Visualizing the Passion in Andrés de Li's Summa de paciencia

Abstract

In 1505, Jorge Coci reprinted in Zaragoza Andrés de Li’s Summa de paciencia. Its sole pictorial element is a single, full-page image of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, also known as the Imago pietatis. This essay explores how this image is actualized through the technologies of reading and visualization. Unlike previous studies of Summa de paciencia, this article will study how Andrés de Li incorporated Passion-centered devotional techniques into his treatise on the virtue of Christian Patience. This type of Christocentric spirituality did not play a major role in most medieval treatises on Patience, where the emphasis is traditionally on exemplary sufferance by individuals facing adversity. The distinctiveness of Li’s text resides in its incorporation of Passion-centered techniques within the framework of an exploration of the virtue of Patience. Further, through the medium of print Li and his printer offered laypeople “ways of seeing” their faith through devotional activities focused on the suffering Christ.