Bernard of Besse was a French Friar Minor and chronicler. He was a native of

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

, with date of birth uncertain; he belonged to the custody of

Cahors Cahors (; oc, Caors ) is a commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitanie Region. The main city of the Lot department and the historical center of the Que ...

and was secretary to St. Bonaventure. He took up the pen after the Seraphic Doctor, he tells us, to gather the ears the latter had dropped from his sheaf, lest anything of so great a memory as that of St. Francis might perish.

Works

His ''Liber de Laudibus Beati Francisci'', composed about 1280, besides a resume of some of the earlier legends, contains brief and valuable information about the companions of St. Francis and the foundation of the three Franciscan Orders, and is the only thirteenth-century document which specifies the first biographies of St. Francis. About 1297–1300 he compiled a catalogue of the ministers general up to his time, which is also a source of importance for the study of Franciscan history. Critical editions of both these works have been published by the Friars Minor of Quaracchi n ''Analecta Franciscana'', III (1897), 666–707and by Father Hilarin Felder of Lucerne, O. M. Cap. "Liber de Laudibus" etc. (Rome, 1897). Bernard also wrote the life of Blessed Christopher of Cahors inserted in the '' Chronica XXIV Generalium'' (ed. Quaracchi, 1897, 161–173)

Arnald of Sarrant Arnald of Sarrant (french: Arnaud de Sarrant) was a Franciscan friar and author. A native of Sarrant and a master of theology, he served as the minister provincial of Aquitaine from around 1361 until 1383. On 19 August 1373, Pope Gregory XI sent h ...

, ''

Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor The ''Chronicle of the Twenty-Four Generals of the Order of Friars Minor'' ( la, Chronica XXIV Generalium Ordinis Fratrum Minorum) is a medieval chronicle written in Latin around 1370, possibly by the Franciscan friar Arnaud de Sarrant, though R ...

''
trans. Noel Muscat, OFM
(TAU Franciscan Communications, 2010). and is very probably the author of the ''Speculum Disciplinae'' and of the ''Epistola ad Quendam Novitium'' erroneously attributed to St. Bonaventure (See Bonav. Opera Omnia ed. Quaracchi, 1898, VIII, 583 sqq. and 663 sqq.).

References

Sources

* Luke Wadding, Scriptores Ord. Minorum (1650), 59, and Sbaralea, Supplementum (1806), 135 * Fabricius, Johann Albert, Bib. Med. Aev. (1734), 218 * Daunou, Hist. Litt. France (1838), XIX, 437 * Denifle, Archiv. f. litt. und Kirchengesch. des M. A. (1885), I, 145 sqq. and 630 sqq., also Misc. Francescana (1886), I, L sqq. *

Othon de Pavie Othon or Othón may refer to: *Othon Mataragas (born 1979), Greek composer, songwriter and pianist *Charles Othon Frédéric Jean-Baptiste de Clarac (1777–1847), French artist, scholar and archaeologist *Le Tilleul-Othon, commune in the Eure depa ...

, L'Aquitaine Seraphique (1900), I, passim. *

Thomas Ferencik OFM Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

, "Das Buch über die drei Orden des hl. Franziskus" des Bernhard von Besse, Wisschenschaft und Weisheit (1995), Bd. 58/2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard of Besse 13th-century French historians French chroniclers French Friars Minor People from Aquitaine 13th-century French writers 13th-century Latin writers