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Gift of
Professor Holand H. Bainton

OOTPRINTS

TALIAN

EFORMERS.

By JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D.,
Author of "Homes and Haunts of Luther,'' "Our English Bible," etc.

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
56 Paternoster Row ; 63 St. Paul's Churchyard,
and 164 Piccadilly.

"Prefatory JIote.

THE present Volume, which is offered as a companion to
" The Homes and Haunts of Luther," is based upcjii
observations made during my Italian tours, particularly those
of the last two years. I have fully availed myself of such
information respecting Italian Reformers and the religious affairs
connected with them in the sixteenth century, as may be
found in the works of Ranke, M'Crie, Young, and Alexander
Muston. But my chief contributions to the interesting story of
Protestant struggles in the beautiful peninsula, not generally
known to English readers, are derived from the recent researches
of Karl Benrath, Emilio Comba, and the authors . of articles
in " La Rivista Cristiana."
I am sorry that Signor Comba's valuable work, " Storia
della Riforma Italiana," has not proceeded beyond the first
volume, for I have not the benefit of his further investigations ;
but of the light which he has thrown on the Waldensians, I
have made large use ; and repeated conversations with him in
Florence have been in that respect and others very helpful.
Documents in our Record Office, carefully described in its
long series of most valuable Calendars, have afforded me
numerous additional illustrations respecting ecclesiastical events
in Rome, Venice, Bologna, and other places, at the period of the
Reformation. October, 1881.

FIRST CHURCH ERECTED FOR ITALIAN PROTE.STANTS
IN ROME.

, fOjNfENTg.

•.-.!

PAGE

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD . . . i
Illustrations: Turin— Castle of Turin — Villar — Bobbio — Pra
Del Tor — Rora — Monte Viso. '
PISA AND LUCCA* ,*  31
Illustrations^ Entrance to the Cathedral, Lucca — The Cathedral
and Campanile, Pisa — -Marble Pulpit in Lucca Cathedral —
Peter Martyr.
FLORENCE . . 49
Illustrations : Florence — Casa di Dante— Savonarola's Cell —
Savonarola — Martyrdom of Savonarola.
SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO . . 77
Illustrations : General View of Siena— House of Sta. Catherine,
Siena — Bernardino Ochino — Market Place, Siena —
Cathedral of Siena.
NAPLES  103
Illustrations : Naples — Virgil's Tomb — Island of Ischia.
ROME  127
Illustrations : Interior of St. Peter's — Castle of St. Angelo —
Ruins on the Roman Campagna.
PERUGIA . . ¦ 161
Illustration : Street in Perugia.

CONTENTS.

BOLOGNA AND MODENA .
Illustrations ¦¦ Bologna — The Cathedral, Modena.
FERRARA .
Illustrations : The Ducal Palace, Ferrara — Duchess Renee.
VENICE . .
Illustrations ; The Grand Canal: — Piazzetta — Bridge of Sighs.
MILAN AND THE LAKES .
Illustrations : Milan Cathedral — Lake Maggiore.
TRENT
Illustrations ¦¦ Trent — Council of Trent — Botzen.
Conclusion

page 171

193

213

259

277

295

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URIN AND ITS

N

EIGHBOURHOOD.

URIN, the Waldensian Valleys, and the city
of Aosta are included within the bound
aries of United Italy ; but of old they
were more or less independent. After
wards they became attached first to the
duchy of Savoy, next to the kingdom of
Sardinia. Though not, properly speaking,
either before or at the time of the Reformation
incorporated, with Italy, they claim, on account of
their historical associations, a notice at the opening
of this volume.
It is many years since I received my earliest
impressions of Turin ; once when returning from
the South, and once coming from Susa, after
crossing the Pass of Cenis on a brilliant night, the'
bells of the mules making monotonous but pleasant music in the
crispy air. Other first views of Italy are more imposing, — as from

4 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the grand descents of the Splugen, the St. Gothard, and the
Simplon, or from the rich chestnut groves of the Malbja ; — but the
mountains and valleys which line one's way to the capital of Savoy
have beauties of their own, which once seen are never to be
forgotten. Little incidents connected with journeys often leave a
magic memory behind ; and well do I recollect years ago the glow
worms and fire-flies in the hedges as night closed in — emblems
of the spiritual light-bearers in that region during the ages at
which we are about to glance.
Turin has on the whole a modern, almost common-place
look, with its broad streets and uniform houses ; but the walk
down to the broad and steady-flowing Pq commands a noble view
of neighbouring heights, and conducts to pleasant walks by the
water-side ; and the stranger, as he threads the streets which cross
at right angles, will lift up his eyes to the hills which open at the
ends of straight avenues, with green and rocky precipices, here
and there snow-capped, penetrating the cloud's. They form
unchangeable surroundings to a place which retains but little of an
antique appearance ; modern civilization, especially since the union
of Italy, having swallowed up vestiges of an early past. Yet
Turin runs back to an early date, and notice is taken of two towers
as Roman, the Torri Augustali ; but they have little pretension t o
so ancient an origin ; at any rate, they now belong to a castle erected
in the fifteenth century. A curious custom connected with the Eve
of St. John lingers in the Piazza Castello. Until of late an enormous
bonfire used at that season to be witnessed by the Royal family. It
was connected with a mediaeval belief, that on St. John's Eve evil
spirits haunted the air. Such superstitions abounded in the ninth
century, when a mark was made in the history of Turin by one
who first claims our attention.
Claude, Bishop of this see, was a Spaniard, appointed by the
Emperor Lewis in A.D. 820, just at the time when Carlovingian
opposition to the idolatrous worship of images was at its height,

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

and the eyes of a few were open to the growth of eeclesiastical
corruptions.. Claude seems to have opened his eyes wider than
other men, and to have seen farther into the depths of evil round
about him ; so much so that he alarmed many who were in sympathy
with himself, and roused displeasure in the conservators of ancient
customs. To use his own language, when he came into Italy, he
" found all the churches full of images and of votive offerings ; " —
words which remind us of what one sees, for example, at Lyons, in
the Church of Ndtre Dame de Fouvieres, where the walls are covered
with innumerable wax figures and pictures, commemorative of
escapes and cures through the help of the Virgin. The zealous
Bishop wished to make a clean sweep of such things, and even
crosses and relics came within the range of his censures. " Because,"
he says, " what men worshipped I began to destroy, immediately
they opened their mouths to condemn, and unless God had helped
me would have swallowed me up alive." "They said," he tells us
further, " we do not regard as Divine the images we reverence, we
only pay them respect for the sake of those they represent : " his
reply was, " If you have left the worship of heathen images that
you may worship images of saints, you have not relinquished
idolatry, but only changed the name." Yet again he argued : " If
people adore a piece of wood shaped into a cross, because Christ
hung on a cross, why not adore virgins because Christ was born of
a Virgin ? why not adore mangers because He laid in a manger ?
why not adore old rags, because when He was born He was wrapt
in swaddling-clothes ? " There was in this homely appeal a vein of
common sense, strongly reminding us of our own Latimer, whom
the Bishop of Turin, in the ninth century, resembled in honesty of
purpose and quaintness of denunciation. Nor did he spare the
corruptions of the Papacy. Without denying the supremacy of St.
Peter, or calling in question the primacy of his see, he contended
that they only were his successors who walked in hqly ways. " No
one," said he, "is to be called an apostle because he sits in an

6 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
apostle's chair, but only he who fulfils an apostle's office* Concern
ing those who only fill" the seat and not the office, the Lord hath
said, 'The scribes and Pharisees sit' in ptoses' seat. '" * Language
of this kind was very daring ; and some pf it was heard in those
days from other dignitaries, particularly Agobard, Bishop' of Lyons.
That part of the. country, including a portion of Ffctnce .and of
Savoy, seems to have been distinguished both by abounding super
stition on the one hand, and a condemnation of it on the other, and
also by a bold style of criticism in reference to certain occupants
of the Papal chair ; yet Papal censures fell on them lightly : in the
case of Claude it may be attributed to his standing high in Imperial
favour. The Frankish clergy at first sympathized with him, but
afterwards were displeased at some of his Censures, and obtained
the condemnation of them from an Imperial Council. He was cited
to appear before an ecclesiastical synod, but he boldly refused, one
of his antagonists declaring that he called it an assembly of asses.
Claude was careful not to separate himself from the Catholic
Church. He repudiated the charge of dividing the body of the
faithful. " I do not teach sectarianism, but hold and proclaim
truth and unity. Sects, schisms, and superstitious heresies I have
fought against and exterminated as far as possible, and God
helping me I shall not cease doing so." 2 It is difficult for some
persons to understand such a position. Claude had strong convic
tions derived from the Fathers — Cyprian in particular — respecting
Church unity as one visible organization, having divinely-appointed
ministers and sacraments : to separate from that appeared to
Claude an immense evil ; and therefore his course was simply to
protest against existing corruptions. It is moreover to be
remembered that a firm hold on certain evangelical principles did
not imply separation from the one Church of Christendom ; for
1 Gieseler cites these passages in his " Text Book of Ecclesiastical History," ii. 35.
2 "Ap. adv. Theod." quoted in Comba's " Storia dei Martiri della Riforma Italiana,"
125.

TURIN 'AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

Augustine and Ambrose had upheld (what are termed the doctrines,
of grace with remarkable force. Those: doctrines were not the
badge of a party outside the Church, but they were included in
pcthodox teaching within* its pale. Thgologidal tendencies of
different descriptions ..are seen in th&.controversy between Pelagius
and Augustine. Opinions^on the part of the former supported the
idea of human merit ; opinions on the part of the latter decidedly
exhibited the idea of Divine grate. Pelagianism was heresy.
Augustinianism was orthodoxy. Some writers were more pro
nounced on the Augustinian side than others ; and some were
suspected of Pelagian sympathies. Claude upheld the doctrines of
the Bishop of Hippo, maintaining that all which is good in man
proceeds from Divine mercy, and that to look for salvation through
human merit is utterly vain. He taught that Christ suffered for us,
and thereby justified us, that we are delivered from the law by
faith in Christ, and that they are the enemies of His cross who
say righteousness comes by the law, and not of faith by grace.
These passages occur in his Expositions of Scripture, which chiefly
consist of citations after a common mediaeval fashion, taken from
commentators such as Jerome, Augustine and Hilary. Such was
Claude, whose name is identified with Turin ; and in the absence
of any trustworthy picture of his person, his spiritual presence as
a bold, truth-loving man, hating superstition and formalism,
accompanies us, as we walk through streets which are now far
different from what they were when his shadow fell upon the walls.
The present Cathedral, or Duomo, was begun in 1498, and
consecrated in 1505 ; the building, however, has been considerably
altered, and only some arabesques in the pilasters of the arcade can
be regarded as portions of the original structure. No part of
Claude's cathedral now remains, but there is the fragment of a
column at the top of the entrance steps earlier than his time.
Turin is distinctly associated with the Reformation of the
sixteenth century. Celio Secundo Curione was a native of the

a FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
city. He received, as a legacy from his father, a beautiful MS. of
the Bible, which he read with deep interest ; and adopting, in
consequence, views opposed to Romanist doctrines, he was thrown
into prison. Released through the intercession of relatives, he
became an inmate of the Priory of St. Benigno ; and whilst' there,
abstracting certain relics from a box, he substituted a copy of the
Scriptures, writing over the reliquary — "This is the Ark of the
Covenant which contains the oracles of God, the true relics of the
Saints." That incident, which ended in his escaping to Milan,
occurred about 1 530, and it was followed by his exposure of a
monk, who had grossly misrepresented Martin Luther, by giving
false quotations from the Reformer's writings. Thus again
involving himself in trouble, Curione was brought to his native
place, and there, like St. Paul, was committed to an inner prison,
where his feet were made fast in the stocks. He seems to have
been skilful in contriving escapes, for on this occasion he persuaded
his jailer to allow one of his feet to be set free ; then managing, by
means of a quantity of rags, to make an artificial foot, he inserted
it in the room of the real one ; thus obtaining the use of both limbs
he contrived at night to reach a window, from which he dropped,
and then sought refuge in a village within the duchy of Milan.
After several romantic adventures we find him at Ferrara, at
Lucca, and other places, where he zealously employed himself in
teaching the principles of Protestantism.
Another instance of early Protestantism terminated very
differently. There was a young man, Geoffrey Varagle, or Varaille, who in
company with a monk from Urbino went on a mission for repressing
heresy. As sometimes happens, those who engage to support a
system become dissatisfied with it ; so it turned out in this
case ; for ere long the heresy-hunters began to feel doubts about
the Papal system, then exposed to vigorous assaults in Germany
and elsewhere. Doubt on one side began to produce conviction

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

on the other, and these men looked favourably on Protestant views.
Consequently they were apprehended on suspicion of heresy, and
imprisoned in Rome. Varaille did not attack the Church of his
fathers ; on the contrary, he manifested towards it a friendly dis
position, in consequence of which he obtained his liberty ; and
we find him attached to the Papal Legation in Paris. There he
became better informed respecting the main controversy of the age ;
for Paris was deeply moved by its agitation, and there if anywhere,
light could be thrown on the merits of the case. Varaille studied
the subject anew, and, excited by what he heard about the persecu
tion of Protestants, felt constrained to repair to Geneva, to ascertain
what John Calvin was doing in the lake-girt city. He embraced
Calvinism, and was invited to undertake the charge of a Protestant
church in the parish of St. John, in the Waldensian valleys. Return
ing one day from a visit to his birthplace — the little town of Busque —
just as he reached the foot of Monte Viso, he was, through the in
terference of a neighbouring prior, arrested and detained. After
gentle treatment, having " a richly-furnished house assigned him as
a prison," and after several examinations into the charges brought
against him, he was removed to Turin for a decisive trial. " Be
assured, gentlemen," he said when condemned, " that you will sooner
want wood for piles than ministers of the Gospel to seal their. faith
upon them, for they multiply daily, and the Word of God endures
for ever." He was burnt alive in the square of the old castle at
Turin, the Piazza Castello, as it is called, in the midst of a large area
surrounded by stately palaces, whence runs the Strada del Po to the
bridge which spans the river. Much of the castle is comparatively
modern, but the front facing the street just mentioned is of mediaeval
date, with the Torre Augustali flanking the sides. They were in
existence when Varaille suffered martyrdom ; and two paintings in
the Pinacoteca, showing a bridge, a ditch, and a rampart, near the
Cathedral, give an idea of the Turin of his day. In the piazza
blazed the fire in which poor Varaille's body was reduced to

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

ashes on the 26th of March, 1558. The executioner knelt down
and begged pardon for what he had to do. /Not only thee,"
answered the martyr, "but all who have caused my death."
" A dove," says Crespin, who narrates the tragedy, " flew around
the fire, and rose into the air, which was esteemed a sign of the
innocence of the martyr." Pious imaginations are wont at such a
time to read certain incidents as full of symbolized meaning ; and

CASTLE OF TURIN.

this little legend will even now strike many as conveying no inapt
similitude of the departure of a spirit pure and dove-like from
amidst the smoke of angry fires, into God's blue sky of love
and peace, which ever over-arches the scenes of this sinful and
suffering world.
Another victim, an old man who had suffered much before,

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

after witnessing the terrible execution, was branded with an iron
heated red-hot in the burning pile ; also two years before this,
Bartholomew Hector was burnt in the same place. Hippolyte
Roussier is further mentioned as undergoing a similar fate.
About thirty miles from Turin lies a large cluster of valleys,
forming a triangle in a large middle space between the Cenis Pass
and Monte Viso. They extend over a tract on the Italian side of
the Cottonian Alps, and may be separated into three divisions, the
largest and most important being the valley of Luzerna, with the
main stream of the Pelice. The valleys of Angrona and Rosa run
down into this central one, and to the north run up the adjacent
valleys of St. Martin and Perouse. The whole district is studded
with mountains, which, like the billows of the Atlantic, seem to
dash and mingle themselves together in wild and most unintelligible
confusion. Though snow mountains are within sight from certain
points, the scenery is scarcely Alpine, and in the fairest weather is
more beautiful than sublime. Rich meadows, patches of barley,
trellised vines, hills mottled over with spots and streaks of brown
and purple, green and gold ; gardens and orchards on the lower
slopes, chestnuts and walnuts, beech and oak, hazel and birch higher
up, — these are features of the landscape. . Luzerna — a town of con
siderable extent, with many good houses and an aspect of prosperity
— stands at the entrance of the valley bearing its name ; further
on is La Tour, decidedly inferior to Luzerna ; then comes Villar ;
and farther still to the west, Bobbio ; each declining in the scale of
civilization, the last being the rudest, roughest and dirtiest of the
whole. Such is the home of the present Waldenses ; such the scenes
of their fathers' far-famed sufferings and exploits — almost every
rock being associated with some romantic story of the olden time.
I visited the valleys last spring, not the best time for a tourist
in search of pleasure, but having this advantage in my case, as I
was in quest of Waldensian associations, that the vestiges of winter
still lingering in snow-drifts and cloud-wreaths, and dropping

12 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN' REFORMERS.
in drizzling rain and heavy showers, gave an idea of the inhos-
pitality of the elements on many a dark day, which added natural
discomfort to the inflictions of human intolerance ; at the same
time the promises and pledges of summer, in the bright verdure of
the fields, the early blossoms of the orchards, and the bursting buds
of the hill-side trees, suggested ah idea of the loveliness of the country
in June and Juiy ; and how all this must have soothed the spirits of

mmm

VILLAR.
Waldensian confessors in an hour of calm, as they saw in it the smile
of Divine love, and rejoiced in that favour which is better than life.
At the same time, what I saw of the industrial habits of the people,
? busy with their sheep, their cattle, and their market traffic — men
and women streaming down on foot from villages and chalets
perched on the heights, to buy and sell in the crowded streets and
TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 13
little piazza of La Tour— gave me some inkling of the daily life of
old Waldensians, who not only often fought and endured, but, like
other human beings, bought and sold, and went to market, and
were married and given in marriage. They did not always live
up to the high pitch which appears in startling narratives of past
centuries, but spent years in common-place employments, like
their honest and steady descendants.
The story of the Waldenses is a wide one, and complicated with a
large amount of controversy, of which no idea whatever is given in
many of the popular narratives relative to this interesting community.
Muston, in the last volume of his "Histoire Complete des Vau
dois," gives an enormous list of works bearing on the subject, some
in Latin, some in German, some in French, and some in English,
which may be classified in two large divisions of Roman Catholic
and Protestant — the former, of course; antagonistic, the latter more
or less friendly. The latter must be subdivided into those which
attribute a very early origin to the Waldensian Church and those
which dispute that point — considering the Church to have taken its
rise in the twelfth century. Not to mention German authorities, it
is sufficient to give the name of the French M. Muston, in his
" Histoire," as the most learned representative of the first class ; and
the name of the Italian Professor Comba, as the most learned
representative of the second class.
I will state my own conclusions before noticing those of Signor
Comba. It has long appeared to me very unsatisfactory to cite a
number of evangelical passages from mediaeval, Italian, and other
authors in proof of the existence of a fellowship among the inhabi
tants of the valleys, distinct from the Church of Rome ; because.
similar passages as to the doctrines of Divine grace may be easily
extracted from a number of authors who remained fully identified
with the predominant communion. A connection between Claude
of Turin and the Vaudois has never been satisfactorily traced;
and knowi ng what we do of his history, we see that he could not

14 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
have been the patron of any separate Protestant sect. The
true origin of the name of Waldo, and of the name Waldenses,
is not yet released from all obscurity; but this is plain, that
in 1 194, about a quarter of a century after the date assigned
to the mission of Peter Waldo, described as a citizen of Lyons,
an edict of Alphonso II. of Arragon speaks of persons denomi
nated Waldenses, and Sabbati, a circumstance which, though it
does not settle the question as to the origin of the term, shows
that at that time the Waldenses were connected if not identified
with the poor men of Lyons. It has often been affirmed that
the " Nobla Leyczon," a famous Waldensian composition, bears
at the beginning the date 1100; and that in it the people are
denominated Vaudes, or Vaudois. The latter statement is quite
true ; but, according to modern researches,1 the very MS. from
which the "Nobla Leyczon" was originally printed still exists in
the University of Cambridge, and there the number turns out to be
not a thousand and one, but a thousand and four — noi: Ben ha mil
e cent anz, but Ben ha mil e 4 cent anz, — a change which would
bring the " Nobla Leyczon " down as late as the fifteenth century.
Another MS. confirms this reading by the letters, " cccc anz." I
find it further stated that in other Waldensian MSS. are traces
of Hussite influence. The people of the valleys who came to be
called Waldenses are to be distinguished from contemporary sects
of a Manichaean stamp,2 i.e., those who believed in two independent
principles, good and evil, as lying at the fountain-head of creation.
" Friend and foe," says Gieseler, " have contributed to confuse the
history of the Waldenses. In the first place, they were confounded
with the Cathari or Albigenses, by Catholics, in order to make
1 Todd's "Books of the Vaudois,'' 210, 213. Robertson's "Church History,"
v. 328.2 The question of the heterodoxy of the Albigenses has been keenly contested, being
affirmed by Mosheim and Gieseler and denied by Allix and Faber. A later apologist has
appeared in F. de Portal, author of "Les Descendants des Albigenses et des Hugue
nots." Paris, i860.

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

them out Manichaeans ; by the Reformed, in order to clear the
Albigenses also from the imputations of Manichaeism." The Wal
denses were clearly distinguished from the Albigenses by some of
their Romanist adversaries, and the best accounts we have of the
former attest their acknowledged orthodoxy. They studied the Bible
in their own simple way, not with critical aids, but with an insight
into its spiritual meaning, such as in all. ages has been secured b.y
deep meditation and prayer. Their idea was to frame a system of
theology, not derived from Church creeds and rituals, but from
Biblical study. They claimed the right of lay preaching, and
also the lay administration of Christian ordinances ; many of them
insisting upon personal piety as an essential requisite for every
religious teacher. They proclaimed the free forgiveness of the
Gospel, saying in the Saviour's words to those who repented,
" Go and sin no more." They denied the doctrine of purgatory,
and prayers for the dead connected with it ; and as to oaths, war,
and capital punishment they resembled the Society of Friends.
They shunned worldly amusements, and by a code of compre
hensive moral precepts sought the noblest moral ends.1
These opinions I had formed before I became acquainted with
Professor Comba, and his elaborate work on the Reformation in
Italy. Though I do not accept all the inferences which he has.
drawn, it appears to me that he has established the following
points : the people called Waldenses do not appear on the field
of history earlier than the twelfth century ; they then are seen
scattered over Europe in the south of France, in the city of Metz,
1 " Before Wiclif s time the Waldensians came the nearest to the Biblical principles of
the Reformation, when, in their desire to justify their practice of free lay preaching, in
opposition to the Roman hierarchy, they appealed from the existing law of the Church to
Divine law, to the Word of God, to Holy Scripture. Thus they set against Church
tradition and Church law the Holy Scriptures as the higher and decisive authority, by
which they measured and tested not only the prohibi ion of lay preaching, but also other
ordinances and traditions of the existing Church." "John Wiclif and his English Pre
cursors," by Professor Lechler, translated by Dr. Lorimer, ii. 27.

16 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
and in the country of the Netherlands, their origin at this period
being ascribed by their enemies to Peter V/aldo pf Lyons ; Waldo
himself never visited the valleys ; but those who settled there as
emigrants from France, driven from their former homes by perse
cution, were deeply imbued with his opinions; possibly, even
probably, they found in Piedmont some previous inhabitants who
sympathized with them : soon after their arrival ' they were
subjected to persecution, nevertheless they produced a varied
literature of their own, of which a signal monument is preserved in
the " Nobla Leyczon." Their productions may be classified thus :
first, the most original, anterior to N the time of John Huss ; next
those that appeared or were altered under the influence of the
Hussite reaction, and under that of the Bohemian brethren ; and
lastly, those contemporary with the Reformation. Signor Comba
shows that the primitive faith of the Waldenses neither fell into
Pantheism nor rose to the fulness of Protestantism. They
believed in salvation by grace and justification by faith, but
they honoured the holy Virgin, they used the confessional, they
admitted the seven sacraments, and they believed in transub-
stantiation.1 ; I' made the acquaintance of Signor Comba in Florence a year-
ago, and had the advantage of further conversation with him
there this last spring, when he opened up stores of knowledge in a
way which proved him master of his subject. He is very earnest
in maintaining that the name Waldenses is derived from Peter
Waldo ; and his representations of Waldensian opinions include the,
statement, that though they were in some respects Dissenters in
practice, meeting for worship by themselves, and forming companies
of their own, they were not schismatics in theory, neyer losing
sight of the existence of good people in the Church of Rome.
1 These conclusions are abundantly supported in the first volume of ' ' Storia dei Martiri
della Reforma Italiana ; " the portion relative to the Waldenses has been translated and
published in America.

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 17

Under the influence of personal intercourse with this dis
tinguished scholar, and the perusal of his writings not only in the
" Storia dei Martiri," but in the " Revista Cristiana," I visited the
valleys, and will now briefly relate what I saw of the historical
localities in that romantic region.
' Accompanied by my daughter, I first drove along the valley of
Luzerna as far as Bobbio. The excursion in fine weather must be
very charming, and even with the abatement of dull weather we
found it extremely interesting. La Tour has a good Waldensian
church, a pleasant manse, a row of picturesque houses fronted by
gardens, and an orphanage ; but it has no longer a college — that
institution being removed to Florence, where it is conducted by
Signor Comba. The road to Villar is by the side of the Pelice,
which rushes along its rocky bed, and is not deeper than a broad
mountain torrent.
We called on the pastor at Villar, and were most kindly
received by him and his family. They were preparing for Easter,
when they expected a crowded church, with six hundred
communicants, the women all in their best attire, and wearing
snow-white caps. Our conversation became very animated when I
touched on Signor Comba's views, which find no favour in the
valleys. "We do not believe in them at, all here," protested one
of the intelligent daughters of the worthy minister; and she pro
ceeded to tell us that the controversy had been taken up in a local
newspaper — an earnest contest being carried on against modern
historical criticism in favour of old-fashioned Waldensian
traditions. We had passed on the way a little bridge, crossing a
mountain torrent, and hard by a sort of gateway, with a loophole
in the side wall ; whence, as our friends told us, the forefathers of
the village had entrenched themselves in the days of persecution,
and had fired through the loophole on the invaders of their
peaceful homes. Farther on, near Bobbio, a lofty hill was pointed
out as the scene of one of those covenant takings which charac-
c 2

i8

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

teristically figure in Waldensian legends. The next morning I
walked up toward the Pass of Angrogna, but the weather did
not permit of my exploring its more distant recesses.
In Angrogna a synod was held in 1532, and good old Farel, the
Swiss Reformer, came to it "mounted on a white horse." "The

tts&gF?

w^m

Reformers," to use the words of a Waldensian present on the
occasion, "were greatly rejoiced to see that people who had ever
-proved faithful— hthat Israel of the Alps to whose charge God had
committed for so ftiany centuries the Ark of the New Covenant —
thus eager in His service. And examining with interest the MS.

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 19

'copies of the Old and New Testaments in the vulgar tongue
which were among us correctly copied with the hand, at a date
beyond all memory, they marvelled at that favour of Heaven
which a people so small in number had enjoyed, and rendered
thanks to the Lord that the Bible had never been taken from
them." It was resolved to make use of these ancient copies for
the publication of a French Bible, which appeared in 15 35, the
same year in which Coverdale's English Version was published.
At the end of the volume are the words, " acheve" d' imprinter en la
ville et comti de Neufchastel, par Pierre de Wingle, diet Pirot, Van
MDXXX V le iiijsme jour de Juing" The publication cost the
Vaudois 1,500 golden crowns.
Besides the important decision respecting the Bible, the assem
bled Waldenses discussed certain questions of faith and practice,
bearing upon the relation in which they stood to the Churches
of the Reformation in Germany. Space forbids my entering
upon points canvassed by the Waldenses. They are noticed by
Muston in his "Israel of the Alps-;" but the most careful and
accurate account of them is furnished by Dr. Benrath from an
ancient MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, and printed in the fourth
volume of the " Revista Cristiana." It takes up such matters as
the lawfulness of oaths, the nature of good works, auricular confes
sion, the observance of the Sabbath, the essence of prayer, the
imposition of hands, and the taking of usury, not to mention other
practical points not arranged in any logical order. The 19th and
20th Articles distinctly state, that the elect were chosen before
the foundation of the world, and that those appointed to salvation
must be saved. So far the Waldenses agreed with Calvin. This
. solemn assembly was held in the open air ; " it met on one of those
shady pieces of level ground situated half way up the mountains,
in a verdant amphitheatre, shut in like an arena for giants by the
distant slopes pf the Pra del Tor, then crowned with, sparkling
snows." At a period subsequent to the meeting of this synod

2o FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
we find a place of worship built in Angrogna, the oldest Waldensian
church in existence, very plain in appearance, as may be supposed.
After that, higher up the valley, a chapel was erected at a place
named La Serre. Upon the Protestant portal in Angrogna there
still stands the appropriate inscription, "Allons, montons a la
montagne de l'Eternel, et a la maison du Dieu de Jacob ; et il
nous montrera de ses voies, et nous marcherons dans ses
sentiers." From the balcony and garden of the pastor's house in Angrpgna
there is a view of the valley, reminding one of " the land Beulah " in
the " Pilgrim's Progress "—with the " Delectable Mountains " close
at hand, and a region in the distance, leading, as by steps paved for
angel feet, up to the gates of the Heavenly City, where clouds of
crimson, purple, and gold are piled above the everlasting hills.
This is the Pra del Tor, or Meadow of the Tower. The pastors of
the Waldenses were called Barbas, a title of respect signifying, in the
language of the valleys, a term of relative endearment something
like our uncle. Here in this green paradisaical region, with a
stream struggling amidst broken rocks overhung by the walnut, the
willow, and the weeping ash, the Waldenses had their school of the
prophets. Scarcely any vestige remains of the building ; but
tradition says the Meadow of the Tower was the site on which it
stood. The Waldensian pastors trained up their young brethren for the
ministry, not indeed by an elaborate curriculum, but by the study
of the Gospels, especially St. Matthew and St. John,.and some of
the Epistles of Pauj— parts of Scripture which they were requited to
commit to memory. Here, during two or three successive winters,
whilst preparing for summer work, they devoted their time to .the
Latin, Romance and Italian languages. They spent the best parts
of some years in this retirement, catching an inspiration from the
.sceneryaround them.and gathering illustrations from roQks and trees
and flowers, from clouds and sun, from moon and stars, wherewith

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.

21

to set forth the Gospel in thoughts such as were likely to kindle the
imagination, of their mountain brethren. Then followed a solemn
ordination, by laying on of hands and prayer. Ministers were
supported out of voluntary offerings, divided annually into three
parts, one for themselves, one for the missionaries, one for the poor.
To aid them in their support, they received instruction in useful
trades ; and, as few of them married, and their habits were simple,

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PRA DEL TOR.

a small income sufficed for their maintenance. They changed
their abode every three years, except when advanced age rendered
removal undesirable ; and in the course of their ministrations they
preached, catechized, led the people in worship through a series
of low responses, and taught them in private loving hymns,
like the primitive Christians. The topics of their ministry are

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

thus described : "the absolute authority and inspiration of the
Bible ; the Trinity of the Godhead, the sinful state of mankind,
free salvation through Jesus Christ ; above all, faith working
by love." '
Into this same beautiful valley of Angrogna, where the Barbas
held their primitive college, Inquisitors entered in the beginning
of the fourteenth century ; and in 1476 the Lords of Pignerol and
Cavour were commanded by the widow of Amadeus IX. to bring
back the erring children of the valleys within the fold of the true
Church. One invasion of their liberty followed another. Innocent
vin. in 1487 fulminated a bull of excommunication, and summoned
all Catholics to enter on a crusade against these heretics. A Papal
legate took up his headquarters at Pignerol, in the Convent of
St. Lawrence, to carry on the work of conversion, first by per
suasion, then by force. " Do not condemn us," said a cPuple of
deputies sent by the Waldenses; "do not condemn us unheard,
for we are Christians and loyal subjects, and our Barbas are ready
to prove either in public or in private that our doctrines are agree
able to the Word of God." " We contemn the love of wealth, and
the thirst of power, with which we see our persecutors consumed ;
and our hope in God is stronger than our. desire to please men.
Take heed that you draw not His wrath upon yourselves by perse
cuting us ; and be assured that if God wills it, all the forces which
you have assembled against us will avail you nothing."2 Then
came war, and the Vaudois defended themselves with- a valour
which forms the subject of many a Waldensian legend. The Pra
del Tor — so peaceful when the Barbas studied there and preached,
so peaceful still as the tourist treads the valley— echoed in 1560
with the shout Viva Jesu Cristo, as the Waldenses defended their
hearths and homes. Down the rocks of Roccialla they hurled
stones on their enemies ; they built up barricades in the mountain
1 "Israel of the Alps," translation of Muston's " Histoire," i. 2 3.
2 " Israel of the Alps,", i. 30-32.

TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 23
paths, and into the clear stream of the river leaping in water
falls, they plunged the invaders.
Another bea utiful spot is found in the valley of Perpuse. There,
as in some other places in the Waldensian district, occurred -a
solemn covenant, such as pertains to seasons of peril. The
three Swiss patriots stood under the Seelesberg, in the Lake of
the Four Cantons, and swore an oath that they would stand fast
in the cause of their country's freedom ; also the Scotch in the
seventeenth century swore to uphold Christ's Crown and Covenant.
In a like spirit delegates from Pragela and Luzerna stood up in
1 561 before their brethren, pronouncing these memorable words :
" In the name of the Vaudois Churches of the Alps, of Dauphiny,
and of Piedmont, that are all here united, and whose representatives
we are, we here promise, with our hands upon the Bible and in the
presence of God, that all our valleys will courageously stand by
one another in what relates to religion, without prejudice to the
obedience due to their lawful superiors. We promise to maintain
the Bible, entire and without admixture, according to the usages
of the true Apostolic Church, stedfastly continuing in this holy
religion, although it should be at the peril of our lives, in order
that we may be able to leave it to our children intact and pure,
as we have received it from our fathers. We promise aid and
succour to our persecuted brethren, and not to regard individual
interests, but the common cause ; and not to wait upon men, but
upon God." '
D'Aubigne, the old French historian, relates in connection with
the war carried on by the Count de la Trinity, that when some
Waldensian deputies were addressed in this strain, " How dare
such wretches as you treat with a prince against whom you have
made war ? or how can such poor ignorant shepherds, who deserve
a gibbet for your folly, have the assurance to contest religious points
with a great prince, advised by men of learning and authorized;in
1 " Israel' of the Alps," i. 263.

34

*

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

his belief by the whole world ? " the oldest man amongst them
replied : " Our resistance has been just, since it was compulsory, and
God has approved it by the wonderful assistance He has afforded
us ; nor have we fought for worldly wealth, but purely for con
science sake ; and that, when we found our prince endeavouring

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to put an end to the true service of God, and actuated not by his
own will (as we charitably believe), but by that of others, while
executing with regret the commands of the Pope. With respect to
the simplicity with which you reproach us, God has blessed it, since
the most humble instruments are often the most agreeable to Him,

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TURIN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 27
and He can elevate the most ignoble for His own good purposes ;
the counsels of the Spirit aire sufficiently wise, the hearts He creates
are sufficiently courageous, and the arms which He strengthens
vigorous enough. We are ignorant, and affect no other eloquence
than to pray with faith. As to the death you threaten us with, the
word of our Sovereign is dearer than our lives ; at all events, he
who has the fear of God in his heart fears not death."1 The
answer is said to have made a favourable impression ; and peace
followed, in 1565, for a time.
But as I am restricted to the notice of incidents at the period
of the Reformation, and must not enter on later romantic chapters
of Waldensian . history, I must terminate these memorials by
referring to a romantic ravine, up which we drove, known as the
Rora, being the home of Gianavello, who occupies a high position
in the Vaudois annals. On the peak of Roch.eberas he and
his brave band stood watching their enemies and contriving
methods of self-defence. His house is nestled in the orchards
which grow by the roots of the towering cliffs. The rugged Van-
d olin, the lovely Angrogna, the summit of Monte Viso, all come
within view from this watch-tower ; and far away in the, distance
may be caught oh a fine day a sight of the city of Turin, with its
neighbouring Superga on the edge of the horizon.
Procgeding through Turin, in another direction, the traveller
arrives at Ivrea, and from Ivrea, Aosta is reached by diligence. You
enter undei? the Arco Delia Trinita, or Triumphal Arch of Augustus
a Roman structure with Corinthian pilasters, carrying back our
thoughts to Imperial times. The city is. associated with the name of
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, a reformer of theology in the
eleventh century, bo'rn here, and accustomed as a boy to look up to
the snowy Alps as God's throne ; and with the name of Bernard, a
1 " Authentic Details of the Waldenses," 178. This anonymous work contains,',a
personal narrative of travels, and abridged translations of " L' Histoire des Vaudpis,"
par Bresse, and "La Rentree Glorieuse," par Henri Arnaud.

28 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
monastic reformer and Archbishop of Aosta, who established the
world-known Hospice which bears his name. In this charmingly
situated little city other footprints may be traced. There was a
young man there, one Good Friday, who heard a friar declare in
the pulpit that Christ's sacrifice was daily renewed in the sacra
ment of the mass. "Christ has died only once," said this youth,
whose name was Nicholas Sartoire; "and He is now in heaven,
and will not return until the last day." " You do not then believe
in His corporal presence in the blessed host? " retorted a priest who
overheard the remark. " Do you know the Creed ? " asked the
young man. " Yes ; but what of that ? " " Is it not there said that
Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father ? " " Yes."
" Well, that is not in the host." Such was the kind of talk not only
on the German but on the Italian side of the Alps ; it was, however,
not so safe in the South as in the North. Consequently the in
quisitive young theologian got into trouble, and his friends contrived
an escape for him by night over the Pass of St. Bernard, hoping
he would reach the Swiss Cantons ; but at the village of St. Remy,
on the Savoy side of the frontier, he was again arrested, and
brought back to prison. Attempts to secure his rescue by appeal
ing to the authorities of Berne, under whose dominion he had
lived, proved in vain ; and when the rack came to be applied there
arose that sort of disputation which is not unfrequently reported
in torture-chamber proceedings. " Retract your errors," said the
judge. "Prove to me that I have errors," demanded the accused.
"The Church condemns you," urged the voice of authority. "But
the Bible acquits me," pleaded this advocate of the right of private
judgment. " You incur the punishment of death by your ob
stinacy," the priest proceeded to say. " He that shall persevere to
the end shall be saved," was the Protestant reply. " You wish, then,
to die ! " exclaimed the Inquisitor. " I wish to have eternal life,"
added the suffering confessor. So ended the colloquy. For his
obstinacy he was condemned to be burnt alive. Friends begged

Turin and its neighbourhood. 29
him to retract, holding, out the hope of obtaining pardon. He
replied : "The pardon I desire I have already obtained from God."
He was burnt at Aosta on the 4th of May, 1557.
Calvin's name, as everyone knows, is connected with the city.
A monumental stone contains an inscription recording his flight
from the place in 1541. Tradition alsp points to a farmhouse where •
he sojourned ; to a window by which he escaped ; and to a bridge
he crossed on his way.
In these days of sceptical inquiry the story of Calvin's labours
in Aosta has been treated as a myth. Professor Rilliet and
M. Douen decidedly reject it. But the learned and patient M,
Bonnet, after an examination of Aostian documents contributed by
him to the " Bulletin de l'Hist. du Protest Frangais," in a letter to
Professor Rilliet, seems to have established on a sound historical
basis the following points : That in 1536 Calvin brought over to
the side of the Reformation a number of persons in the Val
d'Aosta belonging to distinguished families, those of La Creste, La
Visiere, Vaudan, and Borgnion, not to mention others ; that his con
verts, together with himself, were charged with plotting a scheme
for the independence of the Aostians, who were to throw off the
Savoy yoke and connect themselves with the Swiss Cantons ; that
the Estates in 1536 unanimously resolved to the contrary, declar
ing their determination to live and die in obedience to the Duke
and Holy Church ; that Calvin and his adherents found much diffi
culty in getting over to Switzerland ; and that expiatory processions
were instituted at Aosta, in token of gratitude for their deliverance
from heresy and schism, the Bishop and the nobility, as well as the
common people, walking on a cold winter's day barefoot, and in
sackcloth and ashes.3 There is a tradition in Aosta that the cause
of Calvin's flight was his having promised to raise a dead man to
life, and his having failed in the attempt to do so ; whereupon the
1 Muston's " Israel of the Alps, " i. 122.
2Bnird's " Rise of the Huguenots," i. 207.
D 2

30

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

inhabitants were so enraged that he fled for his life at midnight, or
rather at an hour earlier. In proof of this — and the proof is worthy
of the story— an appeal is made to the practice in Aosta of dining
at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. While I was in the Vatican
Library looking over a catalogue of MSS. there preserved, I lighted
on the following item, " Calvinus Joannes — Miraculo finto de
Calvino." The pretended miracle thus referred to, in all proba
bility, relates to the legend at Aosta. I am sorry I had not an
opportunity of examining the document.

ENTRANCE TO THE CATHEDRAL, LUCCA.

