ndrea da Firenze's
fresco, the Via Veritatis, in the Spanish Chapel of
Dominican Santa Maria Novella, gives to the right hand side of
the Pope and Emperor, the kneeling figures of a queen, Queen
Joan of Naples, with golden hair and a golden crown; a
beautiful young woman shabbily dressed as a pilgrim and an
aged widow, these being daughter and mother and recognizably
Catherine and Birgitta of Sweden; and Lapa Buondelmonte
Acciaiuoli, sister to Niccolo` Acciaiuoli, and friend to both
Birgitta's household and to Queen Joan. The fresco was painted
in 1366-67 with funds donated by the Florentine merchant
Buonamico di Lapo Guidalotti, whose wife had died of the
plague. In those years Birgitta and her family were in Naples
and she was present at Niccolo` Acciaiuoli's deathbed 8
September 1366. Birgitta had earlier prophesied this meeting
in Rome of Pope and Emperor, which was to take place, 21
October 1368.

The above text was translated into Middle
English at Syon Abbey in a manuscript now in the Garrett
Collection at Princeton University, then translated into
modern English in Julia Bolton Holloway, Saint Bride and
Her Book: Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations (1992;
republished, Cambridge: Boydell
and Brewer , ISBN 0-941051-18-8). This vision concerns
the Florentine Seneschal of Naples, Nicholas Acciaiuoli, at
whose deathbed Bride was present, 8 September 1366, Johannes
Jørgensen, Saint Bridget of Sweden (London: Longmans
Green, 1954), II.183-188.

{ow
Saint Bride sees in her spiritual sight the judgment of a soul
whom the fiend accused, and at the last was helped by our
Lady;and how she saw all Hell and Purgatory and many other
marvels; and how needful it is to help them who are in
Purgatory. Chapter 17. [IV.7]

{t seemed to a person who was
awake in prayer and not sleeping as though she had seen in
her spiritual sight a palace of incredible greatness, in
which were countless people, clad in white and shining
clothes. And each of them seemed to have a proper seat to
himself. In this palace stood principally a judgment seat,
in which it was as if there were a sun; and the brightness
that went from that sun was more than may otherwise be told
or understood, in length, depth and breadth. There stood
also a Virgin close to that seat, having a precious crown on
her head. And all who were there served the Son sitting on
the throne, praising him with hymns and songs. Then appeared
there an Ethiopian, fearful in sight and bearing, as though
he had been full of envy and greatly enraged. He cried and
said: 'O you rightful Judge, grant me this soul, and hear
his works; for now his life is near the end. Allow me
therefore to punish the body with the soul, until they are
separated'.

When this was said, it seemed to me that one stood
before the throne, like a knight armed excellently, and wise
in words, and sober in hearing, who said: 'You, Judge, see,
here are his good works that he has done up to this hour'.

And then there was heard a voice out of the sun
sitting on the seat: 'Here are vices', he said, 'more than
virtues. And it is not justice that vice be joined to him who
is supreme virtue'.

Then answered the Ethiopian: 'Therefore it is
rightful that this soul be joined to me; because if it has any
vice in it, in me is all wickedness'. The knight answered:
'The mercy of God follows every person until the last moment
of his life, and then comes the Judgment. And in this man that
we speak of are yet both soul and body joined together, and
discretion remains in him'.

The Ethiopian answered: 'The Scriptures say, that
may not be: you shall love God above all things, and your
neighbour as yourself. See you therefore, that all the works
of this man are done out of dread, and not out of love and
charity as they ought to be. And all the sins that he is
cleansed of, you will find him cleansed with little
contrition. And therefore he has deserved Hell; because he has
forfeited the kingdom of Heaven. And therefore his sins are
here opened before the Judgment of God. For he never yet was
contrite in goodly charity for the sins that he has done'.

The knight answered: 'Truly, he hoped and believed
he would become contrite before his death'.

'You', he said, 'have gathered all the deeds that he
had ever done well, and you know all his words and his
thoughts for the salvation of his soul. And all these,
whatever they may be, may not be likened to that grace gained
by contrition for the love of God with holy faith and hope,
and much less they may not cancel out all his sins. For
justice is in God who is without beginning, that no sinner
shall enter Heaven who is not perfectly contrite. And
therefore it is impossible that God should judge against the
disposition ordained from before time. Therefore the soul is
to be judged to Hell and to be joined with me in everlasting
pain'.

