Infanticidio e stregoneria nell’ultimo Bernardino da Siena: note sul quaresimale padovano del 1443, in «Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia», 2 (2023), pp. 385-408.

The essay aims to study the homiletic activity of Bernardino of Siena in its later form, through the analysis of the Paduan lenten of 1443, reported by Daniele da Porcìa and rewritten by Fra Girolamo da Venezia. It is a text which is still unpublished and mostly neglected by historiography. The homilies of 1443 constitute a perfect sylloge of the mature thought of the Tuscan friar and, in particular, the n. 27 of the collection, entitled Exortatio iustorum ad patientiam, sheds light on what pertains to the closely interconnected themes of infanticide and witchcraft, on which Bernardino had often insisted in the past. The resumption of these arguments after some time and their readaptation to the new context show to what extent he has become the spokesman of the most recent instances of learned debate, proposing them to his audience through adequate considerations and exempla.