Barnabite Origins 5. Sources

St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria [by Cristina Bellazzi]

Without a doubt, the primary source of Anthony Mary’s spirituality is the Bible. This biblical primacy finds confirmation in the chapter "On Studies" of the Constitutions: "They shall study Sacred Scripture and relish it so avidly as to come to understand it fully, thus reaching its hidden senses, especially those which provide moral edification" (Constitutions 8). Obviously, Anthony Mary’s approach is far different from that of his contemporary Secular Humanists and Protestant Reformers. Instead, it is the traditional monastic approach of Lectio Divina. Recent scholarship has established that, counting outright quotations, in Latin and Italian, paraphrases, allusions, and, possibly, parallels, Anthony Mary’s biblical references in his limited amount of extant writings exceed 1700. Among these, over 800 belong to the Pauline Corpus. Unquestionably, Paul is the foremost source of Anthony Mary’s spirituality. The Apostle was his constant point of reference. For him Paul was not only a saint to be prayed to, but also and above all, a model to be imitated, a role model of personal holiness and active apostolate. Anthony Mary closely adhered to Paul’s doctrine, both to its content and verbal expression. It has been said that "Anthony Mary’s language reflects Paul’s much more than the Gospel’s." Question: How did Anthony Mary become such an ardent disciple of Paul the Apostle? The traditional explanation pointed to his membership in Milan’s Oratory of Eternal Wisdom. True, this oratory was influenced by French Evangelism, a reform movement which emphasized Paul’s role in Christian doctrine and life. It will be recalled that the center of French Evangelism was the Circle of Meaux, founded in 1521 by Bishop Guillaume Briçonnet, Jr., son of Cardinal Guillaume Briçonnet, Sr. Ten years earlier, the Cardinal and his two sons, Bishop Denis and Bishop Guillaume, were in Milan and did participate in the meetings of the Oratory of Eternal Wisdom. However, there is no documentary proof of any direct connection between Anthony Mary and the Circle of Meaux. As a matter of fact, Anthony Mary moved to Milan only in 1531. In addition, nothing in his writings betrays a dependence on Christian Humanistic circles of the time. The sources of Anthony Mary’s Paulinism must be searched elsewhere. Actually, we do have two clear statements that are very much to the point. The first one is found in the Constitutions: "Besides Sacred Scripture, they may read any Doctor approved by the Church and the books of Church Fathers, provided that their writings do not disagree with the teachings of Holy Scripture and of the Holy Doctors of the Church. But in a very special way let them find greater delight in reading those books which deal with the formation of good habits, the perfection of Christian life, and the true imitation of Christ, as, for example (according to what St. Benedict suggests in his Rule): the Collationes of John Cassian; the Lives of the Holy Fathers, above all those written by St. Jerome; John Climacus; Abbot Isaac of Syria; The Mirror of Perfection; The Mirror of the Cross; On the Cantica of Blessed Bartholomew [of Breganze] O.P.; St. Bonaventure; The Letters and The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena; the books of our Father, Fra Battista da Crema, and other books of that nature which, if they are well understood and put into practice, will surely lead us to perfection" (Constitutions 8). The above is a rather comprehensive list of the sources of Anthony Mary’s spirituality. Among Church Fathers and Doctors cited by Anthony Mary are: St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), St. Augustine (d. 430), St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), and St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153). Pride of place is reserved to St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), the staple of his theological formation. In the Constitutions, we find the following: Belonging to the Monastic tradition: St. Jerome (d. 420), author of Life of Church Fathers, John Cassian (d. 435), author of Collations and Institutes, St. Benedict of Nursia (d. 547), author of the Rule for Monasteries, John Climacus (d.650) author of The Heavenly Ladder; Isaac of Nineveh, a Nestorian writer of the seventh century. Some fragments of Isaac’s Latin writings were published in Venice about 1500. Belonging to the Franciscan tradition: St. Bonaventure (d. 1274), author of The Mind's Road to God and other mystical booklets. It is not clear whether or not he is the author of Mirror of Perfection. This probably is either the work of Henry Herp (d. 1477), published in Venice in 1504 with the title Mirror of the Life of St. Francis, or, less likely, the earliest biography of St. Francis by Brother Leone. Belonging to the Dominican tradition: Bartholomew of Breganze (d. 1270), author of a Commentary on the Song of Songs; Dominic Cavalca (d. 1343), author of Mirror of the Cross and popularizer of Life of the Holy Fathers; St. Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), author of hundreds of letters and of the Dialogue on Divine Providence; Fra Battista da Crema (d. 1534), author of Way of Open Truth, 1523; The Knowledge of, and Victory over, Oneself, 1531; Divine Philosophy, 1531; Interior Mirror (published posthumously, 1540); Book of Sayings (published in 1583, if it coincides with Detti Notabili). Apart from contemporary Fra Battista, all cited authors belong to previous centuries. Unfortunately, we lack a thorough and scholarly analysis of the specific passages of these authors that directly relate to specific teachings of Anthony Mary. The second statement pertaining to the sources of Anthony Mary’s spirituality is in Father Soresina’s Attestations: "In addition to the teaching of St. Paul, he had the highest regard for the Collations and other books of John Cassian. In our spiritual conferences he made much use of him, by having us read some passages of his writings, by commenting on them and thus deriving wonderful benefit for everyone." Actual correspondence between passages from Cassian and passages from Anthony Mary at times are amazing as, for instance, a passage of Sermon 5 on anger and a passage of the Institutes, 8, 1. Their identical biblical quotations are written out in identical sequence. Why was such dependence by Anthony Mary on Cassian never pointed out earlier by his biographers? Most probably, they felt the need to shield Anthony Mary from any suspicion of Semi-Pelagianism. That suspicion cast a dark shadow over Fra Battista and, reflectively, on the "Sons of Paul," the early Barnabites. In any case, despite a few passages in his writings that are more or less open to the charge of Semi-Pelagianism, the monk and ascetic Cassian was a most influential figure for entire generations of monks. Just to mention a few prominent people, he influenced St. Benedict, St. Thomas Aquinas, the writers of Devotio Moderna, and St. Ignatius Loyola. Through him, the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers was preserved for all times. Cassian was defined as "a disciple in the East and a master in the West." To our great joy, Cassian is a markedly Pauline author. No wonder: one of his teachers was St. John Chrysostom, the author of over 200 homilies on Paul’s letters. It is noteworthy that Chrysostom’s 32 homilies on Romans are by far the most remarkable patristic commentary on this letter and the finest of all his works. We may now attempt to delineate the pedigree of Anthony Mary’s spirituality: Anthony Mary Zaccaria The Dominican tradition (especially Battista da Crema) Medieval Scholastic writers (especially Aquinas and Catherine of Siena) The Patristic-Monastic tradition (especially Cassian) The Bible (especially St. Paul)   Rather than being a product of his own Humanistic time, Anthony Mary belongs by right to the whole Catholic tradition. He did not represent a break in the Church, but continuity. He was a reformer within the Church tradition; not a revolutionary. Humanists and Protestant Reformers claimed "to return to the origins," but instead they created a discontinuity in Church Tradition and subverted its very nature.

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