Alfonso of Jaén

Life

Alfonso of Jaén (Alfonso Pecha de Vadaterra) (ca 1327–1389) left his bishopric of Jaén to become a hermit. It was at that time, in 1368 or shortly after, that he made the acquaintance of Birgitta of Sweden. He became Birgitta's confessor and worked strenuously to spread her revelations. He himself edited book VIII (Liber Celestis Imperatoris ad reges) of Birgitta's Revelations and wrote a preface to the book, the Epistola solitarii ad reges.

Alfonso was born around 1327 in Segovia, Castile, to a family of Italian origin. In 1359, Pope Innocent VI made him bishop of Jaén, but his appointment was contested by the cathedral chapter, which before his arrival had elected another man, Andrés, to serve as bishop. Andrés was bishop until his death in 1367, when Alfonso was finally accepted by the chapter. In the following year, Alfonso convened a synod to reform the church morals in his see (Gilkær 1993, p. 50–51). Later in the same year he resigned his bishopric to focus on his calling as a hermit.

He was committed to founding hermit communities, and it was through a fellow hermit, Laurentius of Spain, that he first heard of Birgitta. The deposition for the canonization process says the following: "Cum ipse testis [i.e. Alfonso] audivisset famam sanctitatis vite ipsius domine Brigide a quodam devoto et laudabili heremita fratre Laurencio de Yspania et quomodo ipsa staret in Roma et steterat per multos annos cum filia sua domina Katherina [...] quodque eciam dimiserat bona sua pauperibus, ipse testis multum desideravit eam videre propter sanctitatem, quam de ea audiebat, quod et postea Deus sui gracia adimplere dignatus est, quoniam ipse testis, ut dixit, postea venit Romam et perquisivit domum dicte domine Brigide, quam invenit, et locutus fuit cum ea pluries." (Collijn ed. 1924–1931, p. 364. 'When the witness [i.e. Alfonso] had heard the rumour about lady Birgitta's life of holiness from a certain devoted and praiseworthy hermit, Laurentius of Spain, and how she remained in Rome and had stayed there for many years with her daughter, lady Katarina [...] and that she had also given away her belongings to the poor, the witness himself greatly desired to see her because of her holy life, of which he had heard spoken about her; and this God deigned to fulfil in his grace, since the witness himself, as he said, subsequently came to Rome and asked for the house of the aforementioned lady Birgitta, which he found, and he spoke with her at many occasions.')

Birgitta had two visions, first of the Virgin in 1370, then of Christ in 1372 (quoted below) exhorting her to have Alfonso copy and rework the revelations: “trade omnes libros revelationum eorundem verborum meorum episcopo meo eremite, qui conscribat et obscura elucidet et catholicum sensum spiritus mei teneat.” (Hollman ed. 1956, Rev. extra. cap. 49; ‘entrust the books of the revelations of my words to the hermit bishop, who shall write them down and elucidate what is obscure and keep the all-embracing sense of my spirit.’)

In 1371–1373, Alfonso accompanied Birgitta on her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When Birgitta fell ill after her return to Rome, again she saw in a vision Christ telling her that the books of revelations should be turned over to Alfonso, "cui dabo fervorem Spiritus mei" ('whom I shall give the fervor of my spirit'; Rev. VII, ch. 31). Birgitta died on the 23rd of July 1373.

Alfonso took charge of compiling and editing the rest of Birgitta's revelations. The first seven books of the Revelations were likely compiled by 1375. Book VIII (Liber celestis imperatoris ad reges) was put together by Alfonso with some revelations from the earlier seven books, and others which had not appeared earlier. He himself wrote the prologue to this work, the Epistola solitarii ad reges. The book is directed towards kings and princes, working as a sort of specula principum. Gilkær (1993: 79–176) shows that Alfonso models the structure on Alfonso X's Las siete partidas.

After the election of Pope Urban VI in 1378 and the subsequent deterioration of his relationship with the cardinals, the latter instead elected the antipope Clement VII, who moved to Avignon. Alfonso of Jaén came out in support of Pope Urban VI, writing a commentary in 1380 on his election called Informaciones domini Alfonsi heremite olim Episcopi Gihennensis super creatione Urbani. In the Informationes, Alfonso cites several unedited revelations of Birgitta, which he afterwards compiled into Tractatus de summis pontificibus.

Alfonso was involved in the canonization process of Birgitta, taking part in the commissions during both Gregory XI and Urban VI. It was finally Boniface IX who had Birgitta canonized in 1391, two years after the death of Alfonso.

In 1382 Alfonso founded the S. Gerolamo di Quarto sulla Riviera in Genoa, where he died in 1389. After his death the monastery was handed over to the Olivetans, a branch within the Benedictine order.

Works

Alfonso of Jaén

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