ISA

and Lucca,

has been felicitously remarked respecting
the four world-renowned edifices of Pisa
that they are "fortunate in their solitude
and society." There they stand by them
selves, Cathedral, Baptistery, Campanile,
and Campo Santo, in a wide, desolate area
removed from closely-packed buildings,
crowded streets, and noisy bustle in the neighbour
ing town. The grouping is wonderfully picturesque
and harmonious. From the Baptistery, where the
citizens still carry their children, a few steps take
one to the Campo Santo, the last resting-place of
brave old Pisans, who deemed it a privilege to lie
in beds of earth brought from the Holy Land.
The cradle and the tomb are thus close together ;
and over both them and the Cathedral there falls
the shadow of that tower whose position is a puzzle, and whpse
seven bells have not only called to prayer, but rung out notes for
many a sorrow and for many a joy.
The Cathedral is one of the greatest architectural wonders in

34 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Italy, where wonders of that description abound. Seen again and
again, it overawes the .visitor ; each time it comes with a new
surprise, days and days being needed for full acquaintance with
the peculiarities of the edifice, its various parts and marvellous
perspectives, together with the pictures, statues, and carvings which
diversify the proportions of the structure. Here was held the
Council of 1409, an event of much , significance amongst the
antecedents of the Protestant Reformation.
More than a hundred years before, a Pope, Benedict XL, just
after his death had been described as Maleface, a wicked sorcerer.
For many months in 1305 the chair of St. Peter continued empty
because the Cardinals could not agree on a successor. When
Clement V. reached that elevation he moved from place to place in
France, and then settled at Avignon. The seventy years' captivity
at Avignon, as it was called, during which the most infamous cor
ruption prevailed, was of evil omen to the interests of Rome. The
first schism, which began in 1379, proved more mischievous still.
Pope was opposed to Pope — strange division in a Church which made
its boast of unity, and pointed to its succession of bishops as a
bond of perfectness. The scandal aroused indignation throughout
Europe; and it is curious to note that in 1394 the University of
Paris strove to heal the schism, and a chest was placed before the
members, that they might throw in their written .opinions as to
the best mode of effecting the object. Ten thousand papers were
then collected, and the three chief plans recommended were, first,
that both the existing claimants should abdicate ; secondly, that
they should by compromise agree to a list of persons to be sub
mitted for arbitration : thirdly, that the matter should be referred
to a general council. This third method, after the quarrel had
lasted fourteen years longer, was adopted in 1408, when summonses
" *were issued for holding a Council at Pisa the next year. The need
of a Reformation was almost universally felt.
Pisa was then subject to Florence. The first of these republics

PISA AND LUCCA. 35

had actually sold its cathedral to the other ; but on the 25th of
March, 1409, the former city might have vaunted superiority over
the latter owing to the magnificent .assembly convened within its
precincts. For there met twenty-two cardinals, four titular patri
archs, twelve archbishops, eighty bishops, and eighty-seven abbots ;
besides priors, proctors, generals and grand masters, ambassadors,
university deputies, and doctors of theology beyond number ; and
the attempt to picture their arrival — some coming by sea in galleys
of unwieldy build, but with imposing insignia of pomp and state ;
some by land, with long processions of attendant horsemen — tasks
the imagination. The difficulty in bringing the scene before one's
view increases on turning to. the Duomo, where they seated them
selves in due order, forming one House, that there should be no dis
tinction in the privilege of giving votes. It must have been a rare
spectacle when, in gorgeous robes, they crowded the nave and
choir, and performed the services of such an occasion. A sermon
was preached by a cardinal, who lamented the existing division
and exhorted to the restoration of unity. The rival pontiffs were,
by public proclamation at the cathedral door, summoned to appear
in person or by proxy ; and as they did not come they were de
clared contumacious. At the end of ten days' confinement in con
clave, the cardinals elected Peter of Candia, a Franciscan of Milan,
seyenty years old, to the vacant chair, and he took the name of
Alexander V. Another subject, besides the election of a new Pope,
lurked behind, which the Fathers had no wish to see put in a promi
nent position. So it was put off, and, in the last sitting, the new
Pope announced that the subject of Church Reform would be de
ferred to another Council, appointed for the year 141 2. But no
Council was then held ; yet four followed, springing out of that at
Pisa, in connection with the necessities of the times. It is natural
to think of them as harbingers of the Reformation.
The Council of Constance met in 141 4, and rendered itself in
famous by the execution of John Hus. They met under obligation

36 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
to promote reform, shifted on to their shoulders by the Fathers at
Pisa ; and now the chief thing they did was to burn the man who .,
strove to accomplish what they declined even to attempt.
The Council of Bale assembled in 143 1, when Christendom
remained in a divided state, for the spirit of religious inquiry was
not extinguished in the fires of Constance. Out of the ashes of Hus,
and Jerome of Prague, sprang influences which prepared for
changes greater than they contemplated ; and one moot-point at the
time came to the front — where lies the ultimate authority for the
settlement of religious controversies, in popes or councils, or the
Word of God ?
The Council of Bale was translated to Ferrara, which we intend
to visit ; and there, in 1438, Pope Eugene presided himself at the
head of only seventy-two bishops, and, instead of attempting reform,
he promulgated a decree against the Fathers who had assembled at
Bale. Differences between West and East were discussed, professedly
to bring about union; and after sixteen sessions it was carried that
the Council should, be transferred from Ferrara to Florence. Within
less than a year, the Council met in the latter city, when the points
of doctrine which separated the Greek from the Latin Church were
canvassed, and a decree of union was formulated, without advancing
one step towards the object proposed, as the continued alienation
of the two communions convincingly testifies. No other Council
pretended to be general was held during the fifteenth century ; but
in 1 5 1 1 we find a second meeting held at Pisa, aspiring to something
of a general character, because Julius IL, after having at his election
sworn to assemble one, had done nothing of the kind.
This brief sketch of successive Councils, suggested by what is
associated with Pisa, shows the state of things in the Roman
Catholic world just before Protestant Reformers made their
appearance, and proves how needful it was that earnest individuals
should take in hand the work which the Church in its collective
capacity refused to touch. " We have neither faith nor country

PISA AND LUCCA.

left," said Machiavelli ; " and this we owe to the Church and the
^priests." . Pisa and Lucca are intimately associated in the history of the
Reformation, as we shall see ; arising mainly from their being near

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THE CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, PISA.
each other. By rail it occupies about half an hour to cross the
space between them. Lucca is described as "the city which
formed the favourite winter quarters of the first Caesar, the city
which if enslaved was also glorified by the genius of Castruccio
Castracani, the city which preserved its republican independence

:¦*

38 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
for two centuries and a half after Florence and Siena had fallen." '
The Lucchese spirit of independence was manifested by many of
the citizens at the time of the Reformation.
In the Cathedral of Lucca, dedicated to San Martino — the apse
of which is " a Romanesque structure, with tall columnar arcades,
of grand and stately work, with galleries covered with the devices
of an exuberant fancy " — there is preserved a relic still famous,
but it was much more so in the sixteenth and preceding
centuries. William Rufus, " the Red King " of English history, we
are often told, was wont to swear by the face of St. Luke ; but his
favourite oath really was " per vultum de Lucca," by the face at
Lucca. That face is known in Italy as the Volto Santo, the Holy
Countenance, being an image carved on a crucifix. Nicodemus, so
runs the legend, was ordered by an angel to make a likeness of
Christ, and taking a hatchet cut down a cedar for the purpose.
Having fallen asleep over his work, he was astonished when he
woke to find that the wood had been transformed into the
Redeemer's likeness. It was brought to Leghorn, and thence taken
to Lucca, where it remained an object of unspeakable reverence
year after year.
Whilst the Cathedral boasting of such gross superstition still
proves the need of reform in Italy, the Church of San Fridiano
is connected with the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
Fridiano was an Irish saint, and the church dedicated to him
belonged to an Augustine abbey of high repute. Peter Martyr
Vermiglio, a Florentine, of whom more will be said hereafter,
was made prior of the brotherhood in 1541. He was at that
time anxious for reforms in the popular religion.
He aimed at improvements in education, and established a
seminary for the study of Divine truth, according to a fashion
then popular in the Roman Catholic communion. Other scholars
1 As my endeavour to visit Lucca was cut short half-way, I avail myself of what I
find in Hare's " Cities of Italy," ii. 494.

PISA AND LUCCA.

39

united with him in his work, and his department was the expla
nation of Holy Scripture, especially the Psalter and the New

MARBLE PULPIT IN LUCCA CATHEDRAL.

Testament. His lectures were attended by some of the Lucchese
grandees. With the labours of a professor he combined those of a

40 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
preacher, and during Advent and Lent gathered large congregations
to listen to sermons on the Gospels for the day. Not only did he
occupy the pulpit, but he instituted a society for spiritual edifica
tion ; and he is represented as forming a "separate Church," of
which he became pastor — a statement which must be qualified
by the remembrance that he still remained in fellowship with
Rome. " A separate Church," in the Protestant acceptation of the
words, was impossible at that time.
The Emperor Charles V. and the Pope Paul III. visited Lucca
in 1 541; and great excitement must have been produced by the
spectacle of two such potentates within the city walls. It would
be accompanied by magnificent processions, imposing Church
services and gorgeous banquets, in which the Prior of Fridiano
could not fail to have some share. He suffered no molestation
whilst the Imperial and Pontifical presence remained ; but the next
year we find the Bishop of Lucca writing to the municipal authori
ties touching the spread of heresy.
" Till now," he said, " it has been thought, as it was formerly by
our Lord the Pope, that the evil arose from pedants and women ;
but hearing of conventicles which are held in the Convent of St.
Augustine, and the doctrines which are taught and printed, and
seeing no hindrance is offered either by the spiritual or temporal
rulers of the city, and that they do not ask others to do what they
have not courage themselves to accomplish, we can only conclude
that all proceeds with their consent and approval." x
Spies watched the conduct of Peter Martyr Vermiglio ; tales
were told to his discredit ; plots were laid for the overthrow of his
authority ; but his popularity outside the priory walls stood him in
good stead, and baulked the efforts of his enemies. The latter, how
ever, persevered, and accused of heresy a friend of his, a certain
friar of the convent ; committed to prison, this friar was rescued
by the citizens ; but meeting with an accident, he was retaken,
1 Quoted in Young's "Life and Times of Paleario," i. 409.

PISA AND LUCCA.

4i

and conveyed to Rome. Martyr's foes, becoming more bold, now
attacked him with success, and lodged against him such charges as
secured a. citation to appear before a general congregation of his
order. He determined to disobey, evidently because he was
dissatisfied altogether with a monastic life ; the basis on which it
rested, as well as the corruptions it embraced, having opened his eyes

PETER MARTYR.

to its true character and its natural tendencies. It was not in a fit
of spleen, but from a conscientious conviction of the institution
being unsound and mischievous, that Peter Martyr sent the ring he
had worn as Prior to the authorities of his order. He abandoned
monkery, and having left Lucca for Florence, • there joined
Bernardino Ochino, and with other companions travelled to Zurich,

42 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the head-quarters of Protestantism in that part of Switzerland.
The step proves that Martyr had abandoned Popery altogether, and
had cast in his lot with such as were decided and thorough young
Reformers. From Zurich he proceeded to Strasburg, where we
shortly find him engaged as an academical professor. There he
published in Italian an exposition of the Apostles' Creed, which
rendered " to all an account of his faith ; " and there he issued an
epistle to his friends at Lucca, addressing them as " Ecclesiae'
Lucensis fidelibus." A distinct constitution on their part as a
Protestant Church is here recognised ; and it would appear that after
Peter Martyr left Lucca, the principles he had inculcated developed
themselves amongst his converts, and that they separated them
selves in fact, if not by public avowal, from the Church of Rome.
Some Lucchese monks had imbibed the views of the Prior, whilst
presiding over them, and consequently were arrested and thrown
into prison ; eighteen of the order are said to have left Italy for
Switzerland. Peter Martyr's little congregation, growing up into
greater distinctness and more decided separation, though opposed
by the priesthood, enjoyed the favour of several leading citizens,
who afforded it protection. Twelve years after his departure, he
wrote to his friends, " Such progress have you made for many years
in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it was unnecessary for me to excite
you by my letters ; and all that remained for me to do was to make
honourable mention of you everywhere, and to give thanks to our
Heavenly Father for the spiritual blessings with which He had
crowned you. In this I had an honourable motive, from reflecting
that my hand was honoured to lay the foundation of this good work,
in weakness, I confess, but still, by the grace of Christ, to your no
small profit. My joy was increased by learning that, after my
labours among you were over, God provided you with other and
able teachers, by whose prudent care and salutary instructions
the work begun in you was advanced." l
1 M'Crie's "History of the Reformation in Italy," 226.

PISA AND LUCCA. 43
Celio Secundo Curio, to whom the reader was introduced at
Turin, was one of the able teachers referred to in this letter. He
obtained office in the university, and there promoted the cause of
.Protestantism, much to the vexation of the clergy, who stirred up
the Roman Inquisition against him. Expecting a citation to appear
before that dread tribunal, Curio sought refuge at Ferrara, under
the protection of the Duchess Renee. Returning to the neighbour
hood of Lucca, he stopped at Pessa, where he experienced one of
those escapes which give a romantic air to the lives pf the Reformers.
Seated at dinner in the little inn, he saw a Barisello, or captain of
Papal soldiers, enter the room, and received from him a demand
that he should immediately deliver himself as a prisoner. He rose
to do so, " retaining unconsciously in his hand the knife with which
he had been carving his food."1 His athletic figure, and the
formidable weapon, which he had no thought, of employing, it
is said, struck the Barisello with a sudden panic ; and, availing
himself of this unexpected circumstance, Curio walked into
the stable, mounted his horse, and was soon at a distance from
the soldiers.
The Inquisition with its terrors was greatly detested by many
Italians, and with this detestation there came to be combined the
discontent of several Florentines, Pisans, and Sienese at the sub
version of their republican constitutions. These persons sought
refuge in Lucca, and there brooding over wrongs inflicted by both
Popes and Emperors, began to devise means for the recovery of
their former liberties. For refugees from one state to be laying
plots in another, was amongst the common incidents of those
troublous times ; and hence the exiles now mentioned busied
themselves in the way described. Francesco Burlamacchi was now
Gonfaloniere of the Lucchese troops ; and he placed himself at the
head of an enterprise for accomplishing more than the exiles
originally contemplated. Francis I., Charles v., and the Princes of
1 M'Crie's "History of the Reformation in Italy," 226.

44 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the Smalcaldic League were at that time (1546) pursuing very
different plans, in which political and ecclesiastical interests were
variously involved ; and Burlamacchi, availing himself of existing
antagonisms, thought that by the aid of Francis and the Smalcaldic
Leaguers he might overcome the Emperor, and advance the free
dom of the Italians. Protestant plans could easily be made to
coalesce with others of a simply political character ; but there
seems to be no evidence that the Reformed Church at Lucca took
part in Burlamacchi's schemes : at all events, those schemes
were frustrated. They became known to the Senate of Lucca and
the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the plotting Gonfaloniere pre
sently saw the inside of a prison at Milan : this discovery, and
the disgrace it brought on his co- conspirators, operated to the
disadvantage of the Lucchese Protestants, who though, as it
would appear, perfectly innocent, were supposed to sympathize
in attempts to alter the government.
After this, when the Reformed congregation at Lucca had
imagined itself for awhile quite secure, persecution arose with great
violence under Paul IV., and orders reached the city for suppressing
the Protestant conventicle; On the same night, the principal
members were seized and thrown into prison ; and their courage
failing at the sight of the rack, they made peace with the irresistible
tribunal on the best terms they could obtain. Some of them had
accused Peter Martyr of cowardice because of his flight ; it was
mortifying now to be themselves accused of cowardice because of
their submission. Pie wrote to them as follows : " How can I refrain
from lamentations, when I think that such a pleasant garden as the
Reformed Church at Lucca presented to the view, has been so com
pletely laid waste by the cruel tempest as scarcely to retain a
vestige of its former cultivation ? Those who did not know you
might have entertained fears that you would not be able to resist
the storm; it never could have entered into my mind that you would
fall so foully. After the knowledge you had of the fury of Anti-

PISA AND LUCCA. 45

christ, and of the danger which hung over your heads, when you
did not choose to retire by availing yourselves of what some call
the common remedy of the weak, but which in certain circumstances
I deem a wise precaution, your friends were disposed to say, ' These
hard and brave soldiers of Christ will not fly, because they are
determined, by their martyrdom and blood, to open a way for the
progress of the gospel in their native country ; emulating the noble
examples which are given every day by their brethren in France,
Belgium and England. Ah, how much have their hopes been
disappointed ! What matter of boasting has been given to our
Antichristian oppressors! But this confounding catastrophe is to
be deplored with tears rather than words." l There is a sting in
these rebukes, and no wonder. — the exile had the advantage over
people who looked like apostates ; and it would appear that the
Lucchese Protestants had been wont to boast of their firmness when
others gave way to persecution or persuasion. But though they
bent before the blast, their strength was not uprooted, and the trees
of the field in the goodly city amongst the hills were riot stripped
of all their honours. Protestantism was not crushed by all which
Paul IV. and the Inquisition could accomplish. I find that in
1556 many remained at Lucca, who had either recovered, or had
never given up the beliefs taught them; and they imitated their
teacher's example.. They fled from their country. Amongst them
were several distinguished families — the Micheli, the Turrettini, the
Calandrini, the Burlamacchi, the Diodati, the Balbani, the Minutoli.
Readers will recognise among these names some which are con
spicuous in Protestant literature. These citizens of Lucca crossed
the Alps and reached Geneva, where they joined their brethren
who had previously settled there ; certain divines who bore some
of these names distinguished themselves by learned authorship.
Even this large emigration did not sweep out of the place all seeds
of Protestantism. The year 1562 witnessed "heretics" at Lucca,
1 M'Crie's " History of the Reformation in Italy," 286.

46 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
who kept up a friendly correspondence with their countrymen
abroad, and managed to import books from Geneva and Lyons.'
Another stream of emigration followed. More families left the
city for the shores of Lake Leman ; and the magistrates, to stop the
flow, prohibited intercourse between the citizens and such religious
rebels. All, however, who betook themselves to Switzerland were
not of the orthodox faith. A gopd many Italians were free
thinkers, in the sense of wandering beyond the bounds of general
Christian belief. One Lucchese emigrant of this kind is especially
mentioned, a medical man named Simon Simon. After residing
at Geneva, he removed to Heidelberg, Leipsic, Prague and Cra
cow — being successively a Calvinist, a Lutheran, and an Arian.
Some called him a Jesuit, and an atheist.
A curious incident occurred more than a century afterwards.
Cardinal Spinola, Bishop of Lucca in 1679, wrote a letter to the
descendants of the refugees then residing in Geneva. He told them
how concerned he was that so many persons of noble extraction
and superior ability should in times of trouble have left their native
city ; what affection he felt for their families ; and how he cherished
a strong desire to see them within the bosom of the true Church,
for which object he sought the intercessions of the faithful. The
refugees replied — -reviewing the progress of the Reformation at
Lucca, criticising the contents of the Cardinal's letter, and cutting
off all hope of their recovery — by an appeal to the citizens as
"kinsmen according to the flesh still groping in the darkness of
Popery." 1 I am informed by a friend in Italy, that he had occasion to examine the city records
of Lucca, and found in them the names of well-known Protestants, who were driven away
by persecution, and sought shelter in Geneva., Information respecting these refugees is
given in " Le Refuge ItiUen-le Geneve aux xvi. et xvii. siecles," par J. B. G. Galiffe,
D.D. He gives their general history, and a long list of Italian families who were
formed into a distinct Church. He says, " L'organisation reguliere de l'Eglise, et
de la communaute' italiennes de Geneve ne date que de I552i e' mt l'oeuvre du marquis
Galeas Caracciolo," p. 36.

PISA AND LUCC4. 47

Lucca for a while appears to have been a centre of Protestant
influence. So strong was the impression made by Peter Martyr's
labours, that Reformers there propagated in the neighbourhood
the principles they had embraced. They sent missionaries to Pisa
with such success that the converts "formed themselves into a
Church, and had the sacrament of the Lord's Supper celebrated
among them ; " 1 but beyond this general fact, stated by M'Crie
on the authority of Simler, in his life of Peter Vermiglio, I am
unable to discover anything connected with the history of the
Reformation in that city.
Another name connected with the Reformation in Italy occurs
to me whilst thinking of Lucca. Aonio Paleario, who will meet us
again and again, became a classical professor there. Writing to one
of his learned correspondents, he says, " When the honourable men
invited me to interpret the classics for an hour every day, and
promised me suitable remuneration, I accepted it, however tiresome
and even hateful it is to me. For I have to speak every day with
out preparation, which is the part of a sophist. Not to do this, I
always devote a certain portion of time to the consideration of my
subject, which time I generally take from my night's rest. As I
do not approve of translations being unfurnished with the inex
haustible treasures of Greek literature, I employ the rest of the
day in studying Greek authors." 2
Paleario also lectured in public, and caused much excitement
among the literary Lucchese, whose minds were much occupied
with subjects belonging to the revival of ancient literature at that
period ; and by his studies he was preparing for subsequent work in
the domain of theology, where we shall find him before long in a
prominent position. " Not a single day passed," he says, " without
a great concourse of young men ; and such was the influence on
them of one man's oration in praise of eloquence, that not only
' M'Crie's "History of the Reformation in Italy," 154.
2 Young's "Life and Times of Paleario, " ii. 326.

48

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

did they purify their style from false latinity, but conceived
a dislike for its votaries." '
He went to Lucca in 1 5 50, and left it in 1 5 5 5 , a period some
years after Peter Martyr had departed from the place.
1 Young's " Life and Time,s of Paleario," ii. 330.

wo ?J

Flof\ence.
'• Of all the. fairest cities of the earth,
None is so fair as Florence."

sHESE words of the poet Rogers are verified
abundantly by most visitors. They are so
when, from the steps of the church of San
Miniato, one looks down on the winding ,
Arno, the bridges crossing it, the old Palace
Tower, the Bargello. the Duomo, the
Campanile, Santa Croce,- Santa Maria
Novella, the wooded Campagna, and the girdle
of hills dotted with villas. Wafer and stones
are seen at mid-day covered with a veil of golden
mist ; but in early morning and the late after
noon — while sky and clouds are of richer hues,
and the atmosphere is quite colourless — the
panorama is more bewitching still, from the
distinctness of objects far as well as near. And
similar effects are also produced when, coming
dow,n from Fiesole, the eye follows shadows cast by the declining
sun"T and takes in a .variety of foliage — the gfave-looking olive, the
graver cypress, grand as grave, contrasted with the gay livery of
other wooded brethren, and with the blue hills and blue sky : — all

52 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
these encircle as in a picture-frame the central objects on the Arno
banks. The river is like steel in a subdued light ; and crowded
buildings are seen pointing to the skies, whilst the westefn horizon
glows like the gold-field of an escutcheon. Nor can I forget how,
during a visit twenty-five years since, returning from the Grange
of Vallombrosa, amidst swelling uplands clothed with figs and
chestnuts, rich enjoyment came from rambles in little rocky dells,
and by the side of vineyards where clover was shooting up under
trellised vines. , Though all was Italian, the agricultural cultivation
of the then Grand Duchy made me think of scenes by the side
of rivers in dear Old England.
Florence now is not the Florence of the Middle Ages. It is not
so architecturally, except in a few instances. Certainly it is not so
politically, nor is it so sentimentally — or intellectually, or morally,
or religiously — if the expressions may be allowed. Changes began
to come over it long, long ago. If we go back to the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, we find Florentines living in an atmosphere of
thought and feeling very difficult for us to understand. Myths and
legends of all kinds, many of them full of poetic beauty, remain
painted on walls, sculptured in marble, and woven by traditional
association round many and many an edifice. They have a charm,
even in our prosaic age. But they had a meaning once, they have
lost now. The miracles of saints, the ministries of angels, the suf
ferings and achievements of prehistoric times, were to the people
then as real as any of the facts we now believe. In truth, there was
a second kind of world, supernatural, full of mystery, crowded with
all sorts of beings and agencies, which floated above and around the
citizens' daily life, as fully recognised, as firmly believed, as the
existence of their own dwellings. They had no scepticism about
what appears to modern thought a universe of dreams. It has been
said of Athens that it had a second population composed of statues
with which the living citizens daily mixed and dwelt. What these
works of art were to the old Greeks, the paintings and monuments

FLORENCE. 53

of Florence were to the citizens, only the latter had a firmer faith in
the associations suggested. At the same time, with all this child
like credulity, with this immense collection of imaginative beliefs,
there prevailed a system of spiritual despotism, claiming absolute
dominion over human consciences ; and in practice it was identified
with numerous social and moral corruptions, which poisoned
popular life in all its grades, from the highest to the lowest. It
had its seat and centre in Rome, but it extended its sway more
or less over the whole of Christendom, making itself especially
felt in Italy, and exerting its power with great effect in Florence.
Ignorance of what we now understand by the word literature
combined itself very naturally with such signs of the times as I
have indicated. Reading and writing were rare accomplishments.
Manuscripts were chiefly confined to monasteries. There' were no
printing-presses. The classics were much neglected. Few .scholars
could read Greek. Criticism, properly speaking, had scarcely come
into use. Metaphysical theology flourished. The schoolmen indeed
exhibited rare genius and industry. There was plenty of intellectual
action and achievement ; but literary culture, in its modern
acceptation, had not come to light. Social injustice and disorder
pre-eminently marked the period to which I refer ; and of this fact
Florence afforded a striking example ; for amongst faction-torn
republics, that city, with all its enterprise in commerce and art,
witnessed a large amount of ambition and injustice, of patriotism
and selfishness, of disinterestedness and cruelty. Finally, amongst
other evils, and the source of many of them, was the neglect of
Holy Scripture as the final test of religious truth. Not that a
verbal acquaintance with thev Old and New Testaments was un
common. The daily services of the Church, and even some of
the preaching, made many familiar with Bible texts as well as Bible
facts ; but the Word of God, as the supreme and conclusive autho
rity for Christian convictions, was neither upheld nor followed.
This condition of society rendered, the Reformation necessary.

54 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
It was in this field, grown over with so many thorns, that the
Reformers had to work ; and I shall now endeavour to trace the
footsteps of some who, by different methods, sought to improve
the times in which they lived, and who in varied degrees helped
beforehand to prepare for, or afterwards efficiently to promote
the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
I referred to the Albigenses in my first chapter. The Albigenses
appear to have been tinctured with Manichaean principles ; and
principles of the same kind were diffused in Northern Italy as early
as the eleventh century. Though there can be but little doubt as
to the fact of erroneous opinions being held by some of the
people so called, though many of them may perhaps justly be
connected with the class of persons engaged in the Albigensian
movement- of Southern France; yet, as we know that little care is
taken in the application of names to religious parties, it is quite
possible that the appellation of heretics was fastened upon
Christians who did little if anything more than oppose prevailing
superstition. Be that as it may, certain persons called Paterines are
spoken of as making an appearance in Florence at an early period,
and as attracting the attention of the Church authorities there.
Severe edicts against sectaries emanated from Imperial as well as
ecclesiastical sources ; but the principal agents in the work -of
repressing heresy were the order of friars instituted by Dominic in
the thirteenth century. What we call persecution they deemed a
work of justice and even mercy — justice in extinguishing evil, mercy
in saving others from its mischief and misery. Dominic sent some
of his order to Florence, who, about 1222, were settled down within
an enclosure on the outside of the city walls, where they built a
monastery, which grew into Santa Maria Novella, the first grand
architectural object which attracts the attention of the traveller as
he issues from the railway-station. There the brotherhood who
had special charge of the popular faith took up their head-quarters,
and there they unfurled their banners, with a significant blood-red

FLORENCE. * 55
cross on a white field, one of which is preserved in the sacristy of
the beautiful church. Fra Pietro of Verona — Peter Martyr, as he is
commonly called, from his having been murdered in 1252, when
engaged in one of his missions — was a member of the order, and
became well known in Florence through his pulpit eloquence.
According to the common practice of the Dominicans, he was a
street preacher. At the corner of the Palace of the Vecchietti, in
the Via Ferriocchi, leading .to the old market, he addressed large
crowds. " On one occasion he declared that he saw the Devil in the
shape of a black horse galloping past, and he exorcised him by
the sign of the cross. At other times he preached from a pulpit
attached to the walls of the oratory belonging to the Misericordia
now called the Bizallo. The hooks or cramps by which Peter
Martyr's pulpit was fastened were till recently to be seen there."1
In the course of his preaching he denounced heresy, and specially
attacked the people called s Paterines. They do not seem to have
quietly submitted to the friars' authority. Florentines generally
were not distinguished by meekness, and were not disposed to
endure with patience the rod of persecution. Few controversies
were settled in the city without an appeal to physical force.
Disputes which began in words, commonly ended in blows.
Battles were waged between the Dominicans and the Paterines :
Peter in person leading on his twelve captains with a band Pf
followers against the hated heretics, who are said to have been all
massacred with the exception of a few individuals , who fled to
a monastery situated beyond the Porta Romana of Florence.
The incident illustrates both the progress of free inquiry and
the violence employed to overcome it.
Amidst the spiritual and political despotism of the Papacy and
the gross corruption of the Roman court and its succession of
Pontiffs, there appeared one who made a deeper intellectual mark
on his age than any other man. Dante is known as a poet, but, in
1 Horner's "Walks in Florence," i. 96.

56 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

a certain sense, he was no less a Reformer; not that he disputed the
theology maintained in the schools, not that he pleaded for any
organic ecclesiastical changes, yet it is plain from his writings that
he aimed at political and moral results of a most important
reformatory description. His marvellous "Commedia" has employed
the pens of admiring critics ; and after perusing some of them,
while I cannot adopt Rossetti's extraordinarily fanciful theory of
a secret symbolical language against Rome from end to end —
preferring rather to walk in the light of Mrs. Oliphant's inartificial,
candid, and intelligent comments — I am constrained to regard the
wonderful author of dreams touching Hell, Purgatory, and Para
dise, as a great Reformer, full of ideas bearing on the political and
moral improvement of his country and mankind. There is one idea
very clearly brought out — that Rome at the time was a sink of
evils, and that Imperial rule was vastly to be preferred to that
which was Pontifical. It is remarked that Dante " sees no Pope
except St. Peter in Paradise, and no Emperor in Hell."1 No
doubt the Ghibelline, in opposition to the Guelphic, policy was
the practical form which Dante's speculations took ; but underneath
there were principles pointing to reforms in the Church, political
and moral reforms in the State. "Rome —
Was wont to boast two suns, whose several beams
Cast light on either way, the world's and God's. —
One since hath quenched the other : and the sword
Is grafted on the crook, and so conjoined,
Each must perforce decline to move, unawed
By fear of other." " The Church of Rome,
Mixing two governments that ill assort,
Hath missed her footing, fallen into the mire,
And there herself and burden much defiled. " 2

1 Stanley's "Christian Institutions," 219.
2 "Purgatory," Canto xvi. no, 127-129.

FLORENCE. 57
"Tell me now,
What treasures from St. Peter at the first
Our Lord demanded when He put the keys
Into his charge rL Surely He asked no more
But, ' Follow Me.' " "Your avarice
O'ercasts the world with mourning, under foot
Treading the good, and raising bad men up.
Of shepherds like to you the Evangelist
Was ware, when her' who sits upon the waves,
With kings in filthy whoredom he beheld ;
She who with seven heads towered at her birth,
And from ten horns her proof of glory drew,
Long as her spouse in virtue took delight.
Of gold and silver ye have made your god,
Differing wherein from the idolater,
But that he worships one, a hundred ye?
Ah ! Constantine, to how much ill gave birth,
Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower
Which the first wealthy father gained from thee. " J
Corruption is exposed with a view to its removal ; and this
obvious fact shows with what intent Dante painted his pictures of
corruption and scandal. The source of cure he points to When
he makes his confession of faith, and assigns its authority.
"From that truth
It cometh to me rather, which is shed
Through Moses ; the rapt Prophets ; and the Psalms ;
The Gospel ; and what ye yourselves did write,
When ye were gifted of the Holy Ghost." 2
Everyone is acquainted with what Dante did, by his " Divinb <K
Commedia," in the domain of an ecclesiastical and moral reforma
tion, though falling far short of the profounder Christian teaching of
two centuries later ; but it is not so generally known that he was
as Dr. Vincenzo Botta says, " the first to construct a philosophical
1 "Inferno," Canto xix. 91-94, 104-117.
Q He is addressing St. Peter, " Paradiso," Canto xxiv. 135-139.

5§

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

theory of the separation of the State from the Church in his " De
Monarchia," in which he advocated the independence of the civil
power from all ecclesiastical control." 1 A decided step in the
direction of that great political movement which accompanied
the Reformation, and which of late has been carried out to sur
prising lengths in the kingdom of Italy.
The Bard Reformer has left well-known footprints in what he
calls " the sheepfold of St. John," the bello ovile, 2 the " beautiful
sheepfold," as he also terms it.
._^ I spent a couple of hours one
morning in searching round the neigh
bourhood of Dante's birthplace. He
was born in a house, the front of
which is said to have been in the Via
Santa Margherita. A door belonging
to it, part of his father's shop, tradi
tion says, still remains in the street
now named after Dante, near the
little Piazza of San Martino. It is a
narrow, arched entrance, with broad
stone facings all round ; the door itself
being very old. Walking through an
intersecting passage, I came upon
the spot where the front of the dwel
ling stood, now a hostelry, very shabby and full of dirt ; but by the
side of it ran once a pretty garden lane, in which, looking down
from his window, the young poet could watch the movements
of Beatrice, who lived not far off, at the corner of the Via del Pro
consolo. At one corner of the Piazza San Martino is a tiny church,
which in size reminded me of the chapel at Bemerton, near Salisbury,
where good George Herbert worshipped. There are old paintings

CASA DI DANTE.

1 Ueberweg's "Hist, of Philosophy," ii. 462.
2 " Paradiso," Canto xxv. 5.

FLORENCE. 59

in it of a date later than Dante's time, executed in the style of
Filippino Lippr and Sandro Botticelli; to this primitive-looking
place Dante was taken as a child to say his prayers, and there
he was married — not to Beatrice, as everyone knows, but to
Gemma, daughter of Manetti Donati. In noticing the spot, let
me add that on tne wall by the church door is an inscription
cut into an old square stone — " Limosine per li poveri vergognosi
di S. Martino"1 (Alms for the modest poor of St. Martin). Those
words remind the Italian passer-by of Archbishop Antonino, of
the fifteenth century, who, though not a Reformer, was a bene
factor to the city, by the establishment of what were called
Providitori di poveri vergognosi, or, as they were commonly
called, Buonuomini di San Martino, good messengers of St.
Martin, from the church of that name being the head-quarters
of the fraternity. In the absence of poor laws, Antonino
established a system of voluntary parochial relief, of which
the square stone and the money-box over the inscription are
mementoes ; and he further provided for bringing up orphans
and destitute children, a provision connected with the Bigallo, a
charming piece of architecture close to the Baptistery, where a
like work of charity is still carried on. , In the fifteenth century,
fourteen thousand gold florins a year were collected by the society.
Girolamo Savonarola comes much nearer to our notion of a
religious Reformer than any other Florentines of pre-Reformation
times. That he did not reach a clear conception of the Gospel, such
as marked the teaching of Luther and others, must be admitted :
nor had he a true idea of the spirituality of Christ's kingdom. He
condemned the actions of Popes, rather than the principles of the
Papacy, and adhered to the dogmas and ceremonial of the Church
in most particulars. He was a mystic and a visionary, and
1 Near it is another inscription, to the effect that whoever is willing to contribute to
the poor of St. Martin's shall obtain long years' indulgence granted by the briefs of five
Popes.

6o

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

indulged in dreams by which he deceived himself as well as others.
But an evangelical spirit penetrated his mind : he aspired, under
motives of patriotism blended with piety, to the realization of an
ideal religious republic in his adopted city ; he wished to make the

Isf-

'wSRMBR'

mm

I

#fi

SAVONAROLA'S CELL.

inhabitants " fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God;" and, had they yielded to his moralizing influence, they
would have become a better and happier people than they were.
The Monastery of San Marco, the Duomo of St. John, the

FLORENCE. 61
Carreggi Villa, and the Bargello, with the Palazzo Vecchio and
Piazza, are associated with the main facts of Savonarola's history.
The Monastery of San Marco is now a museum, and there the
cell of Savonarola, at the end of the corridor, is carefully preserved.
It is a double cell, and contains a desk, on which some pf his
writing is exhibited, and a cabinet containing his hair shirt; his
rosary, and pieces of burnt wood taken from the pile on which
he suffered. In the farther cell is a picture of his execution, copied
from an original in one of the Roman palaces. Outside, in' the
corridor near the cell, is a charming Madonna and Child, painted
on the wall by the Reformer's friend, Fra Bartolommeo, who was
heart-stricken by his death. There also is the chapter-house, where,
as Prior, he transacted the business, of his order ; also the spacious
library, where he said to the monks, as he took his last leave, "My
sons, in the presence of God, before the sacred host, and with my
enemies already in the convent, I now confiim my doctrine. What
I have said came to me from God, and He is my witness in heaven
that what I say is true." In the convent garden — reminding one of
the damask roses forming " a canopy of bloom over the dark
head covered with its cowl " — Lorenzo de Medici said to one of
the brethren, " Has he asked for me ?" "No, father," replied the
monk. " Let him pursue his devotions Undisturbed," added the
prince-like visitor. " This man is a true monk, and the only- one I
have known who acts up to his profession." As we leave the
building let us not forget that in winter-time the square in front
was thronged for hours by multitudes, waiting to get 'in to hear
the Prior preach.
The Duomo — which from its vast extent, its severe simplicity,
its narrow painted windows, strikes one with a feeling of awe
followed by mystery — was the chief scene of Savonarola's triumphs
in preaching ;' and there his spirit seems still to linger, in harmony
with the strange gloom of the edifice, recalling to mind how once
that nave was filled by people who would stand on the cold

62 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
marble in the early morn, waiting for the padre to enter his
pulpit. The villa at Carreggi lies three miles out of Florence, along a
slightly ascending road, amidst fields and gardens ; and when the
gates are reached the building is found to be of unpretending
architecture, only massive and strong, commanding, on the side
farthest from the road, a charming view of a wide landscape, rich
in woodland and grassy fields, with tints of colour and plays of
light such as we never see in northern latitudes. In a room
within this house occurred a scene which has excited controversy.
Certainly Savonarola came here to see Lorenzo de Medici
on his dying bed. The priest required of the patient that he
should profess his belief in the true faith, which the latter
did immediately. Next Savonarola asked- for a promise of
future virtue and religion, in case of recovery, and of devout sub
mission .to the will of God in case of death. To all this Lorenzo
gave his assent. Thus far biographers are agreed ; but Roscoe,
following Politian, proceeds to say that on Savonarola's " quitting
the room, Lorenzo called him back, and as an unequivocal mark
that he harboured in his bosom no resentment against him for the
injuries which he had received, requested the priest would bestow
his benediction ; with which he instantly complied, Lorenzo making
the usual responses with a firm and collected voice." On the
other hand, a more common account — based on the authority of
the nephew of the celebrated Pico of Mirandola, Lorenzo's great
friend — is, that the friar stipulated with the merchant prince that he
should restore to Florence the independence and liberties he had
taken from it, and, on receiving no reply, left the room without
pronouncing the sentence of absolution. Roscoe refuses to accept
the latter account, simply on the ground of its evincing a party
spirit which did. not appear till after Lorenzo's death. But there
existed personal disapproval of Lorenzo's policy before that inci
dent occurred, quite sufficient to account for the conduct of the

FLORENCE.

63

Reformer ; and the prejudiced way in which the English biographer
describes his hero, and speaks of " factious purposes " on the part
of Lorenzo's visitor, is more than enough to throw suspicion on
his narrative. I see no ground for questioning the trustworthiness
of Pico's nephew; and I find that Mrs. Oliphant, on noticing the
omission made by Politian, quotes in full from the narrative of

SAVONAROLA.

Burlamacchi, " who seems to us," she adds, " at least as satis
factory a witness." He gives an account corresponding with that
which Roscoe rejects.
In the Bargello, the well-known Florentine prison, and in the
Palazzo Vecchio, not far from it, we reach the last traces of this

64 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
_  ,  ;  't .
great man. According to a MS. among the- treasures of the Maglia-
becchian Library, he underwent an examination, "first with words,, %-«.
then with threats, then with torture," and on the second day of his j%
imprisonment was twice stretched on the rack. On eight successive
days interrogations were continued ; and words extorted under the
pressure of a maddened brain were construed into a confession
of heresy and of pretensions with which he was charged. It is
hopeless to attempt any explanation of the terrible process through
which he passed, as the record of what he said " is devoid pf all
sense and valueless — as, indeed, are all the minutes of this
examination, which were falsified from the outset, and in which it
is difficult to guess what could have been the genuine answer. The
minutes were neither signed nor printed, nor publicly read ; they
were left as if broken off, and were no more attended to. They
were kept concealed, except the copy sent to the courts of Italy." 1
The garbled account of what was done and said by Savonarola
is but a specimen of the character of such records, arid should be
remembered when we come to notice the Archives of the Inqui
sition ; also we should bear in recollection the state of suffering
to which the victim was reduced by torture, showing that under
such circumstances the tormentors might extort almost any
confession they pleased.
I spent some hours in the library examining records connected
with Savonarola's trial, and found a minute account of it in harmony
with that given by Villari, in his life of the great Florentine martyr.
It is neatly written, and at the end gives the particulars of his
degradation. Two letters are appended, addressed to the Pope,
respecting " la Vita buono," the good life of the martyr ; one
by the brethren of San Marco, the other by above thirteen
hundred Florentine citizens. The names are all given.
Of all that I saw in this large library nothing interested me so
much as Savonarola's Bible, which he used to carry under his arm,
1 Villari, "Life of Savonarola," ii. 350.'

FLORENCE. ' ' 65

as priests do their breviary. It is entitled, " Biblia integra ; " the
, date is 149 1, and the type is beautifully clear. There are in the
margins copious notes in his own hand, and also several autograph
*pages at the end. A likeness of Savonarola is placed at the
beginning, with a MS. note stating that it belonged to him, and
that it comprises his prophecies written by himself. To the library
a vast collection of Savonarola's productions has been contributed
by Signor Guicciardini ; of these there is a catalogue, extending
altogether over sixty pages of close printing, enumerating
edition after edition of Savonarola's separate works, expository,
philosophical, political, theological, and prophetical, dating from
the year 1491.
In the Palazzo Vecchio is the chapel of San Bernardo, with
apostles and cherubs painted in fresco by Ridolfo Ghirlandajo ;
and there, with his two brethren, companions in tribulation
and patience, Savonarola celebrated the last sacrament, and was
permitted to pray in his own words, " Lord, I know that Thou art
that perfect Trinity, invisible, distinct, in Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost ; I know that Thou art the Eternal Word, that Thou didst
descend into the bosom of Mary, that Thou didst ascend upon the
cross to shed blood for our sins. , I pray Thee, that by that blood
I may have remission of my sins, for which I implore Thy forgive
ness, for every other offence or injury done to this city, and for
every other sin of which I may unconsciously have been guilty."
The execution took place in the Piazza in front of the old Castle
Palace. The picture in the cell at San Marco brings the whole
scene before us. There is a round platform, with a table and
candlesticks upon it, and a mitred bishop attended by priests and
other persons ; whilst, at right angles with the platform, is seen a
raised passage conducting to a pile of wood in flames. Three
groups are depicted walking towards it, each having a white figure
in the middle between two black ones. At the end of the raised
passage there rises out of the midst of the fire a lofty pole, on
g 2

66 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS. '¦>
' % ~^ ~ ' :
which three figures in white are suspended, the same persons
being thus repeated in one and the same picture, after a common
fashion with pre-Raphaelite artists. Groups of people are scat
tered over the area, arid many are standing under the shadow of"
the Loggia.
It is a curious fact, brought to light by Professor Comba, in his
" History of the Martyrs," that two brethren sent from Bohemia to
visit the Waldenses in their valleys, travelled to Florence on .the
way, and happened to be in that city at the time of Savonarola's
martyrdom. They witnessed the tragedy, and, with courage
heightened by what they saw, reproached severely a Waldensian
Christian whom just afterwards they found in Rome, for not
daring to proclaim his faith amidst the corrupting influences of
the Papal court. '
The Piazza which witnessed the martyrdom of Savonarola had
been the scene of a far different spectacle not long before. When
Prior of San Marco, he had declared it to be the will of God that
Florence should be a theocratical republic ; that Christ should
be King over the citizens. In accordance with this idea, he
sought to put down their licentiousness and vanity ; and for that
purpose sanctioned and encouraged the destruction of objects
identified with prevalent immorality and worldliness. Florentine
boys dressed in white, wearing olive chaplets, and carrying little
red crosses, went about the streets in procession, begging for the
anatema, i. e. such things as had come under the Prior's maledic
tion. They were brought into the Piazza, and formed what George
Eliot calls, in " Romola," " the pyramid of vanities ; " set on fire
in the presence of excited citizens, they blazed up to heaven, a
holocaust in honour of the new Divine commonwealth. It has
sometimes been supposed that valuable works of art formed parts
of the hecatomb ; but Professor Villari thinks that masks and
1 Professor Comba gives as his authority, Camerarius e Lasitius, ap. Zezschwitz,
" Die Katechismen," etc., p. 165.

MARTYRDOM OF SAVONAROLA.

