Meditations on the Life of Christ is believed to have been written by a Franciscan friar, named Giovanni de’ Cauli. Giovanni de’ Cauli, basically, took some artistic freedom and revamped the story of the life of Jesus Christ by combining the four Gospels with texts from several other medieval sources. De’ Cauli used, for example, Jacob of Voragine’s Golden Legend, which was a collection of stories on the lives of saints as well as taking inspiration from the sermons and letters of Bernard of Clairvaux.

The meditations were originally meant for a nun in de’ Cauli’s sister order of Poor Clares, to function as a sort of spiritual guide and help the Poor nun in her daily contemplations. However, soon the Meditations began to gain popularity outside of the sister order, and it was translated from its original language of Latin, into the majority of the spoken languages in Europe at the time. The Meditations on the Life of Christ became so popular and influenced the narrative of Jesus to such an extent that it has been called the Fifth Gospel. Even today, certain famous characteristics we know about the story of Jesus, like how Jesus and John the Baptist were best buds when they were little children, are actually not found in the Gospels, but were added by de‘ Cauli himself.

According to Madigan, during the high medieval period there was an “increasing devotional emphasis on identification with the suffering Christ and imitation of the life of Christ and the apostles” (Madigan, pg. 306). This change in Christian piety can also been seen through the art produced during this time. In the earlier stages of Christianity, Christ was often depicted as emotionless, stoic, and regal – stressing his divinity rather than his humanity. Around the period of 1050-1200, Christ changed from being the “impassive judge,” into a Christ who appeared more human, and as someone who suffered and felt pain like any other person would. Just as the depictions of Christ on the cross wanted to emphasize Christ’s humanity and his suffering to the viewer, de’ Cauli makes a similar effort in his writings about the passion of the Christ. Striving for his readers to attempt to fully empathize with Christ, by showing him as not just as the Son of God, but also asking the reader to “turn away your eyes from his divinity a little while and consider him purely as a man. You will see a fine youth, most noble and most innocent and most lovable, cruelly beaten and covered with blood and wounds” (pg. 95). de Cauli \\shows that despite his divinity, Christ is still suffering and still feels pain like any other young man would. Not only does de’ Cauli write of Christ physical pain, but he also highlights the relationship between Christ and his mother, and the anguish she feels over seeing her son in pain, writing that she “wished to die with him rather live any longer” (pg. 98).

Reading such a harrowing description of the experience of Christ during his last days must have reminded the readers of the importance of Christ sacrifice for mankind, and for the individual. To not be a faithful, or a good Christian would, in some ways, imply that Christ suffered and died in vain. So, in that sense the Meditations of the life of Christ works to continuously remind the reader to be a devoted Christian, and to be grateful for what Christ did. However, since Christ humanity is emphasized to such an extent, perhaps, Christ behavior was also supposed to be presented as an ideal to achieve. The daily life, challenges and struggles of a nun or monk, or laity for that matter is nothing compared to what Christ suffered. So those struggles and challenges faced here on earth should be embraced with the same humility and acceptance Christ showed.