Joachim of Flore, born in the small…

Joachim of Flore, born in the small village of Celico near Cosenza, in Calabria, at that time part of the Kingdom of Sicily, was the son of Mauro the notary, who was well placed, and Gemma, his wife.

He was educated at Cosenza, where he became first a clerk in the courts, and then a notary himself, and worked in 1166-1167 for Stephen du Perche, archbishop of Palermo and counselor of Margaret of Navarre, regent for the young William II of Sicily.

Joachim had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in about 1159, an episode about which very little is known, save that he underwent a spiritual crisis and conversion in Jerusalem that turned him from the worldly life.

When he returned, he lived as a hermit for several years, wandering and preaching before joining the ascetic Cistercian abbey of Sambucina near Luzzi, Calabria, as a lay brother, where he devoted his time to lay preaching.

Under pressure from the ecclesiastical authorities, he joined the monks of the Abbey of Corazzo, and was ordained priest, apparently in 1168.

He applied himself entirely to Biblical study, with a special view to uncovering the arcane meaning concealed in the Scriptures, above all in Revelation.

To his dismay, he was acclaimed abbot by the monks of Corazzo in about 1177.

He then attempted to join the monastery to the Cistercian Order, but was refused because of the community's poverty.

In the winter of 1178, he had appealed in person to William II, who granted the monks some lands.

Joachim had appealed in 1182 to Pope Lucius III, who relieved him of the temporal care of his abbey, and warmly approved of his work, bidding him continue it in whatever monastery he thought best.

He spent the following year and a half at the Cistercian Abbey of Casamari, where he engaged in writing his three great books, his dictations keeping three scribes busy night and day; there the young monk, Lucas (afterwards Archbishop of Cosenza), who acted as his secretary, was amazed to see so famous and eloquent a man wearing such rags, and the wonderful devotion with which he preached and said Mass.

He was in Rome in 1184, interpreting an obscure prophecy found among the papers of Cardinal Matthew of Angers, and had been encouraged by Pope Lucius III.

Succeeding popes had confirmed the papal approbation, though his manuscripts had not begun to circulate.

Joachim had retired first to the hermitage of Pietralata, writing all the while, and then founded the Abbey of Fiore (Flora) in the mountains of Calabria.

He refused the request of King Tancred of Sicily to move his new religious foundation to the existing Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria della Matina.

Flora became the center of a new and stricter branch of the Cistercian Order, approved by Celestine III in 1198.

Joachim publicly submits all his writings to the examination of Innocent III in 1200, but will die in 1202 before any judgment is passed.

He theorizes the dawn of a new age, based on his interpretation of verses in the Book of Revelation, in which the Church will be unnecessary (a view considered heretical) and infidels will unite with Christians.

Members of the spiritual wing of the Franciscan order will later acclaim him as a prophet.

His popularity is enormous in the period, and some sources hold that Richard the Lionheart had wished to meet him to discuss the Book of Revelation before leaving for the Third Crusade.

His famous Trinitarian "IEUE" interlaced circles diagram was influenced by the different 3-circles Tetragrammaton-Trinity diagram of Petrus Alphonsi, and in turn led to the use of the Borromean rings as a symbol of the Christian Trinity (and possibly also influenced the development of the Shield of the Trinity diagram).

The mystical basis of his teaching is his doctrine of the "Eternal Gospel," founded on an interpretation of the text in Revelation xiv, 6.

His theories can be considered millenarian; he believes that history, by analogy with the Trinity, is divided into three fundamental epochs: The Age of the Father, corresponding to the Old Testament, characterized by obedience of mankind to the Rules of God; The Age of the Son, between the advent of Christ and 1260, represented by the New Testament, during which Man has become the son of God; The Age of the Holy Spirit, impending (in 1260), when mankind is to come in direct contact with God, reaching the total freedom preached by the Christian message.

The Kingdom of the Holy Spirit, a new dispensation of universal love, will proceed from the Gospel of Christ, but transcend the letter of it.

In this new Age, the ecclesiastical organization will be replaced and the Order of the Just will rule the Church.

This Order of the Just will later be identified with the Franciscan order by his follower Gerardo of Borgo San Donnino.

According to Joachim, only in this third Age will it be possible to really understand the words of God in its deepest meanings, and not merely literally.

He concluded that this age would begin in 1260 based on the Book of Revelation (verses 11:3 and 12:6, which mention "one thousand two hundred and sixty days").

In this year, instead of the parousia (second Advent of Christ), a new Epoch of peace and concord will begin, thus making the hierarchy of the Church unnecessary.