The ''Meditations on the Life of Christ'' ( la, Meditationes Vitae Christi or '; Italian ''Meditazione della vita di Cristo'') is a fourteenth-century devotional work, later translated into Middle English by Nicholas Love as ''

The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ ''The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ'' is an adaptation/translation of Pseudo-Bonaventure's '' Meditations on the Life of Christ'' into English by Nicholas Love, the Carthusian prior of Mount Grace Priory, written ca. 1400. Not m ...

''.

Authorship

The work's precise date of composition, and its author, has occasioned much debate. Until the late nineteenth century, it was traditionally ascribed to

Bonaventure Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister G ...

. Once it was realised that the work was not by him, the ascription was changed to

pseudo-Bonaventure Pseudo-Bonaventure ( la, Pseudo-Bonaventura) is the name given to the authors of a number of medieval devotional works which were believed at the time to be the work of Bonaventure: "It would almost seem as if 'Bonaventura' came to be regarded as ...

, and was judged to be of unknown Franciscan authorship. The editor of the critical edition of the Latin ''Meditations'' associated it with a John of Caulibus ( la, Johannes de Caulibus), an attribution also appearing in the work's most recent English translation. An argument has been made that the Latin work was written around 1300 by Jacobus de Sancto Geminiano, who is also identifiable as the leader of a revolt of Tuscan spirituals, one of the

Fraticelli The Fraticelli (Italian for "Little Brethren") or Spiritual Franciscans opposed changes to the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual church ...

, in 1312. It has also been argued that the original version was composed in Italian, perhaps by an Italian nun of the order of

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

Influence

The work's popularity in the Middle Ages is evidenced by the survival of over two hundred

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

copies, including seventeen illuminated ones. The popularity of the work increased further with early printed editions, with a surviving Venetian

blockbook Block books or blockbooks, also called xylographica, are short books of up to 50 leaves, block printed in Europe in the second half of the 15th century as woodcuts with blocks carved to include both text (usually) and illustrations. The content ...

of 1497. The work's detailed evocations of moments from the life of Christ and his mother may have influenced early Trecento art. It has also been credited with inspiring the great increase in depictions of the

Veil of Veronica The Veil of Veronica, or (Latin for sweat-cloth), also known as the Vernicle and often called simply the Veronica, is a Christian relic consisting of a piece of cloth said to bear an image of the Holy Face of Jesus produced by other than human ...

from the late 14th century.

References

{{authority control 1300s books 14th-century Christian texts Works of unknown authorship Books about Jesus