da Todi Jacopone

Born around 1230 in Todi, in Umbria, Jacopone da Todi was an Italian religious poet and Franciscan friar. Sources describe him as one of the strongest poetic voices of the Italian Middle Ages, known for writing devotional songs called laude in the local vernacular rather than only in learned Latin.

His life is often described as having changed dramatically after the death of his wife, after which he turned toward an ascetic religious life and eventually joined the Franciscans. His poems are remembered for their emotional force, sharp spiritual urgency, and vivid treatment of suffering, humility, and divine love.

Jacopone is credited with more than a hundred mystical and religious poems, and he is also commonly associated with the Latin hymn Stabat Mater dolorosa, though that attribution is not fully certain. He died on December 25, 1306, and his work remains a major part of medieval Italian devotional literature.