Hugh of Digne

Hugh of Digne, or also called Barjols, (franz: Hugues de Digne, ital: Ugo di Digne, † 1256), was a prominent representative of the Spirituals in the Order of the Franciscans.

Hugo was a son of the merchant Berengar of Digne in Provence, his sister was the holy Douceline whose confessor he was at the same time. As a friend of his Father General John of Parma, he was among the followers of millenarian ideas of Joachim of Fiore, who had once prophesied the rule of " the everlasting gospel " ( Revelation ). In the Order Office of the Minister provinciae he cared for their rapid spread among his confreres in Provence. As a prerequisite paradise conditions on earth he looked at the achievement of a permanent state of peace and justice.

1248 Hugo was in the Franciscan convent of Hyères visited by his brother Salimbene of Parma, who in his chronicle dedicated to him rapturous passages. Above all, Hugo was able to inspire the chronicler with his sermons, which he forcefully with a voice like a " trumpet sound " lectured. On July 10, 1254 attended King Louis IX. at Hyères in one of his sermons, after he had gone a few days earlier, on his return from the Crusades to the coast of Provence on land. Hugo leaned on an offer of the king to join his entourage. On a proposal from Joinville towards the king tried to change his mind for a second time, what Hugo but again rejected and the Royal Society honored only for a day with his presence.

In response to the provocative signature of Gerard of Borgo San Donnino Pope Alexander IV in 1255 condemned the theses of Joachim of Fiore. Hugo died at the beginning of the year 1256, before he could even be prosecuted for his followers to " Joachiten ". He was buried next to his sister in the Franciscan Church of Marseille, where his admirers vermeldeten numerous miracles, canonization Hugo did not materialize. Among the Franciscans, he remained in high esteem, Bonaventura made ​​his open large parts of the written by Hugo in 1252 to comment on the Franciscan rule their own.