Maestro Lucchese, A Franciscan Defends by Fire His Belief in the Immaculate Conception

1505-1510
Tempera on wood panel
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

Gibson and Cumming (XV, 362) record that in the late medieval period, when there was considerable resistance among theologians to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, there were indeed stories of Franciscans who were willing to prove it by stepping into fire. Chief among the opponents of the doctrine were the Dominicans, one of whom is shown on the left in this panel.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.