Una santità geniale. Simone Weil in dialogo con san Francesco

Simone Weil repeatedly and explicitly expressed her admiration for St. Francis, whom she said had captivated her from the very first moment she learned of him; she truly regarded him as an alter Christus, the perfect embodiment of the Gospel message, so much so that it is reasonable to believe that his figure inspired certain essential aspects of her extraordinary thought. This book examines the hitherto unexplored connection between the French philosopher, a contemporary laywoman, and the medieval Christian Francis. Without neglecting to note the differences between the two, the text highlights their profound agreement on essential themes, such as the will of God, beauty, detachment from oneself and the imitation of Christ, and the necessity of putting the Gospel’s teaching into practice to make it humanly credible and effective. The result is a convergence that is in a certain sense complementary between these two singular “revolutionary” figures, distant in centuries but close spiritually; both expressions of that “genius of holiness,” the need for which Simone Weil clearly indicated for a completely renewed Christianity, or rather for a new religion of our times.