When this was said, the knight held his peace and
answered nothing to these words. After this appeared
innumerable fiends, like sparks out a hot fire. And they all
cried out with one voice saying to him who sat in the seat as
a sun: 'We', they say, 'know that you are God in two Persons,
without beginning and end, and there is no other God but you.
You are that charity to which is joined mercy and
righteousness. You were in yourself from before the beginning,
having not lessened nor in any little way changed, as it
seemed God without you is not, and nothing has joy without
you. Therefore your charity made angels of no other matter but
the power of your Godhead. And you did as mercy stirred you.
But after that we were burned within with pride, envy and
greed; your charity, loving righteousness, cast us out of
heaven with the fire of our malice into dark and unseeable
deepness that is now called Hell. So did your charity, then,
which shall not yet be separated from the Judgment of your
justice, whether it be after mercy or after equity. And yet we
say more, if the thing which you love before all things, the
Virgin who bore you, who never sinned, had sinned mortally and
died without goodly contrition, you love justice so that her
soul should never have got to Heaven, but it should have been
with us in Hell. Therefore, Judge, why do you not condemn this
soul to us, that we may punish it after his works'.

After this was heard as it
were the sound of a trumpet, and all who heard it were
still. And then was heard a voice saying: 'Be still and
listen, all angels, souls and fiends, to what the Mother of
God speaks'.

And then, the same Virgin appearing before the seat
of Judgment and having under her mantle as it had been some
great private things, said: 'O, you enemies, you persecute
mercy and without charity you love justice, though here
appears a lack of good works for which this soul ought not to
get Heaven, yet see what I have under my mantle'.

And when the Virgin had opened both the fronts
of her mantle, under the one appeared as like a little church,
in which seemed to be some men of religion /See the medieval paintings, particularly
common in Florence, of Mary in this attitude with people
gathered within her cloak; also the Giotto Arena Chapel Last
Judgment fresco with Ernesto Scrovegni donating that chapel
shown self-referentially within it, Sarel Eimerl, The
World of Giotto: c. 1267-1377 (New York: Time
Incorporated, 1967), p. 129; also Birgitta's
cloak which survives as a relic. Here Bride is speaking
of Nicholas Acciaiuoli's founding of the Carthusian monastery,
La Certosa, in Florence, 1342, from his ill-gotten Neapolitan
gains as that Kingdom's Seneschal, and from similar motives as
had Scrovegni the Arena Chapel. Compare, too, with St Francesca Romana ./; and under the other appeared women and men,
Friends of God , religious and
other/Birgitta frequently uses this term,
associated with the medieval Dominican mystics, the Friends of
God, especially in her material concerning Magister Mathias,
who was buried with the Stockholm Dominicans, and who had
studied at their house in Paris. This can explain Birgitta's
presence in the great Dominican fresco in Santa Maria
Novella's Spanish Chapel./. And
they all cried with one voice saying, 'Have mercy, merciful
Lord'.

Then after there was silence and the Virgin spoke
and said: 'The Scripture said, he who has perfect faith may
thereby move mountains in the world. What then may and ought
the voices of these do, who had faith and also served God with
charity? And what shall those friends of God do, whom this man
asked that they pray for him, that he might be separated from
Hell and obtain Heaven? And he sought no other reward for his
good works but heavenly things, where all their tears and
prayers may not or are not of power to take him and lift him
up so that he get goodly contrition with charity before his
death, and furthermore I shall add to my prayers the prayer of
all the saints that are in Heaven, whom this man specially
worshipped'. Yet then further said the Virgin: 'O, you fiends,
I command you by the power of the Judge to take heed of these
things that you see now in justice'.

Then they all answered as if it had been with one
mouth: 'We see', they said, 'that in the world a little water
and great air balance out the anger of God. And so by your
prayer is God weighed to mercy with charity'.

After this was heard a voice from the Son, saying:
'For the prayers of my friends shall this man now get goodly
contrition before his death, in so much that he shall not come
into Hell; but he shall be purged with them who suffer most
grievous pain in Purgatory. And when the soul is purged, he
shall have reward in Heaven with them who had faith and hope
on earth with right little charity'.