68 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN. REFORMERS.
dresses prepared for the Carnival were the chief combustibles ; and
if, says Mrs. Oliphant, " a volume of Boccaccio, or a few copies
of the " Cariti Carnascialeschi," or even some of Botticelli's or
Bartolommeo's academical studies, got into the mass here and
there, I do not suppose any great harm was done." '
In connection with this story, I may mention a fact not so
commonly remembered. During Savonarola's short administration,
he wished the Sala del Consiglio in the Palazzo to be enlarged ; arid
Michael Angelo, then a youth, Leonardo da Vinci, then in his prime,
together with Giuliano da San Gallo, and II Cronaca, both celebrated
artists — the latter finding in the Florentine Reformer a generous
patron and benefactor — were consulted, and after Savonarola's
death they were engaged in the work.2 The hall as'it now stands
is really an architectural monument to Savonarola's memory ; and
the famous pictures intended for the walls by the two greatest
painters of the age were parts of the original design in its magnifi
cent completeness. The Prior of San Marco was not the barbarian
he is sometimes imagined to have been.
Before proceeding to describe certain evangelical Reformers in
Florence who appeared in the sixteenth century, let me refer for
one moment to the poet Berni, who died at Florence in 1536, and
was the author of the famous "Orlando Innamorato." That work,
with all its genius, is disfigured by marks of immorality such as
were common at the period; but the author in his latter days under
went a change, and he determined to add some stanzas expressive
of the evangelical sentiments which he had been led to embrace.
The new edition was suppressed before publication ; but Peter
Paul Vergerio, whom I shall have to notice hereafter, being in
possession of the added verses, had them printed, and they are
found to profess the doctrine of Christ, as opposed to the religion
of the Pope, and to teach the reader to place himself in the Divine
1 Mrs. Oliphant, "Makers of Florence," 284.
3 "Leonardo," by Jean Paul Richter, p. 70. He cites Vasari as his authority.

FLORENCE.

hands for salvation, acknowledging God's truth without fear of
man. Vergerio's tract, containing the suppressed passages, has been
reprinted by Panizzi,1 the eminent Italian scholar, w.ho says, in
reference to these and other similar writings, " the more we reflect
on the state of Italy at that time, the more -have we reason to
suspect that the reformed tenets were as popular among the. higher
classes in Italy in those days, as Liberal notions in ours." 2
The first decidedly Protestant name that we meet with in con
nection with Florence is that of Peter Martyr Vermiglio, with whom
the reader is already acquainted from notice taken of him at Lucca.
At this moment our attention is confined to his earliest years.
Peter Martyr, the Dominican preacher in Florence, has been
mentioned in this chapter. There was another Peter Martyr, i.e.
Pietro Martire, of Milan, a strenuous opponent of Arianism in the
fourth century.3 To the latter of these a church in the vicinity of
Florence was dedicated, and to the honour of this saint, Stefano
Vermiglio, and Maria Fumentina his wife, determined to consecrate,
in the year 1500, their new-born son, who was to be known by the
name of Peter Martyr Vermiglio. The parents had lost several
children, and hoped to preserve the life of their last-born infant by
placing him under the protection of this Milanese martyr. His
mother was a highly-educated woman, and taught him Latin,
translating for him the Comedies of Terence ; from which circum
stance I conclude that the lady had been smitten with the love of
classical learning, then in the ascendant amongst the aristo
cratic Florentines.
Peter Martyr Vermiglio when only sixteen determined to
become a monk. Such youthful decisions were not uncommon,
1 " Orlando de Boiardo Innamorato, with an Essay on the Romantic and Narrative
Poetry of the Italians." 1830. Vol. iii.
2 Quoted by Hallam (" Lit. of Europe," i. 504),who thinks the language "rather strong."
3 There was also Peter Martyr of Angheria, the author of numerous epistles in the
sixteenth century.

70 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
and they often displeased the tastes and interfered with the plans
of fathers and mothers. It was so in this case. Peter's father was
much disappointed and greatly vexed. He is spoken of as having
shared in a prevalent dislike to monastic ways, and as having
opened his eyes to Church corruption, under, the illumination of
Savonarola's preaching. Most likely he had expected his son to
marry, and perpetuate the name and importance of the family ; and
after these expectations were extinguished, and his first wife died,
he married again, but without having another child ; in conse
quence of this, he left much of his property to his second wife,
and the rest to a Strangers' Home, cutting off the young monk with
an allowance of fifty crowns a year. The convent selected by
Peter was that of Augustine, on the sunny side of Fiesole ; and there
he would become familiar with a villa with " balustraded terraces
and gardens of ancient cypresses, built by Cosmo the patriot,
inherited by Lorenzo the Magnificent, and celebrated ever since as
the seat of the philosophical academy which celebrated the birth
and death of Plato by an annual symposium." From his convent
young Peter would ramble round the ruins of ancient Fiesole,
an Etruscan city, with walls built of enormous blocks. There were
special literary attractions in that monastery, for it possessed a
valuable library, the gift of the Medici family. Elocution, we
are informed, was a subject of attention in the convent. It is not
without interest to add, that the sister of this youth, Gemina Felicita,
took the veil in a neighbouring nunnery, an establishment which
bore the name of the patron saint of the family, Pietro Martire, of
Milan. Coming down from Fiesole one bright afternoon I stopped
at the Augustine Monastery, with its church newly rebuilt, and was
conducted through the building, now used as a college for young
men students of art, and round the cloisters, which command
delightful views of the city of Florence. There not only did Peter
Martyr Vermiglio study, but Pico of Mirandola worked at his
Exposition of Genesis, and members of the Platonic Academy

FLORENCE. 71

gathered within the walls, which are close under the height
occupied by Lorenzo's favourite villa.
At the end of three years the juvenile Augustinian left Fiesole
for the University of Padua, where he ran a prosperous academic
course, to be followed by distinguished labours* as a canon of his
order at Rome, Bologna, Pisa, Venice, Mantua, Bergamo, and
Mpntserrat ; finally he was Abbot of Spoleto, and then Provost
of S. Pietro at Naples, where we shall meet him on a future page
at the opening of his Protestant career.
Antonio Brucioli makes his appearance as a Protestant Re
former about 1525 or 1527. Born at Florence in a late year of the
fifteenth century, and educated with all the advantages of advanced
culture enjoyed at that period, he early became a member of the
Platonic Academy. Though Medicean in literary sympathies, he
was by no means Medicean in political principle ; for, imbued with
a republican spirit, and jealous for the liberties of his fellow citizens,
he entered into a perilous conspiracy for the expulsion of Giulio de
Medici, and then to save himself fled to Venice, whence he retired
to France, and afterwards went to Germany, Early studies had
prepared him for proficiency in the knowledge of the Greek and
Hebrew Scriptures ; and having had his mind turned to the import
ance of personal religion, he read the Word of Life for his own
benefit, as well as that of others. Intercourse with Lutherans
brought him acquainted with the doctrines of the Saxon Reformer,
which at length he cordially embraced ; and after that change,
when the fortunes of the Medici had undergone a reverse, he
returned to his native city. He seems to have been a brave man,
and his outspoken opinions speedily brought him into trouble.
Advised to be more guarded in his spirit, he naively replied, " If I
speak truth, I cannot speak wrong." He had to encounter the
opposition of Dominicans belonging to Savonarola's Convent
pf St. Mark; and one of them, a popular preacher, denounced
from the pulpit this new controversialist, and playing upon the

72 FOOTPRINTS OF ITA LI A.N REFORMERS.
 t  ^ 
signification of his name, which in Italian means twigs or , shavings,
exclaimed, " Brucioli is fit for nothing but to be burned." His
previous political conduct afforded to his enemies an additional
handle for reproach ; therefore he was tjirown into prison, on the
double charge of heresy and treason ; but, through the interposition
of friends, he only received a mild sentence of banishment from
Florence for two years. He went to Venice, and there obtained a
precarious support through the labours of his pen. But his Bib
lical labours alone claim our attention. An Italian version of the
New Testament executed by him appeared at Venice in 1530. He
also composed a Commentary on the whole Bible, extending to
seven folio volumes. His translation had the honour of being
included in the first class of books prohibited by ecclesiastical
authority ; other works of his shared the same fate. " His Com
mentary on the Scriptures," remarks M'Crie, " is exceedingly rare ;
but a foreign writer, who examined it, and was every way qualified
to pronounce a correct Judgment on the subject, has assured us
that it contains numerous and decisive proofs of the author's attach
ment to evangelical truth." ' I saw a fine copy of his Biblical
works in the Magliabecchian Library.
Brucioli wrote a Preface to the New Testament, in which he
defends vernacular translations of Scriptures with great force,
much after the manner of other Reformers. " If," he says, " we
consider it in a pious and Christian point of view, would it not be a
. holy and praiseworthy thing if the ploughman, while he was' guid
ing the plough, were to sing Psalms in . his native tongue ; the
weaver at his loom were to refresh himself from his labours by
repeating some portions of Scripture ; and the boatman at the helm
were to chant sacred verses ? Thus all, while industriously occupied,
would solace their labours by the holy praises of God and the
words of the Gospel ; and the venerable matron, while employed
about the house or in spinning her flax, instead of talking with her
1 " History of the Reformation in Italy," 107.

FLORENCE. ¦¦£* 73

family about the Trojans, or Fiesole, or Rome, might recite passages
from the Gospels to her young .grandchildren."
It is greatly to the honour of Florence that no less than three
natives of triat oity should haye translated the . Holy Scriptures.
Besjdes Brucioli's version, there was one by Sante Marmochini,
printed at Venice in 1533, which, though professedly taken from the
original Hebrew and Greek, is in reality derived from the Vulgate,
except where it follows Brucioli. At a later period (1551) came forth
a version by Massimo Teofilo, printed at Lyons. Biblical labours
a. could not be safely carried on in Florence even by natives ; so the
printing-press there was beyond the reach of Protestant scholars
belonging to the republic. They had to live in exile, and to avail
themselves of foreign printers ; yet the learning cultivated in their
beautiful city bore fruit in the lives and efforts of the fugitives, and
there can be no doubt that, however much prohibited, reformed
opinions at the time made way in Tuscany. " Oh, Florence," said
one of its friars, " what is the meaning of Florence ? The flower of
Italy ; and thou wast so until these men beyond the Alps (meaning
the Lutherans) persuaded thee that man is justified by faith and
not by works."
Pietro Carnesecchi is another Florentine Reformer. He too
had a liberal education, and was praised as a young man of dis
tinguished virtue and liberal accomplishments. Attached to the
family of the Medici, he became first secretary and then protho-
notary to Clement VII., by whom he was so much trusted that
it came to be a common saying, " The Church was governed by
Carnesecchi rather than by Clement." At Naples he learned the
reformed doctrines ; and, becoming closely connected with some
Italian Protestants in different parts, he was accused of heresy and
of assisting those who were under the Church's ban. • But, enjoying
the favour of the Medici, and shielded by Paul III., he escaped
the usual penalties, and after temporary exile returned to Italy.
In Florence, at the corner of the Via Cavour, there is a stately

74 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
palace, such as one meets with at every turn in that palatial city,
with an imposing courtyard surrounded on all sides by an arcade.
In the upper part of the building is a chapel containing frescoes by
Benozzo Gozzoli, a large library, and numerous splendid apart
ments. It is now called the Palazzo Riccardi, from a Marchese
of that name who extended and adorned it ; but it originally
belonged to the Medici ; and at one corner pf the arcade there
stands empty an elaborately carved sarcophagus, once filled by
the corpse of Guccio Medici, who lived at the beginning of the
fourteenth century.
Here resided the Grand Duke Cosmo, in all the gorgeous
magnificence of the sixteenth century ; and probably in one of
its dining-rooms, certainly in one of his Florentine residences,
occurred the following incident, which covers his memory with
disgrace. On the accession of Pius V. Carnesecchi fled to his native city,
to seek protection from Cosmo, who had treated him as a friend.
He was sitting one day at the Duke's table, when a messenger arrived
from Rome, the Master of the Sacred Palace, furnished with
pontifical credentials, and demanding that Carnesecchi should be
immediately delivered into his hands. The Duke had political
and selfish reasons for compliance, and therefore, violating the laws
of hospitality, he surrendered his friend to the tender mercies of
a Roman tribunal. A diary kept by the Duke's representative
at Rome thus relates the result :
"1566, 5th July. Carnesecchi arrived here last night; they
have put him in the prison of the Inquisition." " 1567, 9th May. By
what I can understand, there are no means at present of helping
him ; and whatever you might do would be of no use to him, but
would spoil the openness and goodwill which you have manifested
by your actions against heretics. On this account you are con
sidered by the Pope as the most Catholic prince in Christendom."
The Grand Duke, however, did write on the poor man's behalf,

FLORENCE. 75
whereupon the ambassador informed him he would not have done
so had he known all ; adding, that his Holiness declared, " if he
had in his power a man who had killed ten people, he would not
hesitate to give him up to please the Duke ; " but about Carne
secchi, the writer could not say what would be the end, the sentence
being in the hands of the Lord Cardinals. Long communi
cations followed, duly delivered to the Duke ; in one of which the
ambassador says, " I heard from Lodovico Cerigiuola, that Pistoia,
the ex-Capuchin, had little hope of Carnesecchi's affairs, he having
said ' that they were trying to save him, but God chose that he
should die, and that he was willing to die." I understand that after
the sentence was passed, when he went to be degraded, he said a
heap of vain and frivolous things (un monte di vanita a leggerezze),
so that I think there is little hope of him."
" 3rd October. After my last letter to your Excellency of 26th
and 29th of last month, I received yours of the 28th and 29th, and
in answer I have to say that you need not think any more about
Carnesecchi, for on the morning of the ist he was beheaded on the
bridge,1 and then burned. He went to execution nicely dressed,
with a white shirt, a pair of new gloves, and a white handkerchief
in his hand. May it have pleased God to compassionate him in
the moment of death, for before it, by what I can learn, he had
not laid aside any of his perverse opinions." 2
At a later period we witness book burnings at Florence. In the
middle of the sixteenth century commissioners of the Holy Office
are seen busily at work together with the Director of the Hospital
of Santa Maria Novella. One day in December, 1551, twenty-two
penitents dressed in cloaks painted over with crosses and devils,
marched in procession to the Duomo, and the heretical books found
1 Most likely the Bridge of S. Angelo,
2 The journal is given in full by M. Young in the "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario,"
ii. 525, et seq. I have slightly altered the translation. Gibbings has published a "Report
of the Trial and Martyrdom of Pietro Carnesecchi," from mss. in the Dublin University.

76

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

in their possession were burnt in the Piazza. In the spring of 1559
another batch of condemned volumes were thrown into the 'flames
before the doors of Santa Croce.
The refectory of the convent, now turned into a museum, is
a long building, with an open timber roof, and a fresco of the Last
Supper at the farther end. Some of the heads are beautiful. Judas
is represented dipping his hand in the dish, and John lies almost
prostrate in the Saviour's lap. The building is connected with our
story, inasmuch as in it officers of the Inquisitionary Tribunal
have carried on their proceedings. There the)' sat, one victim after
another brought before them, to meet charges of heresy, and
'frightened into all sorts of confessions by the terrors of the rack.
lt brings a cloud over the mind of a visitor to the Church of Santa
Croce, the Westminster Abbey of Florence, to think of such dark
deeds going on in Dante's " sheepfold of St. John."

Til in HOT ' ' ¦ 1 mr-rrnr . i gj liflirii

O is w

< W

Siena, Orvieto, and Viterbo.

CITY set on a hill cannot be hid " are words
which repeatedly occurred to me during
the latter part of my journey from
Florence to Siena. The town of San
Miniato dei Tedeschi, marked by lofty
towers, stands on a summit surrounded by
a fruitful district. Castel Fiorentino comes
next, looking down on the Arno as it sweeps along
the vale. The picturesque Certaldo — where Boccaccio
spent so much of his life, and whose grave, but not his
monument, remains in the parish church — occupies
another elevated position. San Gimignano is situated
in a like manner. At last Siena is seen perched on
another of these mountain heights, its magnificent
cathedral enticing the traveller to ascend, and its inhabitants,
according to common testimony, the opposite of Dante's, affording
pleasant society to those who sojourn there. To what extent,
if any, the Reformation made way in the neighbouring Tuscan
towns and villages I do not know, but in Siena there are me
morials of its rise and progress worthy of careful notice.
The rain was falling in heavy showers on the morning of my

80 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
arrival ; the narrow, winding, dirty streets did not invite to any
pleasant rambles, but the Duomo proved a refuge from the storm ;
and on entering within its striped wallsj received an overwhelming
impression of the interior — the coloured roof, the stained windows,
the precious stones, the rich sculptures, and the mosaic floor ex
ceeding all the descriptions of them I ever read. But not there doN
memories of the Reformation arise, — though, indeed, one of the
Archbishops of the see, who must have ministered in this church,
is reported by Father Paul, in his " History of the Council of
Trent," to have ascribed all merit to Christ, and none to man, and
to have spoken of righteousness as obtained by faith alone.
But a more important person awaits attention. Bernardino
Ochino is conspicuous in the annals of the Reformation in Italy,
and his footprints are the first here we are led to follow: for Siena
was his native place, and he was born there in 1487. His name is
curiously connected with an object on the outskirts of the city.
There are two Sienese fountains spoken of in guide-books — a foun
tain in the Piazza del Campo, adorned with marble reliefs ; and
a fountain outside the walls, under the Church of S. Domenico,
bearing the name of Fontebranda.1 The fountain at Siena is so
named from the Branda family, who built the neighbouring quarter
of the city ; and that quarter, according to the symbolic fashion
of the age, bore for its ensign an Oca, or white goose, emblazoned
on a green field. Oca, say the etymologists, gave the name of Ocelo
or Ochino to the boy Bernardino, who was born in the parish — a
derivation which will appear to some readers rather far-fetched ;
but in such matters we must defer to authority. Whatever the
cause, Ochino is the name under which the Italian Reformer is
generally recognised ; and he has certainly deeply imprinted it
1 Fonte Branda is mentioned by Dante in the " Inferno," Cant. xxx. 78 ; and by some
commentators it is identified with the fountain at Siena; but P. Fraticelli, in his standard
edition of "La Divina Commedia" (p. 225), says it is the Fonte Branda in the
Casentino Valley, near Vallombrosa. Indeed, the preceding lines of Dante point in
the same direction.

SIENA, 'ORVIETO, AND VITERBO.

Si

on the story of his- native place. Siena is still renowned for its
connection with the sainted Catherine. " The boy grew up within
sight of the little hous©' and church that bears her name, and under
the influence of the many traditions concerning St. Catherine that
have been specially cherished in the parish, where to this day the
mother commends her child, and the girl her lover, to the protection
of their local saint." He earlv enrolled himselfin a branch of the

HOUSE OF ST. CATHERINE, SIENA.

Franciscan order, denominated Minores and Osservanti; and he
would be seen in the streets of Siena, wearing a woollen garment
bound about the waist with a white cord, and a sharp-pointed hood
hanging at the back of his shoulder. He exceeded others in his
ritualistic zeal, and introduced the practice of meditating before a
crucifix forty hours at a time. His habits as a friar are vividly
described by one who knew him well. " His age," says Bishop

82 • FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Gratian, " his austere manner of life, and the rudeness of his dress,
left so powerful an impression on the beholders that he was
looked up to as an extraordinary and highly-favoUred personage,
and venerated not only by the multitude, but also by princes and
just men, and by devout ladies not a few. ... In the most
magnificent houses, seated at luxurious tables, he still observed the
strictness of his rule, ate but of one dish, and sparingly, and though
offered the finest wines, drank nothing but water ; instead of
occupying the rich couch provided for him, he slept on the ground
wrapped in his cloak." '
Ochino must have been the most popular preacher of his day.
When he mounted the pulpit he emptied the churches in the place.
Rich and poor, high and low, crowded together to hear his voice ;
and the Emperor Charles v., who listened to him with delight, is
reported to have said, " Ochino preaches with immense power,
which can move stones to tears." No building was large enough
to accommodate his congregations. Scaffoldings were erected
to receive them ; tiles were lifted from the tops of houses,
that people might catch some of his words. He was elected
General of his order, and attained to high renown and influence
throughout the Peninsula ; and this being known by the Sienese,
they were anxious to enjoy his sacred oratory. " Four citizens,"
says a minute in the Chancellor's office, dated May 21,, 1539,
" were deputed to Friar Bernardino Ochino, to prevent his
leaving the city, and to entreat him to preach either in the
Cathedral or in the Palazzo. If necessary, the Pope to be written
to that he may remain in Siena." He preached in the Duomo,
and also in the Town Hall, which we shall presently visit, and
made an impression such as reminds us of modern Ritualistic
scenes, in consequence of which a municipal order was made in
June of the same year. " Remembering with reverence how good
1 Antonii M. Gratiani de Vita, J. F. Commendone Card., lib. ii. cap. ix. Quoted by
M. Young, " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," i. 352.

SIENA, ORVIETO,. AND VITERBO.

«3

and profitable for the salvation of souls the Reverend Friar Ber
nardino Ochino, of Siena, is, who preached so useful a discourse
this morning in the great hall of the Council, in order that , the
people may hear him, the illustrious gentleman and the Captain
of the people are entreated to invite him to preach another day,

BERNARDINO OCHINO.
either in the Cathedral or in the Public Town Hall, so that a
greater number of persons may be present." 1 ,_,. .;-
In 1564, when Ochino had become a decided Protestant, he
wrote to the Senate of Siena, telling them that "the salvation
of the true Church, and the ruin of the kingdom of Antichrist,
x" 1539, Giugno 21." MS. Cancellerie di Siena. Young, "Life and Times of Aonio
Paleario," i. 568. Benrath, in his "Life of Bernardino Ochino," pp. 24, 27, 96, gives
further illustrations of his popularity in Siena.

84 FOOTPRINTS ' OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
depend on one article alone,s and that is, living faith in Christ ; "
that he was himself persecuted for believing the doctrines of
St. Paul, who declares the helplessness of man apart from Jesus
Christ ; and he distinctly affirmed the cardinal doctrine of the
Reformers, that men are justified by faith, and not by works.
Leaving Ochino for the present, we turn to another Reformer,
not a native but an inhabitant of Siena, Aonio Paleario, a
renowned scholar, who settled there in October, 1530, and, in
a letter written at the time, thus describes the place :
" I came to Siena on the 27th of October, 1530. The city^is
seated on the brow of a beautiful hill, surrounded by a fertile and
abundantly productive country ; but it is corrupted by party spirit
and almost exhausted by factions ; the greater part of the nobility,
who are in general the only patrons of literature, live scattered in
villages and hamlets. . . . The inhabitants of Siena, as well as
the Tuscans in general, are of acute and vigorous intellects ; their
women are handsome ; the young men, since the academies have
been established, take delight in works written in their mother
tongue." * The object of these learned societies was the cultivation
of Italian language and literature.
Paleario mingled with the best society in Siena, and gathered
round him a number of friends, who were charmed with his com
pany, whilst they admired his genius as a philosopher and a poet —
characters which he united in the same kind of composition,
suggesting, however, this remark to Mr. Hallam, in his " Intro
duction to the Literature of Europe," that " Paleario aims rather to
be philosophical than poetical." Appointed by the Senate to be
a classical professor, and afterwards reading lectures on philosophy
and belles lettres, he acquired high renown ; but he made personal
enemies by some means, probably by the impulsiveness of his
disposition and the warmth of his temper.
" Paleario," observes the author of his Life, " presents himself to
1 Young, " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," i. 83.

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO. 85
us in his letters, in all the varied circumstances of social and
intellectual life ; and here we find the energies of his impulsive
character fully displayed. At one time eager in the pursuit of
good, at another indignant at the infliction of wrong. Not devoid
of ambition, but earnestly desiring better things. He was endued
with one of those finely organized natures capable of the loftiest
aspirations, and partook largely of those keen sensibilities which
' turn at the touch of joy or woe, and turning tremble too.'
Living in an age when injustice trampled upon right, and when
the morals and the doctrines of the Christian religion were almost
unknown, he has transmitted to posterity the animating spectacle
of a life of self-devotion to a glorious cause. With all the warm
affections of humanity full within him, he pressed forward, through
good and through evil report, to the accomplishment of his great
idea, a Reformation in Religion."
In the spacious and amphitheatre-like Piazza del Campo, lined
all round with ancient and picturesque buildings, stands the Palazzo
Pubblico, conspicuous by its lofty tower, and now used for public
offices. It was in the Middle Ages the centre of government, and
a scene of abundant civil strife, and is now famous for its antique
appearance, its time-worn staircase, its rambling passages, and its
gloomy apartments, adorned, however, with frescoes from the hands
of pre-Raphaelite Sienese artists. The Sala del gran Consiglio is
a spacious hall, containing a large painting of the Madonna
and Saints by Sermino di Sermone, in 1287 ; and adjoining it is
a chapel frescoed with legends of the Virgin by Taddeo Bartolo.
With that hall we may connect a remarkable passage in
Paleario's life. Having fallen into trouble, through social collisions,
as well as religious opinions, he there defended himself before
the City Senate.
His famous oration, which must have rung with eloquent tones
in the ears of the " Conscript Fathers," as he calls them, covers
fifteen closely-printed octavo pages. He charges his accusers with

86 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
personal animosity, vindicates the German Reformers against the
attacks of opponents, exposes the conspiracy formed for his ruin,
indulges in a good many violent personalities, defends himself
from the theological charges he had incurred, and finally appeals to
the equity of his judges. Two passages must have told powerfully
— one in reference to himself, and another in reference to his wife.
" My patrimony," he exclaimed, " is small, but in the secret recesses
of my soul conscience is pure, clear, and bright ; the furies do not
agitate it by day, nor alarm it with burning torches at night. Let
others be crowned with diadems, and clothed in purple, and sit
enthroned in chairs, with carpets spread under their "feet ; I with
my three-legged stool will retire into my library, and feel content
with a woollen robe to protect me from the cold, a handkerchief
to wipe my brow, and a couch on which to repose." " You, too,
my wife," he apostrophized at the close of his oration, " why are
you come clothed in deep mourning, accompanied by the more
devout and honourable matrons, to throw yourself and your
children at the feet of the senators ? Oh, my life, my light, my
soul ! Return home and educate your children ; with Christ as
their surety they will not want a father. Receive her, my mother-
in-law, in your arms ; she is beside herself with grief, and stop
my tears by removing her from hence."
We can imagine what a scene there was at that moment in
the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. In the course of his speech he
remarked that it was made a subject of accusation against him
that he had written in Italian on the great benefits which man
kind had derived from Christ's death.
The treatise to which he thus refers is a very remarkable one.
It was printed in Italian in 1543, with the title, "II Beneficio
di Cristo," and its character may be inferred from the remark of
a contemporary author : " Many are of opinion that there is
scarcely a book of this age, or at least in- the Italian language, so
sweet, so pious, so simple, so well fitted to instruct the ignorant

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO.

37

and weak, especially in the doctrine of justification."1 The work
was supposed to be lost irrecoverably, as the missing books of
Livy — so said Macaulay ; but some time ago it came to light, and
has been carefully edited. It attained a vast popularity on its

i#s

i N illil

mWsBm torn

HHi

MARKET PLACE, SIENA.

first appearance, 40,000 copies being sold in six years ; and it
must have effectively contributed to the circulation of Protestant
opinions throughout Italy at that time. Paleario seemed to claim
1 "Vergerio Amoenit Eccl.," M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 156.

88 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS-
the authorship of it, for he adds, " T said that from Him in whom
the Deity resides, and who so lovingly shed His blood for our
salvation, all may expect tranquillity and peace, and that we need
not doubt of the good will of heaven. / affirmed on the authority .
of most ancient and certain documents, that the final term of evil
was arrived, and that all guilt was wiped away from those who
turn their hearts to Christ crucified with full faith in Him, trust in
His promises, and confidently rest on one who cannot deceive."
But whether the authorship of this remarkable book belongs
properly to him or not, has been subject to a good deal of
controversy, on which I cannot enter. I would simply say that
my impression is, he must have had a considerable share in the
composition, but that others contributed much of the matter. The
question will come before us again. Paleario's history runs out
into a multiplicity of details, illustrative of an active Protestant
career ; and we shall cross his path again, before a final meeting
with Him in the city of Rome.
Ere we dismiss his name for a time it is proper for a moment
to advert to the town of Colle, situated not far from Siena. Near
to Colle he chose a rural abode, now known as the Villa Ceciniano, .-
in a secluded spot, where a walk is shown, called Aonio's Walk.
A request having been received in 1851, from the prefecture of
Siena, the Council of Colle resolved, that "as it is always
commendable to perpetuate the remembrance of persons of note
in the history of literature," they had no objection to the
fulfilment of the request to put up a stone on the door of the
house with the following words, Aonio Paleario lived here.
One member voted against the proposition ; and this circumstance,
connected with the very careful language employed, shows that
there was some demur at perpetuating the memory of this
Reformer. It may be further added, in the words of Dr. M'Crie, " Some
idea may be formed of the extent to which the Reformed

I'l-I*
:

m ¦
1

IlllIS ->M^j# 1g^--"M#T^^ J/' 'Ji^liK "'A- '

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO.

opinions had spread in Siena, from the number of individuals
belonging to it who at a subsequent period* submitted to a
voluntary exile on their account, among whom were Lactantio
Raghoni, Mino Celso, and the Soccini, who became celebrated
by giving their name to a new sect." ' - ,
Having left Siena, I travelled^ to Orvieto, and reached it late
in the evening, much perplexed^ during an hour's journey up a
winding road, as to where this mountain city had been built ; and,
after a night's rest in an old palace — transformed into an hotel,
with a huge romantic-looking saloon, cheered by a fire of blazing
wood, — I walked out early to see the cathedral, twin sister to that
at Siena, and found it all that the most glowing language can
describe. "Willingly," says an accomplished critic, "would I
descant on the matchless fagade of Orvieto, similar in style, but
more chaste and elegant than that of Siena ; on the graces of its
Lombard architecture, on its fretted arches and open galleries, its
columns varied in hue and form, its aspiring pediments, its
marigold- window, with the circling guard of saints and angels, its
quaint bas-reliefs, its many-hued marbles, its mosaic gilding
warming and enriching the whole, yet imparting no meretricious
gaudiness, the entire facade being the petrifaction of an illumi
nated missal, a triumphant blaze of beauty, obtained by the union
and tasteful combination of the three sister graces of art."2
In front of this amazing piece of architecture, so rich in
sculpture and colour, stands a long, straggling edifice, which, from
inscriptions on its walls, as well as from its general appearance, is
seen at once to be a Papal palace — a palace so remarkable for
pontifical associations as to have been occupied by no less than
thirty-four Popes. The cathedral fagade and the palatial building
are very suggestive in relation to the main topic of the present
volume — for the lives of thirty-four Popes, especially the mediaeval
1 " History of the Reformation in Italy," 159.
3 Crowe and Cavalcaselle, quoted by Hare,

92 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
ones, at once carry back our thoughts to the Papal court, and the
whole system of corrupt despotism, superstitious credulity, and
immoral practice, exposed by Dante, Petrarch, and so many
others. On the other hand, the sculptured fagade gathers round it
meditations on the facts of Scripture Revelation. "What depths
of thought," exclaims Hare, " are hidden in those tremendous
pictures between the doors ! First the whole story of Genesis ;
then the Old Testament story which follows Genesis, leading on
to the birth of Christ ; then the story of our Saviour's life upon
earth ; and lastly, the lessons of His redemption wrought for us in
the resurrection of the dead to the second life. Even the minor
figures which surround these greater subjects, how much they
have to tell us ! Take the wondrous angels which surround the
story of Christ ; the awe-stricken angel of the Salutation ; the
welcoming angel of the Flight into Egypt ; the praying angel of
the Temptation ; the suffering angel of the Betrayal ; the agonized
angel (and oh ! what a sublime figure, with its face covered with its
hands) of the Crucifixion ; the angel rapt in unutterable beati
tude of the Resurrection. Or let us look at the groups of
prophets who, standing beneath the life of Christ, foresee and
foretell its events — their eager invocation, their meditation, their
inspiration, their proclamation of that which was to be." Here
then, the corruptions of Christendom and the truths of Scripture
come out in distinct opposition, and there is revealed the source
whence sprang the impulses and efforts which led to the Reforma
tion in the sixteenth century. It was not from any extraneous
quarter that the spiritual forces of that event arose, but from within
the Word of God, its sublime facts, its deep principles, which,
however misunderstood and disfigured, remained amidst existing
evils, a protest against apostasy, a monitor of the mischiefs it
produced .
The palace reminded me of the Reformation in another way.
It is said in a letter written at Orvieto in March, 1528, " The Pope

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO. 93
lieth ... in an old palace of the Bishops of this city, ruinous and
decayed, where as we come to his priory chamber, we pass three
chambers all naked and unhanged, the roofs fallen down, and as we
can guess thirty persons, riff-raff and others, standing in the chambers
for a garnishment. And as for the Pope's bedchamber, all the-
apparel in it was not worth twenty nobles, bed and all." ' This
letter was written by Stephen Gardiner and Edward Fox — men
who played a distinguished part in England at the time of the
Reformation, and who were sent by Henry VIII. as ambassadors
to the Pope. Their visit occurred just after Henry had written a
paper on the legality of his marriage with Catherine of Arragon,
and their object in travelling to Rome was to obtain from Pope
Clement vii. a decision in harmony with the King's views.
Copious instructions were given by Cardinal Wolsey. Gardiner
and Fox were directed to declare everything which might be
necessary for the King's cause, and the King's petition ; and to
make it clear that the King's desire was "grounded upon justice,
and not from any grudge and displeasure to the Queen, whom
the King," they were to say, "honours and loves, and minds to
love, and to treat as his sister with all manner of kindness."
On the other hand, they were told to urge the excellent virtues
of the "gentlewoman (Lady Anne), the purity of her life,
her constant virginity, her maidenly and womanly pudicity, her
soberness, chasteness, meekness, humility, wisdom, descent of right
noble and high thorough royal blood, education in all good and '
laudable qualities and manners." They were then to consider
very carefully what answer the Pope might make to this message ;
and if they thought he intended to delay his decision, they were
commissioned to send notice immediately to that effect.
The letter written from Orvieto shows, by the way, that the Holy
Father, as he is called, did not always live amidst the pomp and
1 Printed in Pocock's " Records of the Reformation."
2 1528, No. 3913, State Papers, Foreign and Dom., Henry vm., vol. iv. pt. 2.

94 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
luxury often described ; and further we are reminded, as we think
of these ambassadors, of what Was going on in our own country at
the time, of the connection between Italy and England, of the
interchange of reports between these two countries, and how, in
those ill-furnished chambers, there would be much talk about Martin
Luther, and the progress of the new learning on our side of the
water; -nor would Gardiner and Fox fail to hear how the country
they were visiting had begun to catch an infection, in their
judgment, more fatal than the plague.
Further south lies the city of Viterbo, on the base of the
Ciminian Hills. It is called by old chroniclers the " city of beauti
ful fountains and beautiful women," and is rightly known, according
to Mr. Hare, as the Nuremberg of Italy. " Such wonderful old
houses with sculptured corners, Gothic windows, and heavy outside
staircases resting on huge corbels. Such a wealth of sparkling
water playing around the grand Gothic fountains, and washing
the carved lions and other monsters which adorn them."
At Viterbo we come in contact with our fellow-countryman,
Reginald Pole, and in his company • with other distinguished
persons more or less associated with the Reformation. Pole was
made a Cardinal in 1537, and as soon as he reached that dignity,
he discovered how large was the expenditure involved; for though
a man personally of simple habits, he had to maintain a splendid
retinue, and in the management of money matters he is said to
have exhibited extravagance. As an assistance to his purse, as well
as an accession to his dignity, he had conferred upon him as papal
delegate, the government of that portion of St. Peter's patrimony
which lies round the city of Viterbo. In a letter written about
1539, he says that, "When by Divine Providence he detached
himself from his country, parents, and kinsfolk, placing himself
in the hands of the Pope, he earnestly prayed to be relieved from
the embarrassment in which he saw others involved, by awaiting
from foreign powers, rather than the Lord's sole Vicar, what was

SIENA, ORVIETO AND VITERBO. 95
necessary for the maintenance of their dignity." "But this," he
acknowledges, " he had now obtained by the Divine appointment,
through the Pope's goodness, to the legation at Viterbo ; and he
would shortly return thanks orally, and kiss the Pope's feet ;
but in the meanwhile he announced how he was affected by
so great and opportune a benefit conferred at a moment when the
succour was greatly needed." '
Pole commenced his administration by an act redounding to his
credit. Two Englishmen were apprehended, charged with attempting
to murder him, and of the crime they confessed themselves guilty.
When they were brought before the Cardinal at Viterbo, he only
sentenced them to the galleys for a few days, that they might make
known to their fellow-countrymen what wretchedness, but for his
clemency, they must have endured had their lives been spared ; for
the only legal alternative was death or the prolonged existence of
a galley-slave. At this period of his life, Pole's sentiments on the
subject of justification by faith were the same as those inculcated
in " II Beneficio di Cristi," attributed to Paleario. I have quoted an
eulogium upon it from the pen of Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'Istria,
and at the close of his words he adds, " I will say more. Reginald
Pole, the valued friend of Morone, is esteemed the author of it, or
partly so ; at least, it is known that he, with Flaminio, Priuli, and
his other friends, defended it, and laboured for its circulation."
That Pole was not the author, we may be sure ; but he might have
had some hand in its preparation for the press ; at all events, what
Vergerio says is a proof of the evangelical views maintained by the
Cardinal at that time.
The kind of life which Pole spent in his palace at Viterbo can
be easily imagined from What we find in his memoirs. His household
was kept in good order, and scenes of dissipation and licence, such
as might be witnessed in the homes of some Cardinals, were un
known. A minute account is preserved of the daily order of his
1 Dated Dec, 1539. Calendar of State Papers, edited by Rawdon Blown, vol. v.

96 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Eminence and attendants, when in another place;1 and no doubt
it gives a true idea of what went on, when as Papal Delegate
he ruled a part of St. Peter's patrimony. In the morning private
studies and devotions were pursued by each person in his own
apartment ; before dinner they assembled in the private chapel, and
a service was conducted by the Master of the Ceremonies. After
mass they dined, and selections were read out of St. Bernard's
works. Conversation followed, and again there was reading.
Afterwards they reassembled at vespers, and Pole himself ex
pounded St. Paul's Epistles, enlarging upon clerical duties and
responsibilities. When lecture was over they would take a walk,
enjoying the scenery of the "sweet and pleasant land of Italy,"
as Pole termed the country of his abode.
Evidently formed for the enjoyment of friendship, he gathered
around him a choice circle at Viterbo, as he did in other places.
Amongst chosen companions was Peter Martyr. He had not then
terminated his connection with Rome, but he had embraced tenets
which pointed in a Protestant direction, and was strong in his belief
of justification by faith. Even Carnesecchi we find enumerated
amongst Pole's associates at Viterbo. Writing to Contarini,
describing what he had done, the latter remarks : " The remainder
of the day was spent in the holy and profitable society of Signor
Carnesecchi and our Marc Antonio Flaminio. I call it profitable be
cause in the evening Marc Antonio gave me and most of my family
a supper of ' the bread which perishes not,' in such a manner that I
know not when I have felt greater consolation or greater edifica
tion." Some who never imperilled themselves by professing what
was acknowledged to be heretical,2 but who strongly sympathized
with Reformers in the early stage of their career, might be found
under the roof of the Cardinal. That was the case with the cele
brated Flaminio, noticed in Pole's letter, who declined the office of
1 See Hook's " Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," vii.
2 Dec. 9, 1541. Quoted by Young, " Life and Times of Paleario," ii. 224.

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO. $7
pontifical secretary offered by Leo x., and who, according to the
historian Ranke,1 expressed in his works, especially his exposition
of the Psalms, doctrinal views of a decidedly Protestant type. Yet
he acknowledged the Papal supremacy; and to this very work,
so Protestant in its dogmatic spirit, he prefixed a dedication, in
which he addressed the Pope as " the Watchman and Prince of all
Holiness, the vicegerent of God upon earth." Such a circumstance,
though perhaps an extreme case, illustrates the not uncommon
combination in Italy of decided Protestantism with rank Popery;
and this very combination would , recommend Flaminio to Pole,
who in this respect so much resembled him. Flaminio was more
than the Cardinal's guest. He was one of his household, and
treated as a son.
Nobody is more conspicuous amongst Italians who held a
doctrine of justification like that of Luther, than Cardinal Contarini.
He published a tract on the subject, in which he distinguished
between two kinds of righteousness — that inherent in us, and that
imputed through Christ. If asked on whichwe should rely, Contarini.
remarks, "A pious man will answer, We can trust to the latter
alone." " Our righteousness," he goes on to say, " is only inchoate,
incomplete, full of defects; the righteousness of Christ, on the other
hand, true, perfect, thoroughly and alone pleasing in the eyes of
God. For its sake alone can we trust to be justified before God."
This passage appears in the Paris edition of 1571, but not in the
Venetian edition of 1589, a circumstance which indicates how
unwelcome such teaching was to Papal authorities after the Council
of Trent. The Inquisitor-General of Venice tampered with the
book, omitting some passages and altering others, before the new
edition could receive an imprimatur. Contarini was very anxious
to promote an understanding between the Lutherans and the
Roman Catholics, and in the doctrine now referred to approached
so closely to the former, that little difference on that point remained
1 " History of the Popes," i. 139.
.K

98 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
between him and them. Nor — as it appears from what has been
stated already — did he stand alone in this respect ; Seripando,
General of the Augustine order, whilst declaring he did not adopt
the Lutheran tenet, yet admitted a twofold righteousness — one
inhereribfthrough unmerited grace, the other imputed, able to
compensate for all defects, and sufficient to secure the salvation
of the imperfect.1
And this illustrious person, Gaspar Contarini, of whom I shall
have more to say in connection with Venice, enjoyed a close
friendship with Pole, who said of him that he lacked nothing
which the grace of God communicated to the soul of man.
Another person demands particular notice — Vittoria Colonna,
Marchioness of Pescara, who lost her husband in early life, and
never ceased to mourn for him as long as she continued in this
world. A woman of deep piety, she sought the friendship of those
whom she considered capable of strengthening her faith ; and after
having chosen Contarini as spiritual adviser, and having lost him by
death, she gave her confidence to Pole. " I have no other spiritual
guide," she said, "now, than Monsignor the English Cardinal, his
true and intimate friend, his more than brother." She was ten years
older than Pole; and, speaking of this estimable lady, he expressed
feelings of filial affection, and regarded her as a mother. There
was in the city of Viterbo a convent dedicated to Santa Caterina,
and to it the Marchioness retired for a while in 1541 ; indeed
she made it her chief residence until the ,year of her death
in 1546, employing herself in the education of the younger
members of the sisterhood. Whilst at Viterbo she was taken
ill, when a celebrated physician of Verona sent her a prescription
of milk and rice with an emulsion of poppy-heads and other
ingredients ; but above all " he recommends that she should have
recourse to a physician for her mind, and suggests that Cardinal
Pole should be consulted, and requested to lay his authority upon
1 Ranke, "History of the Popes," i. 205.

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO. 99
her not to exert herself too much." Otherwise he says, " I see that
the brightest Hght in the world will be extinguished and removed
from our eyes. Under the risk of appearing presiimptupus, I may
say that I attribute her illness partly to her having too strong
feelings." ¦ During her residence in Viterbo, Pole had .many oppor
tunities of seeing this accomplished woman, then enriched with
knowledge and experience, derived from the ministry and con
versation of eminent Italian Refprmers. She had attended their
private meetings, and imbibed much" of their evangelical spirit.
Gifted with a genius for poetry, she expressed her feelings in
such lines as the following : ".
" How blindly once I loved 'the. world,
How eager then for worldly- fame,.
Nursing a serpent in my .breast,
My strength exhausted} languid with desire, \
Till from the Lord the healing came. '- ;
' ) ,'!'
I would my ear were closed and ,deaf, . ,
That thought "might be the more intent'
On angels' songs, and. sweetest-tones^ ':
When peace with dearest, love- unites.;"'- '*
Two means we have to' measure wide,'
The high and precious grace, vouchsafe'd ; - • ¦
The one is searching, oft. the. sacred paga ¦
Where vivid shines. the- light of- truth;.
The other, raising of the inmost heart,-
To the exalted lesson of the cross;. . .'' ;J
Where He Himself is seen so near, , -
The soul can never be misled by sight."2
Whilst residing at Viterbo she invoked the sacred muse just
in the same spirit, but with a touch of sadness, given no doubt
by the memory of her great sorrow.
1 Quoted by Young in " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario,"' ii. 210.
2 "Rime," 161, 200. 346. Young, ibid. ii. 193, 194.

