The fourth incunable edition of this important theological work concerning indulgences. Antoninus Florentinus (1389-1459) was Dominican Archbishop of Florence and author of influential works on moral theology. He advised the Pope during the Council of Florence (1431-49). Decisio is devoted to the pardon, in the form of indulgences, enacted for the fourth Jubilee of Indulgences, in 1450, known as the Golden Year . Princes from all over Europe and tens of thousands of pilgrims visited Rome in that year. Pope Nicholas V gave his solemn blessing every Sunday, and when the crisis [caused by the huge crowds] became more pressing, he proclaimed an edict that pilgrims would gain the Jubilee Indulgence by making a good confession and visiting the Basilicas in just three days (O Gorman, p.35). It was one of the most successful medieval Jubilees, and Nicholas V revived the indulgence in 1455 for those who had not been able to visit Rome in 1450. Decisio examines in detail all the technicalities of indulgencies: e.g, whether an indulgence enacted by a living person may apply to a dead person and remove them from Purgatory (a recently codified concept) or from mortal sin; what is the nature of an indulgence and its theological principles; the equivalence between days of indulgence and days of penitence; whether an indulgence may expire after the death of the religious who granted it; regulations concerning visits to specific places to obtain an indulgence; plenary indulgence earned fighting against the Ottomans; who can grant an indulgence and how to interpret the instructions provided in papal bulls in this matter; types of remission of sins, etc. The final few ll. focus on the 1450 Jubilee indulgence, which followed Clement VI s regulations. An interesting and curious work of theology and ecclesiastical policy. Only LC copy recorded in the US.
