Lorenzo Scupoli

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Lorenzo Scupoli
CR
Image of Lorenzo Scupoli, from an 1810 French translation of The Spiritual Combat
Born
Francesco Scupoli

c. 1530
Otranto, Kingdom of Naples
Died26 November 1610(1610-11-26) (aged 79–80)
Naples, Kingdom of Naples

Francesco Scupoli

Roman Catholic priest, most notable for his authorship of The Spiritual Combat (Italian: Il combattimento spirituale), an important work in 16th century Catholic spirituality.[1]

Life

Scupoli was born in

priest in Piacenza, Duchy of Parma and Piacenza.[1][2] Scupoli travelled to Milan in 1578 to participate in a diocesan reform[1] and later began ministering, caring for patients of the Plague around 1581.[2] For reasons that are still unclear, in 1581, Scupoli was accused of an "atrocious crime"[a] and removed from the priesthood sometime prior to 1585 and sentenced to one year in prison in Rome.[2]
: 47–48  His sentence was reviewed and upheld three years later in 1588.

Scupoli moved to

Mass, notwithstanding the time he has left for the sentence of his condemnation."[1][b]

Scupoli died on 26 November 1610 in Naples.[1]

The Spiritual Combat

Scupoli (bottom right) depicted in a copy of The Spiritual Combat

While living in

charity. The one who does not do this loses, and suffers in Hell; the one who does it, trusting not in his own, but God's power, triumphs and is happy in Heaven. Scupoli analyses various usual situations and advises how to cope with them, preserving a pure conscience and improving virtue. It emphasizes also the boundless goodness of God
, which is the cause of all good; what is bad originates from the human who rebels against God.

The book was immediately popular, being republished nearly 60 times during Scupoli's lifetime and was translated into dozens of languages, including

Latin, French, and English within ten years of its original publication.[c] Despite the book's popularity, Scupoli originally published it anonymously, attributing the authorship only to a "servant of God", leading to several false attributions. It was not until after his death in 1610 that the book's true authorship was revealed in a 1610 Bolognese edition. The Spiritual Combat was held in extremely high regard both during Scupoli's lifetime and for several centuries after. Francis de Sales reportedly kept it as a pocketbook.[1]

Scupoli's original book is highly condensed, and assumes the reader has a certain moral and theological outlook. So a commentary may help modern readers benefit from the work.[3] In the 18th century, Nicodemus the Hagiorite translated the book to Greek, adapting it for the benefit of orthodox readers, and merging it with Scupoli's shorter Path to Paradise. This new version was published as Unseen Warfare. In the 19th century, the work was further revised by Russian monk Theophan the Recluse, and was again published as Unseen Warfare.[4]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Italian: un atroce delitto
  2. ^ Italian: poter dire la messa, non ostante il tempo che gli resta per la sentenza della sua condennatione
  3. Greek, Russian, Breton, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarian, Romanian, and Latvian. To date, there are over 600 published editions.[2]

Citations

  1. ^
    OCLC 883370
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 9783110364866
    .
  3. ISBN 9780898709308
    .
  4. ^ "Review of Unseen Warfare, being the Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, Theophan the Recluse, E. Kadloubovsky, G. E. H. Palmer, H. A. Hodges, by Donald Attwater, Life of the Spirit (1946-1964), vol. 7, no. 73, 1952, pp. 32-34. JSTOR, Accessed 29 December 2023

External links

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