La «Vita s. Iohannis Gualberti» di Gregorio di Passignano (BHL 4400): frammenti di una memoria contesa?

GREGORY OF PASSIGNANO’S «VITA IOHANNIS GUALBERTI» (BHL 4400): FRAGMENTS OF A CONTESTED MEMORY? This paper focuses on the Vita Iohannis Gualberti written by Gregory of Passignano, which until now was known only through a few fragments published by the Vallombrosan scholar Fedele Soldani. A newly discovered fragment of the work, recently found in a manuscript preserved at the Biblioteca Città di Arezzo, has made it possible to expand our understanding of this Vita. Presented by Gregorio himself to Pope Celestine III in support of the canonization of Giovanni Gualberto (1193), the text had been written some years earlier at the request of Abbot Ugo, prompted by the specific interest of the monastery of Passignano, which guarded the saint’s body and was thus in competition with the abbey of Vallombrosa. From the surviving fragments, it appears that Gregory relied primarily on the Vita composed by Andrew of Strumi. His aim was likely to offer a more refined and comprehensive account of Giovanni’s life than that of the earlier biographer, crafting a more elegant and polished narrative that would offer the monastery of Passignano its own distinctive hagiography. The paper also examines the letter written by Gregory to the monks of Passignano, in which he announces the successful canonization.