100 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS. ,
" Would that a voice impressive might repeat,
In holiest accents to my inmost soul,
The name of Jesus ; and my words and works
Attest true faith in Him, and ardent hope ;
The soul elect, which feels within itself
The seeds divine of this celestial love,
Hears, sees, attends on Jesus ; grace from Him
Illumes, expands, fires; purifies the mind ;
The habit bright of thus invoking Him
Exalts our nature so, that it appeals
Daily to Him for its immortal food.
In the last conflict with our ancient foe,
So dire to nature, armed with faith alone,
The heart, from usage long, on Him will call."1
There is a melody here in accord with that of Madame Guion's
hymns ; both of these saintly women possessing an element of
evangelical mysticism, a craving after the absorption of the human
in the Divine ; the French Jansenist, however, in this respect going
beyond the Italian Catholic. And each of them in their own way,
while remaining faithful to the communion in which they were
born, manifested a spiritual temperament, largely shared in different
proportions amongst pious members of Churches in many respects
opposed to each other. Before Vittoria Colonna was deprived
by death of the friendship of Contarini, Cardinal Pole wrote to
him' respecting her in terms which throw light on . her family
troubles, her efforts to influence aright one of her relatives, her
addictedness to prayer, and one at least of the reasons which led
her to enter the nunnery at Viterbo. The contents of the letter,
bearing date the nth of April, 1540, have been summarized by
Mr. Rawdon Brown in his Calendar of Venetian State Papers.
" With regard to the Marchioness of Pescara, supposed by him
(Contarini) to be a suitable mediator for the suppression of her
brother's obstinacy, she tried all means to divert him from war to
obedience ; and having failed in her object, had recourse to prayer,
1 " Rime," quoted in " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario."

SIENA, ORVIETO, AND VITERBO.

and withdrew into a nunnery, whence she writes to him (Pole) that
her days pass happily. This verily is true happiness — to think of
God, and not of the world."
Four miles from Viterbo is the Palazzo San Martino; on the
slope of the Ciminian Hills ; and history speaks of another lady
who abode there, Olympia Pamfili, a native of Viterbo, born in
1594, a daughter of an illustrious family, bred for a convent, but
who, notwithstanding, resolved to wed a Count; and he gave her
the name by which she has ever since been known. He had a
brother, over whom this strong-minded woman gained a supreme
ascendency, and who obtaining admission into the Sacred College,
afterwards mounted St. Peter's chair as Innocent X., chiefly through
her influence. After her husband's death this brother-in-law
became the simple instrument of her imperious will. " He was
absolutely a puppet in her hands. The keys- of St. P'bter were
strung to her girdle ; and the only function in which she I probably
never interfered Was blessing the people." She acquired the appel
lation of the famous Papessa, and is an example of the abominable
influences which ruled at Rome before the Reformation. ! What a
contrast does Vittoria Colonna present to Olympia Pamfili !
In conclusion, between the former and the great painter, Michel
Angelo Buonarroti, there existed a strong and beautiful attach
ment ; and their sympathies went beyond' the circles of art and
philosophy and entered into that of religion. Angelo, as a
Florentine, had known Savonarola, had heard his preaching, had
read his writings, and had caught some of his ideas ; he also
studied the Holy Scriptures. M. Clement, in his life of the artist,
remarks : "I do not think that there is reason to conclude that
Vittoria, and consequently Michel Angelo, did more or less secretly
abandon the Church, and embrace the Reformed Religion. Their
religious poems, it is true, preserve no trace of Catholic legend.
Christianity is there in all its simplicity, carried back to fundamental
and primitive dogma. The ideas of the inability of man to do
K 2

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

right, of justification by faith, of Christ as a mediator, upon
which the Reformers particularly insist, are to be met with in
every line." " But these ideas," the biographer truly adds, " belong
to St. Augustine; as well as to Luther and Calvin ; " yet it must
never be forgotten, that they are the very ideas which inspired the
great reformatorjy work in Italy, Germany, and England, during
the sixteenth century. In harmony with these evangelical senti
ments was Angelo's touching reply to Vasari, when he urged his
illustrious friend to join him at Florence. " Neither painting nor
sculpture can avail to calm a soul which turns towards Thee, O
God ; who hast stretched out Thy arms upon the cross for us."1
1 Clement's " Michel Angelo" (" The Great Artists"), 74-86.

Naples.

T is more than twenty-five years since I
saw Naples ; but once seen, its image
must remain in the mind for ever. Beheld
from some aloe-crowned height on the hills
above the tomb of Virgil, there spreads an
unequalled landscape, which stretches out to
a distant horizon bounded by the smoking
summit of Vesuvius. A line of lofty houses skirts
the far-famed Chiaja, with a bright green garden
in front, and the Castle of St. Elmo at the back
of the queenly city, which, in its proud sweep, fills
a circuit of ten miles. A gracefully curved shore
bounds the spacious bay, and the white Castel
dell' Ovo juts far into the azure waters. The scene
has the brilliant colour characteristic of the south ;
and tints of red, orange and blue sometimes flash out
with almost blinding effect on the radiance of mid-day sunshine.
Naples has had many masters — Suabian, Anjouvin, Spanish, and
Austrian ; but Spain has left the deepest mark. Don Pedro de
Toledo in the first half of the sixteenth century extended the forti
fications, and on the fosse of the Angiovine defences built the noted
Strada di Toledo. Naples is intensely Roman Catholic. Memorials

106 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
of the Madonna meet you everywhere; the churches are served
by priests in rich raiment, and the people, in kneeling multitudes,
cover the marble floors. The precious relic of St. Januarius is still
prized among the holiest of treasures, and the annual miracle of the
liquefaction of the saint's blood is believed with a perfect faith by
thousands of the inhabitants. Whatever the priests may think of
it, and notwithstanding the sceptical admissions of intelligent and
candid individuals amongst their number, they continue to give it
the sanction of their services, and when the season for its exhibition
returns, there are large congregations gathered by eloquent friars,
who expatiate on this subject, together with kindred themes. I
shall never forget entering a church one Saturday evening, crowded
to the doors by Neapolitans who had come to hear two or three
brethren in the white dress of their order, as one after another, by
the side of a large crucifix on a lofty platform, they addressed the
congregation in a strain of fervent appeal. It reminded one in some
respects of a revival meeting in England ; and after seeing what
went on late at night, I was curious to visit the same church next
morning, when the same spectacle presented itself — an overflowing
audience listening with attention to a succession of impassioned
orators. As now, in this respect, so it was, but in a more intense
degree, at the time of the Reformation. Naples was one of the
most enthusiastic daughters of the Church. The hot blood of
men and women boiled over with zeal in the maintenance of its
dominion and its dogmas, its ritual and its festas ; and amidst this
state of feeling we meet with a man at Naples who in the south
of Italy exercised a more powerful influence than anybody else
in promoting the principles of a religious reformation. He is
a central figure, and around him are grouped several others
distinctly related, giving unity to the picture.
Juan Valdes was a Spaniard of noble birth, who for a short period
held the office of Camarero or Chamberlain to Pope Adrian VI.
He had a twin brother, Alfonso de Valdes, Latin Secretary to

NAPLES. 107
the Emperor Charles v., and the two are occasionally confounded
together. Both were possessed of great gifts and superior culture,
and Juan won compliments from the illustrious scholar, Desiderius
Erasmus. Writing from Basle in 1528, the latter says: " Most accom
plished youth — your brother, Alfonso Valdes, has conferred such
obligations upon me, that I ought to love whoever in any way
belongs to him. But, besides this, you, as I hear, are so like him
both in personal appearance and readiness of mind, that you might
seem to be not twins, but one individual ; it is very proper,
therefore, to love you both alike. I hear that you are given to
liberal studies, in order that you may embellish your naturally
virtuous disposition with every sort of adornment. Why, then,
should any one exhort you to study, when of your own accord you
follow this excellent pursuit? It is more to the purpose to con
gratulate and praise you. Rest assured that I am no one's more
than your brother's, and not less yours than his." Juan Valdes is
represented as accompanying Don Pedro Toledo to Naples in the
relation of Secretary to the Viceroy ; but the accuracy of the
statement has been questioned. However, he came to the city
when the Spanish prince ruled over the Neapolitan dominions,
and there devoted himself to study and spiritual improvement.
He seems to have been a man of retired habits, unfitted for official
publicity, much fonder of contemplation and of opportunities for
usefulness than those of bustling activity in human life. He
appears to have early turned attention to religious themes, rather
from the native bent of his mind than from any argument or
persuasion. Not in the heat of controversy, but in the exercise
of a meek and quiet spirit, he came to the study of the Bible, and
applied what he read and believed to the Divine education of
his own soul. He was one of those gentle but wise spirits that
are led by a way they know not, who go much farther than
they at first intend, discovering germs of truth only imperfectly

108 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN .REFORMERS.

developed by themselves. They are instructors of others in a
way which comes not within their own consciousness ; in them
is fulfilled the saying, " One soweth, and another reapeth." They
cast seed into the ground, and others come into the field after-

virgil's tomb.

wards to forward the cultivation and to reap the harvest. Valdes
liked to muse over the deepest subjects of inquiry and interest ;
and having seen his own way clear to certain conclusions, he
unfolded them to friends, not in argument, but by modest

NAPLES. 109 ..
suggestion or simple inquiry. He held meetings for devout con- '
ference, and his retired gatherings of this nature are amongst the
most beautiful memories of the Italian Reformation.
On the Chiaja, not far from tlie rock-cut road from Naples to
Pozzuoli, where tropical vegetation mingles with that of higher
latitudes, and where Virgil's tomb arrests the traveller's
attention, — where " Still, as of yore, the setting sun declines
O'er marble terraces and trellised vines ;
Around her beauteous bay the mountains bend,
A nd glorious lights and balmy dews descend ; "
Juan de Valdes had a country house, not crowded into a long*,
line of palaces and villas, but standing by itself, "set in verdure,?" d.
with an open view of the glorious bay, and refreshed at eventide
by a cooling breeze. " Here Valdes received on the Sunday a
select number of his most intimate friends; and they passed
the day together in this manner : after breakfasting and enjoying
themselves amidst the glories of the surrounding scenery, they
returned to the house, when he read some selected portion of
Scripture, and commented upon it, or some 'Divine considera
tion ' which had occupied his thoughts during the week — some
subject on which he conceived that his mind had obtained a
clearer illumination of heavenly truth."1 After dinner they
resumed conversation on subjects suggested by his guests.
"The Sunday meetings may have continued four or five years.
These Sabbaths of studious Christians, this exchange of sub
jects, this intercourse of thought between the proposers, the day,
the pure elevation of mind they brought, as it were, with them,
the situation, the beaut)- of the country, the transparent skies
of a southern climate, the low murmurs of the bay — would all
be favourable to the purposes of Valdes ; and from these social
1 " Life and Writings of Juan de YaldeV" '>)' B. J. WifTen, prefixed to the " CX.
Considerations," translated by Betts, p. 138.

no FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
meetings with his friends his purely religious works appear to
have derived their origin and form." Valdes has been called by
one "a noble knight by the grace of Csesar, but a more noble knight
by the grace of Christ ; " and another depicts his " pale delicately
cut countenance, in which was reflected the invisible world, in the
contemplation of which he was immersed," — his " frail body," his
" patient spirit," his " courtly bearing," the charms of his speech, and
"the spotless purity of his life." A third witness remarks: "He
seems appointed by God as a teacher of noble and distinguished
men, although he was so good that he served even the humblest
and least cultivated with his endowments, and was all things to
all men to gain all for Christ." These descriptions enable us to
form an idea of this remarkable man, and to give life to the
centre of the select society which hallowed the Chiaja of Naples
three centuries and a half ago.
The subjects discussed in these conferences are embalmed in
a work which Valdes bequeathed to the world under the title of
"A Hundred and Ten Considerations." It was originally written
in Spanish, and in that form has been reproduced of late, I
believe, by an English press.
The Italian version has been rendered into English by Mr.
Betts, with a valuable introduction by Mr. Wiffen ; and now we
are enabled to clear away the confusion which from ignorance of
his writings long attached to his name and reputation. From a
persual of the work, we find that he did not deal in scholastic
propositions or in logical reasoning ; that his habits of thought
were rather religious than theological, experimental than
scientific ; that he did not attack the errors and superstitions of
Romanism, but confined himself to the inculcation of what
he believed to be Divine truth. In his " Considerations " he dwells
upon the atonement, which he describes as "justice executed
upon Christ ; " upon justification by faith, which is expounded in
a somewhat Lutheran form ; and upon regeneration as the

NAPLES. 1 1 1
work of" the Holy Spirit, after much the same type of doctrine
.as that adopted by evangelical divines. The fruitlessness of
mere speculation, the moral power of Christian faith, and the
spirituality of religion, are ever-recurring topics in the long
series of his remarks, which do not exhibit any systematic order.
He frequently refers to Scripture, without giving long quotations,
and abundantly insists upon the illumination of the soul by the
direct agency of the Holy Ghost. Several questionable statements
are introduced ; but the chapters are rich in shrewd ideas and lively
illustrations, and present throughout much subtlety of thought, and
a keen habit of analysis. The whole is pervaded by a spirit such
as characterizes authors classed together as mystics ; and this
accounts for misapprehensions of his meaning into which critics,
both foreign and English, have' been betrayed. Old moulds and
forms of thought were broken up by some writers of this
description, and they were not unlikely to say things which enemies
and even friends might misunderstand.
The use of the word "mysticism," as characteristic of ValdeV
writings, has been resented by his amiable and accomplished bio
grapher, Mr. Wiffen, who, from his habits of thought as a member of
the Society of Friends, had sympathy with phases of sentiment
denoted by the appellation he criticises. I do not employ the
word in any depreciatory sense, but simply as indicating, without
the employment of circumlocution, what was the cast and bent
of Valdes' spiritual meditations. I cannot agree with the excellent
person just named, in his remark that Valdes " endeavours in all he
writes to prove his position by strict though not formal reasoning,
— he seemed to possess more of the Saxon or Teutonic element
than is common to his countrymen." On the contrary, Valdes
seems to me to have had one of those intuitive minds, which, with a
keen glance, discovers, and then unhesitatingly asserts, what is not
'•% <% Remonstrated or proved by any process of reasoning or argument
whatever, whether formal or real. He does not resemble, so far as I

U2 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
can see, any of our Anglican Reformers. He has little in common
even with John Wycliffe ; but he resembles strongly John Tauler,
and has caught the spirit of the Theologia Germanica, reminding
me frequently of Martin Luther.
The writings of Valdes found their way to the parsonage of
Barneston, near Salisbury, and in the retirement of that pleasant
village — -perhaps in the very parsonage so well preserved opposite
the interesting little church where George Herbert prayed — the
rector read with great delight the " Hundred and Ten Con
siderations," and Izaak Walton, the dear old author of the
matchless " Lives," has recorded the circumstance, and dressed
up an allusion to Valdes with a story about his connection with
Charles V., which has np '-historical foundation whatever. But
Herbert's own remarks on the book he read with pleasure are
worth repeating. " It is true there are some things which I
like not in him, as my fragments will express when you read
them," — he was writing to Nicholas Ferrar, of Little Gidding, —
" nevertheless I wish you by all means to publish it, for these
three eminent things observable therein : — First, that God, in the
midst of Popery, should open the eyes of one to understand and
express so clearly and excellently the extent of the gospel in the
acceptation of Christ's righteousness (as he showeth through all
his 'Considerations') a thing strangely buried and darkened by
the adversaries, and their great stumbling-block. Secondly, the
great honour and reverence which he everywhere bears towards
our dear Master and Lord, concluding every Consideration almost
with His holy name, and setting His merit forth so piously ; for
which I do so love him that were there nothing else I would
print it, that with it the honour of my Lord might be published.
Thirdly, the many pious rules of ordering our life, about morti
fication, and observations of God's kingdom within us, and the
working thereof, of which he was a very diligent observer." *
1 Walton's "Lives,'' p. 345, ed. 1845.

NAPLES. 113

Before quitting this notice of Valdes' work, let me add, that
though it would be going too far to say that he had an idea of
religious liberty like ours, yet he expresses a strong condemnation
of religious intolerance. " I learn," he says, in Consideration
LXXVL, " that I ought to guard myself as from fire against
persecuting any one. in any manner, pretending in that way to
serve God." And he further observes, in a comment upon
1 Cor. xv. 9 : " One thing is here worthy of remark — that St.
Paul rested his unworthiness to be called an apostle on the
ground that he had persecuted the Church of God, although, as
he himself elsewhere says, he had not been aware that he erred
in so doing. This serves to show us what evil they do who
persecute others, and more especially those who do so under the
pretence of religion and piety ; and that we should understand
that there is nothing more foreign to a Christian mind than
persecution. It is proper that the Christian suffer, and so far as this
is proper to him, so much is it improper for him to persecute
another." I know that passages of this description, looked at in
the light of our own conceptions, may be taken to mean more thanthe
writer meant. And it is curious to think of the one-sidedness of
§ome Reformers on this subject. It was taught that truth might
be upheld by physical force, but not error ; and Farel thought
that if the Pope condemned the pious for heresy, and its penalties
are inflicted on the innocent, it is madness to maintain that heretics
ought not to be destroyed. Calvin and Beza wrote treatises to '
prove that " heretics are justly to be reproved by the sword," even
while begging for Protestants in the . dungeons of Lyons ; ' and
Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, when she opened the French Parlia
ment in the name of her brother Francis,2 exhorted and prayed the
court to "punish and burn the true heretics, but to spare the innocent
1 See Baird's " Rise of the Huguenots," ii. 211.
2 "Reg. du Pari.," May 24, 1543. Boscheron des Portes, "Hist, du Parlement de
Bordeaux," i. 63. Quoted by Baird, "Rise of the Huguenots," i. 227.
L 2

114 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
and have compassion upon the prisoners and captives." They
had one measure for themselves and their friends when accused of
heresy, but another when they charged certain of their opponents
with heresy. But the principle which Valdes lays down is so
broad that when carried out it must cover a wide field of toleration ;
and though possibly he might not, under certain circumstances,
have been perfectly consistent in its application, he certainly
seems to have had, though a Spaniard, more light on the subject
than Frenchmen had some years afterwards.
As the work entitled "II Beneficio di Cristo" did so much to
diffuse evangelical principles in Italy, I shall not be going out of
my way to refer to the share which possibly Valdes, in connection
with others, might have had in its production. I am of opinion that
Aonio Paleario could justly claim the authorship in chief of that
treatise in its published form ; but there is room for a good deal
of what Wiffen, following a Spanish view of the matter, says of
people taking down the thoughts of Valdes, and then expressing
them in their own words. He thinks Paleario and Flaminio might,
after hearing the Spanish teacher, compose addresses on the
benefits of Christ's death. They might borrow ideas and catch
impulses from such a man, — even be indebted to him for language,
for he was a teacher who could inspire as well as instruct.1 Hence
Mr. Wiffen adds :
" To them his voice seemed mellowed to a sound
More sweet than Virgil's on Italian ground ;
For every lesson, every turn he drew,
Fell on the heart, and melted it like dew."
It does not, however, appear that Paleario visited Naples, or
came in personal contact with Valdes ; certainly he is not enume-
1 Benrath, in his "Life of Bernardino Ochino," page 221, remarks that, when Valdes'
" Considerations" were circulated in manuscript among the members of this circle (the
NeapoUtan) the author of the tract concerning " The Benefit of Christ," had made use of
it, and among other things he had taken from it the idea of man as the image of God,
and the development of this idea.

NAPLES. ' -jr1 nS

rated as one of the company accustomed to meet in the Chiaja ;
yet he might have received from some of them notes and reports
which would assist him in his composition.
Valdes died in Naples, 1540, in the very midst of the excitement
produced by his teaching ; and recollections of him are pathetically
expressed. Jacomo Bonfadio, one of his admirers, writing from the
beautiful shore of the Lago de Garda, to Carnesecchi, alludes to
the place of meeting — " the window of that turret," " those sunny
gardens," " the spacious bosom of that smiling sea," and then
exclaims, " Where shall we go, now Signor Valdes is'dead ? This has
truly been a great loss, for Signor Valdes' was one of the rare men
of Europe, and those writings he has left on the Epistles of Paul
and the Psalms of David most amply show it. He was, without
doubt, in his actions, his speech, and all his conduct a perfect man.
With a particle of his soul he governed his frail and spare body
with the larger part and with his pure understanding, as though
almost out of the body, he was always raised to the contemplation
of truth and of Divine things."
How far a literary preparation had been made for the effect of
ValdeV writings and personal influence, it is impossible to say. But
this is clear, that Pontanus, the Italian poet, who presided over the
Neapolitan Academy at the close of the fifteenth century, wrote
some moral and political essays in prose, which are said to be full
of just observations and sharp satire on the court of Rome, and
written in a style which his contemporaries regarded with
admiration. They were published in 1490. Another Italian poet,
Baptista Mantuan, who indulged in Latin verse, " was among
the many assailants of the Church, or at least the court of Rome ;
and this animosity inspired him with some bitter or rather
vigorous invectives." And, in the words of the author who is my
authority for these statements, it may be further remarked in
general terms, " that we find traces of this aberration from ortho
doxy, in one or the other form, through much of the literature of

116 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Italy, sometimes displaying itself only in censures of the vices of
the clergy, censures from which, though in other ages they had been
almost universal, the rigidly Catholic party began now to abstain."
At a later period Trissino, in his " Italia Liberata," sharply rebukes
ecclesiastical vices; and Manzolli, in his "Zodiacus Vitae," published
just before ValdeV death, says "more than enough to incur the
suspicion of Lutheranism." 1 Exposures of clerical corruption only
touched the surface of a subject into which Valdes deeply
penetrated ; but books of the former kind, circulated early in the
sixteenth century, might serve to break up the ground for his more
direct and effective toils.
But it is time to turn to those whom Valdes gathered round
him ; and the first place must be assigned to Bernardino Ochino.
We have seen him as an eloquent preacher in his native city
Siena. We shall meet him again at Venice. He traversed Italy
on the missions of his order, and was particularly popular in the
city of Naples. Crowds listened to him in the largest churches ;
and after he had left the pulpit he would repair to the Chiaja,
listen to Valdes, drink in his sentiments, and then the next Sunday
reproduce what he had heard before assembled multitudes. It is
remarkable to find how writers of that day ascribe to the sage of
the Chiaja an influence which wrought widely through Naples
and Italy, in support of evangelical views. But Ochino only in
a very gradual way made his escape from the darkness of Popery
into the light of the gospel. Indeed, the history of his mind in
this respect, as will appear hereafter, is somewhat of a puzzle,
owing in part to a confessed habit of concealing his convictions.
Peter Martyr also appears at Naples, coming under the in
fluence of Juan Valdes ; but nothing distinctive and characteristic
appears in connection with this incident. More may be said
about Carnesecchi, for he possessed an abbacy at Naples, and
actively assisted in the publication of his eminent teacher's
works. He was in the city when Valdes died in 1540; "and if
1 Hallam's " Introduction to the Literature of Europe," i. 310, 311, 505.

NAPLES. 117

he did not receive his last confession, which is very probable "
— for it must be remembered neither of them seceded from
the Church of Rome — "he at least knew what it was, for his
commendation of it formed part of the accusation against him
in his trial in 1567, before the Inquisition at Rome." He was
expressly charged with having been, before the year 1540,
indoctrinated by the late Juan Valdes, a Spaniard, Marc Antonio
Flaminio, and Bernardino Ochino of Siena, and holding converse
with them and with Peter Martyr, with Galeazzo Caracciolo, and with
many other heretics and those suspected of heresy ; reading the
book of the " Beneficio di Cristo," and writings of the said Valdes.
Fabio Mario Galeota— an inhabitant of Naples, thrown afterwards
into the prison of the Inquisition at Rome, with the good fortune
of escaping out of it when the building was attacked by the mob,
on the death of Paul IV. in 1559 — was also of the select company
which imparts so much interest to the Chiaja. He dissented from
the traditional doctrines of the Church of Rome, Papal authority,
auricular confession, purgatory, transubstantiation, and indulgences.
Much additional light has been thrown on the character, opinions,
and history of this remarkable man by Karl Benrath, in an interest
ing contribution of his to " La Rivista Cristiana."1 Of the same
number was Benedetto Cusano, a companion of Peter Martyr at
Padua ; and respecting the two we are told, " the first rays of the
morning light, appearing through the windows of the library, alone
reminded them of the lapse of time. Thus they read the orators,
philosophers, and best poets, and obtained that knowledge of the
originals which enabled them to study the New Testament at the
fountain-head." Giulio da Milano ; Giovanni Mollio of Montal-
cino, near Siena, and a lecturer in the monastery of San Lorenzo at
Naples ; Giambattista Folenga, Prior of the famous Benedictine
monastery on the road from Naples to Rome, exempted from the
general sweep of dissolution by the Government of United Italy —
are also mentioned amongst the attendants on ValdeV private
1 Anno vi. 41.

u8

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

instructions. It may also be stated that the last of these wrote a
commentary on the Psalms, containing evangelical sentiments,
' together with censures on the popular superstitions of his day.

LgMMSbyp

c IIB

¦iwiiiWui^

ISLAND OF ISCHIA.
Giovanni Francisco de Aloys, a man of learning, and Galeazzo
Caracciolo, are also included in the list.1 Some of these will
come under notice in other localities.
1 These are all noticed by Wiffen in his " Life and Writings of, Juan de Valdes," 104; etseq.

NAPLES. 119
There were ladies, too, who joined in the meetings — Isabella
Manrique, of a noble Spanish family, sister to a Cardinal — more
than a hearer of evangelical truth, for she laboured in the cause, so
as to become known as a heretic, and after the death of Valdes had
to flee to Switzerland for liberty, if not for life ; and Constanza
d'Avolos, Duchessa di Amalfi, also of Spanish extraction, fond of
poetry, and one who herself invoked the muse ; but I must pass
them by to notice more particularly two other distinguished women,
one of whom we have already seen in the city of Viterbo — Vittoria
Colonna. -
She resided in the neighbourhood of Naples, in the Castle of
Ischia, an island which Bishop Berkeley, in one of his letters to
Pope, describes as " an epitome of the whole earth, containing within
the compass of eighteen miles a wonderful variety of hills, vales,
rugged rocks, fruitful plains and barren mountains, all thrown
together in the most romantic confusion."
The castle belonged to the Marquis of Pescara, Vittoria's
husband, whose loss she so deeply mourned ; and there, after his
death, she continued to reside, except when she sought a retreat in
the Convent of St. Catherine at Viterbo. Her sorrowful heart, and
the evangelical instructions she had received from Contanni, Pole,
Flaminio, and Carnesecchi, prepared her for the still higher teaching
of Valdes, and hence she was wont to repair to the mainland on
many a sunny day, to sit with the rest of the company and listen
to his voice.
But of all the noble ladies attracted to the sphere of Juan de
Valdes, Giulia Gonzaga Colonna, Duchess of Trajetto and Countess
of Fondi, Mr. Wiffen tells us, " was the one who drank deepest of
his instructipns, and towards whom his mind was most forcibly
brought into exercise. Her noble faculties, her pursuit of the
highest virtue, and the loveliness of her mind and person alike
engaged his regard."
Eulogized by the father of Tasso and by Ariosto, she has come

120 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
down to us as a poetess in a little volume published at Bergamo in
1750. At sixteen she married the Duke and Count who gave her the
titles she bore. Her husband, older than herself, inspired her with
an affection which continued in all its strength after his death,
which induced her to reject offers of a second union, and which led
her to adopt, after a fashion of that age, an amaranthine flower as
her symbol, with the motto, Non Moritura, " that will not die." Her
history is most romantic, and has been chronicled by Wiffen ;T and
after a series of adventures she went to live at Naples in the Borgo
delle Virgini. The lady whilst there became immersed in troubles,
owing to a family dispute ; and it was " under these perplexing
circumstances that her intimate acquaintance with Juan de Valdes
took place, and that the conversation — detailed with great clearness
in a volume entitled 'Alfabeto Christiano' — was held. These
incidents serve to explain some parts of the dialogue : the return
in the evening from hearing the preacher's sermon ; the prolonged
conversation carried on in her house to a late hour; how Valdes could
have assisted her in her outward affairs by his intercourse with the
Viceroy and the Emperor ; and the reason why Valdes endeavoured
so much to impress upon her mind an entire dependence upon
God and faith in His promises for outward support ; the duty
of forgiveness of injuries, and the sacrifice of mere worldly
honour."2 On the death of Valdes, Giulia gave her confidence
to Carnesecchi, and he became her spiritual adviser ; her corre
spondence with him was noticed in the course of his trial, and
he was charged with having recommended to her a couple of
heretical teachers sent to open schools on her property. Again
and again she was harassed by the Holy Office searching after
proofs against her ; but she was never imprisoned, though it is said
the vexations she endured shortened her life. For the last thirty
years she lived a secular life, as it was called, in the Franciscan
convent of Santa Chiara at Naples, by Papal permission granted
*
1 Introduction to " Life and Writings of Juan de Valdes," 109, et seq. 2 Ibid., 115.

NAPLES.

her at the commencement of the term, which permission does not
seem to have been suspended or interrupted bysuspicions of heresy.
That the principles of the Reformation spread in Naples, we
have painful proof in the proceedings of the Inquisition. Twice in
ther early part of the sixteenth century the Neapolitans resisted
with effect the establishment of that infamous court in the city
and kingdom, In 1546, Charles v., as King of Spain, and extend
ing his sovereignty over this part of Italy, set up the terrific
Spanish tribunal in the south of the Peninsula, but not without
arousing the discontent of the people, who assaulted some officers
as they were taking a heretic to prison. Strange to say, the court
of Rome sympathized with the inhabitants in their rebellion
against the Government, wishing to substitute the Holy Office of
the pontifical city for that of an authority imported ' from another
quarter, alleging as a reason the extreme rigour of the Spanish
Inquisitors, and the milder method of the Roman tribunal. The
people of Naples, thus cajoled, submitted to Rome, in order to be
relieved from the cruelty of .Spain ; only, however, to find that there
was little difference between them. Once admitted, the fearful
engine in the hands of its new managers made sad havoc in Naples
and the neighbourhood. Prisons were filled with untried captives,
left to pine in secret cells, their fate unknown to their friends, save
that the mystery which followed the seizure filled them with fear,
and made them tremble at the idea of Protestantism. It is
stated that nevertheless many remained firm in their Reformed
opinions, and continued to meet in private for mutual edification.
But grinding despotism fold in the long run, and the work of
Valdes was defeated and destroyed. Two causes, besides the
efficacy of persistent force, are assigned for the extinction of the
Reformed cause in that part of Italy. First, the intrusion of
Arian and Anabaptist opinions, which strengthened the hands
of the Church ; and secondly, the practice of outward con
formity to Popish practices, which in time wore away Protestant
M

122 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS, d" <¦-''
~ „ 'P*
impressions.1 Some suspected of heresy escaped out of the
kingdom ; but the love of country induced them to return, when*
they were apprehended and cast into prison.
Connected with the Neapolitan dominions is one of the saddest
stories of South Italy/ The province of Calabria extends for one
hundred and sixty miles from the Gulf of Policastro to Cape Sparti-
vento. Divided into two parts by the Apennine ridge, covered
with pines, the valleys abound in fresh pastures, and feed vast flocks
of sheep. Rice and cotton, saffron and the sugar-cane, oranges and
lemons, figs and mulberries, flourish in the soil, and iron and
marble are dug out of the earth. In the sixteenth century there
were four thousand Waldensian colonists living in the northern
parts of Calabria, descended from* those who migrated thither
in 1370. The founders obtained the district for purposes of" cultivation
and for the exercise of their faith. The land, under their industry,
assumed a new appearance, and became a " garden of the Lord."
The hills echoed with the bleating of flocks, and the valleys were
covered over with corn. The settlers paid their tithes, but they did
not heed the ceremonies of the priesthood ; moreover, though
honest and sedate, they did not sympathize with their neighbours ;
thus out of alienation grew dislike. The cry of heresy was raised
against the colonists ; but they were good - tenants and profitable
parishioners, and as tithes became more productive, the clergy
were reconciled to the ways of the strangers.
At different periods, links of connection appear between them
and the Church of the Valleys; for When, in 1530, that Church
discussed new questions as to doctrine and practice, it sent a
message to the Calabrians inviting them to attend the discussion ;
and when, two years afterwards, the new French translation of the
Bible was projected at the Synod of Angrogna, thepoor people of
Calabria contributed to the undertaking.
1 M'Crie's " History of the Reformation in Italy," 298.

^NAPLES. d' 123

._,. The .jjalabrian Waldenses — degenerating in their religious cha
racter for want of proper means of instruction, and through distance
from the brethren of their own faith — had their traditions revived
and their spirit aroused by hearing that doctrines like those of their
fathers were being propagated in this neighbourhood. They
therefore sent to Piedmont to obtain ministers pf the Vaudois creed.
The ministers came, and not, only reformed the colonists, but
extended their religion beyond the borders ; when this came to be
known in. Rome, plans were set on foot, to defeat the enterprise.
Ori the western side' of the hills near Ritorto, on the road from
Naples to Cosenza, is a village named San Sisto. This village was
a home of the Waldenses-r-there they lived in peace, and worship
ped God according to their conscience; but monkish emissaries
from Rome were sent to disturb their worship and put an end to
their liberties* These agents visited San Sisto, and spoke to the
inhabitants very kindly, saying they were come to instruct them in
Lthe true religion, and that if they would hearken to truth, and
abandon their errors, they would be treated well ; but if they acted
otherwise, they would endanger both their property and their lives.
As a test of obedience, mass was to be said, and the people were to
attend. Instead of doing this, the more vigorous amongst them
fled to the woods. *Npt far off on the coast is a place called La
Guardia. Thither . proceeded the missionaries from Rome, and
they told the inhabitants that the San Sistians had given up their
errors, and had returned to the true Church. The people of La
Guardia were exhorted to follow the good example, and, deceived
by the false report, proceeded to comply. Finding out how they had
been misled, they determined to join their brethren in the woods,
but were diverted from this plan by the persuasion of Salvatore
Spinello, theirfeudatory lord. The Romish ministers, disappointed
as to, the execution of their original scheme, now, through the
assistance of people in the neighbourhood, attacked the refugees,
crying out, " Murder them." The fugitives requested a parley,

124 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
and besought mercy of their assailants, promising that, if no longer
allowed to enjoy their freedom, they would retire arid promise
never to return. The parley was useless. Some of the innocent
villagers were killed, the rest took flight. Upon a report' that
rebellion had broken out in Calabria, troops were sent from '*'
Naples. A proclamation delivered up San Sisto to fire and sword ;
in consequence of this, the remaining fugitives were tracked, to
be slain, or to be starved. Seventy persons from La Guardia
were conducted in chains to Montalto. It appears that resist
ance was made by the Waldenses to the persecutors. They had
the spirit of their fathers, and could not quietly sit down
under this murderous invasion. Violence on their side increased
violence on the other, and the agencies of the Inquisition came
out in distinctive activity. Heretics were tortured in frightful
ways I do not care to repeat ; and death, even by fire, seemed
preferable to some things which preceded it.
The only narrative in detail I shall give is from the pen of a
Roman Catholic servant, relative to what happened in 1560 at
Montalto. He says to his master, Ascanio Caracciolo :
" Most illustrious Sir, — Having written you from time to time
what has been done here in the affair of heresy, I have now to
inform you of the dreadful justice which began to be executed on
these Lutherans early this morning, being the nth of June. And,
to tell you the truth, I can compare it to nothing but the slaughter
of so many sheep. They were all shut up in one house as in a
sheepfold. The executioner went, and bringing out one of them,
covered his face with a napkin or benda, as we call it, led him out
to a field near' the house, and causing him to kneel down, cut his
throat with a knife. Then, taking off the bloody napkin, he
went and brought out another, whom he put to death after the same
manner. In this way, the whole number, amounting to eighty-
eight men, were butchered. I leave you to figure to yourself the
lamentable spectacle, for I can scarcely refrain from tears while I

NAPLES: 125

write ; nor was there any person who, after witnessing the execution
of one, could stand to look on a second. The meekness and patience
with which they went to martyrdom and death are incredible.
Some of them at their death professed themselves of. the same
faith with us, but the greater part died in their cursed obstinacy.
All the old men met their death with cheerfulness, but the young
exhibited symptoms of fear. I still shudder while I think of the
executioner with the bloody knife in his teeth, the dripping napkin
in his hand, and his arms besmeared with gore, going to the house
and taking out one victim after another, just as a butcher does the
sheep which he means to kill. Accprding to orders, waggons are
already come to carry away the dead bodies, which are appointed
to be quartered and hung up on the public roads from one end of
Calabria to the other. Unless his Holiness and the Viceroy of
Naples command the Marquis de Buccianici, the Governor of this
province, to stay his hand and leave off, he will go on to put others
to the torture and multiply the executions until he has destroyed the
whole. Even to-day a decree has passed that a hundred grown-up
women shall be put to the question, and afterwards executed, in
order that there may be a complete mixture, and we may be able
to say, in well-sounding language, that so many persons were
punished, partly men and partly, women . This is all that I have
to say of this act of justice. It is now eight o'clock, and I shall
presently hear accounts of what was said by these obstinate people
as they were led to execution. Some have testified such obstinacy
and stubbornness as to refuse to look on a crucifix, or confess to a
priest ; and they are to be burnt alive. The heretics taken in
Calabria amount to sixteen hundred, all of whom are condemned ;
but only eighty-eight have as yet been put to death. This people
came originally from the valley of Angrogna, near Savoy, and in
Calabria are called Ultramontani. Four other places in the
kingdom of Naples are inhabited by the same race, but I do not
know that they behave ill ; for they are a simple, unlettered

126 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
people, entirely occupied with the spade and plough, and, I am
told, show themselves sufficiently religious at the hour of death."
Such narratives, like all martyrologies, must be taken as they
are found. Whatever abatement may be allowed by a critical
historian, enough remains to convince us of the terrible ways in
which the Reformation was stamped out in Italy.
Lutheranism, as all decided reformatory movements were
termed, existed to the north as well as the south of Naples, and
was repressed by the same kind of policy as that just recounted.
On my way to Naples twenty-five years ago, in company with
friends, I stopped at S. Agata, above which the Apennines, rose
with their unstained snows, on a fair spring morning ; and around
these, spread olives, figs, vines, and wild flowers ; " dove-coloured
steers " were ploughing up and down the vineyards, herds of goats
browsed on the grass, birds sung in the trees, and distant views of
Mola di Gaeta were caught as we turned to look behind. I
remember walking up to the picturesque village of Sessa hard by,
where men wore dark brown cloaks, and sharp-topped hats ; and
the women appeared in scarlet mantles, and blue aprons, and pink
handkerchiefs, and white caps, neatly frilled stomachers, high-heeled
and buckled shoes, and a green skirt tucked up over blue petticoats
edged with red ; and all these details of costume were thrown out
in artistic relief by the background of old buildings in a little
market-place, stored with heaps of bright-coloured vegetables — the
combination of objects and hues resembling a picture on the walls
of our Academy in May. I did not think then that such a scene so
attractive to artists could have anything to do with the Reformation
in Italy ; but now I find that in S. Agata, a number of Protestants
were delivered to the secular arm, and "if any individual came
forward to intercede for the prisoners, he was immediately put to
the torture as a favourer of heresy." '
1 M'Crie, on the authority of Perrin, 265, 206, " History of the Reformation in
Italy, '' p. 530.

INTERIOR OF ST. PETER'S.

RoyViE.

C UTHER, though a German, may be reckoned
amongst Italian Reformers ; for his
teaching stirred up many of the Italian
people,, especially in the North, to
inquire into the doctrines of the
Reformation ; and when they embraced
those doctrines they were cQmmonly
known in Italy, as elsewhere, by the name of
Lutherans. His visit to Rome, therefore, in 1511, attracts our
attention at once.1 The first point at which we meet
him is the Porta del Populo. Nothing strikes one
more, after an absence of twenty-five years from
Rome, than the change wrought in the immediate
neighbourhood of the railway station ; but if the
"approach be made by the old - fashioned route
along the road to the gate just named, the
traveller will find things much as they were in days of yore.
The church of Santa Maria del Populo stands close by ;
and in It, amidst many notable objects, is a monument of
Gio. Batt. Gislenus, who died in 1670. It represents his portrait,
1 Melancthon gives this date.

130 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
with the inscription " Neque hie vivus ; " it contains a medallion
representing a chrysalis with the words, " in nidulo meo morior ; "
opposite is the image of a butterfly, with the motto, " Ut phanix
multiplicabo dies ; " and below is a skeleton in a winding-sheet,
bearing another inscription, " Neque hie mortuus? Adjoining
this church is the Augustine Monastery where Luther said his
first mass in Rome. Before entering the doors of the convent
the monk, then twenty-three years old, fell on his knees, and
raising his hands to heaven, exclaimed, " Hail, holy Rome, made
holy by the blood of the martyrs, and by the blood which has
been spilt here ! " He thought of the persecutions of the primitive
Church, little dreaming at the moment of other persecutions,
consequent, in a large degree, upon his own visit, and the im
pressions received during his memorable sojourn. In unaltered
parts of the city we can trace his footsteps. He entered the
Pantheon ten years before the body of Raphael was there laid
to rest, and when the glorious picture of the Transfiguration had
no existence, save that the idea of that unparalleled work of art
might be already floating in the master's imagination. The
massiveness of the columns arrested the attention of the Augustine
monk, as he stood there in the habit of his order ; and he describes
them as scarcely compassable by two men with their outstretched
arms. He mentions the Catacombs, and says he was told that
eight thousand martyrs lay buried there in one vault ; then
these subterranean passages had not been explored ; and the
idea we have of them is very different from that entertained
in those days.
The new Basilica of St. Peter was at that time in progress. The
first stone had been laid by Julius II. in 1506, when mass was cele
brated with pontifical splendour. Another stone-laying of certain
pillars followed in 1507; and the neighbourhood of the Vatican, no
doubt, during the whole of Julian's reign was a scene of industry
and bustle, as the gigantic edifice rose from its foundations. Leo X.,

ROME.

who so zealously promoted the vast undertaking, did not wear the
tiara until 1513, and therefore it was before he gave such impetus
to the gorgeous erection that Martin Luther visited Rome. The
cupola was not completed until 1590.
Within the cathedral, as it then was, Luther saw a relic which
excited his contempt : " Nothing but a black board with a cloth
hung before it, and over that another when the Veronica is shown ;
the poor besotted pilgrim can see nothing but a cloth before >a black
tablet." But of all the places visited by the monk none have left
the same impression on his history as the Santa Scala. The famous
staircase behind the triclinium of St. John Lateran, still often
crowded with pilgrims on their knees crawling from step to step, was
in Luther's day probably more crowded still, and as he patiently
ascended, he heard, more loudly than ever — often as they had
touched his heart at Erfurt — the Bible words, " The just shall live by
faith." The whole Reformation seemed wrapped up in that saying,
and it came to him as a voice from heaven.
As we pass into one church after another of the three hundred
and sixty-five said to be scattered about the city, we think of
the Reformer's complaint of masses irreverently celebrated, whilst
worldliness, extravagance, pomp, vice, and crime were rampant
on every side. "I myself" — these are his own words, — "have
heard people say openly in the streets of Rome, ' If there be a hell,
Rome is built upon it ! ' " And the testimony of others very unlike
him is accordant with his own. " It was the tone of good society
in Rome to question the evidences of Christianity. No one passed,
remarks P. Ant. Bandino, " for an accomplished man who did not
entertain heretical opinions ; at the court the ordinances of the
cathedral church and passages of Holy Writ were spoken of only
in a jesting manner ; the mysteries of the faith were despised." '
But Rome, a few years later than Luther's visit, was not without
evidences of something better. A conviction of the necessity of
1 Ranke's

132 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
reform, already illustrated in these chapters, had not expired, and
cravings after spiritual and ecclesiastical improvements were
strong in many minds. Even in the reign of Leo X. a society
was formed known as the Oratory of Divine Love. It was founded
in 1523, and met in the church of Santa Dorotea.
Fifty or sixty distinguished men joined this Oratory ; amongst
them were Contarini, and two others, contrasted together by the
historian Ranke; Gaetano daThiene, "peaceful, retiring, mild, of few
words, given to the raptures of religious enthusiasm, of whom it
was said that he wished to reform the world, but without having it
known that he was in the world ; the other, Gianpietro Caraffa,
violent, turbulent, a fierce zealot. But Caraffa had discovered, as he
confessed, that the more he had followed after his desires, the
more his heart had been oppressed ; that it could find rest only
when it quitted itself for God, when it communed with heavenly
things. They felt, therefore, in common, the want of seclusion (a
want which in the one was the result of natural disposition, in the
other of unsatisfied longings and aspirations) and the inclination
to spiritual activity."1
Besides these noted characters were Giberto, Sadoleto, and _
others, to the number of fifty or sixty. These men aimed at a
higher life than they had hitherto lived, and they also contemplated
measures of Church reform. But their views were superficial.
They did not look deep enough into what needed to be done.
They resolved, as others had before, to attend the ordinances of
religion diligently, to be regular in the celebration of mass, to be
frequent in visiting holy places.
Another movement accompanied that of the Divine Oratory. It
was the institute of a new monastic order, such new institutions
being common methods in the Middle Ages of attempting Church
reform. The order established in 1524 has left a visible mark in
Rome in the first convent of the Theatines, which took its name
1 Ranke, " History of the Popes," i. 175.

