Peter John Olivi
Peter John Olivi, also Pierre de Jean Olivi or Petrus Joannis Olivi
Biography
Born at
During the preparation of
Olivi defended himself in several responses (1283–85), and finally the General Chapter of Montpellier (1287) decided in his favor. The new general superior, Matthew of Aquasparta, sent him as lector in theology to the convent of Santa Croce in Florence. Next, Matthew's successor, Raymond Gaufredi, sent Olivi back to Montpellier as lector in theology. At the General Chapter of Paris in 1292, Olivi again gave explanations, which were apparently satisfactory. He spent his last years in the convent of Narbonne lecturing and writing his masterwork on the Apocalypse of John, revising his commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, corresponding, and acting as pastor to a community of "Spiritual" Franciscans and devout laypersons. He died surrounded by his friends, who familiarly called him "Saint Peter," after an earnest profession of his Catholic Faith (published by Wadding ad a. 1297, n. 33) on 14 March 1298.
Characteristic teaching
A glance at Olivi’s literary output indicates—considering his relatively short life of fifty years, full-time teaching duties, and lost years when he lived under the cloud that “Friar Ar.” cast over him—that he was remarkably productive. A near contemporary stated, not quite accurately, that he had written commentaries on every book in the Bible: he never fulfilled his plan to comment on the prophecy of Daniel or the epistles to the Corinthians.
Olivi commented on the Lombard’s Sentences—much of Book III and IV, and all of Book II in which he demonstrated himself to be an unsurpassed proponent of human free will. He was also a prominent critic of Averroës. His indirect, fragmentary commentary on Lombard Book I, De Deo Cognoscendo, is published as an appendix to the commentary on the Lombard's Sentences Book II (pp. 525–554). His argument there carries Anselm’s ontological argument to its fullness by affirming the superlative perfection (summe infinitum) of all of God’s attributes in a way analogous to, and reflective of, Olivi’s “superabundant hermeneutics” of the Apocalypse (See Lewis, Olivi’s Revelation, “Olivi’s Superabundant Hermeneutics”).
Olivi’s thinking and large body of writing on “evangelical poverty” has been much discussed, and made of him the leader of the so-called “Spiritual Franciscans,” oft maligned by the 14th-century papacy and others more interested in wealth than in the spirituality of Gospel self-control. He was a consistent believer in, and practitioner of, the holy life as taught by Jesus, lived by the Apostles, and restored to the church by Francis of Assisi, without, however, indulging in the personal extremism that characterized certain skeletal figures. Olivi’s work on contracts demonstrates his ability to think outside the realm of religion, and his balanced and reasonable attitude towards the appropriate use of money. Olivi was interested in practical matters as well as philosophy. His work On Sale, Purchase, Usury and Restitution, or more simply On Contracts (as in the latest edition by S. Piron, 2012), contains a subtle discussion of the pricing of risks and
Olivi’s rethinking of the meaning of the Bible on it own terms, apart from Aristotelian categories, in some cases led to a refreshing reliance on the simple meaning of the text, and in other cases to an unparalleled theological inventiveness. Olivi was unique in the 13th century, for example, in his realization of the Jewish quality of the Apocalypse (cf. Lewis, Olivi’s Revelation, “Olivi and the Jews”). He identified the “144,000 Friends of the Lamb” (Rev 7:4-8,14:1-5) as a Jewish, militant wing of the Church of the Endtime. Fascinated by Jewish music, Olivi, described the two wings of the Apocalyptic army, Jew and Gentile, as playing their harps and singing a twofold song in unison, the Song of Moses and the Lamb (Rev 15:3). Olivi foresaw a reunion of Jew and Gentile in the one People of God at the End as it had been at the Beginning. Quite the reverse of the Churchmen and Royals who in 1306, scarcely eight years after Olivi’s death, led France and Olivi’s neighbors into yet another spasm of European anti-semitism.
