The autumn program of the seminars of the International Center for Gioachimite Studies was presented. In the “Joachimite Lessons” the speakers will discuss many interesting topics for understanding the figure and thought of the Florense abbot.
Wednesday 10 December
Gian Luca Potestà, professor emeritus of the History of Christianity and Director of the Scientific Committee of the Study Center, will address the complex issue of the condemnation of Joachim of Fiore’s Trinitarian libellus in the second constitution of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215.
While condemning the libellus, the conciliar constitution expresses appreciation for the memory of Joachim and clarifies that no other measures are taken with regard to his abbey and his work, taking into account that in a letter dictated and signed by him he prudently handed over his writings to the judgment and correction of the Roman see. By canonizing Lombard’s Trinitarian definition (defined by Joachim as insane), the Fourth Lateran Council consolidated the new discursiveness established in Paris on the level of doctrine and ecclesiastical institutions.
Rosario Lo Bello, professor of history of medieval theology and author of the volume “Logic heretics. Amalric of Bène and the Amalricians in the sources of the 13th century, Milan, Vita and Thought, 2025”, will give a talk on “Garnerius of Rochefort: attacking Almaric to hit Joachim”, a little-known page of European culture. In his volume Lo Bello restores the complexity of the Parisian intellectual debate at the beginning of the thirteenth century and shows how logic, theology and power were intertwined in a fragile balance. “Logic heretics” is not only an accurate historical reconstruction, but also a key to understanding the tensions of the present.
The lesson is that knowledge is never neutral: whoever controls knowledge also controls power. In the Middle Ages it was the theological faculty that decided which texts could be read, today it is other institutions, states, large companies, digital platforms that set limits or guide choices. The dynamic is similar: what appears too new or destabilizing is accused. Knowing this helps us to be more aware and critical.
Friday 21 November
Pasquale Lopetrone, historic Oliveto), which hosted the Abbot on the mountains of one of his farms, where the Theologian decided to abandon the leadership of the abbey of Corazzo, leave the claustrum, intending to embrace a new modus vivendi and generate his own spiritual descendants.
Giuseppe Riccardo Succurro, President of the International Center for Gioachimite Studies, will illustrate “The biographies of Gioacchino da Fiore”, the crucial narrative sources for
reconstruct the complex human, existential, cultural, spiritual and religious story of Joachim of Fiore.
It will focus on the “Prologue Epistle”, the Testamentary Letter written in 1200 where Joachim mentions the three main works (Psalterium decem chordarum, Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testamenti and Expositio Apocalypsis) on which the Abbot worked in parallel for several years. The major and minor works, in addition to tracing the doctrinal path, offer evidence of biographical elements that allow us to weave the fundamental lines of the cultural and religious experiences of the founder of the Florense order.
Thursday 30 October
Simone Pagliaro, teacher in the Florentine high schools and member of the International Center for Joachim Studies, will give a talk on “The lyres hanging from the willows. Psalm 136 in Gioacchino da Fiore and Salvatore Quasimodo”.
The speaker will compare Gioacchino’s comment
to Psalm 136, the “Super flumina Babylonis”, with “Alle fronde dei salici” by Salvatore Quasimodo.
Joachim captures, with lively prophetic tension, the truth latent in the letter of the text.
Giuseppe Riccardo Succurro, Gioachimite scholar, will give a talk on “Joachim of Fiore in the thought of Giuseppe Mazzini”.
The attention towards Gioacchino da Fiore in nineteenth-century Italian historiography will be analyzed and the cultural trend that starts from the Dante studies of Ugo Foscolo and develops in the thought of Giuseppe Mazzini will be explored. All seminars will take place in the teaching room of the Library of the International Center for Gioachimite Studies located on the top floor of the monastic wing of the Florense Abbey of San Giovanni in Fiore.