ROME. 133
from Caraffa, who was , Bishop of Theata. The convent was con
nected with the church of Santa Dorotea, and in it is buried
the body of Caraffa, who became a cardinal.
The Theatine brotherhood added to the usual monkish vows
this peculiarity, that whilst forbidden to possess property, they would
never beg. The members were of noble families ; subsequently
proofs to that effect were in some places requisite for admission,
and it is clear that the original plan could be carried out only
under conditions of that kind. The whole thing is curious — an
aristocratic order, vowing to live on alms, but confining member
ship to the rich and titled : a very roundabout device, worthy of
the old Italians, and to them chiefly its practice is confined.
The Castle of St. Angelo is one of the best-known objects in
Rome. Its appearance is familiar enough ; but comparatively few
English people enter the interior. I had for my guide an enthusiastic
cicerone, who pointed out memorials of the unhappy Beatrice
Cenci, and repeated the usual traditions respecting her — calling
attention to an old fresco on the wall of one of the rooms,
representing, as he said, Beatrice's advocate at her trial — and he
also told me, with burning indignation, that in a dungeon which
he opened, there had once been confined a Protestant, who was
strangled at the door when led forth to execution. Further, he
showed rooms where Pope Clement VII., during the siege of Rome,
found poor accommodation; and he also directed attention to wells
within the precincts, which supplied the Pontiff and his scanty
court with water, and to openings in the battlements, down which
boiling oil was poured on the besiegers.
That siege is one of the most frightful memories in Rome ; and it
belongs not merely to the age, but to some incidents of the Refor
mation. It was in May, 1527, that the Constable de Bourbon
attacked the walls at the head of German troops, many of whom
were Lutherans fired with hatred against the Papacy ; but they
would not have succeeded as they did, had it not been for allies

134. FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

near the Papal throne. Rome's worst enemies were the Italians.
By them Bourbon had been advised to besiege Florence. They
had guided his march, and planned his attacks ; and what followed
may be imagined, when we are told that the Germans were penni
less and shoeless, ragged and half-starved, and had but one thought
in their minds — to satisfy their hunger, and fill their pockets.
The morning of the 6th.rose heavily with clouds and fogs, hiding

CASTLE OF ST. ANGELO.
from the Romans the advance and manoeuvres of the assailants.
Artillery was useless. Twice the assault was given, and twice
repulsed. At the third onset Bourbon, in white armour, holding
a ladder in his left hand, and mounting to the attack, fell mortally
wounded. The Pope fled from the Vatican, and with difficulty
entered the Castle of St. Angelo, whilst many hopeless fugitives
in his rear, driven back and compelled to make way, were

ROME. , 135
crushed to death, or forced over the bridge into the Tiber. Ex
cesses of the most horrible nature were perpetrated by the assail
ants, who thus manifested their horror of Popery : " One group of
Lutheran infantry, in their drunken orgies, laid hold of the Cardinal
of Ara Cceli, carried him in a bier through the streets of Rome,
singing the office for the dead. Stopping before one of the churches,
they pronounced over him a funeral oration, interlarded with the
most revolting obscenities. Then, taking him to their quarters,
they compelled him to serve them with the choicest wines in conse
crated vessels. The higher the rank of their prisoners, the greater
their reputation for wealth, the more refined and exquisite were
the tortures prepared for them. Some were suspended by their
arms in the air, others, with their feet shackled, were dangled over
'wells and deep pits of water, with the threat of having the rope cut
if they did not declare where their treasures were hidden. Many
sunk under the blows they received, or were branded with fire in
different parts of their bodies, or their teeth torn out, or molten
lead poured into their mouths. In one instance a prelate who had
been taken prisoner with a diamond ring on his finger was compelled
to surrender it. As the soldier who was drawing it off lost patience,
his corporal, seeing his embarrassment, drew his knife, cut off the
prisoner's finger, and presented it to his comrade. Drawing off
the ring, the soldier threw the finger in the face of the unhappy
prisoner." 1
Such was the scarcity, that the Pope and his Cardinals, it is
said, were forced to live on horseflesh, and even to avail them
selves of an ass's carcase, whilst a poor old woman was strangled,
for attempting to convey lettuces for the table of his holiness.
The German soldiers added to his mortification and distress
by beating drums under his windows, and exhibiting a fellow
dressed in pontifical costume, who swore obedience to the Emperor,
amidst shouts of " Long live Pope Luther ! " Literature suffered
1 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Dom. Henry vin., vol. iv. int. clxiii.

136 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
from the violence of the invaders. Libraries were destroyed, and
MSS. were torn up for kitchen fires and stable litter.
But though these outbursts of an anti-papal temper appeared
in connection with the siege, the nature and object of the expedition
must not be estimated by a simple reference to such circumstances.
Italian quarrels of Imperial Ghibellines and Popish Guelfs were
of old standing, though now the names were dropped ; this
seems but a perpetuation of the old feud. The Emperor and the
Holy Father were striving for mastery ; and the excesses which
disgraced the German arms were but such horrors as commonly
followed in the wake of sixteenth-century wars. Charles V., though
he was inimical to the Pope, and sought to humble him as a
political power, professed still to reverence him as a spiritual ruler,
and had the hypocrisy, when Clement had been made prisoner, and
could be at any moment liberated by an Imperial order, to command
prayers and penances in the Spanish kingdom for the Pontiff's
deliverance. He also wrote to those European Governments with
which he was on friendly terms, to condemn the excesses of the
siege, and to repudiate Bourbon's assault on the city. Some may
hope that on that miserable occasion, besides cruel landsknechts —
who, so far as they pretended to any religion at all, were blind and
furious fanatics — there were some better-behaved soldiers. But
little could be expected in the way of improvement for Roman
citizens from these terrible incursions, however moral might be
some of the men engaged. Lutheranism in some parts of Italy
has been attributed to the march of this army ; but it is difficult
to see how, under the circumstances, they could have helped
on any religious cause whatever.
There were amongst the Roman Catholics men who regarded
the sack of Rome, like the sack of Alaric, as a judgment from
*
heaven for the sins of earth. It was not, said the prelate Staphi-
leus Siburicensis, by any spontaneous act of theirs, but God Himself,
the avenger of wickedness, who by the hands of abandoned men

ROME. 137

overturned tribunals and plundered sanctuaries. " How," he
exclaimed, " is the faithful city become a harlot ! righteousness
lodged in it, but now murderers." The prophecy of Babylon he
applied to Rome, declaring that the words gave so clear an account
of it as not to require explanation.1 At a later period a conviction
of the need of reform remained in the minds of many familiar
with the court of Rome ; and even Michael Angelo, when he
heard that Paul IV. wished to efface the Last Judgment from the
wall of the Sistine Chapel — a painting which Aretino said
" might give the artist a place among the Lutherans " — replied,
" Tell the Pope not to trouble himself, but to do something toward
reforming mankind ; a much easier thing than correcting pictures."
One scheme of reform followed another in the Romish Church,
and a remarkable attempt appears in the reign of Paul III. A
commission was appointed to investigate the condition of affairs,
and when the commissioners met they were received with great
state and ceremony. They transacted their business in the
apartments of Contarini.
It was confessed that irregularities prevailed ; that priests were
carelessly ordained ; that Church offices had become hereditary ;
that incumbents resigned in favour of their children ; that bishoprics
were held by incompetent persons ; and that non -residence
was notoriously common. Discipline was in decay ; monks were
irregular ; confessors were mercenary ; married clergymen were
numerous. A dark picture is drawn of what was nearest home :
" And as this city and Church of Rome is the parent and mistress
of all Churches, she hath an extraordinary obligation upon her
to exceed all others in religion and decency of living. But notwith
standing this there are a great many ignorant and slovenly priests
belonging to the Cathedral of St. Peter, who are so meanly and
scandalously provided, both in respect to their own clothes and the
vestments of their office, that it would be a very ill sight for them
1 Young's "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," i. 41.
N2

138 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
to appear in that manner, if it were only in ordinary and private
houses. And in this indecent garb they perform Divine service, to
the great dissatisfaction of those who are present. Therefore order
must be given to the archpriest or to the penitentiary, that all such
offensive negligence may be removed out of the way, first in this
town, and afterwards in other places. But, then, what complaint is
sharp enough against those shameless strumpets who are suffered
to appear in the same dress and figure with women of virtue and
condition, who ride upon mules through the most public places of
the town at noon-day, and have part of the retinue of cardinals of
the first quality, and such extraordinary attendance to wait upon
them ? Truly we must needs say we never saw such marks of dis
soluteness and debauchery in any other town' but in that which
ought to be, as it were, the pattern and original for all the world to
draw after and imitate : and to make their grandeur uniform, these
lewd women are permitted to dwell in stately houses, to the great
scandal of the place."
At Christmas, 1536, special festivities were held in honour of
the commissioners, who no doubt appeared in the streets in all the
pomp and glory of scarlet and purple. Paul III. determined on
making a batch of cardinals, and Pole was of the number. He had
lodgings for himself and his suite in the palace. That of St. John
Lateran had been for ages the Pontiffs' home — not the palace now
existing, built in 1586 by Sixtus v., but an ancient one running
back to a remote date ; in fact, the seat of the Roman diocese and
the Papal see is the Church of St. John Lateran, not the Church of
St. Peter Vatican. Boniface IX. quitted the rambling edifice of
the Lateran, decayed and inconvenient, and took up his abode in
the newly built structure of the Vatican.1
Paul in. occupied it sixteen years, and there he promoted the
new Catholic movement which" whilst in some respects a revival of
1 See " Les Sept Basiliques de Rome," par le Baron M. T. de Bussierre, for all
these particulars.

ROME. 139

old attempts,. was still more so an obvious reaction against what
went on in Germany — in short, a counter-revolution meant to check
what was accomplished by Luther. Also he repressed, by means
of persecution, the rapid growth of Italian Protestantism. As Alex
ander Faranese, Paul had been seen at meetings in the gardens of
Lorenzo de Medici at Florence, for he was born in 1468, and, a
thorough man of the world, he had, like some others, been lax in
reference to his priestly vows. When Cardinal he built the Grand
Farnese Palace. After reaching the Popedom, which through a long
life had been an object of steady ambition, his character and ways
often puzzled cardinals and other courtiers ; but " so much was
clear to all, that he never relinquished a project that he had once
entertained, he hoped to accomplish whatever he had undertaken,
if not presently, yet at some future time, under altered circum
stances and by other means."
The name of Paul HI. is closely associated with the Inquisition
in Rome ; and to that fearful institute the attention of every one
must be turned who is searching for localities bearing upon the
fortunes of the Reformation.
The first spot which here claims notice is that occupied by the
Church and Convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
The church, though depreciated by some, is one of the most
interesting in the city, being an example of the Italian Gothic quite
unique. It has of late years been restored, and is now exceedingly
attractive, not only from its paintings and sculptured monuments,
as Well as the illustrious dead buried there, including Catherine of
Siena and Fra Angelico da Fiesole, but from the masses and other
musical services which are there performed. Connected with the
church was a Dominican convent of the same name, formerly the
residence of the General of the order ; but, now that the monks are
scattered and the institute dissolved, it is occupied by a vast library
of 120,000 volumes collected by the Cardinal Casanata, and called
after him the " Bibliotheca Casanatensis." Some parts of the spacious

140 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
edifice, which enclose a court with a colonnade, are now used for
municipal purposes. Here existed the old court of the Inquisition,
the Holy Office for the suppression of heresy, and here occurred
the world-known trial of Galileo, on which fresh light has been
thrown of late.
An odd scene once occurred within the walls of this church.
De Dominis, Archbishop of Spolato, abandoned Roman Catholicism,
and came over to England in the reign of James I., who made the
new convert Dean of Windsor. But De Dominis was an incon
sistent and changeful sort of person ; he listened to overtures from
Rome, became suspected by the English monarch, and visited the
Papal city, still protesting that he would ever justify the English
Church, "as orthodox in fundamentals, even in the presence of the
Pope or whomsoever, though with the loss of his life." I cannot
follow his story, but it appears that when he reached Rome he
talked in a way indicated by these words, and this brought him
into trouble. He was arrested and imprisoned. Possession was
taken of his papers by the officers of the Inquisition, and they
reported that he abjured his heresies, gave signs of repentance, and
confessed that the pressure of imprisonment had led ' him to see
the light as he had done before. In this state he died. Some
people said he was poisoned ; poisoning was very common, and so
was the suspicion of it, when there could be found no evidence
whatever of the fact. Strange to tell, after the report of his
repentance, there assembled in Santa Maria sopra Minerva an
enormous multitude, so that the cardinals could scarcely reach
their places, though Swiss guards were stationed in the church.
The sacred Senate, the Inquisitors, and the City Prefect had
brought before them the effigy of De Dominis clothed in black,
with a cap and a paper on it, bearing his name and former dignity.
A wooden coffin smeared with pitch enclosed his corpse. A
sentence was then read to the effect that the departed was cast out
of the Church ; that his corpse and his effigy were to be delivered

ROME. ** 141

*to the Prefect for the infliction upon them of due penalties ; that
his writings were to be consumed, and his goods confiscated.
Accordingly, body and books, with the Archbishop's image, were
piled up in a heap and burnt in the Campo de Fiore.1
There is another spot in Rome requiring notice in connection
with Inquisitorial proceedings.
The Palazzo del Santo Uffizo is a large building near the Vatican,
and was formerly used for the business of the Inquisition, in the
form instituted by Paul HI., in 1542. That tribunal was abolished
by the Roman Assembly after the Revolution of February, 1 849 ;
but Pius IX. restored it as early as the following June. The old
palace was turned into barracks during the French occupation of
the city, and the business of the Holy Office, so far as it continues,
is carried on within the Vatican.2
When Paul III. aimed at crushing the Protestant' Reformation,
in the year 1542, he issued a bull creating the tribunal of the "Holy
Office," as it was called. He appointed six cardinals, the chief
being Caraffa and Toledo. They received a right to delegate,
powers similar to their own on other ecclesiastics, and were invested
with authority to decide all cases without appeal to any other
court. All persons, whether rich or poor, noble or plebeian, were
entrusted to their hands, to imprison the suspected, and to punish
the guilty. The only restriction imposed was that they must not
pardon, that supreme prerogative being vested with his holiness.
These were the rules of action :
" 1 . In affairs of faith there must not be a moment's delay, but
on the slightest suspicion proceedings must be taken.
1 Quoted by Rule in his " History of the Inquisition," 412.
2 The new palace near the Vatican, completed in 1569, was used as barracks during the
French occupation. It contains a hall with frescoes of Dominican saints, and there are
cells lined with reeds, in which a prisoner could not stand upright. A curious advertisement
appeared in the "Times" of August 28th, 1880: " To be sold, the halls of the tribunals, ,
prisons, and dungeons of torture, situate No. 3 Via Monte Bechio, Rome. Building
valuable, and architecture, 1614." I do not understand what is meant by this date.

142 **W FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
"2. No regard must be paid to any potentate or prelate,
whatever be his power or dignity.
"3. On the contrary, the greatest severity must be shown
towards those who seek to shelter themselves under the protection
of a ruler ; only where confession is made are leniency and fatherly
compassion to be shown.
"4. To heretics, and especially Calvinists, no toleration must
be granted." The Cardinal Inquisitors diligently carried on their work,
under the supreme superintendence of Paul HI. ; but Paul iv.
exceeded his predecessor in persecuting zeal. Though seventy^
nine when he ascended the steps of the throne, his eyes gleamed
with the fire of youth, and his tall thin frame was tightly laced by
nerves that never quailed; all his powers were devoted to one
end, ¦ the restoration of the old faith to its ancient ascendency.
It is said he knew not what it was to make a concession ; and in
harmony with this he carried on the acts of the Holy Office
with a sternness which never relaxed, with an intolerance which
knew no mercy. He overstrained the engine by the pressure
he put on it, and when he died in 1559 there arose a riot.
The prison of the Inquisition remained shut when, according
to custom, on a change of Popes, other prisons were opened. . The
people, however, would not endure this, but forced the gates,
and set the building on fire, and were hardly prevented from
serving the Convent of Sopra Minerva in the same way.
In a correspondence preserved in the State Paper Office there is
a curious despatch, which was forwarded to England regarding this
memorable incident. " Yesterday morning," says the writer, under
date August 31, 1559, "certain advice came of the decease of Paul
IV. upon the 18th instant. When he was dead, all at Rome went
on wheels — hell broken loose. The Roman people, in their fury,
discontented with the terrible proceedings of the new manner of the
.Inquisition, established by the late Pope (for the branches thereof

ROME. 143
extended hot only to heresy, but also to sodomy and blasphemy,
things no less familiar than hard to be touched or reformed amongst
them), went in a plompe, after news of the Pope's death, to the
Chamber or Court of the Inquisition, and there slew, as sorne letters
purport, the Chief Inquisitor, a friar, or (as other letters affirm)
only wounded and very roughly entreated him and his accomplices.
And not content herewith, set -all the prisoners suspectos heretics
pravitatis, and some others for company, at liberty. And, that no
archives might call things in question, they burnt or spoiled them
all. A guard of two hundred horsemen guarded Caraffa on his
way to Rome, so unpopular had he become. The Caraffas and
Carafetti," says the writer, Sir Thomas Challoner, to Secretary
Cecil, " are clean dashed." Five months later, January 20, 1560, it
is said : " The Pope (Pius IV.) has again set up the tribunal of the
Inquisition of Rome, only for the causes of faith, and appointed
judges Coropi Puteo Paceco, Ara Cceli ; Frani and Alessandro.
The latter was the principal and terrible judge of the Inquisition
under the former Pope ; and now, learning from Pope Pius that he
would not allow espionage to be employed in causes of religion, or
that certain small matters should be looked into, requested per
mission to leave, on his own business, for two or three' months, since
in any way little was to be done (at present). Whereupon the
Pope with a smile replied that he willingly gave him liberty to
depart, not only for three months, but if he pleased for ever."
I cannot better preface what I have to say respecting the
manner in which business was carried on by the Inquisitors than by
referring to a curious volume lent me whilst I was in Rome ; the
title of it is : "Sacro Arsenale, over oprattica dell' offitio della Santa
Inquisitione — con 1'insertione d'alcune Regole fatta dal P. Inquisi-
tore, Thomaso Menghini Domenicano, e di diverse annotationi del
Dottore Gio Pasqualone. — Roma and Bologna MDCCXVI."
The sixth part relates to the detection of heresy, and describes
modes of interrogation by torture. Three are specified ; tormento

144 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
del fuoco, or torture with fire, tormento della stanghetta, or torture
with the bolt or bar, tormento della cannetta or torture with the
soldering-pipe. The professed object of inflicting torture is said to
be simply the determination of truth with regard to the accused.
Pie is to be treated gently, as he may be able to bear the process.
Allowance is to be made for weakness of constitution and
tenderness of age ; and when brought to the place of torture, he is
to be benignantly admonished (benigne monitus) to confess the
truth, otherwise he must endure the prescribed ordeal. If he
obstinately refuses, there is no escape, and he must take the
consequences. If ever in this world there was an instance of
framing iniquity by a law, we have it here ; and it is not necessary
to read harrowing tales of what occurred in the cells and before the
tribunals ; it is quite enough to peruse the pages of this extraordinary
book, where, with the utmost coolness, rules are given for the
infliction of exquisite pain.
The records kept of the proceedings of the Inquisition have
been made accessible to the historical student, as appears from the
pages of the " Rivista Cristiana," where numerous extracts are
published. Everything seems to have been done with the utmost
regularity. The Inquisitors assembled in solemn fashion, invoking
the name of Christ, summoning before them the persons whose
names were inscribed in the records, just as the names of prisoners
are written down in Newgate Calendars. One day there might
be eight cases : for example, on the 6th of June, 1566, there are the
names of Hettore Bussone, a Neapolitan ; Giovanni Sproniere, Io
Laurentio Lento, Don Jacobo di Sabbato, Vincenzo del Ciampo,
Hettore Moncello, Giovanni Greco, and Don Cola Gambabona.
They are described as having made false depositions in court, and
are sentenced to be. publicly whipped, and to pay the expenses of
their trial. On the 30th of May, 1566, there is a case of another
description. Christophoro Gomez de Sotomajor di Malaga, after
invocation of the name of Christ by the tribunal, is pronounced,

ROME. 145

sentenced, and declared — so runs the formula — not to have been
convicted by evidence or his own confession ; and he is therefore
altogether liberated and absolved from the charges brought
against him. Another day, the sentence on Don Antonio
Petronillo de Altamura is canonical purgation, and absolution.
Sententia absolutoria is repeated again and again, in connection
with certain recorded names. A man is accused of having sold
prohibited books, and he is to suffer the loss of them, and
also to pay a fine of one hundred ducats. Then we find the
Inquisitors General of fhe Holy See engaged in the judgment of
Johannes Rangonus Mutinenses, who had been cited on a charge
of heretical pravity ; and having been convicted on the evidence
of his acts and his writings, he is sentenced to suffer confiscation
of property, and doomed to perpetual infamy; accordingly, he
is to be denounced and avoided by all faithful Christians.
An abbot gets into trouble, and is arraigned before the judges
on the nth of January, 1567. He had incurred suspicion of heresy,
as appeared from admissions by himself and from the testimony of
others. Errors he had been charged with holding are specified,
i.e., that confession to a priest is of no profit, and that the real
presence is impossible when the priest is a bad man ; but he had
abjured these errors, and was therefore absolved from the specified
imputations, and from all ecclesiastical censures and penalties which
had been incurred. He was to be received into the bosom of Holy
Mother Church ; but his conduct was to be an example, especially
to ecclesiastics, so that they might take care to avoid even the
suspicion of evil. The abbot, therefore, was to be suspended from
office for three years, and the administration of government in
the monastery over which he had presided was to be entrusted to
another person. The next month a layman is convicted of
heresy, and is condemned to imprisonment ad libitum inquisitorum.
Condemnation for heresy is an item appended to name after
name, with the penalty annexed : solitary penance ; embargo laid
o

146 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
on leaving Rome ; three, five, ten years of slavery in the galleys ;
and also imprisonment for life. Enumerations of false doctrine
held by the accused, and on account of which sentence- was
pronounced, are. sometimes very specific: for example, that there
is no purgatory after the present life, that confession to a priest is
unnecessary, that the Pope is Antichrist, and that there is no sin in
eating meat on days when it is prohibited. These were doctrines
evidently anti-popish, and indicated, if not the decided Protestant
ism, yet the Protestant tendencies of the accused ; and the number'
of cases in which such enumerations of doctrinal offences occur,
indicate the wide extent to which the principles of the Reformation
must have been at the time adopted in Italy.
But there are other indictments for heresy preserved in these
records, of a much more decidedly Protestant character. A month
after the poor abbot's trouble, notice is taken of a canon regular.
He is accused of believing that men are justified by faith without
works ; that the good works of Christians are not meritorious ; that
confession to a priest is not a Divine institution ; that communion
in the mass should be with both bread and wine ; that there is no
purgatory after the present life; that it is not lawful to worship
images, and burn candles before them ; that the observance of
the law is impossible to those who are not in a state of grace ;
that indulgences are pious deceits ; that there is no sin in acting
contrary to the decrees of Councils and of the Church, nor in
neglecting certain common ceremonies. This delinquent professed
repentance, made a recantation, and asked for pardon and mercy,
on which account he was retained in " Holy Mother, the Catholic
Church of Rome;'' but he was formally to abjure his errors in Santa
Maria sopra Minerva, and some other places, dressed in a habit
bearing the sign of the cross ; and the mercy reserved for him
+ afterwards consisted in imprisonment, connected with an observ
ance of prescribed penances.1
1 All these statements are based on extracts from the Inquisition records, contributed
by Dr. Benrath to the " Rivista Cristiana," viii. 1880.

ROME. 147

' The case of Tomaso Fabiano, in 1564, may here be added.
He was accused of holding that it is not sinful to eat flesh on
fast days ; that images and relics ought not to be reverenced ;
that Christ is our only advocate ; that there is no purgatory
after death ; that the Popes who do not live like Peter are riot his
successors ; that Papal indulgences and priestly absolutions are of
no value ; that justification is by faith alone ; that predestination
and foreknowledge destroy, free will ; that baptism should be
administered with water alone ; and that the host in the sacrament
is not Christ's body. Fabiano was required to recant, and to
do penance, wearing the prescribed habit marked by a cross, and
called the abitello, but in addition he was doomed to imprisonment
in un loco circondato da quattro mura, in a place surrounded by
four walls. However, Fabiano managed to escape, after which
his effigy was burnt the 8th of November, 1565.1
In the cases just enumerated, the court d-id not proceed to
capital punishment. Instances of that kind, however, are at hand.
It is to be remembered that Carnesecchi, the Florentine, who was
seized when sitting at the Duke's table, was tried at Rome, and
condemned and executed there in 1557. Four years before,
Giovanni di Montalcino, or, as he is sometimes called, Montilcinus,
or Mollius, Professor of Philosophy at Bologna, and an expositor of
the New Testament, was burnt at Rome. When we reach Bologna
we shall notice his labours in that city. Now attention must be
confined to the proceedings against him. He was one of several
prisoners brought on the 5th of September, 1553, according to
custom, with torches in their hands, before six Cardinals with their
episcopal assessors, who sat in the church of Santa Maria sopra
Minerva. All of them recanted except Montalcino, and a weaver
of Perugia, to be noticed hereafter. The former had, on a previous
occasion, been required to confess his theological opinions, " which
he diligently performed, entreating of original sin, justification by
1 " Case of a Minorite Friar," edited by the Rev. R. Gibbings.

148 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
faith, free will, purgatory, and other such like, proving the said
articles by the authority of Scripture and of ancient Fathers." 1
What exactly were his opinions on these points, we do not know ;
but he must have stated them in a very guarded form, for he had
been allowed to return to Bologna, with an admonition not to
lecture in the University on the Epistles of St. Paul ; a circumstance
which indicates his having imbibed the principles of what is often
termed Pauline theology. On the last occasion, which was that of
September, 1553, after a fourth imprisonment, he was allowed to
speak in his own defence ; and he certainly used great boldness of
speech, if we are to accept as accurate the whole report ; for he
charged the Cardinals and Bishops with blind ambition, with acts
of profligacy, and with setting moderation and virtue at defiance.
"What," he asked, "is your doctrine but a dream — a lie forged
by hypocrites? Wherefore," he concluded, "I appeal from" your
sentence, and summon you, cruel tyrants and murderers, to answer
before the judgment-seat of Christ at the Last Day, where your
pompous titles and gorgeous trappings will not dazzle, nor yo.ur
guards and torturing apparatus terrify us." 2
If he said all this, he conducted himself very differently from
what he had done before ; the issue, accordingly, was anything
but a dismissal with words of caution. He was condemned,
together with the poor weaver who stood by his side ; and it is
stated that " they died in the most pious fortitude."
Two years afterwards, another case is recorded. Pomponio
Algieri was a Neapolitan, attending the University of Bologna,
where he incurred the charge of heresy. He was sent to Venice,
but the Seignory, as we shall see hereafter in these local memo
ries, reluctantly meddled in such matters ; at last the authorities
had to deliver him up to a Roman tribunal. There " manifold'
persuasions and allurements were essayed, to remove this virtuous
1 Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," iv. 464.
2 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy, ' 320.

ROME. 149

and blessed young man from his sentence ; but when no worldly
persuasions could prevail against the operation of God's Spirit in
him, then was he adjudged to be burnt alive, which death most
constantly he sustained, to the great admiration of all that beheld
him." These are the words of John Foxe ; and it may be noticed
that in the Zurich collection of letters there is one from the author
of " Acts and Monuments," asking Bullinger to procure information
respecting Italian Protestant confessors from Peter Martyr.1 In
Foxe's table of such martyrs as suffered for the testimony of the
Gospel in Italy we have, perhaps, the result of that request ; and
in that table the case of Algieri occurs. He suffered fnartyrdom
at Rome in 1555.
Bartolomeo Bartoccio, residing in the duchy of Spoleto, im
bibed Protestant principles, and resisted every effort on the part of
the Bishop of his diocese to bring him back to the Roman Catholic
faith. He escaped from the hands of pursuers and reached Geneva,
where he supported himself as a silk manufacturer. Visiting
Genoa, he disclosed his real name, and was soon arrested by
vigilant officers of the Inquisition. The republics of Geneva and
Berne interceded for him in vain ; and after suffering imprisonment
for two years, he was sentenced to die by fire. With a firm step
and an unchanged countenance he walked up to the stake, and
was heard to cry from amidst the flame, "Vittoria, vittoria !'" 2
Francesco Cellario, a Minorite Franciscan, afterwards a Protes
tant pastor in the Grisons, and an occasional preacher at Chiavenna
and Mantua, was, after several accusations, imprisonments and
deliverances, entrapped by heresy hunters. One day on the
banks of the Adda he was watched, arrested, and flung into a
boat, which conveyed him to Piacenza, whence he was taken to
Rome, — the devouring circle into which one after another of the -
suspected in that age were cunningly decoyed or forcibly driven.
1 " Zurich Letters," i. 26.
2 M'Crie, "History of the Reformation in Italy," 346.
O 2

ISO FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
After trial and condemnation he died in May, 1568. "A native
of the Grisons who was in Rome, and witnessed the execution,
deposed that the martyr, on being taken from the fiery stake,
refused to confess, and was again thrown into the flames." 1
Aonio Paleario came conspicuously before us at Siena. The
varied fortunes through which he passed do not enter within the
limits of this work, but at last in Rome he claims attention as a
prisoner and a martyr. He was arrested and brought before the
Inquisition about the year 1568, accused of denying the doctrine
of purgatory, comparing religious orders to the priests of Mars,
and attributing pardon and justification to faith in the Divine
mercy through Jesus Christ. Confined within the prison of Torre
di Nona, near the bridge of St. Angelo, he was there visited by
members of the Misericordia, who, in the registers of their society,
have recorded a minute, stating that he '' confessed and penitently
asked pardon of God, and of His glorious mother V. Maria, and
of all the court of heaven, and said he wished to die as a good
Christian, and that he believed all that the Holy Roman Church
believes." 2 It has been suggested that some friendly hand wrote
these words, with the hope that an exaggerated report of general
professions of orthodox belief, in accordance with Church teaching
— common enough at the time with people accused of heresy —
might influence Paleario's judges to mitigate his sentence ; such
mitigation being granted in cases of orthodox confession after
conviction of heresy, when the confession was not afterwards
abjured. In support of this view I may mention the circumstance
that he certainly was saved from being burnt alive. Hanging
preceded his being consumed to ashes. At all events, the words
he uttered before the Cardinal Inquisitors manifest no disposition
to recant. " If your Eminences have so many credible witnesses
against me, there is no need to give yourselves or me any
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 401.
2 Young's " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," ii. 561.

ROME. 151

further trouble. I am determined to follow the counsel of the
blessed Apostle Peter, who said, ' Christ suffered for us, leaving
us an example that we should follow in His steps, who did no
sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, who, when He was
reviled, reviled not again : when He suffered, He threatened
not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.'
Judge, therefore, and condemn Aonio ; satisfy my adversaries, and
fulfil your office." In the Library of Siena there is an autograph
letter written by him to his wife. 1
" My DEAREST WIFE, — I would not have you to be sorrowful at
my happiness, or to take ill my good. The hour is come in which
I shall pass from this life to my Lord and Father and God. I go
there as willingly as to the marriage of the Son of the Great King,
which I have always intreated my Lord, in His great goodness and
infinite liberality, to grant me. So, my beloved wife, console your
self in the will of God, and in my satisfaction, and devote yourself
to the disconsolate family which remain, bring them up and keep
them in the fear of God, and be to them both father and mother.
I am already past seventy years old, and useless. My sons must
strive by virtue and by work to live honourably. God the Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
be with your spirit. " Rome, 3rd July, 1570.
" Thy husband, Aonio Paleario."
Fra Fulgentio is another name on this death-roll, of later date.
He carried about with him prohibited books. He corresponded
with heretics. He wrote articles against the Holy Apostolic-
Church. These were the accusations; but he denied them. He did
not know that any books he had were prohibited. No letters had
been written by him to people declared heretical ; and as tp
his papers, some were imperfect, and others contained notes of
opinions in which he did not agree. After various cruelties had
1 Young's "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," ii. 562.

152 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
been inflicted on him, he was gagged and conducted to the church
of San Salvatore in Lauro, built on the site of a laurel grove which
grew by the porch of the Temple Europa. The church is
situated in the Via Tordinona, close to where that street joins the
Via dei Coronari. Next morning the man was brought to Campo
di Fiore, and there " hanged and burned." J
More than one place of execution is mentioned. The Campo
di Fiore has been termed the Roman Smithfield. It is in front of
the Palazzo Farnese, by the Tiber, near the Pons S. Sisto ; autos da
Ft, of Jews as well as Christians, were held on this spot of dark
memories. Another place of burning is described as "outside the
Castle of St. Angelo ;" whether it is through a confusion of this
spot with another, or whether there were two localities near St.
Angelo, distinguished by these burnings, I do not know ; but I
may mention that, standing at the top of the pile of buildings now
used for the college of the Chiesa Libera, my friend, the president,
pointed down to the foot of the bridge of St. Angelo at the end
of the Via Tordinona, and told me that there Protestants were
burnt at the time of the Reformation. Certainly the foot of the
bridge was a place of public execution. The ill-fated Beatrice
Cenci perished there. In a MS. account of her death it is said :
" A scaffolding was erected in the piazza or square of the bridge ; "
and in the register of the Misericordia it is stated respecting Aonio
Paleario : " At the usual hour he was taken to the bridge, where
he was hanged and then burned."
What a wonderful change has been wrought in Rome within
.the last twenty-five years ! When I was there at the commence
ment of the period, things were very much as they were in the days
of Pauls hi. and IV. But now how different ! Perfect religious
liberty established ; Bibles and Protestant books freely sold
and circulated ; preaching by all denominations without let or
1 Report of the proceedings against Fulgentio Manfredi, taken from Inquisition docu
ments, edited by Gibbings. I confine myself to the words used in those documents.

ROME. 153
hindrance ; nine Reformed churches, some of them large and
well attended ; and this last spring religious conferences, con
ducted by a clergyman of the Scotch Church, when as many
as one thousand Italians were present !
I do not find any notice of a single Reformed congregation
in Rome, however . small, at the period of the Reformation ;— but
this is not surprising, when we remember what a network of
repression existed at the time, and how easily a Protestant
gathering, even when small and undeveloped, was caught within
the meshes as soon as it made an appearance. It is remarkable,
however, and not so easily to be accounted for, that I cannot
remember a reference to any suspected Roman citizen being
brought before the tribunals.
Before leaving Rome I may mention a little episode, throwing
light upon what went on there in the middle of the sixteenth
century. Diplomatic relations between our own country and the
Papal city were suspended by the death of Queen Mary and the
accession of Queen Elizabeth. An English ambassador, Sir
Edward Carne, represented our court when these changes
occurred ; what followed can be gathered from his reports. '
First of all, it may be stated that on the 20th of August,
1558, he made the following communication to the English court :
" His holiness, in the Holy Congregation of the Inquisition, has
prohibited that no man may sell or buy any of the books of one
Marco Antonio Flaminio, declaring his works to be heretical ; or
sell or buy St. Jerome's works wherein be any annotations ; or
epistles of Erasmus, or any other works wherein Erasmus has
written anything upon what is in it." ' And to this I may add that
a number of letters are preserved, written by the same person,
showing how he was on the watch for all sorts of political and
ecclesiastical intelligence ; and in a despatch dated February 16,
1559, he relates a circumstance which shows how anxious the
1 State Papers (Foreign, 1553-1558).

154 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
reigning Pope, Paul IV., was to guard future elections to the
pontificate against any influence being exercised by Cardinals in
sympathy with heretical opinions.
" The Pope," he says, " made a bull to the effect that all Cardi
nals inquired upon of heresy in the Inquisition, should be deprived
of their votes in the election of any Pope, so as neither to give any
vote for any other, nor be enabled themselves to be chosen. The
bull was read in the Consistory, and the Pope subscribed it, but
the Dean of the College who should next subscribe, refused, saying
that the honestest man might have an enemy who might give
wrong information, and therefore, unless a Cardinal were con
victed, he should not be deprived of his right. Of this opinion
were all the Cardinals present, and so the bull could not pass." '
In the preceding November occurred the death of Queen Mary,
and in consequence, among the proceedings of the English Privy
Council, under date February ist, 1559, there is a minute directing
that a letter be written to Sir Edward Carne, signifying that the
new Queen was pleased, in consideration of there being no cause
why he should make any further abode in Rome, to command
" that he do put himself in order to return home at such time and
with such speed as he shall think most meet." But presently,
March 31, there is notice of a Papal mandate by which Sir Edward
Carne, " orator of the late Queen Mary," is forbidden to leave the
city, and is further commanded to take charge of the English
College. At the same time it appears that Sir Edward Carne
wrote to Cecil, congratulating him on his appointment as Secretary
to Elizabeth. The late ambassador was happy still to correspond
with England " by Venice way," as he calls it, having, I suppose,
sent his letters through a roundabout circuit ; but the poor man
complains piteously of a want of payment, and forgets not to remind
the minister that " the acceptation of her ambassador at Rome
was a great matter." ' The same person also wrote to her Majesty,
1 State Papers (Foreign, 1558-1559).

ROME. 155

informing her that one of the Cardinals had told him he and others
wished his Holiness to send a Nuncio to England, but that he
could not do this until she first sent to him. We further learn
from the same correspondence, that on the morrow after Easter
Day, a Cardinal told Sir Edward that the Pope would not suffer
him to depart, since the Queen and her realm had "revolted
from, his obedience ; " therefore he had given commandment
that Carne should stay in his English house at Rome. In fact,
the man was kept a prisoner, and did not dare to go beyond
the gates, which were guarded by soldiers day and night. The
Cardinal of St. Matthew followed up the prohibition by threatening
the penalty of excommunication, should the late representative
dare to disobey, and assigned him the English Hospital for his
maintenance. On the 30th of May, the Venetian ambassador in
Paris asked the famous Sir NichPlas Throgmorton about Carne.
"He is on his way homeward," said Throgmorton. At this the
Venetian smiled, and said it was with his own will that Carne
remained. The Hospital in Rome, which Cardinal Pole once
held, had been given to the dismissed Englishman, and this he
had "thankfully received." In October, however, Cecil tells
Throgmorton, " Carne is still at Rome, and says he is still
stayed there, writing piteously in words to be helped home."
This complainant, who was a slippery character, turns up again
insignificantly some time afterwards, and then vanishes for
ever. Sir Edward Carne died at Rome about the 18th or 19th of
December, 1561. "Master Carne," says another correspondent
of Cecil, " after bequeathing body and soul to the Pope, is dead
and buried at Rome."
Though no English minister resided there during the reign of
Elizabeth, her vigilant secretary took care to have somebody on
the watch, to pick up what was going on ; and we find a certain
John Shers acting as agent, and writing from time to time, not
always mentioning his place of residence.

156 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
John Shers seems to have been a busy man, collecting what
scraps of information he could ; and on the 23rd of November, 1560,
he communicates the following piece of information :
" To-morrow the Pope, the Cardinals, and all the clergy will
go barefooted in procession to pray that all such as are separated
from the Church may return again to the obedierice of the same ;
and with the same, there shall be an absolution granted, a poena"
et culpa, to all such as will. The talk for a General Council is
great." Again, on the 8th'of March, 1561, he writes :
"The Protestants have informed the Emperor that they will
not appear at the Council of Trent, nor any other, unless it be free
and general, and with these four conditions: 1. That the Gospel
and Word of God shall be judge. 2. That all such prelates as
depend on the Pope shall be absolved of their oath to the Pope.
3. That this Council be appointed by the Emperor, and that the
Pope shall appear but as a part of the same, and be subject to
reformation. 4. That every prince shall have a voice in the
Council." To pursue the curious correspondence further would divert
attention from the main purpose of this book ; but the waifs and
strays now brought together are not irrelevant : they indicate the
vigilance of Paul IV. with regard to heresy ; how determined he
was not to let Carne leave Rome ; how much that matter
interested other diplomatists ; how anxious some Cardinals were to
continue friendly relations with England ; and how the projected
Council of Trent was common talk.
It may be well to conclude these notices by saying that in 1560
Pius IV. sent over to England Abbot Parpaglia, with a conciliatory
letter to Queen Elizabeth, addressing her as "dear daughter in
Christ," inviting her to return to the " bosom of the Church," and
expressing willingness to do everything needful for her soul's
health, and the stability of her throne ; but the daughter of

RUINS ON THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA.

