heaven of the Sun, among the teachers and mystics of the second garland of souls ('' Paradiso'' 12.130). Illuminatus of Arce is sometimes confused with Bishop

Illuminatus of Assisi Illuminato da Chieti ( ? – 1280×1282), in Latin Illuminatus de Theate, was a Franciscan friar who served as the bishop of Assisi from 1274 until his death. Illuminato was born at Chieti in the early thirteenth century. Some ...

.See , but makes the identification.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * {{refend 12th-century births 1260s deaths People from Rieti Italian Franciscans Franciscan missionaries Christians of the Fifth Crusade Characters in the Divine Comedy