Bernardino da Feltre

The Franciscan Bernardino da Feltre travelled throughout Italy as a preacher. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia he was one of the bitterest enemies the Jews ever had and openly advocated their utter extermination. He warned parents that the Jews would steal and crucify their children and depicted all Jews as vampires. In Ravenna he had the Jews expelled with violence; in 1487 Florence ordered him to leave the country to prevent an imminent rising. In Trent in 1475 he incited against the Jews before the death of the small boy Simon; after the confessions extracted under torture the Jews of the city were burned, and at his instigation the body was exhibited as a relic. The Church venerates him as Blessed.

Life dates

1439-1494 (about 55 years old)

Country

Italy

Institutions

Franciscan Order

Category

Anti-Judaism, Murder, Persecution

Level of evidence

B two independent scholarly sources · what does this mean?

Background

Course of events

1. Bernardino was born at Feltre in 1439, entered the Franciscan order in 1456 and died at Pavia on 28 September 1494.
   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 2 (1907), Einleitung

   „b. at Feltre, Italy , in 1439 and d. at Pavia , 28 September, 1494“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 2 (1907), Einleitung

   „Bernardine was clothed with the habit of the Friars Minor in May of the same year“

2. In Ravenna he incited the populace to such a degree that he was able to expel the Jews with violence. In 1487 Florence ordered him to leave the country to prevent an imminent rising. In Siena his sermons about an alleged Jewish physician who had killed thousands of Christians with his drugs led people to shun the city's Jewish physician.
   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „At Ravenna Bernardinus incited the populace to such a degree that he was enabled to expel the Jews with violence“

   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „The authorities of Florence were constrained to order Bernardinus to quit the country, so that a rising which was imminent might be prevented (1487).“

   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „The consequence of these sermons was that the lower classes and the women abstained from having recourse to the Jewish physician.“

Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)

1. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Bernardino openly advocated the utter extermination of the Jews and preached a crusade against them throughout Italy. The core of his sermons was the warning to Christian parents that the Jews would steal, ill-treat or crucify their children. He deliberately sought to inflame the lower classes and depicted all Jews as vampires and extortioners. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes his pawnshops, the monti di pietà, as a remedy for the usury practised by the Jews upon the people of Christian Italy.
   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „He was one of the bitterest enemies the Jews ever had, and openly advocated their utter extermination.“

   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „Let Christian parents keep a watchful eye on their children, lest the Jews steal, ill-treat, or crucify them.“

   Evidence: Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906), Artikel Bernardinus of Feltre, His Preaching

   „he depicted all Jews as vampires and extortioners“

   Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 2 (1907), Monti di pietà

   „were intended as a timely and effectual remedy for the evils occasioned by the usury then practiced by the Jews upon the people of Christian Italy“

See also

• Person 1385-1456 · about 71 years old

  John of Capistrano (Giovanni da Capistrano)

  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Poland
  • Anti-Judaism
  • Torture
  • Heresy trials
  • Persecution
• 23 Mar 1475-20 Jun 1478 · 3 years

  Ritual murder trial of Trent 1475, the Jewish community is tortured and executed after the death of the child Simon

  • Italy
  • Anti-Judaism
  • Torture
  • Persecution

Scholarly literature and reference works

1. Reference work
   Jewish Encyclopedia (1901 bis 1906): Bernardinus of Feltre (Richard Gottheil, Isaac Broydé). Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)
2. Reference work
   The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 2 (1907): Bl. Bernardine of Feltre, 1 January 1907. Original (retrieved 31 Oct 2026)

Last changed on 31 October 2026. Is something missing or wrong? Suggest an addition or correction.