ROME. 1 59

Henry VIII. declined to receive the Nuncio, and so the breach with
Rome became final and complete. Pius V., in 1569, denounced
her Majesty as a heretic, and in 1570 published a bull of excom
munication, releasing her subjects from their allegiance.
In the Campagna of Rome there is a locality worth noticing at
the close of this chapter. Verulo or Veroli was the birthplace of
Aonio Paleario. His parents' names were Matteo Paleari and
Clara or' Chiara Janarilla. There is a correction of the spelling of
the former name in the Library of Siena, and there the father- is
called La Pagliara. In Veroli there still lives a family of the name
of Pagjiaroli, claiming to be descended from the Italian Reformer.
"Veroli," says Mr. Hare, "is a magnificently situated city, and most
picturesque externally ; our horses had to scramble like cats up its
semi'-perpendicular street, and finally fell down on one another,
which gave us time to walk out beyond the gates towards Rome,
and see the last after-glow over the valley, standing beneath the
crowd of strangely clustered houses and old Romanesque churches
which line the natural ramparts of the town. There is a great
Seminafio at Veroli, and the road was crowded with ecclesiastical
scholars in the different dresses of rriiniature priests, watched over
by their professors ; and following them were canons and curati,
and even the Bishop of Veroli, attended by his footmen, as if he
were taking a walk on the Pincio." 1 Paleario inherited some
property in the place of his birth ; in a letter written by him he
says : " I have sent an order to my friend Pterigi, to sell my house
and land, which are in the province of the Hernici : if he does not
find a good purchaser he is to sell them by auction. I am willing
to give up everything rather than renounce the study of philosophy.
I shall get rid of my servants, furniture, house and land, and all
that I possess." Pterigi did not attend to Paleario's directions,
and brought down on himself the heavy displeasure of his im
petuous employer. In harmony with his Impulsive nature, Paleario
1 " Days near Rome," ii. 11.

160 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS,

tells him, "You drive me mad. Is it thus you despise my com
mands ? What I desire the most, you attend to the least ; thus do
I pay the penalty of my sins." Paleario, writing in 1531, goes on
to say: "After the sack of the city, the fields'* ravaged by war,
the inhabitants dying of hunger, the cities depopulated by the
plague; what aught is there now in Latium but an open plain, air,
and solitude?" The sale was afterwards effected, and Paleario
tells the purchaser, '' I am content with the conditions and send
the agreement. I hope the purchase may turn out a good and
satisfactory one for you." '
This is a solitary instance of a Reformer's footprints in the wide
Campagna ; nowhere in the neighbourhood of Rome, in Albano,
Frascati, Tivoli, or in the charming country of the Sabine. Hills,
near Horace's villa, can I find any traces of Protestantism. The
fact is, Roman Catholicism laid of old a strong hand on the rural
districts, and its grasp was in no wise shaken by the Reformers. In
large cities, not in country villages, were Protestants to be found.
Legends of ancient days surrounded many a monastery and many
a church with charms not to be resisted by the imaginative and
excitable Italian peasant. For example, in the neighbourhood of
Subiaco, where on the side of a valley matchless for beauty, there
stand the twin monasteries of sister and brother — Santa Scholastica
at the bottom, San Benedict at the top— how irresistible the spell
on man, woman, boy and girl, who linger there at the hour of
vespers, and climb, as I saw them, from floor to floor of the dim
mysterious chapel, with its frescoes and traditions, where sleeps
the greatest founder of monastic orders ! As it is now so
was it then. At present it would be hard to find Protestants in
the steep, narrow, winding streets of the old town. Yet I learned
that Bible distribution had begun even there.
1 Young's "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," i. 87.

PERUGIA.

r

ERUG1A,

ANIFOLD are the associations which
gather round this charmingly situated
l£j city. Descending from its rocky
heights, a short drive brings us to an
Etruscan sepulchre hewn out of the
foundation rock of the district, where
entering by a doorway, at first closed
by a slab of travertine, we find a collection of
chambers with urns, some of the same material,
and others composed of marble. Male and female
figures are sitting in this habitation of the dead ;
the ceiling is divided into squares, with a gorgon's
head in the centre ; whilst earthen images of
dragons and serpents, with metal tongues, seem
to hiss round you as you penetrate the receptacle.
The place is minutely described in Dennis's " Cities and Cemeteries
of Etruria ; " and it carries one back to an early period in the history
of Italy. Blocks of travertine near the Porta San Ercolano, the Arco
di Bornia, the Porta Colonna, and especially the famous Arch of
Augustus — of enormous height, flanked by two square towers — to
which may be added the Porta Marzia, in part embedded in the front

164 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

of Paul the Third's Citadel, — these remains of the Imperial period
remind us of the siege of the city by Augustus, and his conversion
of it into a Roman colony. Mementoes of the old feud between
Perugia and Siena are recognised in the griffins of the former
republic, on the Palazzo Comunale, tearing the wolf, symbolical of
the latter commonwealth ; and the broad marble-lined avenue
leading from the cathedral to the citadel is not unworthy of a
comparison with the Piazzetta of Venice. The fountain, by Nicola
and Giovanni da Pisa — close to the cathedral, and at the head of
the avenue, with three marble basins, and exquisite reliefs from the
hands of the cunning workmen just named — takes the memory
back to an early period of Italian mediaeval sculpture ; and then
the glorious frescoes of Perugino on the walls of the Sala del
Cambio, and charming pictures by the same artist ; also some by
Pinturicchio and Taddeo Bartolo, and several others in the
Pinacoteca, lead us into the heart of the Umbrian School, when it
was in the zenith of its pride. The churches of San Francesco and
San Pietro add to the treasures of the place other paintings, and
some carvings as well, of rare perfection ; and the house of
Perugino — which I sought with a good deal of trouble, and found
at last in a narrow street in one of the many declivities of
Perugia — crowns the memorials of its artistic age. The Piazza
del Papa, with its bronze statue of Julius III., marks a memorable
period in Perugian history after the republic had become absorbed
in the Papal States.
These localities, with their artistic and historical associations,
are familiar to tourists in general ; few, however, inquire respecting
mementoes of the Reformation, yet such are to be found in
Perugia. The cathedral, gaudily decked, yet marked by real magnificence,
is remarkable for the superstitious preservation of an onyx ring
said to have been worn by the Virgin ; but with this ancient relic,
demonstrating the need of a Reformation more than five centuries

PERUGIA. '165

ago, the building interests us more as the scene of a religious
revival something like that at Florence under Savonarola. "On
September 23, 1425," says Graziani, the chronicler of Perugia,
" there were, as far as we could reckon, upwards of 3,000 persons
in the cathedral. The sermon of Fra Bernardino da Massa was
from the sacred Scripture, reproving men of every vice and sin and
teaching Christian living. Then he began to rebuke the women
for their paints and cosmetics, and. such like wanton customs ; and
in like manner, the men for their cards and dice-boards, and masks
and amulets and chains ; insomuch that within a fortnight the
women sent all their false hair and gewgaws to the Convent of St.
Francis, and the men their cards, dice, and such gear, to the amount
of many loads. And on October 29, Fra Bernardino collected all
these devilish things in the Piazza, where he erected a kind of
wooden castle between the fountain and the Bishop's palace ; and
in this he put the said articles, and set fire to them, and the fire
was so great that none durst go near ; and in the fire were burned
things of the greatest value ; and so great was the haste of men
and women to escape the fire that many would have perished, but
for the quick aid of the burghers."
But what has Perugia to do with the footprints of Protestant
Reformers ? At first I thought nothing, and was on the point of
excluding it from these chapters — but upon looking into Foxe's
" Acts and Monuments," I found reference made to " a certain weaver
of Perugia martyred at Rome, A.D. 1553," and already mentioned
in this volume. No particulars are supplied except that he was
executed at the same time as Mollio. " They were carried incontinent
(or immediately) to the camp or field called Floriamini (or Campo
Fiori), where they remained cheerful and constant. First the
weaver was hanged." Thus Perugia supplies one at least of the
Italian victims at the period of the Reformation ; and our thoughts
are on this account led to some obscure house in one of the narrow
winding streets of the city, as having been tenanted by a poor

1 66 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
weaver, who reading a Bible, listening to some Protestant friend,
or pondering words heard at a distance, passed through conflicts
which led him to declare his faith in doctrines opposed to those of
Rome. Nor is it likely that he would be alone in his ' convictions,
that no other Perugian shared in his spiritual beliefs. Rather
would it seem probable that Protestantism had entered the neigh
bourhood so as to lay hold on the sympathies of others besides the
weaver ; and when we connect the date given by Foxe with the
date. of the statue of Julius HL, 1555, we think of the weaver as
living and dying under that pontiff, and suffering from his intolerance
about the very time when he restored to the city the privileges
which had been withdrawn by Paul in. That restoration excited
the gratitude expressed by the erection of the statue.
Since lighting upon this reference to Perugia in the pages of the
Martyrologist, I have met with a curious record, existing in the
archives of the Roman Inquisition, brought to light by Dr. Benrath,
bearing upon the history of another Perugian connected with the
Italian Reformation. It Pccurs fourteen years after the weaver's
death, and shows that when he was gone opinions like his had not
become extinct in the city. It appears that the person to whom
the account relates was a foreigner, and only came to study or teach
in the University. However that might be, it is clear that his parents
were Protestants, and that he had been early educated in the
doctrines of Calvin. The following entry in the proceedings of the
Inquisition is so characteristic, that I give a translation of the
original.1 " Sentence against Jerome Artesius, February 8, 1567, and the
following 24th publicly delivered in the church of Santa Maria
sopra Minerva.
" According to the instructions of our only true Master, he who is
offended by his eye, or his hand, or his foot, must first be deprived
of eye, or hand, or foot, that he may arrive at eternal salvation, and
1 It is printed in " La Rivista Cristiana," viii. (Feb. 1880), p. 55.

PERUGIA. 167

be preserved from falling into eternal death and destruction. In
such parabolical language we are taught that a son born of parents
enemies to God should abandon their parents ; and the scholar
who has an heretical teacher should leave that teacher, and adhere
to the evangelical truth in which we find salvation.
"And you, Jerome Artesius, born of parents enemies of God —
heretical, and instructed by many heretical teachers, such as
Calvin, Peter Martyr, and Theodore Beza — having rebelled against
evangelical precepts, and persevering in the heresies of your
parents, and preceptors, are come to Italy, and have reached Perugia.
Known to have a good acquaintance with the Latin and Greek
tongues and the rudiments of Hebrew, you were received by the
master of the young students in the seminary, ignorant of the fact
of your being in a state of heretical pravity ; and in that seminary
you found opportunity to dispense the poison in your possession,
speaking,many heretical things. This having become known to the
Episcopal Court of Perugia, through the depositions of people
worthy of credit, you have been imprisoned and examined, and
have confessed some of your errors ; now being informed of all
this, we have ordered that you should be brought before the
Holy Office. Our officers have several times examined you,
and we have seen by your spontaneous confessions that you
have always been heretical, and have held and believed such
errors as the following :
" That there are only two sacraments of the Church, i.e., Baptism
and the Lord's Supper. That sons of baptized parents can be
saved without baptism. That baptism does not cancel original sin,
for it is cancelled by the blood of Christ, and baptism is the sign of
that blood having been shed. That there is not in the consecrated
host the real body of Christ, but only the figure. That under
both kinds every one must communicate, and that it is wrong to
receive in the sacrament the bread only. That the mass in the
sight of God is idolatry. That the man who does not certainly

1 68 EOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS,
believe that he has the grace of God will certainly and truly be
deprived of it. That faith is the only means of justification and
salvation. That good works are inseparable from faith, and are
the fruits of it ; but they are not necessary to salvation except as
the accompaniments of faith. That the good works of Christians
do not merit eternal life. That there is no purgatory after
death. That confession of sin to a priest, and satisfaction for
it, are not parts of true repentance, as if repentance were not itself
sorrow for offences committed against the Divine Majesty. That
the Pope has no more authority than other Bishops, and that he
violently usurps it. That all such men as publicly preach the
gospel are Bishops, though they have not received the sacrament
of ordination. That we ought not to invoke the saints, and that
the saints are not able after the present life to intercede for us,
and that we ought not to revere their images. That vows are
repugnant to Christian liberty and to the gospel of God. That
man has free will only for sin. That indulgences are to be
condemned as contrary to the Christian religion. That the Pontiff
has no power to make laws which we cannot conscientiously
observe. That to make a difference in food on certain days is
to act like a Pharisee, and is unworthy of a Christian. That by
fasting we do not please God. Moreover you observe the Supper
in the Calvinistic way, and read heretical books, and are in an
heretical state.
" These errors and heresies we have seen and considered by a
sure process of examination ; and we are determined to despatch
your case, having voted and resolved respecting it in a General
Congregation. "Because you have shown it has been your sorrow to be
brought up in the belief of these doctrines, and now ask pardon
and mercy, and also willingly abjuring such subtle errors and
heresies, held and believed by you, returning to the bosom of the
Holy Roman Church, and resolving in time to come to live as a

PERUGIA. 169

good Catholic Christian, — we are content and do ordain that you
be absolved from the ecclesiastical censure you have incurred, and
be admitted into the bosom of the Holy Mother the Church of
Rome. But to the end that the crime committed against the
Divine Master be not passed over with entire impunity, we
condemn you to perpetual imprisonment in such place as may1
be appointed, where you may do penance for your sin, and where
you may not come out again without our permission."
This document was signed by four Cardinals.
This extract from the records of the Inquisition shows that the
man in question had entered the University of Perugia. ,That
institution was founded in 1320, was liberally endowed by both
Popes and Emperors, and still continues to exist near the Piazza
del Duomo, being ranked as third in the order of Italian Univer
sities.1 It further appears, that amongst the students he expressed
Protestant opinions, such as he had been taught at home ; from
which we may infer that in the Perugian, as in other Universities,
Reformed theology was discussed ; probably with much ardour on
both sides. But the Bishop and his clergy were vigilant men, and
soon took the young heretic to task, and brought pressure to
bear, so that, like others in those days of persecution, he was
induced to recant, not having the firmness and constancy evinced
by the poor weaver. The long list of religious opinions given is
instructive, inasmuch as it shows how decidedly antipapal and
evangelical must, in some cases, have been the tenets propagated
in Italy at the period of the Reformation. Moreover in this
1 The University occupies the old convent of the Olivetans. It is famous now for
its Museum of Etruscan remains, including numerous cippi, cinerary urns, Latin as well as
Etruscan inscriptions, coins, bronzes, a sarcophagus, and silver and bronze plates, with
remarkable bas-reliefs of mythological personages. Mr. Dennis remarks that "this
museum affords proof that the Etruscan modes of burial were adhered to, after the city
had become a dependency of Rome ; for several urns, truly Etruscan in every other respect,
bear- inscriptions in Latin letters, though a native > character is still conspicuous even in
some of these " (" Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," ii. 424).
Q

170

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

case the influence of a Protestant education by Calvinistic parents
comes to . light, and it is seen how the labours of Genevese and
other Foreign Reformers told in the cities of Italy. Such recan
tations as occurred in this case, no doubt were frequently formal
and unreal, because extorted by pressure, and we know that they
came to be revoked afterwards ; how it was in the case of Jerome
Artesius I have not been able to discover.

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J30L0GNA AND M.ODENA,

OLOGNA, attracts the curiosity of a tourist and
enchains his recollections. Its picturesque
streets — especially on a gala day, when
richly-coloured flags flutter in the air, and
crowds of holiday folks throng the arcades —
cannot but impress the imagination. Two
tall gaunt towers — looking as if they had
toppled against each other ; the Palazzo
Podesta, with lingering traces of the Pointed style
upon its facade ; the. noble Italian Gothic San Petronio ;
the cathedral of the Corinthian order, San Dominico,
rich in monuments ; and the indescribable labyrinth of
seven churches, forming San Stefano, will recur to a
visitor, years and years afterwards, when he is far, far
away. The picture gallery has its own peculiar
charms, for it contains the celestial S. Cecilia by Raphael,
the Crucifixion by Guido, and numerous works by the
Caracci and their pupils. Nor can anybody be insensible to the
romantic legends of Bologna, — for instance, the fate of the poet-
soldier Enzia, who could not buy his ransom, though he promised
to gird the city with a ring of gold ; and the passion of the
Q 2

174 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
beautiful Lucia Biadagoli, who attempted to deliver her lover
by concealing him in a cask, when the secret was betrayed
by a lock of his golden hair.
Bologna has other associations besides those of art and romance,
for the University flourished as a world-known centre of learning
at an early period. By a reaction against intellectual despotism,
inquisitive minds rushed into excesses of scepticism, which the
Church met, nPt by argument, but by persecution. Cecco
d'Ascoli — professor in Bologna (1324) and a friend of Petrarch —
adopted what would be called rationalistic views of religion,
and seems to have held the Averroistic doctrine of the eternity
of matter. This involved the denial of a Divine creation and
the soul's immortality, and for such a departure from truth Cecco
was condemned to burn his books, and listen Sunday after
Sunday to a Dominican preacher. Afterwards he himself perished
in the flames ; and his portrait figures in one of Orcagna's pictures
of the Inferno.
But I must hasten to incidents still more closely connected
with my subject.
The basilica of San Petronio, in the Piazza Maggiore, is
undoubtedly the finest ecclesiastical edifice in Bologna; and had
its original design been carried out it would, like the Cathedral of
Siena, have vastly exceeded its present dimensions. As it is, the
spacious nave and the lofty roof have an imposing effect, and the
choir, with its huge canopy, irresistibly attracts the eye of the
visitor. I have no time to look round on its chapels and statuary,
its pictures and frescoes, for at once I come upon an incident
complicated with the political affairs of the Reformation. We
have crossed the path of Clement vii. and Charles v., and seen
how they perpetuated the Guelphic and Ghibelline feuds.
With the ancient strifes was mixed up at the period under
review the question of a general council, wished for by Protest
ants in order to promote Reform, whilst Roman Catholics were

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. .„ 175
anxious to turn it to purposes on the opposite side. Clement
threw difficulties in the way of a couricil being held, and put it off
from time to time. Charles on some occasions seemed favourable
to the measure, though he did not advocate it with any design
such as Protestants approved. The greatest ecclesiastical and the
greatest temporal personage of the day met together on the 24th
of September, 1 5 30, under the roof of San Petronio, the first to
place on the head of the second, beneath the canopy just mentioned,
the Lombardic iron crown. There had been a coronation per
formed at Rome in 1527, when the same persons appeared in the
same relation. But notwithstanding his double service, the Pontiff
felt no love for his rival. The schemes of the two men were far from
being alike ; each played a game of his own ; and glimpses are caught
of their diplomatic intercourse in the following communications
to Francis I. The writer was Bishop of Tarbes, and the letter
seems to have accompanied a despatch addressed to the French
monarch. " I can tell you," says the Bishop, " the Pope tried to
show him " (meaning the Emperor) " the best cheer possible, giving
him the sword, and putting the first crown on his head ; but I think
he never in his life performed a ceremony which touched him so
near the heart, out of which less good is likely to come to him ; for
several times, when he thought no one saw him, he heaved such
sighs that, heavy as his cope was, he made it shake in good earnest.
Nassau and I were together, between the chair of the Pope and that
of the Emperor, resting against the latter." The writer, whose eyes
and ears were open to everything within his reach, observes after
wards, " I hear such news of the Turk, and the Lutherans, that I
think, as they have begun so early, and continue as they began,
according to all the couriers that come from Germany, they will do
something to the Emperor's disadvantage." ' The Lutherans, it
should be remembered, were then about as much dissatisfied with
1 De Gramont, Bishop of Tarbes, Bologna, Feb 25, 1530. State Papers (Foreign
and Domestic).

176 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the Emperor as they were with the Pope. This amusing corre
spondent watched what followed between his Holiness and his
Majesty, and his report affords further light respecting their
motives. Upon men of this sort the interests of Christendom were
supposed mainly to depend ; whilst instruments of a far different
order, as appears from our notices of Italian Reformers, were
employed by a Power infinitely higher than theirs, for the welfare
of the Church. According to our informant, " The evening before
Charles's departure he begged the Pope that he would give him two
cardinals' hats, besides those he had obtained, saying he was
bound to many great personages, whom he could not satisfy with
so small a number of hats. The Pope told him he had done what
he could to please him, and that, nevertheless, he had had the
consent of the cardinals as to the number obtained, as it were, by
force, and that really he had been obliged by the Emperor's own
men, when he was a prisoner, to make cardinals of some who were
a disgrace to the college. The Emperor replied that he was aware
of the insufficiency of those persons, and was very sorry for it,
assuring him that it had not been done with his consent. The
Pope did not answer, but says he knew very well the contrary, as
he has seen it set forth in the instructions of the Cordelier Cardinal,
signed by the Emperor. The Emperor still insisted, and, although
the Pope told him that since being made Pope he 'had made no
cardinal till now, except by constraint, he made no concession.
At last, he almost reproached him with what he had done for him,
saying besides, that before he left Trent he would do for him a
thing that would deserve six hats. The Pope tpld him that if he
had repulsed the Turks, put Hungary again to rights, and reduced'
all the Lutherans, he would deserve to have the two hats. At last
the conversation broke up, and the Pope says he thinks he will
remain satisfied. Next day I conducted them both from their
chambers to the lower story, where they took leave of one an
other ; and all the conversation I could hear between them, while

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. • 177
marching at their heels, was that the one wished to lead, and
the other refused it." '
A little way from San Petronio, along the Strada San Donato,
we light upon a building on the left hand, now the public library,
formerly the Antico Archiginnasio, or Oid Gymnasium. The court
within the open gate is bright with colours, which are found when
examined to represent coats of arms belonging to University
professors ; and ascending a staircase on the right hand of the gate
way you are conducted to an upper open colonnade, also rich in
varied hues, the armorial blazonments here relating to distinguished
University students. There are a number of lecture-rooms, once
used by teachers of literature and science ; but the building now is
occupied by an enormous collection of books, of which Cardinal
Mezzofanti — that almost miraculous linguist, who could converse
fluently in eighteen languages, and could speak to some extent in
forty-two — was once the keeper, a fact carefully brought under the
visitor's notice as he is led through the building by the polite
librarian. The University in 1803 was removed to another
building, but this was formerly its site.
The University of Bologna is identified with the Reformation
in Italy. In the fifteenth century, the authorities condemned the
destruction of Wicliffe's books ; but in the year 1533 we find
among the professors Montilcinus (or Mollius), Whom I have
described already as one of the martyrs in Rome. It seems that
he was wont in his official capacity to lecture on St. Paul's Epistles —
for obvious reasons a favourite Protestant text-book — and this
rendered him exceedingly popular. "As the number of his
audience daily augmented, so the eager fervency of their mind so
mightily increased withal, that every man almost came with his
pen and ink to write ; and great diligence was bestowed how to
come betimes to take up the first places where they might best
hear." 1 State Papers (Foreign and Domestic), 27 March, 1530.

1

178 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Certain positions which he advanced relating to justification by
faith called forth the animadversions of Cornelio, a brother professor;
and we have seen how, when the case was submitted to the Pope,
Montilcinus escaped, only in the end to endure the utmost rigour of
the law. Some incidents between his first and last apprehensions
may here be fitly introduced. After a disputation which lasted till
three o'clock in the morning, as he was descending the stairs, some
men seized and carried him off, not without a show of resistance on
the part of friends ; a tumult ensued, and the unpopular Cornelio
had to get out of the way, whilst at the same time, a Cardinal
and a Bishop, who took part against Montilcinus, aroused the
indignation of the surrounding students. After his citation to
Rome and its favourable issue, he proceeded to Naples ; and having
wandered in Italy from place to place, preaching Christ wherever
he came, he was invited back to Bologna "by a good Abbot,
named de Grassis, A.D. 1543, where he renewed the reading of St.
Paul's Epistles," in a secret way. Then he was apprehended
once more, and imprisoned at Faenza for four years, where he
wrote a Commentary on the Pentateuch. Delivered again, he
went to Ravenna, and " taught the gospel of Christ as before, and
whensoever he spake of the name of Jesus his eyes dropped tears,
for he was fraught with a mighty fervency of God's Holy Spirit." 1
The final imprisonment, and how that ended, we have seen.
There was a deep and strong feeling amongst the Bolognese in
favour of a Reformation, which they thought would be promoted
by a general council. And a remarkable evidence of their.
enthusiasm in this respect exists in a document dated 1533, which
they addressed to the minister of the Elector of Saxony, then on
an embassy to Charles v., during his Italian visit.
Having heard that the minister had come to engage the
Emperor's influence with the Pope on behalf of a council, they say :
" All Christians profess themselves under the deepest obligations
1Foxe's "Acts and Monuments," iv. 464, 465.

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. 179
to you." " We beseech and obtest you by the faith of Christ to
employ every means in your power with the religious Emperor,
and to leave no stone unturned to obtain this most desirable and
necessary assembly, in which you can scarcely fail to succeed."
" If the malice of Satan, still rages to such a degree that this boon
cannot be immediately obtained, liberty will surely be granted in
the meantime both to clergy and laity to purchase Bibles without
incurring the charge of heresy, and to quote the sayings of Christ
arid Paul without beirig branded as Lutherans. For, alas, instances
of this abominable practice are common ; and if this is not a mark
of the reign of Antichrist, we know not what it is, when the law,
and grace, and doctrine, and peace, and liberty of Christ are so
openly opposed, trampled upon, and rejected." ' This was plain
speaking, of which there was full measure in many quarters ; and
from the tone of the letters it seems the writers felt they had
fellow-citizens to back them. Therefore it is not surprising to
find Martin Bucer congratulating the Italian Reformers ; and in
accordance with this, Baldassare Altieri wrote to an acquaintance
stating that a Bolognese nobleman was ready to raise six thousand
soldiers to assist in carrying on a war against the Pope. About
the same time, Bologna is described as in great danger from its
numerous heretical teachers, especially a certain Giovanni Battista
Scoto, who enjoyed the friendship and protection of Cardinal
Pole, the Marquis of Pescara, and the Bishop of the diocese.
But Scoto was induced to abjure the opinions which brought
him into trouble.2
In 1533 Clement and Charles again met in the same city to
discuss the absorbing question of the day. The Pope did not dare
altogether to refuse consent to the Emperor's request; but he
loaded the calling of a council with impracticable conditions.
There is an account of this conference by Pallavicini, drawn from
1 Quoted from Seckendorf, by M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 112,
-''¦ 2 " La Rivista Cristiana," iv. 134.

i8o" FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
¦*
the Vatican archives, from which the difference between the two
powers is perfectly plain.
If there must be reformation, the next Pope, Paul IH., wished it
to be effected in his own way; and hence in 1537 he appointed
four Cardinals and five Bishops to meet at Bologna, and to draw
up a scheme for rectifying abuses. The Cardinals included Pole
and Caraffa, both of them men who strangely changed their course —
for having begun as members of the Oratory of Divine Love,
they ended as bitter persecutors ; but at the period of this meeting
at Bologna, the worst aspects of their character had not devel©ped.
Contarini, Sandolet, Giberto, Cortese, Aleander, and Fregoso, were
also in the commission ; and it is interesting to recognise amongst
the commissioners so many who belonged to the Oratory, and had
shown a desire for religious reform. Where they met in Bologna
I do not know, perhaps in the Episcopal Palace ; but we are
acquainted with their proceedings ; and many will feel surprise on
reading certain things which they said. They not only specified a
number of ecclesiastical evils, such as were at the time commonly
acknowledged — the admission of disqualified persons to the priest
hood, the sale of benefices, the bequest of them by will, the union
of bishoprics, and " the incompatible offices of cardinal and
bishop ; " but they even acknowledged, in so many words, that the
Church " laboured under a pestiferous malady, which if not cured
would prove fatal." Strange though it appears, they are said to
have addressed the Pontiff in the following terms : " Some of your
predecessors in the pontifical chair having itching ears have heaped
to themselves teachers according to their own lusts, who instead of
instructing them what they ought to do, were expert in finding out
reasons to justify What they wished to do, and encouraged them in
their simoniacal practices, by maintaining their right to dispose at
their pleasure of all ecclesiastical property."1 No wonder that a
x The Consilium, as it is called, is inserted at length in "Wolfii Sect. Memorab."
ii. 398.

BOLOGNA AND MODENA.

publication including censure in such a strain should be prohibited
by the Papal Index, as it was in 1559; nor could the counsels
expressed by the Cardinals be expected to bear much fruit.
Indeed they were afterwards set at naught by the men who
drew them up.
Cardinal Pole soon after appeared in England as Archbishop
of Canterbury, and benefices were sold and irregularities in ad
mission to the priesthood were continued just as before.
The Bologna Consilium or Advice incurred plenty of criticism
and even ridicule ; Luther remarking that the Cardinals lopped off
a few twigs, but left the tree growing : that they strained at gnats
and swallowed camels. The document, printed in German, had
prefixed to it a woodcut representing the Pope on a throne and the
Cardinals with brooms of fox-tails sweeping the room. Attention
was called to a paragraph in which the dignitaries at Bologna
prohibited the use in schools of the "Colloquies'' of Erasmus, as
likely to injure uninformed minds ; a remark, says Sleiden, for
which, after all, there was good ground ; -the same reason as that of
Demetrius the silversmith : " Sirs, ye know that by this craft we
have our wealth." Melanchthon expressed his wonder that a censure
on the " Colloquies " could have -been signed by men standing in
the world of letters so high as Aleander and Sandolet ; and Luther,
in his own cutting style, remarked, as Erasmus had now been dead
about a year, "Would God he had been living!"
A run by rail of less than an hour brings the traveller from
Bologna to Modena, in the neighbourhood of which the country is
luxuriantly fruitful. In autumn, trees in the fields on either side
are garlanded with vines, which make a pleasant picture ; but in
early spring, when I passed through the district, the scenery was
bare, and only skeletons of trunks appeared, with awkward branches,
which, when clothed with ample verdure and decked with rich ripe
clusters, must be extremely attractive.
Modena is famous from its connection with three illustrious

¦¦*'.«?

182 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Italian authors ; two of whom may claim a passing notice in these,
pages as historians of the Italian Reformation, under certain
theological aspects, and the third as having played a conspicuous
part in some of the ecclesiastical translations of the period. Tira-
boschi, the Duke of Modena's librarian, a hundred years1 ago, in the
seventh volume of his " Storia della litteratura Italiana," treats of
the polemics of the sixteenth century ; Muratori, his predecessor in
office a little earlier, did the same ; and it is remarkable that both of
them have received credit for tolerance and charity with respect to
such as differed from them in theological opinions ; and each of
them manifested an uncommon averseness to superstition and mere
ceremonial observances. Indeed, Muratori was accused of heresy;
and at the end of a story he tells of a Spanish preacher at Modena,
which I shall presently quote, he exclaims, -"O tempora, O mores ! "
The third author was Jacobo Sandoleto, born at Modena, who was
made a Cardinal by Paul III. He has been named already in this
volume as belonging to the Oratory of Divine Love, and as having
taken part in a reformatory movement, which from its superficial
nature produced little, if any beneficial results. He compose'ds-a
Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, in which he says he
strove " to open and illustrate the mystery of the death and cross
of Jesus Christ," and promised in a new edition to enter more fully
into the doctrines of grace and original sin. Sandoleto entered
into friendly correspondence with Melanchthon, and was, as we
have just seen, one of the commissioners at Bologna who joined
in censures of former Popes. In other ways Sandoleto seemed
favourable to a Reformation, even upon evangelical principles, and
I suppose it is in reference to that part of his history that a liberal
Catholic, Mr. Eustace, speaks of his candour and mildness, and says
he made it his business " to diffuse his own spirit, a spirit of charity
and peace and indulgence." 2 But, however just may be the eulogium
1 Quoted by Ranke, " Popes of Rome," i. 39.
2 "Classical Tour," i. 161.

f*'

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. 183

'"" as to some points in this Churchman's career, it is counterbalanced
by the fact that he signed a document authorizing the seizure of
Martin Luther, and excommunicating those who should dare to
•harbour him,* f
We shall enter into a still more direct line of local associations
by noticing the Modenese Duomo, Its west front is famous for a
two-storied porch, sustained by columns which stand on the backs
of enormous lions, said to symbolize the power and vigilance of the
Churchs,— power guarding truth, and vigilance busy with heretical
surroundings'. The other side of the building looks down upon the
• Piazza Grande, where crowds of market-women keep their stalls
»..pf fruit under matted awnings; just by is an open-air pulpit,
decorated with emblems of the four Evangelists.
The architecture of the. building is chiefly of the eleventh
century. Inside there is less to interest the traveller than in many
churches ; yet the red marble columns of the nave, alternating
with massive piers, carrying cross arches between the joined bays,
having capitals of classical design, will be noticed by archaeologists ;
and the loftily elevated choir, reached by long flights of steps, with
a deep crypt beneath, will strike everybody who enters the cathe
dral. On the left side stands an elaborately sculptured marble
pulpit, carved by the hand of Tomaso di Campione, which well
repays a careful examination. Some memorable sermons were
delivered from it at the time -of the Reformation. In 1530, one
Francesco Filolauro recited a pretended brief from Jesus Christ,
* "given in the terrestrial paradise on the sixth day of the creation of
the world, in the eternal year of our Pontificate, and confirmed and
signed on Mount Calvary." ' This monstrous fabrication sanctioned
the rules of the Order of Franciscans, styled in Italy the Osservanti,
because they, strictly observed laws laid down by Francis of Assisi,
and went barefoot in absolute poverty. Here also, in 15 39, a
certain Don Serafino held forth on the side of old superstitions, so
1 ¦' Muratori Annali," x. 335.

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

as to provoke his congregation, Who daubed his pulpit with dirt,
to show their contempt of his ignorance and credulity. The

THE CATHEDRAL, MODENA.

same year at Whitsuntide, Fra Antonio della Catellina adopted a
different line, and won great applause; but, being accused of heresy,

BOLOGNA- AND MODENA.

he declared publicly that he was a good Catholic. Most remarkable
amongst the preachers from Tomaso's marble pulpit was Ochino,
who gathered such multitudes about him that they could scarcely
'* find standing-room.
, Modena and Bologna closely resemble each other in three
*• respects : (i) in the active part taken by literary people with
reference to the Reformation ; (2) in the existence of controversy
amongst the Reformed ; and (3) in the persecutions which were
carried on in both places.
As we have seen the Bolognese University take a Protestant
lead, so we find at Modena an Academy somewhat after the
Florentine fashion, but so carried out as to have for its centre a
sort of domestic institution. The Grillenzone family of seven
brothers, five of them married, lived all together, children and
parents — taking their meals in a large hall where strangers were
also admitted. Lectures were delivered on Greek literature ; and
at supper there were gatherings for literary discussion. It is very
significant that when religion was introduced some were offended ;
and a critic of the day lamented that the glory of the Academy
" should have been clouded in consequence of having directed its
attention to the study of the Holy Scriptures."1 The meetings
seem to have been held in different places ; for we are told that at
an apothecary's shop belonging to one of the Grillenzoni, at the
sign of the Fountain, in the egg market — which I suppose must have
been on the east side of the Duomo, where the women now-a-days
are busy selling vegetables — the Academicians were so numerous
" that they left no room in the streets as they moved along,
arid when they dispersed they resembled a flight of swallows in
their migration." 2
The members continued to discuss doctrinal points, and this
alarmed the clergy. In 1537, ©ne of the Canons preaching in the
lion-guarded Duomo, told his congregation that Lutheranism was
Young's " Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," ii. 16. 2 Ibid., ii. 17.
R 2

1-86 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
afloat amongst them, for he' had found- heretical books in the house
of a noble lady. The attack roused resentment, and pasquinades
on the subject were affixed to the columns of the church and the
gates of the Dominican monastery. In a bookseller's shop there
was a volume with this title : " The Summary of the Holy Scriptures,
arid the Ordinary of Christians : showing what is the true Christian
Faith, by which we are' justified'; and the virtue of Baptism,
according to the doctrine of the Gospel and of the Apostles, with
Instructions how all states ought to live according to the Gospel ; "
of this work an academician was reported to be the author.
One night at a marriage feast in the house of a professor, the
Canon's sermon and the denunciations against the heretical book
were ridiculed by " two of the masks mounted on the top of a
sideboard." 1
In the midst of this excitement two people accused of heresy
were thrown into prison ; but they were soon released. Mutual
recrimination ensued. Then came a famous preacher, once a monk,
but he had now thrown off the cowl, and changed his name from
Paolo Ricci to Lisia Fileno. Welcomed by scholars, he preached
with much effect in some private house, — and " not only the
learned, but also the illiterate, and even women, wherever they
met in the streets, in shops, in churches, disputed about faith and
the doctrine of Christ ; " thus making Modena look something
like Constantinople in the days of Gregory Nazianzen, or like
England during the civil wars. One Giovanni de Politiano
" expounded the Scriptures in the house of his patron, " and said
that prayers in an unknown tongue were not pleasing to God.
In the end he had to do penance for this.
Reports respecting Modena are contained in contemporary
letters. " Eight days ago," Cardinal Morone wrote to the Duke
of Ferrara, on the 21st November, 1541, 'T came to Modena to
make residence at my church, and to endeavour with the Divine
1 Young's "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario,'.'- ii. 19.

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. 187
* * * ;
assistance to do' all in my power, consistently with charity, to
remove the bad 'fame' which this city has incurred, not only
in Italy but abroad, in reference to the modern novelties of
opinion." Again, on the 20th of May, 1542, he says to Con
tarini: " I have found things which infinitely distress me, and,
while I perceive the danger, am quite at a loss as to the means
by which I can extricate myself in the affairs of this flock,
which, with my blood, I would willingly secure to Christ, and
clear from public infamy. Wherever I go, and from all quarters,
I hear that the city is become Lutheran. Your suspicions are not
without foundation ; for it cannot be denied that much ignorance,
joined with great audacity and little charity, reigns among the
monks ; but against the other side there are many violent sus
picions, and even some proofs, which I mean to verify, with the view
of adopting the remedies to which God may direct." And, once
more, on the 30th of July, the same year : " A minister " (of a certain
order) " frankly told me that their preachers would no longer
go to Modena, on account of the persecution to which they
were exposed from the Academy, it being everywhere spread
abroad that the city is Lutheran." '
Another point of resemblance between the neighbouring cities
is the occurrence of strife within the circle of Protestantism.
Germany and Switzerland were divided by the eucharistic
controversy ; Luther on the one side teaching consubstantiation,
and Zuingle on the other protesting against the idea of a change
in the bread and wine. The dispute extended to Northern Italy.
Bucer, the German Reformer, a friend to ..union, did all in his
power to suppress contention, and wrote on the subject to the
Bolognese and Modenese brethren. Too sanguine, the good
man hoped he had united his countrymen, and he earnestly
recommended the Italians to imitate the Protestants beyond the
Alps. Besides the eucharistic controversy, disputes respecting
1 M Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 101.

1 88 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the doctrine of the Trinity troubled the Italian Reformers ; but
these disputes proceeded chiefly from the Venetian territory, and
will be noticed when we reach Vicenza.
In 1542, the members of the Academy at Modena were required •
to write to the Pope, declaring their faithful adherence to the
Roman Catholic Church ; but this they declined to do. Another
and milder proposal of the same kind w as suggested, to which also
' the academicians demurred, saying they might as well sell their
books and abandon all study, as it was impossible to think and
write whilst bound with fetters. However, in time these scruples
were overcome, and a modified formulary received the signatures of
the whole body. Yet this did not end the matter; everybody
had become unsettled, and on the first Sunday in Advent, 1543,
no preacher could be found to face the congregation, because of
the strife of tongues. The clergy wanted orthodoxy, and the
academicians sighed for Protestantism. When, the next year, a
friar in his sermon made no mention of saint or doctor, of Lent or
fasting, he was arraigned for the omission. He made some sort of
excuse, and afterwards received an address from the citizens, who
approved of his preaching. Another monk at Modena, the same
year, was condemned for heresy. A ducal edict appeared in 1545,
forbidding the circulation of suspected books and the holding of
religious disputations, under penalty for the first offence of a
hundred golden crowns, or, in default of payment, an infliction of
the strapedo ; for the second, a fine of two thousand crowns, or
banishment ; for the third, confiscation of goods, or death. In
1556, orders came from Rome for the institution of fresh inquiries
into the state of opinion at Modena ; and the Provost of the
Cathedral, and other important persons, besides a printer and
bookseller, suspected of theological disaffection, were cited to appear
before the Inquisition. The citation agitated the citizens, who
remonstrated with the Duke, and protested against laymen being
surrendered to a pontifical tribunal. The business, they said, was

BOLOGNA AND MODENA.

a scandal, and the persons cited were respectable men, and highly
esteemed in the city. All this was urged in vain ; the Duke
inclined to concession, but the spiritual power came off trium
phant : the Provost made a recantation first in the Roman church
of Sopra Minerva, next in his own church at Modena ; the printer,
eighty years of age, was kept in prison ; and two other distin
guished persons involved in the charge were excommunicated
for contumacy. One of these was a gentleman named Ludovico
Castelvetro, who, through the researches of Muratori, looms out of
the darkness distinct in figure and physiognomy : " Moderate in
height, square-built, dark, and nearly bald, with piercing eyes, an
aquiline nose, and a long black beard." * He was a member of
the Modenese Academy, and devoted to the study of literature.
He fell into trouble through the severity of his criticisms ; and
unpleasant personalities were mixed up with controversies in which
he became involved. He did not openly avow Protestant opinions,
but he was charged with heresy, and cited to appear before the
Inquisition. Armed with a safe-conduct, he journeyed to Rome,
and was in the first instance courteously treated ; but, fearing the
dungeons of the Holy Office, he privately made his escape, and
sought refuge in Ferrara. In his absence the tribunal pronounced
him a heretic, and had him burnt in effigy. He desired to appear
before the Council of Trent for his own justification, but all in vain ;
and, unrelieved from the sentence of excommunication, he met with
romantic adventures in his exile. After residing at Chiavenna, he
wandered into France, where, in the neighbourhood of Lyons,
travelling with an escort of two halberdiers, he was robbed of his
books and MSS., including an Italian version of the New Testament.
He returned to Chiavenna, and died there in 1571. Castelvetro's
opinions are a subject of controversy. The chief charge against
him is that he translated some of Melanchthon's writings, and that
he spoke of the Lord's Supper in Protestant phraseology.
1 See his " Vita del Castelvetro."

190 FOOTPRINTS' OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

In histories of the period, a number of Modenese, including
the Master of the Episcopal Palace, are mentioned as heretics ;
and special notice is taken of the famous treatise " II Beneficio di
Cristo " as frequently printed, particularly at Modena, by command
of Morone. Morone was Bishop of Modena, a Cardinal too, and
charged with inquisitorial powers; indeed, he had much to do, but in
a conciliatory temper, with proceedings against the heretics of his
diocese. There can be no doubt that, like Pole and others, he felt
much sympathy with the author of that theological treatise which
won such a high reputation from its advocacy of justification by
faith. Indeed, he was accused of heresy, and was imprisoned by
Paul IV. No less than twenty-one articles were alleged against him,
according to an account given by Vergerio ; but he managed to
escape punishment and conviction, and retained as Cardinal his
eligibility for election to the pontificate.i
Persecution in Bologna and Modena raged under Pius V.
Suspected people of all ranks in the former place were subject to
imprisonment and, torture. Three were burnt alive; and two
brothers of the Ercolani family were sent to be tried at Rome.
The case of one M. Geo. Francesco, a Bolognese gentleman, appears
in the archives of the Inquisition ; and whilst many German
students were put into confinement, others sought safety by flight.2
At a later period persecution in a thoroughly organized shape
appeared amongst the Modenese ; for there is an Italian manual of
1608 entitled, "Brief Instructions as to the manner of treating
Causes pertaining to the Holy Office." The instructions are
addressed to the vicars in Modena and the neighbouring dioceses.
The vicars were to encourage the faithful in the denunciation of
heretics, as in a plague-stricken city everybody who can is
bound to stay the contagion, not caring for' reproaches. Notaries
1 " La Rivista Cristiana," iv. 132. The. charges against Morone are printed at length
in Young's "Life and Times of Aonio Paleario," ii. 309.
2 " La Rivista Cristiana," viii. 141.

