TREASURES FROM INSTITUTE VAULTS

Franciscan Institute resources contain a little-known wealth of materials concerning St. John Capistran. A report on the contents of the material held by the Franciscan Institute has been researched and prepared by Dr. Jacques Dalarun (The Dalarun Report), the 2004-2005 recipient of the Joseph Doino Visiting Professorship.  A recent inspection in preparation for cataloging and preserving these rare materials yielded the following information:

For those who wish an overview of John Capistran’s prolific correspondence, turn to Gedeon Gal and Jason M. Miskuly’s “A Provisional Calendar of St. John Capistran’s Correspondence,” Franciscan Studies FS49, FS50, FS52 (1989, 1990, 1992) pages 255-345, 321-403, and 283-327 respectively.

These articles present the reader with a comprehensive review of extant works attributed to John Capistran and detail the results of Ottokar Bonmann’s twenty-five year involvement with the almost 700 letters of John Capistran.

The Franciscan Institute holds copies of 90% of the published letters that could be made available to researchers interested in continuing the exceptional work of Gal and Miskuly.

Hidden among the file drawers containing Ottokar Bonmann’s work on John Capistran’s letters are a few other items of interest:

• The reproduction of an incunable edition of the Arbor vitae of Ubertino of Casale and a typed transcription of De altissima paupertate also by Ubertino
• A reproduction of La vita del glorioso beato Gioanne da Capistrano, an incunabular of 1479
• A printed edition of Vita et gesta beati Johannis de Capistrano, 1523
• Typed and handwritten notes about “De Kanonisatiosprozess von 1625 und der Liber pistolarum des Hl. Johannes Kapistran”
• A printed edition of the Commentariolum of Bonaventure
• Reproductions of mss, booknotes about S. Klara of Nuremburg
• Files about letters of James of the March to John Capistran:
  • A Note on the Archives of Ottokar Bonmann (in French) / Ludovic Viallet
  • Inventory of the Personal Archives of Ottokar Bonmann (in French) / Ludovic Viallet
  • Bonmann Card Catalog