Eremitismo, Profecia e Poder - o caso «Libellus» do «pseudo-eremita» Telésforo de Cosenza

Abstract

Exploring the reiterated relationship between hermitism-holyness-prophecy, the thesis sustains the idea that in Early Modern Age the hermitic experience still worked as a factor of credibilisation of the prophetic text. During those centuries, in Portugal too the image of hermitism as «via perfectionis» served not only to make prophecies credible, but also to create images of beatific state. The thread is the example of the use of an «hermitic prophecy» – or better, in this case, «pseudo-hermitic» – the «Libellus» by Telesphorus of Cosenza, which during the 16th and 17th centuries was exhaustively used in several European countries for a variety of propaganda and political purposes.