The Sermones de sanctis by Jacobus de Varagine were composed during a crucial and troubled period in the history of the mendicant orders, in the years following the work of Humbert of Romans and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. It was then that the foundational experiences of Dominic and Francis were reinterpreted, alongside the events that had led to the establishment of the two orders, while at the same time, the hagiographical legends of the two saints were rewritten (presented in the sermons as deified and divine-like figures, providential men chosen by God to foretell the impending final judgment). Following this revisitation, Jacobus thus addresses key themes in the religious history of those years, such as the Immaculate Conception and the stigmata of Saint Francis.