Bernini: His Life and His Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Franco Mormando
Associate Professor of Italian
Associate Professor of Italian
romance languages and literatures
Academic Degrees
Ph.D., M.A., Harvard University; B.A., Columbia University
S.T.L., M. Div., Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; Biennio di Filosofia, Gregorian University, Rome
Research Areas
History of Preaching and Popular Religious Literature, 15th-17th Centuries; Social and Religious Context of Renaissance and Baroque Art; the bubonic plague in European society; Bernardino of Siena; Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Honors and Awards
Cavaliere (Knight) in the Ordine della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana, awarded by the President of the Republic of Italy, October 2005, in recognition of achievement in the promotion of Italian language and culture.
The Howard R. Marraro Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in Italian History, conferred January 2001, by the American Catholic Historical Association for my book,The Preacher's Demons.
Books
Domenico Bernini's "Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini:" An English Translation and Critical Edition with Introduction and Commentary. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2011.
Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque, co-editor. Truman State University Press, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, 2007.
Francis Xavier and the Jesuit Missions in the Far East: An Anniversary Volume of Early Printed Sources in the Jesuitana Collection of the John J. Burns Library, Boston College, co-editor. Chestnut Hill: The Jesuit Institute, 2006.
Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800, co-editor. Exhibition catalogue, Worcester Art Museum, 2005.
The Preacher's Demons: Bernardino of Siena and the Social Underworld of Early Renaissance Italy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Saints and Sinners: Caravaggio and the Baroque Image. Exhibition catalogue, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1999.
Recent Articles and Book Chapters
"Pestilence, Apostasy, and Heresy in Seventeenth-Century Rome: Deciphering Michael Sweerts' Plague in an Ancient City," Piety and Plague: From Byzantium to the Baroque, (Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, Truman State University Press, 2007).
"Nudus Nudum Christum Sequi: The Franciscans and Differing Interpretations of Male Nakedness in Fifteenth-Century Italy," Fifteenth Century Studies 33 (2008): 171-197.
"Response to the Plague in Early Modern Italy: What the Primary Sources, Printed and Painted, Reveal" in Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800, Worcester Art Museum, 2005, pp. 1-44.
"The Painted Visions of Fra Angelico: A New Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum," America, vol. 193, no. 20, December 19, 2005.
Recent Papers and Presentations
"A Pope's Banquet and a Jesuit's Oration for a Newly Converted Queen: Alexander VII, Gian Paolo Oliva, and Christina of Sweden, Dec. 26, 1655," Sixteenth Century Conference, Geneva, May 28, 2009.
"Nothing as It Seems: Annotations (Reconstructive and Deconstructive) upon Domenico Bernini's Vita del Cav. Gio. Lorenzo Bernini." Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 4, 2008.
"Raphael's Disputa at the Vatican: Neither Disputation nor Eucharist," UCLA Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Mellon Fdtn Sawyer Seminar Series, "Disputation: Arguing In and Out of the University," April 22, 2008.
"Bernini's Religion." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Minneapolis, October 2007.
"Pestilence, Apostasy and Heresy in 17th-century Rome: Deciphering Michael Sweerts' Plague in an Ancient City," Centre for Early Modern Studies, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, Conference on: "Icons and Iconoclasts, 1603-1714," July 20, 2006.
"Naked to Follow the Naked Christ: The Franciscans and the Late Medieval Destiny of Jerome's Ascetic Adage." Harvard University, Humanities Center Seminar on Medieval Studies, March 20, 2006.
"Ambiguous Baroque: The Sensual, the Sexual and the Sacred in Devotional Art of Seventeenth-Century Italy," The Luce Program in Scripture and Literary Arts, Boston University, February 23, 2006.
"Using Art to Teach Italian Culture and History," presentation at the "Professional Development Course on AP Italian Language and Literature, for High School Teachers" sponsored by the Consulate of Italy in Boston and the National Italian American Foundation, Boston College, June 4, 2005.
"Christianity and Art: Piety and Power. The Church Responds to Art." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, November 30 and December 2, 2004.
"Bernardino of Siena: The Dynamics of His Preaching Performance," for conference, "Charisma and Religious Authority: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Preaching, 1200-1600," Queen Mary College, University of London, July 26, 2004.
Boston College
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
Lyons Hall 204B
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3804
Phone: 617-552-6346
FAX: 617-552-2064
Email: franco.mormando@bc.edu
Current Courses
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