THOMAS OF PAVIA

Franciscan chronicler; b. Pavia, northern Italy, c. 1212; d. between 1280 and 1284. Thomas spent his childhood and youth in Pavia. Already a franciscan in 1229, he attended (St.) anthony's funeral services at Padua in June 1231. In 1245 he attended the Council of Lyons as the companion of Bonaventure of Iseo, a vicar of the Minister General Crescentius. From 1249 to 1256 he was a lecturer in theology in the province of Bologna, then Parma, Bologna again, and finally Ferrara. This did not prevent him in 1253 from traveling through Romania, Dalmatia, Bohemia, and Germany. His Dictionnarium bovis was written in Bologna c. 1254. In 1266 he assisted at the general chapter at Paris as provincial of Tuscany, an office he held from 1258 to 1270. While in Tuscany, he was on friendly terms with King Charles I of Anjou. In 1278 he wrote his chronicle of emperors and popes.

His works are: (1) Assidua, legend about St. Anthony of Padua; (2) Dialogus de gestis ss. Fratrum Minorum (c. 1245), a little-noted collection of miracles; (3) Dictionnarium bovis, extensive source for preachers (The author does not believe in the Immaculate Conception; he exercises a prudence regarding the prophecies of joachim of fiore that is not found in John of Parma. He also quotes the rhythmic Office of julian of speyer composed for St. Francis.); (4) Tractatus sermonum, probably the Ars concionandi that is referred to by salimbene (Bonaventure, Opera omnia 9:8–21); (5) Gesta Imperatorum et Pontificum, a verbose chronicle [ed. Boehmer in Fontes rerum Germanicarum 4:609–672 and Ehrenfeuchter in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores (Berlin 1826–) 22:483–528]. Salimbene speaks of him as a holy man, wise and of sound judgment, humble and meek, but verbose in his writings.

Bibliography: thomas of pavia, Dialogus de gestis sanctorum fratrum minorum, ed. f. m. delorme (Quaracchi–Florence 1923), v.5 of Bibliotheca Franciscana ascetica medii aevi. salimbene, Cronica, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores (Berlin 1826–) 32.2:429–430. g. golubovich, Biblioteca biobibliografica della Terra Santa e dell'Oriente Francescano, 5 v. (Quaracchi–Florence 1906–23) 1: 309–312. r. davidsohn, Forschungen zur älteren Geschichte von Florenz, 4 v. (Berlin 1896–1908) v.4. e. longprÉ, "Les Distinctiones de Fr. Thomas Pavie, O.F.M.," Archivum Franciscanum historicum 16 (1923) 3–33. s. da campagnola, "Santi Francescani e Culti Poplari," in Francescanesimo nell'Umvria Meridionale nei Secoli XIII–XIV (Narni, Italy 1985), 67–89.

[j. cambell]