When this was said, the fiends fled away. Then after
that it seemed to the Bride as if there had opened a fearful
and dark place wherein there appeared a furnace all burning
within; and that fire had nothing else to burn but fiends and
living souls. And above that furnace appeared that soul whose
judgment was just completed. The feet of the soul were
fastened to the furnace, and the soul stood up like a person.
It did not stand in the highest place nor in the lowest, but
as if on the side of the furnace. The shape of the soul was
fearful and marvelous. The fire of the furnace seemed to come
up between the feet of the soul, as when water ascends up by
pipes. And that fire ascended upon his head, and violently
thrust him together; so much that the pores stood as veins
running with burning fire. His ears seemed like smiths'
bellows which moved all his brain with continual blowing. His
eyes seemed turned upside down and sunk in as if they were
fastened to the back part of his head. His mouth was open and
his tongue drawn out by his nostrils and hung down to his
lips. His teeth were as iron nails fastened to his palate. His
arms were so long that they stretched down to his feet. Both
his hands seemed to have and to press together a kind of fat
with burning pitch. The skin which seemed to be upon the soul
seemed like the skin upon a body, and it was as a linen cloth
all fouled with filth; which cloth was so cold that each one
could see it tremble and shiver. And there came from it pus
from a sore with corrupt blood, and so wicked a stench that it
could not be compared to the worst stench in the world. When
his tribulations were seen, there was heard a voice of the
soul that said five times, 'Woe, woe, alas, alas', crying with
tears and all his might.

First he said: 'Alas and woe to me, that I
loved God so little for his truly great virtues and grace
given to me'. The second: 'Alas and woe to me, that I did not
fear the Judgment of God as I ought'. The third, 'Alas and woe
to me, that I loved the body and the lust of my sinful flesh'.
The fourth, 'Alas and woe to me, for my worldly riches and
pride'. The fifth, 'Alas and woe to me, that ever I saw you,
Lewes and Joan'./Latin text gives
'Ludovicum et Ioannam'. This is the vision Bride had about
Nicholas Acciaiuoli, Grand Seneschal of Naples, who had been
tutor to Prince Lewes of Taranto and whose marriage he
arranged in 1347, following her murder of her previous husband
and King of Naples, Andrew of Hungary, 1345. Acciaiuoli had
founded Carthusian Certosa in Florence, 1342: ASF Monastero de
Santa Brigida detto del Paradiso 61, fols. 21v-24v; Vatican MS
Ottob. lat, fol. 120; Jorgensen 2:121-122. The Carthusians
continued to inhabit Certosa until the war years when they
fled first to Lucca, then Grenoble. Today Certosa is shared by
Cistercian monks and the University of Florence's medievalists
of S.I.S.M.E.L. For a sepia photograph of Carthusian monks at
the Certosa in Pavia , see 'I
Fratelli Alinari: Florentine Photographers'/

Then the angel said to me: 'I will explain
this vision to you. This palace you have seen is the likeness
of heaven. The multitude of those who were on the thrones,
clad in white and shining clothes, are angels and the souls of
saints. The sun means Christ in his Godhead. The woman means
the Virgin who bore God. The Ethiopian means the fiend who
accuses the soul. The knight means the angel who tells of the
good works of the soul. The furnace means Hell, which is so
burning within, that if all the world burnt with all things
that are within, it would not be like the greatness of that
furnace. In this furnace are heard diverse voices, all
speaking against God, and all beginning their utterances with
"Woe and alas", and ending in the same way. The souls appeared
as people whose members are stretched out without comfort and
who never can rest. Know also the fire that seemed to you in
the furnace, burns in everlasting darkness, and the souls that
burn within it do not all have the same pain. The darkness
that appeared about the furnace is called "limbus" /To be in 'limbo' is to be betwixt and
between, neither in Heaven nor in Hell. See Dante, Inferno
4./,
and it comes from the darkness that is in the furnace and yet
they are both the same place and one Hell. Whoever comes there
shall never dwell with God. Above this darkness is the
greatest pain of Purgatory that souls may suffer. And beyond
this place is another place where there is less pain, that is
none other but the lack of firmness in strength, beauty and
such other: as I tell you by a parable, as if there were a
sick man; and when the sickness and the pain had ended, he was
left so feeble that he had no strength, until he recovered
little by little. The third place is above, where there is no
other pain but the desire of coming to God. And that you
should understand this better in your conscience, I tell you
by a parable, as if other metals were meddled with gold and
burnt in a most hot fire and should so long be purged, that
the other metals were refined away; and the gold stayed pure
and clean though the other metal was strong and thick, so that
it should need the hotter fire, and the gold was like running
water, and all burning. Then the master of the work puts the
gold in another place, where it shall take its true form and
shape by sight and by touch. And after that, he puts it in the
third place, where it is kept until it is presented to the
owner.

