One of the greatest exponents of the Franciscan Order in the fifteenth century, the friar Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444) established his preaching upon caritas, attempting its application in the social and political horizon of the civitas to promote the good life in Italy's res publicae of his time. Here we analyze the multiple function of this bernardinian caritas, seeking to clarify its relationship with political pedagogy, with civil, political and market values. For a more complete understanding of the application horizon of this caritas, we investigate the alignment of the friar with a Franciscan political and economic textuality produced in the fourteenth century, establishing a parallel with the values and the civil, political and economic proposals made by Francesc Eiximenis (1330-1409), a minore friar who worked in the Iberian and Sicilian territories of the Aragonese Crown.
Caritas; Bernardino of Siena; mendicant preaching