James of Milan [Pseudo.-St. Bonaventure] Stimulus Divini Amoris bound with St. Bonaventura, Itinerrium mentis in Deum and

St. Bonaventura De Incendio Amoris, 3 works in 1 vol., decorated manuscripts on vellum,173 x 118mm., I + 71 + 1 leaves. Collation: 1^10-3, 2¹⁰, 3¹⁰, 4^10-3, 5¹⁰⁺¹, 6⁶, 7¹⁰, 8¹⁰_. Text block: 114x70 mm, one column, 31 lines, first line below top line, unfoliated, ruled throughout, catchwords written horizontally in the inner lower of the last verso of each quire, text written by a single person in brown ink in a gothic hand. In the first text (fols. 1r-45r) titles of the different chapters and running headings written in red, twenty-two pen-flourished initials in blue and red; litterae notabiliores touched in red. In the second work (fols. 46r-63r) the headings underlined in red, large pen-flourished initial in blue and red on fol. 46r, at the beginning of the text; five smaller pen-flourished initials in blue and red opening the inner subdivisions; litterae notabiliores touched in red. The third work four pen-flourished initials in blue and red in the third text (fols. 62r-71v), and litterae notabiliores touched in red, the first leaf restored, traces of old repairs, lower corners of some leaves lacking, half of fol. 5r cut away (text lacking), as well as the lower margin of fol. 32 (with loss of some lines), and fol. 34 (without any loss), scattered holes in the parchment, last three ff. more severely damaged with the partial loss of some lines of text, rebound in old vellum, yapp edges, new endpapers, stained, housed in a modern cardboard box.

⁂ A 14^th-century theological miscellany, including three widely read Franciscan texts, which played a significant role in the history of the mystical theology. The volume is seemingly an attempt by an anonymous scribe to create an anthology or introductory manual to Franciscan mysticism.

The manuscript opens with the text of the Stimulus divini amoris, which until the 19th century was attributed to St Bonaventura, Bagnoregio or to Bernardus Claravallensis, but was in fact written by the Franciscan theologian James of Milan, who in 1305 is documented as lector to the Franciscans of Domodossola (Piedmont). The work is divided into seven chapters, and enjoyed a wide manuscript circulation. Two different versions of the text are recorded, the so-called Stimulus minor and Stimulus major, bearing a different incipit. Although lacking the first leaf, the text copied in the present manuscript refers to the shorter version.

The second complete work is the celebrated Itinerarium mentis ad Deum by St. Bonaventure, "A densely learned and admittedly difficult text, the Itineraium describes a six-step journey toward mystical union; the seventh stage being its achievement, It lays the mystical implications of Bonaventura's theory of knowledge in greater detail than any other of his works" (M. Karnes, Imagination, Meditation, and Cognition in the Middle Ages, Chicago-London 2011, p. 83).

The third and last text included is another work composed by the Father of the Church Bonaventure, De Triplici Via alias Incendium Amoris, which again had a significant role in European mystical theology. It is a brief treatise on the practice of meditation, based on the doctrine of a threefold way to perfection, with the terms 'purgative', 'illuminative', and 'perfective' used here for the first time. The Incendium Amoris represented one of the major sources of the Imitation of Christ attributed to Thomas à Kempis, and the late Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius de Loyola.

Texts:

I. James of Milan (Ps.-Bonaventura), Stimulus Divini Amoris

fols 1r-45r

Bibliotheca Ascetica Medii Aevi 4 (Quaracchi 1949), 6-122 .

II. St. Bonaventura, Itinerarium mentis ad Deum

fols. 46r-62r

Bonaventura, Opera omnia, Quaracchi edition, V, 295-313.

III.St. Bonaventura, De Incendio Amoris

fols. 62r-71v

Bonaventura, Opera omnia, Quaracchi edition, VIII, 3-18.