BOLOGNA AND MODENA. 191
were to state the evidences of heresy in such a way as that no one
could find out who were the accusers. The general edict of the
Holy Office was to be published three times a year, but no informa
tion was to be given to inquirers respecting the Inquisition ; all its
proceedings were to be conducted with the utmost secresy. There
is appended a list of fees payable to officers of the court.
I have wandered from Bologna to Modena— I now venture for
an instant in the opposite direction, as far as Faenza, a place
credited for the manufacture of a particular kind of earthenware,
in the French language called faience. Faenza has had its
artists, but they are little known. Faenza has also had Protestants,
known still less. Sermons were there preached in private houses,
and the Lutherans increased every day. A nobleman is mentioned
as having been suspected by the Inquisitors, and put to the torture,
which ended in death, under their merciless hands. This outrage
exasperated the inhabitants, who attacked the Office, tore down
altars and images, and in a riot some priests were trodden to death.1
Between Bologna and Faenza lies the littie town of Imola,
with a cathedral noticeable for its picturesque octangular tower, and
for its crypt containing the remains of a great orator of the fifth
century, S. Peter Chrysologus. In that cathedral a monk one
day said that heaven was to be bought with good works. A lad
present cried out, "That's blasphemy ! for the Bible tells us that
Christ purchased heaven by His sufferings and death, and bestows
it on us freely by His mercy." This indecorous interruption led
to a controversy between the preacher and the youth before the
whole congregation, many of the latter taking part with the
juvenile critic, who seems to have been a match for the monk. " Get
you gone, you young rascal ! " he exclaimed ; " you are but just
come from the cradle, and will you take it upon you to judge of
sacred things which the most learned cannot explain ? " " Did
you never read these words," asked the other : " ' Out of the
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 272.

'92

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN .REFORMERS.

mouth of babes and sucklings God perfects praise ? ' " The boy
was seized and sent to prison, " where he still lies," says the
writer of the letter containing the story.1
There are no particular Reformation incidents which can be
localized in this part of Italy, beyond those I have noticed ; but I
may add that, in the duchy of Parma, persecution was carried on
by virtue of a treaty with Paul IV. At Verona, too, there were
converts to the Reformed faith, and Paul HI. addressed a brief to
the Bishop of Mantua, complaining that he heard of priest-parti
sans, who questioned the doctrines and rites of the Holy Catholic
Church; such persons were to be arrested, and brought before the
Inquisition. Search also was to be made after heretical books.
1 The letter is dated December 31st, 1544. M'Crie, "History of the Reformation in
Italy," 118.

THE DUCAL PALACE, FERRARA.

JFef^raf^a,

DID not visit Ferrara under favourable
circumstances, The -rain began to fall
soon after the albergo was reached ; and
rambles through wet streets were not
calculated to leave a pleasant impression.
A walk in one direction, through"' long,
narrow and dirty thoroughfares, ~ gave
the idea that there was little or nothing worth
seeing, except here and there a little bit of archi
tecture ; but a walk in another direction, the next
morning, took me through spacious streets with
handsome houses, some quite palace-like, suggestive
of considerable prosperity. Even under gloomy
skies there is one building which agreeably arrests
attention, — -the grand old cathedral, with its pink
marble lions, indescribably quaint, guarding the
entrance, and the scarcely less quaint figure of Alberto d'Este, in
his pilgrim's dress, as, at the head of four hundred other pilgrims,
he marched to Rome.
" Ferrara," says .Augustus J. C. Hare, " is one of the most Italian
of Italian towns, and one of the most melancholy. It seems to

&¦

9

196 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
have gone to sleep in the end of the sixteenth century, when it was
annexed to the States of the Church, and never to have been
awakened." I cannot say I thought the place was melancholy, or
that the people belonged to the sleepy order ; there seemed activity
and life enough about the Piazza del Duomo, and the story of
grass-grown streets is a delusion ; yet in summer, during mid-day
heat, I , dare say the square is silent, and then the aspects which
are caught must have a soporific effect. The sleep, however,
produced by the scenery and the air cannot but be full of charming
dreams. Imagination goes back to palmy days, when the city
flourished in art and literature, and the court was a home for genius
as well as an abode for luxury and refinement. In Ferrara there
then lived the poet Ariosto ; and his house is now set apart, like
Shakespeare's at Stratford,, as a museum for memorials. Of Tasso
there are relics in the public library : — his MSS., his inkstand,
and the chair in which he sat and wrote ; and most people visit
the prison, in the Hospital of Santa Anna, where he is said to have
been confined, though critics question it. A wretched cell, lighted
by a grated window, the door cut away by relic-stealers, is shown
as the scene of his captivity. But I am not searching for poets or
artists, only for people who helped on the Reformation ; and no
city is more closely identified with that event than Ferrara.
Footprints of Savonarola in his earliest days may there be
traced. His statue is near the castle. He was born and educated
in the city, and is described as a sad and silent youth, "taking
pleasure," says Padre Marchese, "in solitary places, in the open
fields, or along the green banks of the Po, and there wandering
sometimes singing, sometimes weeping." His young life was
prophetic of weird imaginations and mysterious influences in
riper years. Ferrara in those days blazed with mediaeval splendour.
Paul II. passed through, on his way to Mantua, " under a canopy
of gold ;" and, returning by the river in a magnificent barge, he
was met by youths dressed in white, and carrying garlands of

FERRARA. 197
flowers. " There is little doubt," remarks Vellari, " that Savonarola
was a spectator of this great display ; '' but his mind dwelt on
far other things. "O Lord," he prayed, "make known to me
the way in which I ought to guide my soul." He wrote an essay
, on " Disdain of the World," which he hid amongst the books on
the window-sill of his mother's house ; and it was left there as an
explanation of his departure during the festa of St. George.
At the time when the Reformation was influencing more or less
the whole of Europe, and penetrating in a measure the superstition
of Papal Italy, Duke Hercules II. was living within the palace of
Ferrara, then in its pristine magnificence. The art and civilization
of the Renaissance period was beginning its reign in the courts of
proud and ambitious sovereigns ; that of the little duchy on the banks
of the Po caught the elegant contagion in this respect, and vied as
far as possible with the kingly court of Paris. Hercules patronized
artists and men of letters, and gathered together a large collection
of medals and other curiosities ; hence an immense blaze of artistic
grandeur was often witnessed in the halls and galleries of the
castellated palace, when courtiers assembled in the presence of the
Duke, their master. In 1528 he married Renee, daughter of Louis
XII., King of France ; and it is curious to notice that, only a year
before this event, Cardinal Wolsey had visited that kingdom with
the view of securing this lady as a bride for Henry VIII.
As the Duchess Renee is the centre of a' group in this chapter,
it will be proper to describe her appearance and character at once.
She was not what would be called beautiful, but her brilliant eyes,
her clear complexion, the bloom on her cheeks, her white teeth,
and the winning smile she was wont to wear, imparted attractions
far surpassing those which belong to perfectly moulded features.
She is renowned in history for her talents, and these were culti
vated in her childhood, under the best masters of the age, especially
under the care of a governess, Madame de Soubise, who after
Renee' s marriage continued to be her companion and friend.' "The

198 - FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Duchess," says Brantome, in a tone redolent of court flattery, " was
very learned, and I have heard her discourse very eruditely, fluently
and gravely, of all the sciences, even of astrology, the knowledge of
the stars, concerning which I saw her, one day, conversing with the
Queen-mother " (Catherine de Medici), "who, on hearing her so
speak, said that the greatest philosopher living could not talk better
about them. " Amiableness of disposition was combined with dignity
of deportment, and sallies of wit and humour threw sunshine over the
influence of this celebrated woman. With a pious turn of mind from
early youth, she took a deep interest in religious studies ; and her
governess, Madame de Soubise, who had embraced the sentiments
pf the Reformers, took opportunities of instilling them into the mind
of her pupil. The character of Pope Julius II., and his animosity
to Francis L, no doubt helped to increase an aversion to the Papal
court in the , heart of that monarch's sister. She carried with her
into her adopted country affectionate remembrances of beautiful
France ; and no necessitous Frenchman passed through Ferrara
without sharing in the bounty of the Duchess. It is said that at a
later period she saved more than ten thousand Frenchmen of the
Duke of Guise's army from starvation and death. " What would
you have me do?" she asked, when expostulated with for
extravagant charity. "These are poor Frenchmen and country
men ; and had God given me a beard, had I been born a man,
or had that iniquitous Salic law not interfered to prevent it, they
might have been my subjects." Ren^e was a woman of strong
character, and was therefore fitted to advance the interests of
an Italian Reformation ; and it is remarkable that an Italian
author of the sixteenth century observes, " In our age we
behold the admirable spectacle of women (whose sex is more
addicted to vanity than learning) having their minds deeply
imbued with the knowledge of heavenly doctrine. In Campania,
where I now write, the most learned preacher may become more
learned and holy by a single conversation with some women.

' FERRARA. 199
In my native country of Mantua, too, L found the same thing ; and
were it not that it would lead me into a digression, I could dilate
with pleasure on the many proofs which I received, to my no small
edification, of an unction of spirit and fervour of devotion in the
sisterhood, such as I have rarely met with in the most learned
men of my profession."
Entering the castle across a bridge, and passing through a
spacious courtyard, we are conducted to galleries and saloons on
an upper floor, where a few remains of ducal magnificence are still
preserved, though the building is shorn of the splendour witnessed
in it when the Duchess Rende there held her court. We can
imagine her family and household..
First of all there, are her daughters. We must look at them
through the eyes of Brantome, whose spectacles are doubtless
coloured with partiality. " These three daughters were the most
beautiful ever born in Italy ; but the mother adorned them still
more by the elegant education she gave them, instructing thern
in the sciences and in polite letters, in which they made great
proficiency, putting to shame the most learned of the other sex, so
that if distinguished for personal beauty, they were equally so for
beauty of mind." Their tutors were Chilian and John Sinapi, two
German disciples of Martin Luther, and Aonio Paleario, already
mentioned, who gave them lessons in Greek. It is recorded of
them also that in their girlhood they once acted, according to the
custom of the age, a classic play before a Pope, when with
his retinue he filled, the palace of Ferrara, his Holiness, perhaps,
not knowing at the time the heretical influences under which the
damsels had been trained. They do not appear afterwards
to have walked in the footsteps of their mother as a friend to the
Reformation ; but it would seem, from what was said to her
husband afterwards by ariother Pope, that the children must
have somewhat sympathized at the time with their mother. " See
how the minds pf your wife, children, and servants are corrupted

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

by pestilent heresy, and are setting a pernicious example to all
your subjects. The leprosy of heresy has infected your hitherto
pious family." The extent of this influence in favour of the'
Reformation would most likely be exaggerated in the papal
expostulation. Next to the Duchess in the Protestant group at Ferrara,
stands Madame de Soubise ; her son, Jean de Parthenai, Sieur

DUCHESS RENEE.

de Soubise,, afterwards a leader amongst the French Protestants ;
her daughter, Anne de Parthenai, a woman of much taste ; and
Antoine de Pons, Count de Marennes, who afterwards married
this young lady, and retained a partiality for Protestantism"
down to the time of her death.
Fulvio Perigrino Morata is another celebrity in the palace, a

FERRARA. 301
learned man, first engrossed by classical studies, then coming
into communication with Celio Secundo Curio, who inspired
him with a sympathy for evangelical religion. His daughter
Olympia is more celebrated, and her life has been repeatedly
written. The materials are drawn from ,her published works,
and these supply the authority for my present narrative.1
She was a native of Ferrara, and therefore from a child familiar
with the exterior of the old palace ; but at the age of thirteen
she found a home within its walls, as companion to the Duchess's
eldest daughter. Her abilities were distinguished, and her attain
ments were extraordinary, for she had received from her father
a classical education. At a later period, Curio, writing in the
extravagant strain of his country, remarks, "At Ferrara I myself
have heard her declaiming in Latin, speaking in Greek, explaining
the paradoxes of Cicero, and answering questions. She indeed
reminded me of the most learned virgins among the ancients, with
whom she might justly be compared." The writer says she
composed prologues on Cicero when she was sixteen ; we further
learn that when very young she produced a Greek eulogium on
Mutius Scsevola ; and we also find about this time a friendly
critic complimenting her upon gathering " immortal ama
ranths in the garden of the Muses." She added philosophy to
classical literature, and seems altogether to have been the wonder
of her day. It was about 1539 that she became an inmate of the
palace, and there she remained for some years, enjoying the favour
of her royal mistress. But during that period she gave no signs of
deep personal religion, whatever leaning she might have had to the
Reformed opinions. In spite of the character of Renee, the court
remained unfavourable to the culture of piety. The Duke had no
sympathy with the Reformation, quite the reverse, and the influence
of his wife was counteracted by those about her. It would be a
great mistake to suppose that the household, had come to be framed
1 I am much indebted in this chapter to Anderson's " Ladies of the Reformation."

202, FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
on anything like Puritan or Huguenot principles. The luxury
and dissipation of other Italian palaces prevailed at Ferrara ; -and.
referring to the time when she lived there, Olympia Morafa said,
" Had I remained longer in the court, it might have been all over
with me and my salvation ; for never whilst I was there could I relish
anything exalted and Divine, nor could I read the books of the
Old or New Testament." Indeed, she went so far as to declare,
" Sometimes I was hurried into the error of thinking that all
things happen by chance, and that God does not govern mankind.
Such was the darkness that overspread my mind, when God Him
self began to dispel it, causing a ray of His matchless and Divine
wisdom to shine upon me." Then it was, at the very time when
she was exalted to the heavens by the praises of courtiers and
friends, that she discovered, to use her own language, " her destitu
tion and ignorance of all true learning." Her conversion was deep,
genuine and complete, not a mere transition from Popery to
Protestantism, but a translation out of the kingdom of darkness
into the kingdom of God's dear Son. This happened about the
time of her father's death, when mysterious troubles arose which
ended in her banishment from court.
There was another lady in the Duchess Renee's court, and a
great friend of Olympia Morata, who must not be passed over.
This was Lavinia della Rovere, related to the Duke Urbino, who
like her young companion received a classical education, and made
attainments in literature and philosophy such as called forth the
admiration of the intellectual circle at Ferrara. There, probably,
she imbibed sentiments which attracted her towards the Reforma
tion ; but she saw at first difficulties in the new theology.
Among the visitors at the palace were attached friends and
bold advocates of evangelical religion. Such was Flaminio, and the
celebrated Ochino, and Peter Martyr ; further, it seems probable
that when Aonio Paleario gave Greek lessons to the young ladies
he would find means to strengthen the mother's faith.

FERRARA: '',''" ao3

Shadows of other celebrities also come within view. Clement
Mardt, the French poet, fled from his country in 1534, some say in
consequence of the disturbance occasioned by affixing Protestant
placards against the walls of Pari% others say in consequence of
his satirical verses, which had annoyed Diana of Poictiers.
Another stranger entered Ferrara, and found a welcome within
the palace. He was a thin, spare young man, about twenty-seven
years of age, with a long Grecian nose, piercing eyes, open lips,
suggestive of eloquence, a fine flowing beard, and a general
appearance which indicated both thoughtfulness and melancholy.
He had come from Paris with a friend, having, like Mar6t, been
driven thence through the excitement produced by the affair of the
placards. They visited together the city of Strasburg with only
ten crowns in their pocket, having been robbed of their baggage
and a horse near Metz. At Strasburg he was received by Bucer,
and then he journeyed on to Basle, where CEcolampadius had just
died, and Erasmus was growing old ; and crossing the Alps, in due
time the traveller reached the gates of Ferrara. The traveller
called himself Charles Heppeville, and passed for a layman; but
the crown of his head had received the tonsure, and his ways and
conversation betokened that he was a minister of religion. The
welcome he received at Ferrara showed that, most likely, he had
come by invitation, and was a man of more than common mark.
Charles Heppeville was no other than John Calvin travelling incog
nito ; not yet the Calvin of Geneva, ecclesiastical lord of the
republic on the beautiful lake ; not yet the far-famed Reformer,
whose name was a watchword throughout Europe — but he had
already committed to the press the first edition of his " Institutes,"
and a copy of the work he placed in the hands of his noble
hostess. As I was being conducted over the castle the guide opened a
pair of folding doors, in a handsome saloon retaining some ducal-
looking furniture, and pointed to a plain altar within a recess,

204 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
saying there it was that John Calvin administered the Lord's Supper
to the Duchess and her friends. Familiar with the story of his
visit, I felt the deepest interest in looking at this relic, for which I
was scarcely prepared ; and I must confess that it surprised me
to. find the Italian employed as cicerone referring with apparent
respect to the incident of the Reformer's visit and ministrations.
" Unhappily," says Felix Bungener, " we possess but few details
about this part of his life, which, though less important, since it was
to leave no trace, was certainly not uninteresting. What were
Calvin's impressions at the sight of Italy, of its religion and
worship, its clergy and monks, its skies, and its arts ? Some have
regretted, as respects the latter, that Calvin's sojourn in Italy was
not longer. Italy, they say, would have given flexibility to his soul
and quickened his imagination : he would nP longer have been that
gloomy genius, as Bossuet terms him, disdaining all that is not
reason and doctrine, austere and rigid truth. It may be so, but
would he have retained his strength ? Would Calvin as a child of
Italy have been still Calvin ? Let us not amuse ourselves with
remaking great men, by modifying on paper the elements of their
greatness ; the probability always will be that they were what they
were to be, and that modified they would have been lesser men." i
Those who do not concur in the biographer's remark, must admit,
at any rate, that Italian intercourse, if it did not decorate, certainly
did not impair the stalwart intellect of the Genevan divine.
Poor Renee was sadly used. Her husband, who had never
sympathized in her religious views, was turning against her,
stimulated to do so by priestly and papal influence. Rome saw with
stern displeasure what was going on in the palace, and determined
to check the growth of heresy. One of the chaplains, Master
Francois, laid down the principle, that people with her convictions
might be present at mass, without doing what was wrong. One
of her maids of honour opposed this doctrine — but Renee was won
1 " Calvin : his Life and Labours," 67.

FERRARA. 205

over. Calvin heard what went on, and took up his pen to write to
the Duchess. He reflects on Francois as a trimmer, always
oscillating between Popery and the Reformation — a sort of cha
racter he detested. "I make no such wars," he says, "upon any,
as upon those who, under the shadow of religion, make a show of
devotion towards princes, keeping them always enveloped in some
cloud, without leading them, straight to the goal," How, he asked,
would she persuade herself that to kneel before the host was not
idolatrous ? In idolatry there are no degrees. The reign of error
must not be prolonged, and from God she was urged to seek the
spirit of courage and perseverance. The Duke was threatened by
the Pope, if he did not cleanse his house from spots of heresy.
The Duchess was threatened by the Duke, if she did not renounce
all connection with the Reformers ; and Henry IL, of France, was
entreated to interfere in removing this scandal from the family.
Henry employed a famous Inquisitor, named Oritz, to accomplish
the object, and to say, if the Princess showed herself " headstrong
and pertinacious," persisting in accursed and damnable errors, she
must be deprived of her children, and be shut up in a convent.
She did persist for awhile, and she was shut up, not in a convent,
but in the old Castle of Este, where her heart was torn with anguish
by the loss of her beloved children, kept out of her sight.
In 1545 persecution began in Ferrara, and the Protestant
residents were harassed out of their lives. "We have no means,"
says Dr. M'Crie, " of ascertaining the number of Protestants at
Ferrara, which probably varied at different times, according to the
fluctuating policy of the Duke, and the measures of religious
constraint or toleration which were alternately adopted by the
other States of Italy. One account mentions that they had
several preachers as early as the year 1528; but whether they were
permitted to teach publicly, or not, we are not informed. That
their labours were successful is evident from the number of
distinguished persons who either imbibed the Protestant doctrine,

206 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
or were confirmed in their attachment to it at Ferrara. The most
eminent of the Italians "who embraced the Reformed faith, or who
incurred the suspicions of the clergy by the liberality of their
opinions, had resided for some time at the court of Ferrara, or
were indebted, in one way or other, to the patronage of Renee." 1
In 1545, the Pope, Pius III., sent a brief to the ecclesiastical
authorities of the place, commanding a strict inquisition to be
made into the conduct of those inhabitants who were suspected
of heresy. Julius III. followed his predecessor's example. Depo
sitions were to be taken ; torture was to be applied ; heretics were
to be brought to trial, and their cases submitted to the Papal
court for judgment. Spies were scattered about in all directions,
to watch the behaviour of families, to track the haunts of the
suspected, to gather up information on the subject, and transmit it
to the proper quarter. Many injurious and cruel expedients for
the purpose were accordingly employed. Things went on from
bad to worse. " I hear," says Olympia Morata in one of her letters
after leaving Ferrara, " that the rage against the saints is at present
so violent, that former severities were but child's play compared
with those practised by the new Pope, who cannot, like his
predecessor, be moved by treaties and intercessions." And
again, . " I learn from letters that I have lately received out of
Italy, that the Christians are treated with great cruelty at Ferrara :
neither high nor low are spared ; some are imprisoned, others
banished, and others obliged to save their lives by flight."
The history of Faventino Fanino, or Fannio, is closely connected
with Ferrara. A native of Faenza, he in early life devoted himself
to the study of the Scriptures as he found them translated into
Italian, saying to himself that God would reveal His mind as easily
in one language as another, and that therefore the Latin vulgate
• could not be the exclusive channel of Divine communications.
Believing that the Word of God was not bound, but that its contents
1 " History of the Reformation in Italy," 93.

FERRARA. 207

ought to be freely and fully circulated, he from time- to time
communicated to others what he had learned himself, — a proceeding
which attracted the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities, who
put a stop to his efforts by committing the young man to prison.
Friends, according to a common practice, implored him, for their
sakes as well as his own, to profess repentance for what he had
done ; and, in compliance, he did what they wished, only thereby,
however, to inflict on himself torturing accusations for what he
deemed cowardice and apostasy. Having recovered his liberty, he
resolved to resume his propagandism. He now made preaching
tours through Romagna, and when he had gathered a few people
in one place and instructed them, he travelled to another, and
repeated the process. To use a figure of his own, he first fed his
converts with milk, and not with meat, and then left them to enjoy
more solid food in the study of Scripture ; and on the principle of
progression, he encouraged himself with the idea, that whenever he
brought a single person to understand the gospel he prepared an
instrument for its further diffusion. As might be expected, he soon
found himself under a second arrest, and being seized at Bagnaca-
vallo he was conducted to Ferrara, and there cast into prison.
He appears to have experienced different treatment at different
times, sometimes having access to other prisoners, whom he
instructed by his conversations, and at other times being kept
in strict confinement. It is related that the impression he made
by his teaching was deep ; and so exalted was the conception
of his character formed by those who listened to his lessons,
that they called him a saint, and he would reply, " Brethren, I am
a sinner, but through the grace of Christ I hope I am sanctified ;
and you may be so too by the same Divine means."
Fannio was a married man, and now his wife and other relatives
renewed their solicitations that he would, by recanting his heresy,
procure restoration to his family ; upon which he rejoined that one
act of apostasy was enough, and that, as his life had not been

208 FOOTPRINTS' OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
useless in the service of Christ, he was* content to finish it now, if it
were the Lord's will. *
Olympia Morata and Lavinia della Rovere visited the prisoner,
who received them as angels of mercy, and they, in their turn, were
strengthened in faith by his earnest exhortations and his heroic
example. Lavinia used all her influence with Duke Hercules to
save the confessor's life, and when she left Ferrara for Rome she
hoped to arrest his impending doom, through her interest with
distinguished persons in the Vatican. Whilst there, such efforts
were made. Olympia Morata wrote to her friend, "Your letter
gave me great pleasure because, as I desired, it informed me
what you were doing and where you were. I give you thanks
for promising me your assistance in the cause of Fannio. Nothing,
I assure you, could have given me more gratification than such a
promise, for this your journey, from the great influence which I
know you have at Rome, seems to me to afford some ground of
hope ; besides, it strikes me, that your departure from Ferrara may
in some measure conduce to his advantage, for when you are
about to depart the Duke will, no doubt, promise to do you any
service in his power, and you can therefore ask him, if he would
confer a favour upon you, to pardon one who is guilty of no
crime, and who has already suffered what would be an adequate
punishment for even a grave offence."
Julius repelled all intercessions on behalf of Fannio, and
intimated that Lavinia, by her sympathy with a heretic, was laying
herself open to very grave suspicion, and that, but for her rank
and the favour she enjoyed, she would herself be liable to the
discipline of the Church. He would permit no delay in the
execution of the last penalty on such an offender. A messenger
of death was therefore despatched ; and on entering the victim's
cell he was kindly embraced and thanked for the intelligence
he brought. Reminded of his family, so soon to be bereaved,
Fannio replied that he left them under the best Guardian, even

FERRARA:* ' ¦ ¦ 209
 !  ^_  *—^  :  = 
the Guardian of the whole world. " They will, be well protected
and preserved by Him."
When I was being conducted over the Castle of Ferrara, the
guide took me down into dismal dungeons, and showed me one
reached by a terrific passage, whence light was excluded, except as
a few rays could penetrate a grated window at the end of a long
narrow opening. In such a place, it would appear, Fannio spent
the last hours of life ; and there he entered into lengthened con
versations on various religious subjects. Predestination, as well
as justification, largely occupied his thoughts ; and he not only
adduced texts of Scripture and other arguments in support of his
views, but repeated sonnets which he had composed on these
high themes. So much joy was expressed by the martyr, that
bystanders were astonished. "Why are you so glad?" they
asked, "seeing that Jesus when about to die was in an agony,
and sweated great drops of blood." He explained that our
Lord then suffered, not on His own account, but on account
of others, that He bore our sins, and that through what He
endured His people are delivered from the fear of death.
Three hours before morning, on the day of execution, he was
removed to a cell where people, could not listen to his exhortation,
and a crucifix being placed before him, he said that " a piece of
wood " was not needful to remind him of the living Saviour, whom
he carried in his- heart. At the final moment, he cheerfully
submitted himself to the executioner, being first hanged, and then
burnt to ashes. He died in the year 1550, leaving behind him a
number of religious tracts, written in Italian.1
Lavinia della Rovere sent particulars of this martyrdom to her
friend Olympia Morata, who wrote in reply: "Your very sweet
letter excited in me mingled emotions of grief and joy. I could
not but be affected at the news of the death of a man of Fannio's
1 The account I have given is based on "La Vita e la morte di Fanino martire,
printed in La Rivista Cristiana, January, 1880.

210 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS
eminent piety, although afterwards my grief was allayed by the
thought of his admirable constancy."
Renee's heart must have been saddened indeed by hearing of
what occurred in her husband's dominions ; and her spirit, crushed
for a while by terror, gave way. " It is but too certain," writes
Calvin to Farrel in 1554, "that the Duchess has succumbed,
overcome by menaces and violence. What shall I say to this,
if not that fortitude is a rare thing amongst the great ? " He
wrote in a rather different strain to the afflicted lady herself : " It
is a bad sign, madam, that those who made so harassing a war
against you, to turn you away from God's service, now leave you
in peace. The devil has so triumphed because of it, that we have
been constrained to groan, and hang down our heads without
inquiring further." Calvin does not expostulate ; he does not
exhort, but he adds with tenderness, " as the good Lord is always
ready to receive us favourably, and when we are fallen holdeth
out His hand to us, I pray you will take courage. When you
reflect, madam, that God, who humbles His people, would not
have them confounded always, it will revive your hope in Him,
that you may bestir yourself the more in future. Call upon
Him, therefore, in the confidence that He is sufficient to succour
our frailties."
Duke Hercules died in 1559, and Renee prepared to return to
her native country, where her son-in-law, the Duke of Guise, held
in his hand the reins of government, and offered her a share in
the control of affairs. Calvin suspected that mischief lurked under
the friendly-looking overture, and resuming his natural stern
procedure, told her that to thrust herself into such confusion
would be to tempt God. " If worldly height and grandeur prevent
you from coming to God, I should be a traitor to you to persuade
you that black is white. If you were resolved to behave frankly
and with more magnanimity than hitherto, I would pray Him to
advance you very soon to a greater administration than is offered

FERRARA. . 2ll

to you ; but if it is to say Amen to all that is condemned by God
and man, I know not what to say, except that you take care lest
a worse evil befall you. What God hath long shown you by
His Word advancing age warns you to reflect that your inheritance
is not here below, and Jesus Christ might well make you forget
both France and Ferrara."
She removed to Orleans, thenCe to the grim old Castle of
Montargis; where, according to Brantome, "she harboured with
her during the civil wars, as long as she lived, a vast number of
people of her own religion, who had lost their property, and
had been banished from their homes ;" she" aided, succoured, and
supported them to the utmost of her ability."
. Lavinia was at Ferrara just at the crisis when Duke Hercules
carried on his persecuting warfare. At this juncture, however, the
noble lady maintained her stedfastness, greatly strengthened, no
doubt, by her correspondence with Olympia Morata. " You have,"
says the latter, writing from Heidelberg in August, 1554, "many
companions in your afflictions. Be assured there is no one who
desires to live godly in Christ who does not experience bitter grief
and calamities  Apply yourself diligently to the
study of the Holy Scriptures, and often pray to God that you may
not follow the example of the multitude of the ungodly who every
where abound  Let it be your endeavour to have
greater fear of that God who is supreme over all things, who can
cast body and soul together into hell, than of feeble men, whose
life is, in the Scriptures, compared to a shadow, to grass, to a
flower, to smoke. Be courageous and valiant. All suffering,
however severe, if of short duration, ought to be endurable."
Before closing this chapter, I must allude to Ippolito D'Este
brother of Hercules, and therefore brother-in-law to his wife
Renee. He bore the title of Cardinal of Ferrara, and he was called
upon to take part in matters connected with the French Reformation
at the very time that his sister-in-law was living at the Castle of

212 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Montargis. At the famous epoch of the Colloquy of Poissy, when
Catherine de Medici, from motives it would be foreign to my object
to examine, was seeking to reconcile Papists and Huguenots, this
cardinal received orders from his Holiness to repair to Paris as
Papal Legate ; and on his way he visited Ferrara, where he
conferred with the French ambassador to the Doge of Venice.
Intent upon helping Rome, he professed to the ambassador that
his sole intention was to assist' France; a specimen of the
diplomatic insincerity of the age. Arrived in Paris, he insisted
upon the- exercise of prerogatives inconsistent with the liberties
of the Gallican Church ; and at the solicitation of Catherine they
were at length conceded by the French Chancellor, with the
significant addition to his signature of the words " Me non
consentiente." By successful intrigues, by going so far as to
accompany some Huguenot nobles when they went to hear one
of their preachers, and by dexterous methods of winning favour
with Antoine King of Navarre, the Cardinal of Ferrara helped
to seduce that important personage from his alliance with the
Huguenots. Sometimes, however, he is seen behaving himself in
a very different way, as when Throgmorton, our ambassador at
Paris was told : " The Cardinal stamps and takes on like a mad
man, and goeth up and down here to the Queen, then to the
Cardinal of Tournons, with such unquieting of himself as all the
house doth marvel at it."1 Altogether we find Italian influence
employed in checking the Reformation outside of Italy ; but,
on the other hand, we meet with Italians who helped on the
Reformation elsewhere than in their own country : notably was
it so in the case of Peter Martyr.
1 Shakerly lo Throgmorton, December 16, 1561. State Papers (Foreign).

THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE.

V

ENICE.

f *»

H^sRc^B ;

\NY a painter from Canaletti down
ward has delighted to depict the
charms of this city ; many a poet
besides Byron has sung its praises ;
and many a traveller, writing in prose,
has risen to a pitch of unwonted
eloquence when touching on a theme
so full of enchantment. Amongst passages of the
latter kind I often think of the following from the
pen of Frederick William Faber : "As we glided
onward from Fusina in our gondola, the beautiful
buildings with their strange Eastern architecture
seemed, like fairy ships, to totter, to steady them
selves, and come to anchor one by one ; and "where
the shadow was, and where the palace was, you
could not tell. And there was San Marco, and there was the Ducal
Palace, and there the Bridge of Sighs, and the very shades of the
Balbi, Foscari, Pisani, Bembi seemed to hover about the winged
lion of St. Mark. And all this, all to the right and left, all was
Venice ; and it needed the sharp grating of the gondola against
the stairs, to bid us be sure it was not all a dream."

216 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
The history of Venice is akin to its architecture. Visions of its
great men, their astute policy, their romantic adventures, blend in
wonderful harmony "with the shadows of churches and palaces, as
they fall on the waters of the winding canals. Doges, admirals, and
senators take the first place ; but in the background are heart-
stirring stories of love and sorrow, suffering and heroism. Few
tourists, comparatively, think much of the religious history of the
Republic ; and yet that is, in point of interest, of a piece with its
other annals. Venice has had its churchmen and its saints ; and
popes as well as doges have played their part on the marble pave
ment of San Marco. Least known of Venetian religious history,
perhaps, are those particulars which relate to the fortunes of the
Reformation within the circle of the Republic. Its relations with
England and the correspondence carried on between the two States
at the period of the Reformation, throw light on certain matters
connected with that event. The question of Queen Catherine's
divorce was mixed up with questions of Papal authority ; and
in connection with this matter we find in a communication
from Henry VIII., a reference to the University of Padua,
which stood within the Venetian territories, as having "come
to a determination, that the things of God are not committed to
the Pope, but only matters of human jurisdiction." Henry was
very [anxious to get a favourable opinion from Italian theologians
with regard to the divorce, and used all kinds of means for the
purpose. "The Bishop of London," we read in a letter written in August,
1530, "is a good deal discouraged by the refusal he has met with
from the Seignpry. By means of a Spanish canon of the August-
inian monastery of Padua, Don Pablo Torrellas has got another
canon of the same house, Don Rafael de Coma, to revoke an opinion
he had given against the Queen and to write in her favour. He is
endeavouring also to get the Dominican prior of SS. John and Paul
of Venice to revoke his opinion, on which the Bishop of London

VENICE. 217

sets great store. It is suggested tliat the Emperor should give
him a letter of credence for him, commending his services against
the Lutherans, by which Nino might take occasion to bring him
over." An opinion was obtained from the University of Padua that
the Pope cannot grant a dispensation for tlie marriage of a man
with his deceased brother's wife. The common seal was set to tlie
document by an assembly of the doctors, and further signatures
were sought; but we find it said "the General of the Black Friars
forbids any member of the order to dispute the Pope's power." It
is added, " the Lutherans, of whom there are no small companies
both here and at Padua and Ferrara, oppose the King as much
as possible." At an earlier part of tlie same year, the King (Henry vin.) was
advised to write to the Venetian Senate, and to reward those who
helped him. Through one person whom the writer mentions, a
hundred theologians, he says, might be gained, in fact, all tlie
divines and jurists in the Seignory, and in Milan as well.
What was done in this business tlie senators did not approve,
and they sent orders to the professors to give no opinion, and not
meddle at all in a matter so dangerous to the Holy See. The
rewards offered by. tlie King of England for an opinion favourable
to his cause, the Seignory thought would be a great offence to his
Holiness. But one Mica Marian di Sena excused himself " for
accepting a fee, on the ground that, though he was a professor, he
did not feel bound to refuse his advice to those who would pay
for it."
The Republic was very char}- in matters relating to the Refor
mation, and a correspondence is preserved in tlie English Record
Office respecting the reception of a representative of tlie Protestant
powers. It was directed, on the 28th of May, 1546, tliat tlie
Doge was to answer the English secretary to the effect, tliat tlie
Seignory valued the friendship of Protestant princes, but as tlie

-.-?
218 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

affairs of the world were in a disturbed state, the Republic felt
compelled to consider the matter, assuring such personages, how
ever, that the State felt excellently disposed towards them. The
whole Council of Ten voted in support of the motion in reference
to the course to be pursued by the Doge. A few days afterwards,
a secretary to the ambassador of the English monarch came into
the presence of the august Ten, saying he had a letter of credence
from the Protestant princes, appointing him their agent, with
orders to present it without remark. The papal nuncio objected
to the proceeding ; but the cautious council explained that the
secretary was not admesso (i. e., not formally recognised), " neither
was any place assigned him, nor had he negotiated anything ; "
and that the Republic had always conducted itself as a Christian
power, " anxious for the advantage of Christendom." On the 5th
of June a motion was carried unanimously, stating that as no
particular message was to be communicated by the secretary,
the council were compelled to hesitate as it regarded his residing
in the city, since Venice wished to be friends with all "parties ;
and the Doge was to assure the Protestant powers of the excellent
disposition and extreme affection cherished towards them. But
on November the 5th, hearing that his Holiness made inquiries
on the subject, the Doge and Senate informed their ambassador at
Rome that Baldissera Alchieri (sic) continued to perform his office
as English secretary, and occasionally acquainted them with
news and advices, according to the custom of other secretaries. In
December an English secretary or ambassador, named Sigismund
Harvel, expressed his "royal master's" wish that a Venetian
representative should be sent to the court in London. It was
agreed in the council for the Seigniory " to be on good terms with
his Majesty, and to exhibit towards him such marks of affection
and esteem as he desires, and as become so great a king, whose
repute and power have increased since the conclusion of peace ;
and this embassy cannot but prove to the dignity of the Republic,

VENICE. 219

and profitable to many private individuals, who frequent the
country, not a little to the advantage of this entire, city." '
He was to be liberally provided for, to keep eleven horses and
as many servants, and two running footmen, and to be paid " 150
golden ducats from month to month so that the Seigniory may
not lose any money by exchange on this account." The represen
tative of our court, Sigismund Harvel, died in Venice, January,
1550, and had a grand funeral, with a number of torches weighing
six and ten pounds each, which were paid for by the Seigniory, as
duly noted in the Venetian archives. Cloaks, and other expenses
for hatchments, black linen, platform and canopy, were defrayed
by the ambassador's household. He was carried to St. John's
and St. Paul's, and an oration was delivered at the funeral. The
deceased was succeeded by Peter Vannes, a Lucchese, secretary
to Cardinal Wolsey at Bruges.
In the reign of Edward VI., when England ranked amongst the
Protestant powers, we find the representative of this country
somewhat perplexed as to the course he was to pursue in Venice
under certain circumstances. He informed the Council of State at
home, how he had sundry times desired to know their lordships'
pleasure as to his accompanying the other kings' and princes'
ambassadors in attendance upon the Duke and Seigniory, at such
solemn feasts to which he was formally invited, some " five or six
times a year, when the senators took the same for great honour
and kindness." " Their lordships," he said, " were to understand
that the resorting to such churches and places is not for the
worshipping of idols or images, but rather for the ambassadors
to confer together familiarly of divers things, and observe what
may turn out to their masters' behoof and advancement. By the
English ambassador being present the King's authority, honour,
and name would be better known and advanced."
People from the country were carefully watched by such
JThe foregoing extracts are from State Papers (Venetian), under date.

22o FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
agents as Vannes, and he failed not to inform his master of what
he saw. Divers Englishmen, he said, were travelling in Italy
some for learning, some otherwise, amongst them one Dudgeon,
a Prebendary of Wells, " at study either in Padua or some other
University, who had become a doctor in divinity there." Vannes
desired to ascertain the truth of this, as whoever took such
degree swore allegiance to the Bishop , of Rome. Further
correspondence followed on the subject, and mention is made
of a soldier with " a ..very traitorous heart to his country, being
in the habit of speaking evil of the King and Council, calling
them Lutherans." Vannes, on the 18th of July, 1551, reports
that he had communicated the contents of the despatch from
England to the Seigniory, who received them . in very loving
part, and said that their ambassadors in England had advertised
them of his Majesty Edward VI. in such wise, as that it was plain
the virtues in so young and noble a prince being far above his
age and any worldly expectation, could only proceed from the
infinite mercy of God, who alone was to be thanked as the
Giver of all goodness.1
The position in which the Republic placed itself towards the
Holy See was exceedingly characteristic. Alone of all the Govern
ments of Europe it excluded ecclesiastics from sharing in its
authority. Whilst prelates figured in council chambers elsewhere,
no mitred head was seen on the bench of the Council of Ten.
The Giant's Staircase shut out the approach of any cardinal unless
he came as ambassador from. Rome or some other power ; and even
a patriarchal bishop who, in the midst of Venetian splendour,
said mass under the. dome of St. Mark's, could never take a seat
among the senators of the adjoining palace. The priesthood
were jealously excluded from influence in political affairs. No
one whatever who wore the tonsure could hold a civil office ; no
member of the Apostolic Court could touch a ducat, in the shape
1 State Papers (Foreign, 1547-1553), under date. . .

VENICE.

221

of pay, out of the ducal exchequer. Church and State were,
so far, as distinct as possible in the constitution of Venice.
In harmony with this fact was an extreme jealousy of any
interference on the part of Rome in the affairs of the Republic.
To illustrate this point would be to transfer to these pages a large
portion of Venetian history. One incident will suffice. Between
Paul V. and the Republican senators a tremendous struggle
occurred. There had been a quarrel over the laws enacted for
restraining the multiplication of ecclesiastics, and the aug
mentation of revenues held by them for the use of the Church.
Audiences had been held, briefs had been sent, threats had been
exchanged, and interdicts loomed in the distance ; but his
Highness the Doge sat proudly and firmly on his ancient throne.
" If I were Pope," exclaimed Cardinal Borghese, " I would excom
municate Doge and Senate ! " " And if I were Doge," returned
the Venetian Donato, who heard the words, " I would laugh
at your excommunication." Cardinal Borghese became Paul V.
Donato became Doge of Venice. Each acted out his threats.
One day in February, 1605, a nuncio from Rome appeared in
the Sala del Collegio, the famous presence-chamber, adorned with
masterpieces from the pencil of Tintoretto and Paul Veronese.
The nuncio, Orazio Mattei, beginning in courtly phrase, entreated
the College to find some means of satisfying his Holiness. The
Doge, with equal courtesy of manner, at the commencement,
assured him that what he said would receive due consideration ;
but he added, " You tell me that I ought to do something to please
the Holy Father on my advent to office. I frankly tell you there
is nothing by which I can more signally inaugurate my reign than
by preserving the freedom and glory of this Republic." A tempest
suddenly burst out. " In the seventy years," he went on to say,
" since the establishment of this Council, we have observed that in
every misdeed there has been at the bottom a renegade priest Pr a
worthless friar." Then the Doge accused the nuncio with shuffling,
u 2

222 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
The nuncio returned the compliment : "Your serene Highness
will excuse me, but the shuffling is on your side ; it is impossible
to utter greater iniquities than you have done ; and you will have
to answer for it at the day of judgment. You tell me that" these
poor clerks may sell property left to them; and what are they
to do with the price of it, I should .like to know?" "Give alms
to the poor, as ecclesiastical corporations ought to do," rejoined
his Ducal Highness. "This is not decent — not supportable,"
retorted the Papal ambassador ; " it is an intolerable attack on
the liberties of, the Church ! " The conversation illustrates the
relative position of Venice and Rome at the opening of the
seventeenth century ; it arose from the traditions of the six
teenth, and the temper shown repeatedly at the era of the
Reformation. It is very significant, and characteristic of Venice,
equally at both periods. Yet with defiance of Rome, as
attempting to encroach on the freedom of Venice, there was
profound deference shown to the spiritual office of the Pontiff.
For the Doge called for a candle which the Holy Father had
blessed, and reverently kissed it, lifting up at the same time his
ducal cap, declaring that he kept the candle in memory of the
giver, and would have it lighted on the day he died. There was
a mental- distinction between politics and religion very clear. to
Donato ; and he was prepared to maintain that in resisting the
papal court in its temporal capacity, he was consistently prepared
to do homage to the successor of St, Peter in his spiritual office.
Fifty years before, doges and senators made the same distinction.
Venetian ambassadors kept their masters well posted up in
matters relating to the progress and vicissitudes of the Refor
mation, informing them of theological controversies : the doctrine
of justification by faith is repeatedly mentioned ; so that the
Ten sitting in the Ducal Palace, though they did not care for
points in divinity abstractedly considered, knew what was passing
in England, France, and Germany in relation to Such questions.