Legacy and controversy
Controversy continued after his death. His friends, friars and laity alike, venerated their leader, and even honored his tomb as that of a saint; on the other hand, the General Chapter of Lyon in 1299, ordered his writings to be collected and burned as heretical.
The General
Writings
The numerous works of Olivi, many of them now critically edited, can be divided into six classes:
1. Philosophic works
- Bernhard Jansen (ed.). Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum 3 vols. [= Summa Quaestionum, II]. Quaracchi, Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1922-1926.
- Ferdinand Delorme (ed.). De perlegendis philosophorum libris. Antonianum 16 (1941): 31-44.
- Ferdinand Delorme (ed.).Quid ponat ius vel dominium. Antonianum 20 (1945): 309-330. Revised edition, S. Piron, Oliviana, 5, 2016, on line : http://journals.openedition.org/oliviana/882
- Stephen Brown (ed.).Quaestiones logicales. Traditio 42 (1986): 337-388.
- Sylvain Piron (ed.). Quaestio de locutionibus angelorum. Oliviana, 1, 2003.
- Sylvain Piron (ed., trans.) Tractatus de contractibus.Traité des contrats. Paris, Les Belles-Lettres, 2012. English translation : Ryan Thornton, Michael Cusato (trans.) A Treatise on Contracts, Saint Bonaventure (NY), Franciscan Institute Publications, 2016. Portuguese translation : Joice Beatriz da Costa, Luis Alberto de Boni (trans). Tratado sobre os Contrato. Porto, Edições Afrontamento, 2016.
- S. Piron (ed.). Quaestio de divino velle et scire, Quaestio de ideis, Oliviana, 6, 2020, on line : http://journals.openedition.org/oliviana/977
- Giacomo Todeschini. Un trattato francescano di economia politica: il "De emptionibus et venditionibus, De usuris, De restitutionibus" di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi. Rome: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo. 1980.
2. Exegetical and Hermeneutical works
- Marco Bartoli, Super Lamentationum Ieremie (ed.). in La Caduta di Gerusalemme. Il commento al Libro delle Lamentazioni di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi. Roma, ISIME, 1991.
- David Flood, Gedeon Gal (eds.). Peter of John Olivi on the Bible. Principia quinque in Sacram Scripturam, Postilla in Isaiam et in I ad Corinthios. St. Bonaventure, NY, Franciscan Institute Publications, 1997.
- Johannes Schlageter (ed.). Expositio in Canticum Canticorum. Grottaferrata, Frati editori di Quaracchi, 1999.
- David Flood (ed.). Peter of John Olivi on the Acts of the Apostles. St Bonaventure, NY, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001.
- Johannes Schlageter (ed.). Lectura super Proverbia, Lectura super Ecclesiasten. Grottaferrata, Frati editori di Quaracchi, 2003.
- David Flood (ed.). Peter of John Olivi on Genesis. St Bonaventure, NY, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2006.
- Alain Boureau (ed.). Lecturae super Pauli Epistolas, Brepols (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 233), 2010.
- Fortunato Iozzelli (ed.). Lectura Super Lucam et Lectura Super Marcum, Grottaferrata, Frati Editori di Quaracchi-Fondazione Collegio San Bonaventura, 2010.
- Sylvain Piron (ed.). Lectura super Mattheum, prologus, Oliviana 4 (2012) : http://oliviana.revues.org/498
- Warren Lewis (ed.), Lectura super Apocalypsim, Saint Bonaventure, NY, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2015; English edition, Peter of John Olivi: Commentary on the Apocalypse--Translation, Notes and Introduction, 2017.
- Alain Boureau (ed.), Lectura super Iob, Brepols (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 275), 2015.
- Stefano Defraia (ed.).Quodlibeta quinque, inter alia, Questionibus de textualibus. Grottaferrata, Frati editori di Quaracchi, 2002.
3. Theological works
- Bernhard Jansen (ed.). Quaestiones De Deo Cognoscendo (Appendix), pp. 453–554. in Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum 3 vols. [= Summa Quaestionum, II]. Quaracchi, Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1922-1926.
- Ferdinand Delorme (ed.). Quaestio de angelicis influentiis, in Bonaventura. Collationes in Hexaemeron et bonaventuriana quaedam selecta. Quaracchi, 1934, pp. 363–412.
- Aquilino Emmen, Ernst Stadter (eds.). Quaestiones de incarnatione et redemptione. Quaestiones de virtutibus. Grottaferrata, Collegium San Bonaventurae, 1981.
- Pietro Maranesi (ed.). Quaestiones de novissimis ex Summa super IV Sententiarum. Grottaferrata: Editiones Collegii S. Bonaventurae, 2004.
- Michele Maccarone. (ed.) "Una questione inedita dell'Olivi sull'infallibilità del Papa". (Quaestiones de perfectione evangelica 12 ). Rivista della Chiesa in Italia. 3 (1949): 309-343.
- Livarius Oliger (ed.). "Petri Iohannis Olivi de renuntiatione papae Coelestini V quaestio et epistola". (QPE 13). Franciscanum Historicum. 11 (1918): 340-366.
- Marco Bartoli (ed.). Quaestiones de Romano pontifice. Grottaferrata, Frati editori di Quaracchi, 2002.
- Pierre Péano (ed.). "La Quaestio fr. Petri Iohannis Olivi sur l'indulgence de la Portiuncule", Archivum Franciscanum Historicum. 74 (1981): 64-76.
4. Works on Observance of the Rule of Saint Francis and Evangelical Perfection
- David Flood (ed.). Peter Olivi's Rule Commentary. Edition and Presentation. Wiesbaden, F. Steiner, 1972.
- Aquilinus Emmen, Feliciano Simoncioli (ed.). "La dottrina dell'Olivi sulla contemplazione, la vita attiva e mista". (QPE 1-4 ). Studi Francescani, 60 (1963) : 382-445; 61 (1964): 108-167.
- Aquilinus Emmen (ed.). "La dottrina dell'Olivi sul valore religioso dei voti". (QPE 5). Francescani, 63 (1966): 88-108.
- Aquilinus Emmen (ed.). "Verginità e matrimonio nella valutazione dell'Olivi". (QPE 6). Studi Francescani, 64 (1967): 11-57.
- Johannes Schlageter (ed.). Das Heil der Armen und das Verderben der Reichen. Petrus Johannis Olivi, OFM, Die Frage nach der höchsten Armut. (QPE 8). Werl i. Westphalen, Dietrich-Coelde-Verlag, 1989.
- David Burr (ed.). De usu paupere. The Quaestio and the Tractatus, (QPE 9). Firenze-Perth, Leo S. Olschki-University of Western Australia Press, 1992.
- David Flood (ed.) "Peter Olivi Quaestio de mendicitate, critical édition". (QPE 10/15 ). Franciscanum Historicum, 87 (1994): 299-347.
- David Burr, David Flood (eds.). "Peter Olivi: On property and revenue". (QPE 16). Franciscan Studies, 40 (1980): 18-58.
- Ferdinand Delorme (ed.). "Fr. P. J. Olivi questio de voto regulam aliquam profitentis". (QPE 17 ).16 (1941): 131-164.
5. Apologetical works and letters
- Franz Ehrle (ed.). Epistola ad regis Siciliae filios. Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, 3 (1887): 534-540.
- Albanus Heysse (ed.). De obitu fratris Petri Iohannis et quid receptis sacramentis dixit. "Descriptio codicis Bibliothecae Laurentaniae S. Crucis plut. 31 sin. cod. 3," Archivum franciscanum historicum, 11 (1918): 267-269.
- Damase Laberge (ed.). "Fr. Petri Iohannis Olivi, O.F.M., tria scripta sui ipsius apologetica annorum 1283 et 1285", Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 28 (1935): 115-155, 374-407, 29 (1936): 98-141, 365-395.
- Sylvain Piron, Elsa Marmursztejn, Cynthia Kilmer (eds)."ad fratrem R.". Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 91 (1998): 33-64.