'It is the same spiritually. In the first place
above the darkness is the greatest pain of Purgatory, where
you see the said soul being purged. There is tormenting by
fiends. There appear the likeness of venomous worms and the
likeness of savage beasts. There is heat and cold. There is
darkness and confusion that comes from the pain that is in
Hell. Some souls there have less pain and some more, according
to whether their sins were amended or not, during the time
that the soul dwelled in the body. Then the master, that is,
the justice of God, puts the gold, that is the souls, in other
places, where there is less strength, in which the souls abide
until they have refreshing of their friends or of the
continual prayers of holy Church. For a soul, the more help it
has from its friends, the rather will it become strong and be
delivered from that place. After this, the soul is born to the
third place, where there is no pain except the desire to come
into the presence of God and to his blessed sight. In this
place dwelled many and for a very long time, without, those
who had perfect desire while they lived in the world to come
to the presence and sight of God. Know also that many die in
the world so virtuously and innocently, that soon they come to
the sight and presence of God. And some have so amended their
sins with good works, that their souls shall feel no pain. But
there are few who come not to the place where there is desire
to come to God. Therefore all souls abiding in these three
places have a part in the prayers and good works of holy
Church that are done in the world; namely of those that they
did while they lived, and of those which are done by their
friends after their death. Know also that as sins are many and
diverse, so are the pains many and diverse. Therefore as the
hungry one delights in food when it comes to his mouth, and
the thirsty in drink, and as he who is downcast, is gladdened
with joy, and the naked with clothing, and the sick with going
to his bed, so the souls joy in and are partners of the good
deeds that are done for them in the world'.

Then said the angel furthermore: 'Blessed be he who
has in the world helped souls with prayers, good works and the
labour of his body. For the Justice of God may not lie which
says that souls either must be purged after their death with
the pain of Purgatory, or else they must be loosed by the good
works of their friends'.

After this were heard many voices out of Purgatory,
saying: 'O Lord Jesus Christ, just Judge, send your charity to
them who have spiritual power in the world; for then shall we
have more part than we have now, of their song, readings and
offerings'.

Above this space from where this cry was heard, it
seemed as if it were a house in which were heard many voices,
saying, 'Let those be rewarded of God who send us help from
our errors'.

In the same house the sun seemed to go forth as if
it had been the spring of a day. And under that dawn appeared
a cloud that had not the light of the morning time. Out of
which came a great voice, saying: 'O Lord God, give of your
unspeakable power to each of them in the world a hundredfold
reward, that with their good deeds lift us up into the light
of your Godhead and into the sight of your face'.

hen
after that the angel tells of the pains of the said soul and
says [IV.8-9]

'hat soul whose disposition you have seen, and
heard his judgment, is in the most grievous pains of
Purgatory. And that is because it does not understand
whether it shall come to rest after purgation, or else be
damned; and this is the Justice of God, for this one had
conscience and great discretion, which he used bodily to the
world and not spiritually to his soul. For he was too
negligent and forgot God too much, while he lived. Therefore
his soul suffers now from burning in flames, and it trembles
for cold. It is also blind from the darkness and fearful
with the horrible sight of the fiends. It is deafened from
the fiend's cry, hungry and thirsty within, and all wrapped
in confusion without. Nevertheless, God gave it one grace
after death; that is, that it should not be subjected to
torment by the fiends. For he spared and forgave grievous
faults to his chief enemies, only for the praise of God; and
he made friendship and accord with his chief enemy. Know
also that whatever he did of good and whatever he promised
and gave of justly obtained riches, and most of all the
prayers of the friends of God, these lessen and refresh his
pain, after it is determined in God's Justice. But other
goods that he gave, that were not justly obtained, profit
those who had them rightfully in their possession
spiritually or physically, if they are worthy after the
disposition of God'.

