Il simbolismo della luce negli scritti filosofici di Girolamo Seripando

The use of the symbols of the light and the sun is very frequent in the philosophical and theological thought of the Neapolitan Augustinian Girolamo Seripando (Naples 1492 - Trent 1563). Particularly in his philosophical works (the treatise De summo bono, the Quaestiones CIX de re philosophico-theologica and the Quaestiones de natura divina) the symbolism of light plays a central role. The Augustinian friar systematically employs images, metaphors and luminous symbols to outline a universe entirely permeated by light, in which divine light radiates first to intelligible realities and then to sensible realities, only to return, ultimately, to God. First of all, the contribution aims at clarifying the meaning of the symbolism of light in Seripando’s thought and how it is used. Secondly, the paper shows how Seripando’s reflection on the thema of light fits into the broader framework of the 16th-century reception of Marsilio Ficino’s Platonism.