DOMINICI, GIOVANNI

(1357-1419)

Florentine friar and popular preacher. He was prior of the influential Dominican convent of San Marco atFlorenceand became an outspoken critic of the books and ideas of the circle ofhumanistswho surrounded the humanist chancellor of Florence,Coluccio Salutati. HisLucula noctis/The Firefly(1405) was an attack on the humanists' claim that study of pagan classical literature would strengthen Christian faith. He argued that Christians (and certainly schoolboys) should not study pagan books at all, since such study would only confuse them and weaken their faith. His challenge distressed Salutati, who was a deeply religious man who began having second thoughts about study of the classics, even though he wrote a tract refuting Dominici and defending such study as a support for genuine faith.