After this the angel called, furthermore, for
the Judgment of the afore-mentioned soul, and said: 'You have
heard already that for the prayers of the Friends of God, this man
obtained goodly contrition through charity for his sins, a
little before his death; which contrition separates him from
Hell. Therefore after his death, the Justice of God judges
that he should burn in Purgatory for six times the age that he
has, from that hour that he did first knowingly deadly sin,
until the time when he repented fruitfully of goodly charity,
but he obtained help from God, of the world, and from the
friends of God. The first was that he loved not God for the
death of his noble body, and for his manifold tribulations,
that he suffered for no other cause but for the salvation of
souls. The second age was that he loved not his own soul as a
Christian man ought; nor did he thank God for his baptism, for
being neither Jew nor heathen. The third age was that he knew
well the things that God commanded, and he had very little
desire to fulfill them. The fourth age was that he knew well
the things that God forbade to them who desire to go to
Heaven; and he acted bodily against these, not following the
prickings of his conscience, but his own carnal desire. The
fifth age was that he did not use grace and confession as was
appropriate, while he had the time to do so. The sixth age was
that he cared little for the body of Christ, not willing to
receive it often, for he would not keep himself from sin;
neither had he charity to receive the body of Christ until the
end of his life'.

fter
this there appeared one like a man of great solemnity, whose
clothes were white and shining like a priest's alb/Alba, white, dawn. An alb is a white gown
worn by clergy during church services. He may represent St
Lawrence./; he was girt with a
linen girdle and a red stole about his neck and under his
arms; and he began his words in this way. [IV.9]

'ou who see these things, take heed, mark and
commend to your mind the things that you see and that are
said to you. For you who are living in the world may not
understand the power of God and the everlasting stability of
it, in the same way as we who are with him. For the things
that are with God, done in a moment of time, may not be
understood amongst you, but with words and likeness after
the disposition of the world. I am one of them whom this
man, who is condemned to purgatory worshiped with his gifts
in his life. Therefore God has granted me of his grace that
if any man would do these things that I tell you, then his
soul might be translated to a higher place, where it should
get his true shape, and feel no other pain than as if he had
a great sore, and all the sorrows would be gone, and he
would lie like a man without strength, and yet he should
rejoice, as much as he should know certainly that he should
come to live.

'Therefore, as you heard the soul of this man
had cried five times, "Woe and alas", so I say now to him five
things of comfort. The first woe was that he loved God too
little. Therefore, that he may be delivered from this, there
needs to be given for his soul thirty chalices, in which the
blood of God can be offered, and God himself be more praised.
The second woe was that he did not fear God. Therefore, to
cancel out this, let there be chosen thirty priests devoted to
the man's judgment, and each of them to say thirty masses,
when they may: twelve of the Martyrs, twelve of the
Confessors, twelve of All Saints, twenty-eight Masses of the
Angels, twenty-nine of our Lady, and thirty of the holy
Trinity. And all of them must pray intensely for his soul,
that the anger of God be assuaged, and his justice bowed down
to mercy /Certosa del Galluzzo/. The third woe
was for his pride and greed. Therefore, to do away with these,
let there be received thirty poor men, whose feet are to be
washed with humility, and food and drink and money and clothes
to be given to them, with which they can be comforted; and
each of them, both he who washes, and they who are washed,
should pray to God meekly, that for his meekness and bitter
Passion he forgive this soul the greed and pride that he has
enacted. The fourth woe, for the lechery of his flesh.
Therefore, whoever gives a maiden into a monastery and also a
widow, and a maid into true wedlock, giving with them as much
goods as they might be sufficiently endowed in food, drink and
clothing; then should God forgive the sin of this soul which
he had done in the flesh. For these are three lives that God
commanded and chose to stand in this world. /The three states: Virginity, Marriage,
Widowhood./ The fifth woe was
that he had done many sins to others' tribulation. That is to
say, he did all in his power that the two named before should
come together in wedlock, which were no less of kin together
than if they had both been next of kindred; and this marriage
he procured more for himself than for the realm, and without
permission from the Pope, against the praiseworthy disposition
of holy Church. And for his deed, many were made martyrs, that
such things should not be endured against God and holy Church
and Christian custom./Queen Joan
of Naples' marriage to Prince Lewes of Taranto./

'If any man who would repent of his sin went
to the Pope and said: "A certain man did such a sin" (not
expressing the person), "nevertheless at the end he repented
and obtained absolution, though the sin was not amended. Tell
me therefore what penance you would give, that I may bear; for
I am ready to amend that sin for him". Truly, if he were to
say for him no more than one P ater noster, it
should be worthwhile to that soul to the lessening of his pain
in Purgatory'.

Queen
Joan,
Catherine and Birgitta, Lapa
Buondelmonte Acciaiuoli

Ediz. Giusti di S. Becocci, Firenze

In order not to violate copyright some of these
images are considerably debased. If originals are needed for
scholarly purposes contact Julia Bolton
Holloway who can acquire black and white photographs
from Fratelli Alinari or coloured postcards from Giusti di S.
Becocci in Florence.

