The Legend of the Holy Fina, Virgin of Santo Gemignano |
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Common terms and phrases
according acts ancient angels appear avea aveva Behold blessed Fina body called carried castle century chapel CHAPTER Christ chronicler Church Commune corpo Cristo death della divozione donna dwelled erano essendo eyes faithful fatto Fine flesh Florence flowers follow fresco Giovanni glory grace hand hath head holy Fina Hospital hour Italy King known l'anima land later learned Legend liberati lire lives Lord madre mare meriti Messer miracles miracoli modo molti mother nature Note ogni Order person Pope prayer prodigy quale questa remained rendering Saint San Gimignano santa Fina santa vergine Santo Giminiano sepolcro shrine sick side soul spirit taking terra thou town tradition Tuscany unto virgin Fina vita wall Warden wherefore whilst wise witness worthy writes
Popular passages
Page xlv - And far to the fair south-westward lightens, Girdled and sandalled and plumed with flowers, At sunset over the love-lit lands, The hill-side's crown where the wild hill brightens, Saint Fina's town of the Beautiful Towers, Hailing the sun with a hundred hands.
Page xxxv - that blessed soul expired," writes the annalist, " and the demons in envy and rage filled the air with such whirlwinds that poor mortals were struck with horror. Against them the sound of the bells of San Gimignano, moved by the invisible hands of angels, bore witness to the sanctity of Fina, and straightway caused those storms and whirlwinds to cease.
Page 9 - ... breast even as the fruit of her spirit. In this wise the holy maiden continued all the days of her life to dwell in seclusion in her home, excepting when she would go forth to attend the holy offices of the Church. She avoided all frivolous comings and goings as being harmful to her peace of mind, and if peradventure she walked abroad, she first made treaty with her eyes, that they should look always upon her feet; lest by their vain outward glances they should tempt her guileless spirit. And...
Page xxxiv - ... enables us better to fathom the sacrifice of her youth and beauty throughout the five long years of weeks and days spent motionless upon a bare plank in that scantily-furnished upper chamber. Fra Giovanni describes how trembling with apprehension she heard the fearsome echo of trumpet blast, clash of arms, and tumult of angry voices ; powerless to quell, through her gracious presence, the affray between Guelf and Ghibelline, in which her mother, the unfortunate Imperiera, lost her life, whilst...
Page 123 - ... as well as the episode, and his style suggests the romance rather than the Novella. He is a lover of nature, a student of fields and flowers and birds and animals : he loved to enamel a meadow with blossoms as well as to elaborate the pattern of a brocade jerkin, and to show us the arbor bending under heavy clusters of grapes as well as to present us to some contemporary legist or Magniflco.
Page xxxii - Ghibelline Podesta, and made themselves ' masters of the town. Then in September 1252, the Ghibellines in their turn, headed by Michele Buonfiglioli, attacked their oppressors. The Guelfs made their stand at the houses of the Cini and Cici in the quarter of San Matteo, where, after a desperate battle, the Podesta vainly spreading the red and yellow banner of the Commune and calling upon the combatants to lay down their arms under a penalty of a fine of one hundred lire, the Ghibellines got the upper...
Page xliv - Tuscany," writes Gino Capponi in his " Storia della Republics di Firenze," " retains more of the Middle Ages, and was less invaded by the ages that followed ; in those towns and in the churches and in the houses of massive stone, there still remains something that cannot be overlaid by the fragile veneer of modern times ; ancient memories keep their hold and possession upon it.
Page 14 - ... asked the holy maiden which was the beam whereon she descried him, and with her finger pointing upwards she replied : " Lo, upon this beam he lieth, the venomous beast." But neither he nor the serving woman whom she had called could see him. Thus the holy Fina learned that he was no actual serpent but the enemy of mankind who had deceived our first parents under such guise and form. Whereupon she made the sign of the Holy Cross, and he vanished from her sight. And the holy maiden knew that a...
Bibliographic information
| Pealkiri | The Legend of the Holy Fina, Virgin of Santo Gemignano |
| Autor | Joannes De Sancto Geminiano |
| Publisher | Cosimo, Inc., 2007 |
| ISBN | 1602064970, 9781602064973 |
| Length | 184 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |