1.11 Tutini 1856
Camillo Tutini, Memorie della vita, miracoli e culto di san Gennaro martire, vescovo di Benevento e principal protettore della città di Napoli, Naples 1856
Hh 8546-4560 raro III
The book on the life, miracles and cult of St. Gennaro was one of the first books by Camillo Tutini (1594-1666), a Neapolitan priest, scholar and politician. In the following decades he would publish several writings that reveal his popular orientation, manifested in the anti-Spanish revolt of 1647-48, of which he was first a protagonist and later a chronicler. Moreover, the Memorie della vita di S. Gennaro (Memoirs of the life of St. Gennaro), printed for the first time in Naples by Ottavio Beltrano in 1633, and reprinted several times over the next two centuries, are dedicated to Francesco Antonio De Angelis, elected by the people. Here we present the Neapolitan edition of 1856 edited by the priest Giuseppe Pelella. As explained in the foreword to the readers (“A’ lettori”, p. 11), the work is inspired by the recent eruption of 1631 and the desire to illustrate “the defence of the City of Naples from the impending dangers of the mountain”, but also by the desire to demonstrate the thesis of the Saint’s Neapolitan origins against the claims of the Benevento people (p. 153). The first chapters are dedicated to the reconstruction of the life and martyrdom of St. Gennaro, Bishop of Benevento; then the “many miracles” he performed after his death are reconstructed, especially in defence of Naples, and in greater detail on the occasion of the recent eruption. The text is accompanied by poetic inserts in the vernacular and in Latin and by reproductions of some medals with engravings dedicated to the saint. [DC]