From Augustus
J.C. Hare, Florence
(1896):

t 2 1/2 miles from the Porta Romana, by the direct
road beyond the village of Galuzzo, on the hill of Montaguto,
is the Certosa of the Val d'Ema. The position is beautiful,
with lovely views, and the convent crowning a cypress-covered
hill is very picturesque. The cloister, with its beautiful
Luca della Robbia medallions, suffered terribly in the
earthquake of 1895. The Certosa was founded in 1341 by Niccolò
Acciajuolo, Grand Seneschal to Queen Joanna of Naples, and its
fortifications were especially granted by the Republic. In
1896 there were fifteen monks here: the full number was
eight-six. A white-robed brother shows visitors over the
monastery. Sepia.

[Today, Cistercians from Casamaris inhabit the
Certosa, the last Carthusians having fled to Lucca's
Charterhouse in WWII, where monks were killed by the SS. The
monastery's books, also, were first taken to Lucca, then to
the motherhouse at Grenoble.]

The principal Church is excessivly rich;
decorated with frescoes, marbles and pietre-dure. The
pictures relating to the life of S. Bruno are by Poccetti.
To the right, through the chapel of S. John Baptist, which has
a good picture by Benvenuti, we enter a beautiful
gothic church of 1300, of which the architecture is attributed
to Orcagna. It contains some good Florentine stained glass; a
picture of S. Francis receiving the Stigmata by Cigoli;
a Crucifixion by Giotto (?); and a picture by Fra
Angelico.

In the Crypt, before the high-altar, are the
noble tombs of the founder and his family.

Whether Andrea Orcagna built the Certosa
near Florence is uncertain; but the monuments of its founder,
Niccolò Acciajuolo, and his family, which exist in the
subterranean church, belong to his time, and were perhaps
executed by some of his scholars. The tomb of Niccolò (Grand
Seneschal of the kingdom of Naples under Queen Joanna I, ob.
1366) consists of his recumbent statue, clad in armour placed
high against the wall, beneath a gothic canopy. His son,
Lorenzo, upon whose funeral obsequies he spent more that
50,000 gold florins, lies below under a marble slab, upon
which is sculptured the effigy of this 'youth in arms, and
eminent for his graceful manners and his gracious and noble
aspect'. Next him lie his grandfather and his sister Lapa.' -
Perkins' Tuscan Sculptors.

The general design of Niccolò's tomb is very
peculiar, gothic certainly, but almost transitional to the
cinquecento. Niccolò, the Grand Seneschal, founder of the
convent, was a noble character. The family, originally from
Brescia, and named after the trade they rose by, attained
sovereignty in the person of Ranier, nephew of the
Seneschal, styled Duke of Athens and Lord of Thebes and
Argos and Sparta. He was succeeded by his bastard son
Antony, and the latter by two nephews, whom he invited from
Florence, Ranion and Antony Acciajuoli; the son of the
latter, Francesco, finally yielded Athens to Mahomet II, in
1456, and was soon afterwards strangled by his orders at
Thebes. - Lindsay's Christian Art.

In a side chapel of the crypt is the tomb of Angelo
Acciajuolo, Bishop of Ostia, 1550, by Donatello, with
a border of fruit and flowers by Giuliano di San Gallo.
A small cloister has some lovely stained glass by Giovanni da
Udine. The chapter-house contains a Crucifixion by Mariotto
Albertinelli; a Madonna and Child with saints by
Perugino; and in the middle of the pavement, in a perfect
abandonment of repose, the noble figure of Lionardo Bonafede,
Bishop of Cortona, and Superior of this convent (ob. 1545), by
Francesco di San Gallo, son of Giuliano.

It is very carefully modelled; the flesh
parts are well treated, and the drapery is disposed in natural
folds. It has almost the effect of a corpse laid out for
burial before the altar, and produces a striking effect. - Perkins.

The exquisite Della Robbia lunettes of the great
cloister were removed to the Accademia in the time of Napoleon
I. They had scarcely been restored to the monastery when one
side of the beautiful cloister was ruined by the terrible
earthquake of 1895.

The Refectory is shown, in which the monks
dine on Sundays, released on that day for two hours from their
vow of silence, though a reader officiates during dinner from
a pulpit in the corner. The small cloister is by Brunelleschi.
At the Drogheria, the famous Alkermes and other
liqueurs manufactured in the monastery, are sold.

Nineteenth-century photograph of Certosa's cloister
with two Carthusian monks.See Florence in Sepia