The Life and Miracles of Saint Margaret of Cortona
Shannon Larson
Thomas Renna
9781576593028
344 pages
The Franciscan Institute
Overview
Saint Margaret of Cortona is the light of the Third Order of Fracis. Such is the theme of the most extensive biography of any Franciscan Tertiary in the Middle Ages. Margaret’s extraordinary career brings the historian closer to the early development of the Franciscans and the Order of Penance; it tells us much about how women saints were described, and about how civic cults of saints emerged. Another window, although a smaller one, opens to the tensions between the Franciscan Community and the Spiritual Franciscans before the split prior to Pope John XXII. Indeed it could be said that we know more about Margaret of Cortona than about any woman of thirteenth-century Italy, with the exception of Clare of Assisi and Clare of Montefalco. This edition is translated from the critical Latin edition by Fortunato Iozzelli, O.F.M. of The Life of Saint Margaret of Cortona by Fra Giunta Bevegnati. The original translation by Thomas Renna has been edited by Shannon Larson.
Author Bio
Shannon Larson, has a Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern College where she studied Egyptian, Jewish, and Church history, and biblical studies. She has a Master’s degree in Medieval History from Marquette University. There, she specialized in the crime and justice. Larson’s research has focused on the intersection of rape and virginity in the medieval discursive contexts, and on British and Continental jurisprudence. She is currently an independent scholar and works part time at a Historical Society.
