Exercicios espirituales de las ermitas. Metamorfosi di unopera di Antonio Daza (edizioni 1625-1682) (627-656)

Description

Antonio Daza’s manual is often quoted for containing the first description of the fourteen Stations of the Cross as we know them today. The work of the Spanish Observant is even more important in the context of the early history of the annual retreat in the Franciscan families for which he provides a model on the basis of Francis’ Rule for Hermitages. The article presents the characteristics and literary fortune of Daza’s proposal, starting with the Spanish editio princeps (1625) and continuing with its three Italian versions of 1626, 1643 and 1682. A close scrutiny shows that, while the 1643 edition displays a reasonable adaptation of the text to the realities of the Milan Observant Province, the 1682 version has not much more in common with Daza’s manual than its title and some introductory paragraphs. The questionable intervention of the editor, a Reformed friar in Padua, cannot be explained easily.