6. Devotional works
- Dionisio Pacetti (ed.). Quaestiones quatuor de Domina. Quaracchi, Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1954.
- Raoul Manselli (ed.). Modus quomodo quilibet postest referre gratias Deo de beneficiis ab eo receptis, Miles armatus, Informatio Petri Iohannis, Remedia contra temptationes spirituales. Roma, Spirituali e beghini in Provenza. ISIME, 1959, pp. 274–290.
- Antonio Montefusco. "L’opuscolo Miles armatus di Pierre de Jean Olieu. Edizione critica e commento". Studi Francescani. 108 (2011): 50-171.
Notes
References
- ^ Piron, Sylvain (2003). "The Formation of Olivi's Intellectual Project". Oliviana.
- ^ Burr, David (1976). "The Date of Olivi's Commentary on Matthew". Collectanea Franciscana.
- ^ Burr, David (1989). Olivi and Franciscan Poverty The Origins of the Usus Pauper Controversy. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- ISBN 9780871696656.
- .
- ^ J. Franklin, The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability Before Pascal, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 265-267.
- ^ Piron, Sylvain (2002). Bonagrazia de Bergame, auteur des Allegationes sur les articles extraits par Jean XXII de la Lectura super Apocalipsim d'Olivi. Vol. 2. Rome: Edizioni Antonianum. pp. 1065–1087.
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ignored (help) - ^ Alexander VII (1664). Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Rome: Ex Typographia Reuerendae Camerae Apostolicae. p. 128.
Further reading
- David Burr, The Persecution of Peter Olivi, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., 66, part 5, 1976.
- David Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty: The Origins of the Usus Pauper Controversy. (Middle Ages Series.) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.
- David Burr, Olivi's Peaceable Kingdom. A Reading of the Apocalypse Commentary, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
- Alain Boureau et Sylvain Piron (éd.), Pierre de Jean Olivi. Pensée scolastique, dissidence spirituelle et société, Paris: Vrin, 1999.
- Robert J. Karris, "Peter of John Olivi: Commentary on the Gospel of Mark", St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2011. ISBN 978-1-57659-234-2.
- Catherine König-Pralong, Olivier Ribordy, Tiziana Suarez-Nani (dir.), Pierre de Jean Olivi. Philosophe et théologien, Berlin, De Gruyter (Scrinium Friburgense 29), 2010; cf. S. Piron, Le métier de théologien selon Olivi. Philosophie, théologie, exégèse et pauvreté, pp. 17–85 - available on line : http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00530925/
- Warren Lewis, Olivi's Revelation: An Introduction to the Lectura super Apocalpsim of Peter John Olivi, St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2022.
- Kevin Madigan, Olivi and the Interpretation of Matthew in the High Middle Ages, University of Notre Dame Press, 2003.
- Antonio Montefusco, Per l’edizione degli opuscula di Pierre de Jean Olivi : sul corpus e la cronologia, Oliviana, 4 (2012), online : http://oliviana.revues.org/555
- Sylvain Piron, Olivi et les averroïstes, Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie, 53-1 2006, pp. 251–309 - available on line : http://halshs.ccsd.cnrs.fr/halshs-00089021
- S. Piron, Censures et condamnation de Pierre de Jean Olivi : enquête dans les marges du Vatican, Mélanges de l'École française de Rome, Moyen Âge118/2, 2006, pp. 313–373, available on line : http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00179543/
- S. Piron, « Chronologie des écrits de Pierre de Jean Olivi », Oliviana, 6, 2020, on line : http://journals.openedition.org/oliviana/1035
- S. Piron, Pietro di Giovanni Olivi e gli Spirituali francescani, Milano: Edizioni Biblioteca Francescana, 2021.
External links
- David Burr, The Olivi Page
- Pasnau, Robert; Toivanen, Juhana. "Peter John Olivi". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Oliviana. Mouvements et dissidences spirituelles, XIIIe et XIVe siècles (electronic journal devoted to Olivi and his circle)
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pierre Jean Olivi". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. [1]