Jacopone da Todi: The Lauds

"...an ambitious venture deserving the gratitude of readers."

Cross Currents

Jacopone da Todi: Lauds

translated by Serge and Elizabeth Hughes

introduced by Serge Hughes

preface by Elémire Zolla

"Poverty, deepest wisdom, you are slave to nothing,

And in your detachment you possess all things."

Jacopone da Todi c. 1230-1306

Jacopone da Todi c. (1230-1306) entered the Order of Friars Minor during the last quarter of the thirteenth century when the conflict between the Franciscan Conventuals and Spirituals was raging. His lauds, which long have had an established place in the history of Italian poetry, sing the praises of poverty, insist on the supremacy of the love of God above all other loves, and inveigh against the worldliness of the Church under the reign of Pope Boniface VIII. In this volume, Serge and Elizabeth Hughes have given us a fresh, highly-readable rendition of Jacopone's poetry. Writing in the introduction to this book, Professor Serge Hughes describes Jacopone's significance for today: " We continue to turn to this work after seven centuries…because of the intensities of Jacopone-his descent into the self and his search for and struggle with God."

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