List 4-2013 - Libreria Antiquaria Alberto Govi

Sa n t a Ca t e r i n a d a Bo l o g n a
1) ARIENTI, Giovanni Sabadino degli (ca. 1445-1510) - PALEOTTI, Dionisio (fl. 1489-1526). La vita della Beata Catherina
da Bologna, Monacha de l’Ordine della Diva Clara, del Corpo di Christo. Bologna, Pellegrino Bonardo, [not before
1550].
8vo; early 20 th century vellum, gilt Prince of Essling’s coat-of-arms on panels, gilt edges (part of the label on spine is missing); (40) ll. On the
title-page woodcut image depicting St. Catherine kneeling in front of St. Paul; on last leaf verso another woodcut showing the Crucifixion. A
nice copy from the library of the celebrated collector and scholar Victor, Prince d’Essling (1838-1909), and from the library of Alex Jonsson
(with his pastedown on the front end-leaf and with a purchase note dated 1948).
RARE EDITION (one of two issues, see Catalogo unico, IT\ICCU\BVEE\005907) of this enlarged
adaptation by Dionisio Paleotti, a Franciscan priest from Bologna, of the agiography of St.
Catherine from Bologna written by Sabatino degli Arienti, whose text first appeared in print in 1490
as a part of the work Gynevera de le clare donne. Paleotti changed the introductory part and added
4 chapters ad the end related to the Saint’s miracles. He printed his version anonymously for the first
time in Bologna in 1502 (cf. E. Graziosi, Scrivere in convento…, in: “Donna, disciplina, creanza
cristiana dal XV al XVII secolo”, G. Zarri, ed., Roma, 1996, p. 304).
At the end of the volume are laudatory verses and other texts by Pietro Azzoguidi, Tommaso
Migliori, and Tommaso Beccadelli.
Caterina Vigri (or Nigri), better known as Caterina da Bologna, was born in Bologna in 1413. She
spent the first years in his native town, then moved to Ferrara, where she studied Latin and learned
to illuminate books and to play viola. In Ferrara she also entered the ducal court and became maid of
honour of Niccolò III’s daughter, Margherita. Around 1426, when Margherita got married, Caterina
left the court and joined a group of devoted women, which had been founded in 1406. in 1431, after
the dispersion of the group, Caterina together with some other sisters founded a monastery of Clarisse,
where she remained for the next 25 years. Around 1456, as part of the creation of new monastic
institutions, Caterina was invited to Bologna to found a new monastery, later called Corpus Domini,
of which she became abbess. She spent the last years of his life, teaching and living in her monastery,
until she died in March 1463. Caterina soon became an object of worship and his cult grew over time
until the final canonization in 1712 (cf. Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, XII, 1979, S. Spanò; and
- 2 -