STORIE DI SANTI E DI DIAVOLI | I EDIZ. 2006 | GREGORIO MAGNO

Storie di santi e di diavoli (Dialoghi) is a two-volume critical edition of the Dialogues by Pope Gregory the Great (Gregorius Magnus), a seminal early medieval hagiographical and spiritual work. Written in Latin in the late 6th century (c. 593-594), the Dialogues narrate lives and miracles of Italian saints, monastic figures, and also diabolic trials and supernatural phenomena. This edition by Manlio Simonetti translates the Latin, restores a critical text, and is complemented by Salvatore Pricoco’s extensive introduction and commentary. It emphasizes the socio-religious context: Italy invaded by Goths and Lombards, the instability caused by famine, plague, superstition, and the role of monasticism as bastion of spiritual and moral order. The work’s style combines miracle tales, visions, folk belief, everyday piety, with theological reflection — especially on humility, God’s grace, immortality of the soul. Its relevance lies in its witness to late antique belief, popular “supernatural culture,” and the construction of saintly identity; it has influenced medieval literature, devotional practices, and Christian imaginations.