VENICE. 223

Rumours of persecution reached the Council,, sometimes vague,
sometimes definite ; now, perhaps, falling below the fact, then
possibly rising to a pitch of exaggeration. -Andrea Navagero,
according to the " Sanuto Diaries," informed the Seigniory in
June, 1524, that Lutheranism was raging more than ever; other
communications to the same effect reached the ducal chambers
then and afterwards.
Carlo Contarini reported from Vienna, on the 18th "of the
following September, 1524: "Yesterday, when there were not
thirty persons in the market-place, the Lutheran merchant was at
length burnt, whereupon four thousand persons came instantly
to rescue him ; but he was already consumed. So it is thought
his Majesty will thus render himself very odious to the people, and
that, one day or other, there will be some great tumult." A window
is opened in the Doge's palace, through a report made to the Seriate
on the 30th of March, 1527, by the same Carlo Contarini, ambas
sador to the Archduke of Austria. He alluded to " Martin Luther
and his rites," and wished to speak about them ;¦ but the Doge,
Andrea Gritti, said, " Enough of this."1 These few words suffice
to bring the Venetian prince, in his quaint official robes and ducal
cap before our eyes, surrounded by grave and reverend seigniors,
ready to listen to Contarini's Austrian story; but what exactly
was signified by the curt interruption, as he rose to address' the
Council, does not appear.
The Venetian envoy in France did not fail fo allude to Calvin's
activity; and Francis Contarini, in Germany, informs the Senators :
" I have been told by several persons that the Lutherans are
in high spirits from hearing that the Pope purposes waging war
in Italy ; as they hope that, with this opportunity, many Italians of
their sect, who have hitherto been downcast, and lacked courage to
declare themselves, will now come forward, having the support and
protection of the powers thus attacked by his Holiness; and, to use
1 State Papers (Venetian, 1520-1525, 1527-1533).

224 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
their own words, they say that the Lutherans in Italy alone will
suffice for an army to deliver them from the hands of the priests ;
and that not only in the cities of Italy are they in very great
number, but also that so many of the sect amongst the monastic
orders will declare themselves, and take part, that they will
intimidate their brethren."1
There is a letter in St. Mark's Library from the same person,
in which the following significant passage occurs :
" All the bishops and lords here are greatly surprised that the
Pope and the court of Rome should hold the affairs of the faith
in such small account, and make no provision whatever ; and
they say openly that as his Holiness and these cardinals do nothing,
they themselves shall be compelled to apply a remedy, and that
should the whole of Germany unite about this matter of the faith,
it is quite certain that Italy, her neighbour, will do the like ;
they wish your serenity to give the Pope notice of this through
your ambassadors."
At a later date, 1568, the Venetian ambassador in France
informed the seigniory, in an extravagant tone : " The principal
cities of the kingdom, notwithstanding the conditions of the peace,
refused to admit 'the preachings' to these territories, and slew
many thousands of Huguenots who dared to rise and complain." 2
The Protestant Reformation, thus watched by vigilant ambas
sadors,' penetrated the Venetian territories at an early period ; and
to its progress and vicissitudes there, it is time now to turn our
attention. Its first entrance seems to have been effected through
the medium of the press.
Venice occupies a most honourable place in the history of
printing. John de Spira was founder of that art in the great
maritime city, where advantages for circulating books were united
with industry and skill in producing them. The Senate granted
1 Feb. 22, 1535. State Papers (Venetian, 1534-1554).
2 " The Rise of the Huguenots, "by Baird, ii. 250.

' VENICE. 225
him patent privileges in the year 1469, and his brother, Vindelin
de Spira, carried on the business after John's decease. Nicolas
Jenson was another Venetian typographer, maintaining " superi
ority over every contemporary printer on the score of brilliancy
of execution;" and besides him, Dibdin, the enthusiastic biblio
grapher, in his "Decameron,"1 enumerates five other printers of the
city — Christopher Valdarfer, John de Colonia, Franciscus de
Hailbnin, Adam de Ambergau, and Erhard Ratdolt — all of whom
he pronounces *' fine fellows in their way." They all flourished
before the close of the fifteenth century ; and between 1465 and
1500, according to Panzer, there issued 2,835 works from the
Venetian presses. Then came the memorable family of Aldus,
whose "Dolphin and Anchor" are familiar to the fraternity of
bookworms,- and whose typography throws bibliographical critics
into raptures. The effect, of printing on the Reformation in
Germany is a familiar topic with literary historians. Directly and
indirectly it helped on the great intellectual and religious revo
lution. Whilst vernacular translations of the Scripture immediately
aided the work, the printing of numerous volumes, classical as
well as sacred, prepared for those liberal studies which proved
efficient handmaids to the criticism of Holy Writ. Popes and
bishops, wedded to their own exclusive system, were astute
enough to see what a formidable weapon had been forged for the
overthrow of their prerogatives ; and bulls were not wanting for the
prohibition of publications which could not exhibit an episcopal
imprimatur. The effect of printing upon the Italian Reformation
was scarcely less striking. Books streamed from presses worked on
the banks of the Venetian canals ; and though it is true that few
volumes executed by Spira and others were strictly religious, yet
Italian versions of Scripture appeared at an early period. One
was produced by Nicolo Malermi, a Camaldolese monk, and
was printed at Venice in August, 147 1. Another version of the
Vol. i. 401.

226 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Bible appeared in October of the same year. Nine editions of
Malermi's work were published before 1 500, and twelve before
1600. An Italian version of the Evangelists appeared in a separate
form in i486,- printed at Venice by Simone da Cascia ; and the
Apocalypse in 1519, printed at Venice also. The Italian version
of the New Testament, by Antonio BruCioli, in 1530, and that
of the whole Bible by him, in 1532, issued from the workshop of
Luca Antonio Giunte. An improved edition followed in 1541.
" So great was the success of this work, that other translations
were produced within a few years ; and the Roman Catholics
reckoned it necessary to oppose versions of their own to those
which came from Protestants or which were thought favourable to
their views. This was the origin of the Italian Bible by Sante
Marmochini," J in 1538, which is pronounced by Le Long to be
an imitation of the version by Brucioli.
Another translation of both Testaments into the Italian
language, professedly made from the original Hebrew and Greek,
with illustrative annotations, and a dissertation on the Apocalypse,
appeared in 1562. Diodati's well-known version followed in 1607,
being printed at Geneva. Five other Italian versions, published in
different places, have been noticed by bibliographers. 2
Religious books besides the Scriptures were printed at Venice.
A translation of Philip Melanchthon's " Loci Communes," under the
name of " Ippofilo da Terra Nigra," was committed to the Venetian
press in 1526; but beyond this circumstance works by German
and Swiss Protestants were consigned to merchants on the shores
of the Adriatic, who transported them to various parts of Italy.
Luther's writings, circulated under false names, were read by citizens
of the Republic soon after their publication beyond the Alps ;
and the Saxon Reformer in 1528 told a friend, "You give me joy
by what you write of the Venetians receiving the Word of God."
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 75.
2 There are interesting articles on the subject in " La Rivista Cristiana," anno vi.

VENICE. 227
James Ziegler, a learned Venetian, favourable to reform, though
not a Protestant, entered into correspondence with Luther, and
sent from Venice to Wittenburg his adopted brother, Theodore
Veit, who acted as the Reformer's secretary, and afterwards became
a Protesant minister at Nuremberg.
This activity in printing, and this circulation of books connected
with the Reformation, are pleasant associations gathering along the
water streets and round the landing-places for Venetian boats.
Most likely it was with secrecy that those parcels were packed
up and despatched ; and one's imagination follows with sympathy
the men who in silent vigilance conveyed the transalpine treasures
from their warehouses to the book stores of Lombardy.
Before leaving this subject an entry in Venetian State Papers
(" Sanuto Diaries," June 20, 1524) is worth insertion : " To-day at
St. Peter's, in the Castle, after vespers, the Patriarch being present,
a priest delivered a Latin sermon against Martin Luther, some of
whose works were afterwards burnt." The Duomo is now the
Cathedral of Venice, but it did not become so until within the
present century. At the time of the Reformation, the church
called San Pietro di Castello was the mother church, and there the
Patriarch occupied his throne. The present edifice which bears
the name was modernized in 1621. On entering you find on the
right-hand side a marble chair, reported to be that which St. Peter
used in the city of Antioch. The noble campanile of the church
goes back to the fifteenth century, and stood there when the priest
preached his famous sermon before the burning of Luther's books.
The church is situated at the south-east end of the city, beyond
the Arsenal, and has an open space before it bordering the Canal
di Castello : on the open space would occur the conflagration
noticed in the above extract. We can picture the scene, when,
before a crowd of citizens, the volumes were thrown into the flames,
by the water's edge, the Patriarch sanctioning the deed.
From what was effected in the Venetian dominions through

228 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
printing' and the circulation of books, we now turn to other
instrumentalities working in the same direction. ,
One Venetian, who took a prominent part in matters connected
with the Reformation, requires some notice. Gasper Contarini,
who has been mentioned before, was member of a family amongst
the noblest in the Republic, and besides other honours he received
a cardinal's hat from Paul III. One day, as he sat in the Ducal
Palace, by the ballot urn, proceeding to the election of state officers,
a messenger arrived from Rome, to whom admission was refused by
the proud Seigniory, engaged on important business of their own.
The secretary stepped out to receive the despatch which had
been brought. It was to announce that Contarini had been made
a cardinal. " A cardinal ! " exclaimed the subject of this honour,
with great surprise. " No; I am a Councillor of Venice." He could
do nothing inconsistent with that high position, and thought not
for an instant of accepting any dignity, unless with the perfect
approval of his fellow-citizens. That approval was expressed the
next moment. The Doge, the senators, the people, concurred in
congratulating the man whom they regarded as a chief ornament
of their city; only lamenting the loss which they would experience
through his ecclesiastical preferment, for, according to what I said
before, he could no longer remain a senator. "These priests,"
exclaimed old Liugi Mocenigo, as he sat in his chair, crippled with
gout, " have robbed the city of the best gentleman of whom it has
to boast." Escorted by a fleet of gondolas to his own palace, he
there consulted with his friends as to what he should do, and they
advised him to accept the proffered dignity. Not yet a priest,
he immediately submitted to receive the tonsure ; and in due time
arrived the hat, after which he paid a ceremonial visit to the Doge
and the Senate, in one of the magnificent chambers of the palace.
Contarini has been mentioned already as one 'of a class who
longed for reform upon papal principles, and who consorted with
other intellectual and religious men, with a view to mutual

VENICE. 229

improvement. He joined with other Venetians in giving welcome
to such visitors, who found in Venice free scope for intercourse.
" At the house of Bembo, in Padua, which was open to all
comers, the conversation fell chiefly on philological subjects, such
as Ciceronian Latin. But the questions discussed at the house of the
learned and sagacious Gregorio Cortese, the Abbot of San Giorgio
Maggiore at Venice, were of a deeper nature. Brucioli lays the
scene of some of his dialogues in the groves and thickets of San
Giorgio." ' Thus that famous palladian church, though not built
at the time, becomes associated with meetings held in the old
monastery, and with the groves and thickets around it. It adds
to the associations of the spot, when the keel of a gondola touches
the landing-place, to. recur to such men who there conversed on the
subject of reform. With special interest should it be remembered
how far Contarini went in the advocacy of the doctrine of justifi
cation by faith. " You have brought to light," said Pole, " the
jewel which the Church kept half concealed ; " 2 and he congratu
lates him on being among the first to promulgate this happy,
fruitful, indispensable truth.3
There was another Venetian, Marino Guistiniano, employed as
an ambassador of the Republic, who, whether or not he sympathized
in Contarini's view of justification — probably as a layman he
did not enter into that question — was in favour of ecclesiastical
reforms. He believed that the Pope ought not to be considered
as Christ's vicegerent in temporal things ; that men of irreproach-
able character should take the place of immoral priests ; that
* the sale of masses pluralities of livings, and other abuses should be
tolerated no longer ; and that communion in two kinds, together
with the marriage of the clergy, should be conceded at once.
' Ranke's " Popes of Rome," i. 137.
2 Hook's "Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," viii. 154.
-, His famous tract on Justification will be found in its genuine form, not in the Venice
edition of his works, 1589, but in the Paris edition, 1571.
X

230 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

But neither Contarini nor Guistiniano can be represented as
Protestants, in the proper sense of the word. One Venetian, how
ever, who deserves the appellation, appeared at an early period —
Giralamo Galateo, who is slightly mentioned by M'Crie as endur
ing a rigorous confinement, without his assigning to that event any
specific date. Much additional information respecting this person
is now within reach. He was a Franciscan friar living in Padua,
and in a book which he wrote, entitled "Apologia," and dedicated
to the Illustrious Senate of Venice, he expresses views in harmony
with those of Martin Luther. His standpoint is the same, and he
loves to dwell on the Divine words, " the just shall live by faith,"
exhibiting good works as the fruit, and faith as the living stem
deeply rooted in the soul, not by man's own hand, but by the
gracious Spirit of God. Galateo believed that penance and
confession could not bring peace to the soul, but that it comes
from the love of God, through believing in Christ. Nor did he
acknowledge a purgatory beyond the grave ; his purgatory was the
blood of the Crucified, and washed in it, he regarded the believer
as prepared for paradise. The intercession of saints pertains to
this life, not the next ; the eucharist is a feast of commemoration
celebrating Christ's sacrifice ; free indulgences are not to be bought,
but are freely given through Christ to them that believe. These
were the convictions of Galateo.
He was accused of Lutheranism so early as the year 1530. On
the 1 8th and 19th of January he was brought into the chamber of
the Council of Ten, when, " after deliberation and much dispute,"
he was condemned to be degraded. Seven years of captivity, not
ten, as mentioned by M'Crie, followed the degradation.1
To the Republic this confessor, in his " Apologia," made an
impassioned appeal, saying, " O Venetian senators, to whom the
Lord God has given so great an empire on land and sea, for no
1 "La Rivista Cristiana," anno i. p. 18, et seq. The article contains extracts from
" Sanuto's Diaries."

VENICE. 231

other reason than that His word may have speedy and happy
course, it is for you to defend the cause of your crucified Christ,
His Gospel, and His Word."
The same year in which Galateo received his sentence, Lucio
Paolo Rosselli, a Venetian, addressed a letter to Philip Melanchthon,
acknowledging the benefit he had derived from the Reformer's
writings, and exhorting him to persevere in the course he had
commenced — an exhortation which seems to have arisen from a
false report that he was likely to submit to the authority of the
Pontiff. "In this cause," continues he, "you ought to regard
neither Emperor nor Pope, nor any other mortal, but the immortal
God only. If there be any truth in what the Papists circulate about
you, the worst consequences must accrue to the gospel, and to those
who have been led to embrace it through your instrumentality and
that of Luther. Be assured that all Venice waits with anxiety for
the result of your assembly at Augsburg. Whatever is determined
by it will be embraced by Christians in other countries, through
the authority of the Emperor. It behoves you and others who
are there for the purpose of defending the gospel to be firm, and
not to suffer yourselves to be either frightened from the standard
of Christ by threats, or drawn from it by entreaties and promises.
I implore and obtest you, as the head and leader of the whole
evangelical army, to regard the salvation of every individual.
-Though you should be called to suffer death for the glory of
Christ, fear not, I beseech you ; it is better to die with honour, than
to live in disgrace. You shall secure a glorious triumph from
Jesus Christ, if you defend His righteous cause ; and in doing this
you may depend on the aid of the prayers and supplications of
many, who day and night entreat Almighty God to prosper the
cause of the gospel, and to preserve you and its other champions,
throuo-h the blood of His Son. Farewell, and desert not the cause
of Christ." In 1538, eight years after Rosselli's letter, some one called

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

Bracchioli, and also Braccietus, went from Italy to Wittenburg, to
confer with Melanchthon on the affairs of religion ; and the following
year he paid a second visit, charged with a message from those in
Venice who sympathized with German Protestants. A letter appears
in the epistles of Melanchthon, dated soon afterwards, in which, after
reference to the cautious spirit maintained by the Saxon Reformers,
the writer proceeds : " Such slavery ought not to be established as
that we should be obliged for peace sake to approve of all the'
errors of those who govern the Church ; and learned men especially
ought to be protected in the liberty of expressing their opinions.
As your city is the only one in the world which enjoys a genuine
aristocracy, preserved during many ages, and always hostile to
tyranny, it becomes it to protect good men in freedom of thinking,
and to discourage that unjust cruelty which is exercised in
other places. Wherefore I cannot refrain from exhorting you to
employ your care and authority for advancing the Divine glory, a
service which is most acceptable to God." This letter was printed
under the title of " Epistola Philippi Malanchthonis ad Senatum
Venetum," and a copy of it exists, with the autograph of Prince
Albert the Elder on the title-page, "Accepi d.17. Julii, a. 1538."
It is regarded by M'Crie ' as addressed by Melanchthon to the
Venetian Seriate; but the critic Schelhorn regards this as improbable,
and in his doubts I largely share. Whatever jealousy of Rome
the Senate might manifest, there is nothing to warrant the suppo
sition that, as a body, it manifested any sympathy with Reformers ;
the Venetian caution in dealing with Protestant princes, and their
known character as professors of Catholic orthodoxy, indicate their
leaning in another way. The document occurs in the " Selectse
Declamationes " of Melanchthon, under the title of an address,
" Ad Venetorum quosdam Evangelii studioses," a far more likely
inscription, as we know there were Venetian citizens who were
favourable to evangelical opinions.
1 " History of the Reformation in Italy," 125.

PIAZZETTA AT VENICE.

VENICE. 235

In IS39. the celebrated Bernardino Ochino -visited Venice.
He was then Vicar-General of the Capuchins, and was the first to
found a convent of the order in the great maritime city. The
Senate accorded permission for its establishment ; it bore the
name of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Bembo wrote in 1 5 38 to Vittoria
Colonna, requesting her to induce Ochino to come in the Lent of
the following year, to preach at the Apostles' Church. "All the
citizens desire to hear him." Afterwards the same distinguished
person writes, " Our Fra Bernardino is literally adored here.
There is no one who does not praise him to the skies."
Nine sermons by Ochino at that time were published ; and the
portrait prefixed brings before us the very man. His head is bent
down, but his eyes are looking upwards, under his shaven crown
they are represented as sunk beneath his brows. His cheeks are
furrowed, his nose is aquiline, and his mouth is half opened. A
long beard covers the preacher's breast. His discourses afford
specimans of his oratory. They relate to self-knowledge, the
incarnation of Christ, the neccessity of His death, the Last Suataer.
law and obedience, the two disciples journeying to Emmaus,
Mary Magdalene, and the scholastic studies of the period.
The sermons exhibit a large amount of evangelical truth, apart
from the Church theology of the age; but the doctrines of
transubstantiation and purgatory, with a recognition of the
duty of confession, fasting, and submission to papal authority,
also make their appearance. The abuses of these things, not
the things themselves, are condemned. In one of Ochino's
discourses he says : " But thou, Venice, my city, I speak not of
myself, but of so many other preachers in this city, who do not
as formerly preach philosophy and fable, but rather the word of
God, the living and true Christ, salvation and amendment,
yet thou still remainest as thou wast ; yet I still hope to see
good and sincere Christians, I firmly believe that you will
revive to a better life of goodness and sincerity. But if you

236 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
will not reform, I tell you this beforehand, and declare it, that on
the day of the last judgment I will be the one to testify to Christ
against you." Again, he says : "It grieves me, my city, that thou
wilt not quit thy evil ways. I implore Christ for thee with tears,
because I love thee from my heart. But I see myself forced to tell
thee this, that if thou dost not mend, I do not truly know what is
to come of it. I must depart after Easter, perhaps qn the last day
of Easter week, and if evil befall thee it will grieve my heart.
For it seems to me thou art a model for all Italy. If I look
about me I see no town, no city in Italy not engulfed in confusion
and strife. Your city alone stands upright, and therefore it would
grieve me deeply if it should go ill with you. It seems to me
as if thou, Venice,' representest my native city, ay, all Italy."
These passages bear witness on three important points. First,
the improvement of public preaching in Venice, the substitution of
gospel truth to some extent for " philosophy and fables, " a fact to
be noticed again presently ; second, to the freedom of the maritime
Republic from the political convulsions which rocked to their
foundations other Italian States ; and thirdly, the immoralities of
the aristocratic and general population of those Adriatic Isles.
To this state of things quaint testimony is borne, some years
later, in a letter of Sir John Cheke, written July 22, 1554 : " He is
here in a country," says a description of the document in the
Calendar of State Papers — " a country much esteemed in opinion,
of which yet, being somewhat unskilled, he cannot judge certainly
without rashness, else at first, sight he would say that neither
for private order, nor yet common behaviour, is it anything to be
compared to their own supposed barbarous country (England).
Courtesans in honour ; haunting of evil houses noble ; breaking of
marriage a sport ; murder, in a gentleman, magnanimity ; robbery,
finesse if it be clean conveyed, for the spying is judged the fault, and
not the stealing ; religion, to be best that best agreeth with Aristotle
de Anima ; the common tenant, though not in kind of tenancy,

VENICE. 257

marvellously kept bare, the gentleman, nevertheless, yet bare that
keepeth him so ; in speech cautious, in deed scarce more liking in
asking than in giving." '
Ochino's sermons, it is said by opponents, " were of that kind
that they were filled with double meanings and hidden heresy,
to the great hurt and offence of his listeners, even of the simplest,
and instilled doubts and scruples on the power of the Pope, and
concerning faith and purgatory and other important doctrines."
But in the " Seven Dialogues," published soon after the sermons,
may be traced some advance in the direction of Protestantism ; it
is, however, slow and guarded. He has much to say of the spiritual
affections of the soul, and that in a tone of mysticism, inculcating
the doctrine of disinterested love — so favourite an idea with the
French Jansenists. He explicitly asserts, "To love God above
everything, above ourselves, sincere and pure love only for the sake
of His honour and glory — this is certainly repugnant to our carnal
minds, but this is what our reason requires as perfect love." Then
comes a flash of sanctified genius in the following passage of the
fourth dialogue : " The thief looked upon Christ, he saw Him
endure everything without a murmur, and that He even shed His
blood with a joyful countenance. He saw the hot tears fall to the
ground, and heard the glowing sighs rise to heaven. He heard
His words, and saw His wonderful patience, His all-embracing
love ; it was all this that kindled in him the belief that Christ
was in truth the Son of God." It is true that the doctrine of
justification by faith, in the Protestant sense, is traceable in Ochino's
dialogues. But it does not come out in Lutheran distinctness.
He speaks throughout as a man knowing and feeling more than
he expressed. But he attacks the monastic system, though still
wearing a Capuchin hood, and he pronounces the vows of the order
as not binding, because immoral. He regards no one profession
as holier than another, and puts merchant, priest and monk
1 State Papers (Foreign, 1553-1558).

238 FOOTPRINIS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

on a level before God. What he admitted led to consequences
which he was for a time unwilling to allow ; but he made a clean
breast at last, and has recorded the following extraordinary avowal :
"Although I had many other thoughts in my mind, there
seemed to me at that time no other — no mode of life in which I
could serve God better than under the mask of a cowl, and in the
holiness of walk which could be beheld by others. Thus I began
to preach that we are saved by Christ. I saw that the eyes of
Italy were so weak that I should have hurt them grievously, if I
had let them look full on the great light of Christ, as it had been
revealed to me. The Scribes and Pharisees, who govern in Italy,
would have killed me. I arranged my expressions for their dull
eyes. I preached that we are saved through grace, and through
Christ, that He has done enough for us, and has won us paradise.
In doing so I avoided, naturally, revealing the wickedness which
prevails in the dominion of Antichrist. I did not say there
is no other merit and indulgence except the merits of Christ,
nor any purgatory. But I left these inferences to those who
through God's grace felt a lively sense of Christ's great merits." '
About eight years later than Ochino's visit and preaching, i.e.,
in 1547, a letter was written from Venice by an English bookseller
named Thomas Knight, to Henry Bullinger, in which he says : " The
Gospel is daily preached here with greater purity than in other
places in Italy ; and it is ordained by a decree of the Senate, that
a sermon shall be preached every day on the Palazzo Maggiore,
during the approaching Lent, a thing that has never been seen
since the foundation of the city." This of course could not mean
that Protestantism was to be proclaimed in the Ducal Palace, but it
must mean that the writer had heard reports of an arrangement
for special Lenten sermons that year, indicating more than usual
religious earnestness on the part of the Doge and his counsellors,
and confirming Ochino's statement as to Venetian preaching
1 These extracts are taken from " Bernardino Ochino," by Karl Benrath, 53-73. 90.

VENICE. 239

Further, in reference to the Reformation itself, the writer remarks :
" The number of the faithful is daily increasing more and more.
Your commentaries are daily becoming more esteemed by the
Italians, and were they not so bulky and expensive, no books would
meet with a better sale. It will be therefore an act of kindness on
your part to continue writing, and to bring forth out of the treasures
of your abundance those rare spiritual gifts for that little flock,
hungering and thirsting as it is." 1
Before this time, the Congregation of the Holy Office, as noticed
already, had been founded in Rome ; and the papal court was
striving to establish its authority throughout the peninsula. But
" the greatest resistance was made to it in Venice. After long
negotiations, the Inquisitors were authorized to try causes of heresy
within that State, on the condition that a certain number of magis
trates and lawyers should always be present at the examination
of witnesses, to protect the citizens from prosecution undertaken on
frivolous grounds, or from mercenary views, and that the definitive
sentence should not, at least in the case of laics, be pronounced
before it was submitted to the Senate." With this restriction,
which perhaps has been made the most of by some historians,
Venetian Protestants were cruelly treated in the year 1549. In
that year Altieri writes : " The persecution here increases every day.
Many are seized, of whom some have been sent to the galleys,
others condeirined to perpetual imprisonment, and some, alas, have
been induced, by fear of punishment, to recant. Many have been
banished, along with their wives and children, whilst a still greater
number have fled for their lives. Matters are brought to that pass
that I begin to fear for myself, for though I have frequently been
able to protect others in this storm, there is reason to apprehend
that the same hard terms will be proposed to me; but it is the will
of God that His people should be tried by such afflictions." 2
1 Original Letters, Parker Society, i. 357.
2 Quoted by M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 256.

240 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
In this free city, we are told, during the pontificate of Paul IV.
(1555-1560), by one who rejoiced in the acts of the Holy Office,
that perverse dogmas were easily circulated ; and mention is made
by him of Guglielmo Postello, as a leading heresiarch imprisoned
at Rome. The very Cathedral of Venice is said to have been an
arsenal of error, and Soranzo, Bishop of Bergamo, and Liugi
Priuli, Patriarch of Aquileia, with his friends and followers, are
included in the general accusation.1
In 1555 a Venetian Protestant, Pomponius Algieri, was martyred
at Rome, and before his martyrdom he was imprisoned in Venice ;
from his cell he wrote a long letter, transcribed by John Foxe in
his " Acts and Monuments." In a moment of ecstasy he exclaims :
" Let the miserable worldling say and confess if there be any
plot, pasture, or meadow so delightful to the mind of man, as here.
Here I see kings, princes, cities, and people ; .here I see wars,
where some be overthrown, some be victors, some thrust down,
some lifted up. Here is the Mount Zion ; here I am already in
heaven itself; here standeth first Christ Jesus in the front. About
Him stand the old fathers, prophets, evangelists, apostles; and
all the servants of God, of whom some do embrace and cherish
me, some exhort me; some open the sacraments unto me,
some comfort me, others are singing about me. And how then
shall I be thought to be alone among so many, and such as these
be ? the beholding of whom to me is both solace and example ; for
here I see some crucified, some slain, some stoned, some cut asunder
and quartered, some roasted, some broiled, some put in hot caul
drons, some having their eyes bored through, some their tongues
cut out, some their skin plucked over their heads, some their hands
and feet chopped off, some put in kilns and furnaces, some cast
down headlong, and given to the beasts and fowls of the air to feed
upon ; it would ask a long time if I should recite all."
In what kind of place this letter was written, it is impossible to
1 " La Rivista Cristiana," iv. 129.

BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE.
y

VENICE. 243

say, but it is sufficiently well known that the prison of Venice is
close to the Ducal Palace, and that from the' one to the other you
¦ can pass by the Bridge of Sighs. When I was there last I listened
to the usual tale of enormities related by the cicerone as he con
ducted us into horrid dungeons, and I could not help contrasting
them with the gorgeous chambers we had just left.
It seems probable that persons accused of heresy were com
mitted to this dreary prison ; but a letter of such length as that of
Algieri could not have been written in places of the description
shown to tourists ; no doubt the Republic made different provisions
for captives, according to their alleged crimes. Indeed, it is a
mistake to suppose that every one kept by it under lock and key
was treated in the way suggested by the sight of the narrowest
and most fearful-looking cells. It is likely that religious offences,
under the rule of the senators, entailed less severe confinements
than such as were political.
Up to 1555 — the time when this letter was written — no
executions for heresy had taken place in Venice.
"The news from Italy," says Vergerio, in 1551, who will be
described hereafter, "is that the Senate of Venice have made a
decree that no papal legate, nor bishop, nor inquisitor, shall proceed
against any subject except in the presence of a civil magistrate ;
and that the Pope, enraged at this, has fulminated a Bull,
interdicting, under the heaviest pains, any secular prince from
interposing the least hindrance to trials for heresy. It remains to
be seen whether the Venetians will obey." But the court of Rome,
by its perseverance and intrigues, ultimately triumphed over
patrician jealousy. Even foreigners who visited the Republic in
the course of trade were seized and detained by the Inquisition.
Frederic de Salice, who had been sent to Venice from the Republic
of the Grisons, to demand the release of some of its subjects, gives
the following account of the state of matters in the year 1557 :
" In this commonwealth, and in general throughout Italy, where

244 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
the Pope possesses what they call spiritual jurisdiction, the faithful
are subjected to the severest inquisition. Ample authority is
given to the Inquisitions, oh the smallest information, to seize any
at their pleasure, to put him to the torture, and (what is worse
than death) to send him to Rome ; which was not wont to be the
case until the time of the reigning Pontiff. I am detained here
Ibnger than I could wish, and know not when I shall be able to
extricate myself from this labyrinth." ' Yet in the year 1558, a
suffragan bishop,' in the diocese- of Padua, wrote to Cardinal
Pisano, lamenting that the Church there could not obtain from
the Venetian Senate permission to inflict capital punishment
on the Lutherans, and to destroy them by fire, the gibbet, or
the sword, as the practice was in other places.
In the year 1560 the Protestants in Venice met together
privately for Divine worship, and sent for a minister to form them
into a Church ; but such a step their enemies would not tolerate,
and those of their number who could not succeed in escaping from
the city were committed to prison. Mention is made of a party of
twenty-three who fled to Istria, and were about to sail to a safer
region, when, under pretence of a debt due from three of them,
they were detained. Afterwards, being accused of heresy, "they
were conveyed to Venice and lodged in the same prison with
their brethren." 2
The first Protestant put to death in Venice, according to Dr.
M'Crie, was Julio Guirlauda, a native of the Trevisa. Drowning,
riot burning, was the process adopted ; and" this protomartyr of
the" Republic in 1562, when placed on the plank which was to
plunge him into the canal, " cheerfully bade the captain farewell,
and sank into the deep calling on the Lord Jesus."
In the Venetian martyrology the name of Antonio Ricetto, of
Vicenza, occurs ; and the particulars of his execution are thus
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 264.
1 M'Crie, ibid., 266.

VENICE- 245

detailed : " Antonio Ricetto was conveyed to Venice and placed in
the dungeons of the Inquisition. During his imprisonment his son,
a boy twelve years of age, came to him, and with tears in his eyes
implored him to be reconciled to the Church and save his life.
Ricetto, with great firmness, replied that the true Christian was
bound to give up his goods, his children, and even his life for the
honour and glory of God, and that he was therefore resolved to
part with his mortal existence to maintain them. The Senate, after
this, offered to release him, and put him in possession of his
paternal property, if he would only recant ; but he turned a deaf
ear to every proposal to abandon his principles. Being condemned
by the Inquisition, he was, on the 15th of February, 1565-6, in the
usual manner conducted to the place of execution. When they had
arrived near the two castles, the captain of the guard made fast his
hands. The night being cold, Ricetto begged to have his cloak,
which had been removed, restored to him. One of the company
then said, " What ! dost thou fear a little cold ? What wilt thou do
in the bosom of the sea ? Why dost thou not endeavour to save
thy life ? Dost thou not know that the meanest insect flies from
death ?." Ricetto replied, " I flee from eternal death." Being come
to the place of execution, and the captain having bound him with
the chain and weight, he lifted up his eyes arid exclaimed, " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do ! " Whilst drawing
the stone after him on the plank, the boats retired, and the pious
sufferer slept in the Lord." 1 ,»
The scene of execution is here described as "near the two
castles." Our reference to the book-burning on June 20, 1 5 24, at San
Pietro di Castello, has already brought us into that neighbourhood.
It can easily be reached in a gondola, and somewhere thereabouts,
at the time of the Reformation, two castles existed, close to which
occurred the martyrdom of Antonio Ricetto. One castle faced
another, and the method of execution seems to have been, to
1 " Hist, des Martyrs," p. 753.

246 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
employ two boats, with a plank between them, on which, was
placed the condemned confessor, and then by moving the boats
apart, to plunge him into the waters of the canal. The castles
stood just outside the Arsenal, and therefore the tragedy described,
and many another like it, was enacted in the immediate vicinity of
the establishment which armed the fleets of the Republic. The
picturesque gate, and the curiosities within the museum, to which
it leads, are familiar to many an English tourist, who little thinks of
the intolerance and the heroism which three centuries ago were
exemplified within a few paces of the floor on which he stands.
Another Venetian martyr is thus described by his nephew :
" The reverend Baldus Lupetinus, sprung from a noble and ancient
family, was a learned monk and provincial of the order to which he
belonged. After having long preached the word of God in both
the vulgar languages (Italian and Sclavonian) in many cities,
and defended it by public disputation in several places of celebrity
with great applause, he was at last thrown into close prison at
Venice, by the Inquisitor and papal legate. In this condition he
continued, during nearly twenty years, to bear an undaunted
testimony to the gospel of Christ, so that his bonds and doctrines
were made known, not only to that city, but to the whole of Italy,
and even to Europe at large, by which means evangelical truth
was more widely spread. Two things, among many others, may be
mentioned as marks of the singular providence of God towards
this person during his imprisonment. In the first place, the
princes of Germany often interceded for his liberation, but without
success. And secondly, on the other hand, the papal legate, the
Inquisitor, and even the Pope himself, laboured with all their
might, and by repeated applications, to have him, from the very
first, committed to the flames, as a noted heresiarch. This was
refused by the Doge and Senate, who when he was at last con
demned, freed him from the punishment of the fire by an express
decree. It was the will of God that he should bear his testimony

VENICE. 247
to the truth for so long a time ; and that, like a person affixed to
a cross, he should, as from an eminence, proclaim to all the world
the restoration of Christianity, and the revelation of Antichrist.
At last, this pious and excellent man, whom neither threatenings
nor promises could move, sealed his doctrine by an undaunted
martyrdom, and exchanged the filth and protracted tortures of
a prison for a watery grave." l
Giordano Bruno, of Nola, figures in the history of the Inquisi
tion at the close of the sixteenth century, and is brought, through
the recent researches of Professor Domenico Berti, into connection
with the Italian Reformation, and the resistance made to it in
Venice. Bruno is often represented as suffering for philosophical
opinions ; it is now pretty certain that he was condemned as a
heretic. He was born in 1548, and studied at Naples; having
entered the Dominican order, he involved himself in trouble by
throwing away images, and discouraging the perusal of " the Seven
Joys ; " then he abandoned monachism, travelling from place to
place as a teacher of grammar. But he resumed his old garb by
the advice of friends, soon to cast it off again, for presently we find
him at Geneva, member of a Protestant Church, " wearing a hat, a
cape, and 'a sword." He led a wandering life, taking up his abode
in Paris and London ; and at the latter place he attended the court
of Elizabeth in a courtier's costume. After a residence in Germany
he meets us in Venice, and there he was denounced to the Inquisi
tion by Giovanni Mocenigo, in whose house he was' acting as a
tutor. This gentleman, under pressure from his father confessor,
and urged, he said, "by his own conscience," reported Bruno's
words to the Inquisitors. Documents relative to his arrest and
trial have been found by Professor Berti, in the Venetian archives
' where, he is described as " about forty years of age, small and thin,
with a black beard." Inquiries were made of him as to what he
did in the course of his travels ; and the story of his apprehension
1 Quoted by M'Crie, "History of the Reformation in Italy," 270.

248 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
is given by himself. He was about, to return to Frankfort, whence
he had been invited by Mocenigo, when the latter entered his
room, and made him a prisoner, promising to liberate him if he
would continue in the house as a philosophical instructor. What
exactly passed between Bruno and his host is. by no means clear ;
but it ended in his being consigned to the Inquisition at Venice,
before which he underwent a theological examination. He said he
believed in miracles, in the doctrine of transubstantiation, and in
the Divinity of Christ; but he expressed doubts as to the manner
in which the Divine and human natures were united. He repudi
ated what was heretical, said he believed what the Church believed,
and asked pardon for all his faults. These professions did not
prevent his being transferred from Venice to Rome ; the records
of the Inquisition stating positively that his crimes in regard to
lieresy were very serious, but that in other respects he was possessed
of great learning and was a man of eminent ability. Papers
connected with his trial and six years' imprisonment in the papal
city, were copied by a friend of Professor Berti in 1849, but they
are incomplete, and leave many points not cleared up. An account,
however, written two days after his death, has been discovered and
preserved: "Saturday, 19th February, 1600. Thursday morning,
in Campo di Fiori, was burned alive that wicked Dominican friar,
of Nola, an obstinate heretic, who, at his own caprice,, had invented
various dogmas contrary to our faith. These were derogatory to
the Holy' Virgin and the saints, and for these opinions he resolved
to die. He professed himself a willing martyr, sure that his soul
would ascend in the flames to paradise." "Now," adds the
chronicler, "he knows whether he was right."1 The particular
dogmas on account of which Bruno suffered are not specified ; but
probably they were the opinions which he expressed in his " Delia
Causa, Principio ed Uno," where he expounds a notion about
what he calls the soul .of the universe, living in both organic
1 An outline of the story is given in " Evangelical Christendom" for 1880.

VENICE. 249
and inorganic things, and being the constituent principle of all
existence. Whatever Bruno intended by his speculations, they are
interpreted by critics as wearing a pantheistic appearance. 1
Before quitting the subject of Inquisitorial proceedings in
Venice, I cannot forbear noticing an absurd piece of interference,
on the part of the tribunal, with no less a person than the famous
artist, Paul Veronese. He was no Protestant, but he painted a
picture of the Last Supper, which much displeased the holy fathers.
He had introduced into his painting, what they thought was
derogatory to the sacred subject, — such as two halberdiers, one
eating and another drinking, a person also being represented using
his fork as a toothpick. The artist defended himself against these
and other charges, on the ground that men of his profession, like
poets, were allowed to take liberties with what they described ;
but the reverend judges insisted that "if he would avoid a greater
penalty, he must correct his picture in three months according to
their directions."2
Notice is taken of this incident in the " Cicerone." " How the
master had to answer for himself, for his secular conception of
biblical subjects, before the tribunal of the Holy Office, which took
objection to 'fools, drunken Germans, dwarfs, and other follies,'
and how he excused himself, is delightful to read." 3
Old Venetian dependencies enter within the circle of our
history, — Padua, Vicenza, and Capo d'lstria.
Literature, Art, and Religion contribute interest to every one
visiting the City of Padua. Reputed to have been born within its
1 Bayle's " Bio. and Hist. Diet.," art. "Bruno," and Hallam's "Introduction," ii. 148.
2 The proceedings are printed in "La Rivista Cristiana," anno iii. p. 97. In tlie
same volume there is a list of persons in the Venetian territory arraigned before the
tribunal, so numerous that their names, with the accusations of Lutheranism, apostasy, and
the like, ranging within the years 1548 and 1592, cover no less than five pages, pp. 29-34.
In the number for May, 1880 (anno viii.), there is a long extract from the records of the
Inquisition respecting Julius Maresium, of Belluno, a town in Venetia.
'"Cicerone," translated from Burckhardt, by Mrs. Clough, p 210.

250 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
ancient territory, Titus Livius, the historian, has his monument in
the Palazza della Ragione, with its strange barrelled roof. The
frescoes of Giotto in the Chapel of Santa Maria della Arena will be
sure to leave a lasting impression on the memory of every traveller ;
and the ecclesiastical mosque-like domes, rising above the roofs of
the city dwellings, will be remembered as imparting an Oriental
appearance to the picturesque locality. St, Antony, the patron
saint of Padua — sometimes confounded with a much earlier Saint
Antony, the Egyptian hermit — has been honoured with a magni
ficent church dedicated to his name, and a costly shrine of
resplendent gold and marble ; and he more fittingly may be
mentioned in these pages from his having been connected with
one of those waves of religious revival which swept over Italy in
the Middle Ages. Ludicrously remembered by the story of his
preaching to the fishes, of which I remember there is a grotesque
picture at Padua, he was really remarkable for the impres
siveness and effect of his sermons in the churches of Padua.
Buildings were thronged from daybreak by people waiting
for the eloquent monk, and sometimes when he arrived he would
gather them in the open air, walls being insufficient to contain
the multitudes. Like Savonarola at a later date, he wrought
a wonderful change in the conduct of his auditors ; not that he
induced them to make a bonfire of their luxuries, but, what was
far better, he induced the revengeful Italian to lay aside his stiletto,
the votaress of fashion to sell her jewels for the benefit of the poor,
and the obdurate sinner to confess his transgressions. Antony
has left behind him a good many discourses, full of ingenious
textual arrangements, quaint metaphors, far-fetched allusions and
mystical reveries, but containing no doctrines such as pointed
to any fundamental reform in Christendom. But there was in
the fourteenth century a resident in Padua named Marsilio, who
evidently anticipated much of the teaching of the Protestant
Reformers two hundred years afterwards. A work of his, little

VENICE.

known, entitled, " Defensor Pacis," — amidst a great deal of specula
tion upon the constitution of society and the rights of individuals,
which attracted the attention of Rousseau, as noticed in his
" Contrat Social " — brings to view positions of the following order :
That no bishop, presbyter, or ecclesiastical minister whatever is
intitled to any coercive jurisdiction — and in this respect he speaks
four centuries beforehand, after the manner of eighteenth century
philosophers ; that we are bound to receive no writings as abso
lutely true, and to believe them as necessary to salvation, except
those of canonical Scripture ; that Christ having laid down the law
of eternal life, it would be in vain, if not open and manifest to
those who inquire into its meaning ; that the Church consists of
devout believers in Christ, who are all of them true priests ; that
if the whole Church should teach anything contrary to the Gospel
it would not be true ; that in authority all apostles were, and all
priests are, equal ; that no bishop or presbyter is to be subject to
any other bishop or presbyter ; that when Christ says to Peter :
" Upon this rock I will build My Church," He alludes to the confes
sion Peter had made that Christ is the only Head of the Church;
that when He said, " I will give thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven," He did not bestow on Peter more authority than He
did on other apostles ; that whilst it is plain from Scripture that
Paul was in Rome, concerning Peter it is impossible to prove from
Scripture that he ever was Bishop of Rome, and, what is more,
that he ever was in Rome at all ; and that if it be asked who of
bishops and priests ought to be called a successor of the apostles,
the answer is, he who most imitates them by his life and
works. The author stigmatises as heretical the definition of.
John XXII. respecting evangelical poverty, and as false the pre
tensions of the bull of Boniface VIII. unam sanctam. Moreover,
referring to the book of Daniel, he asks what could the king
with a terrible countenance denote, but the Roman Pontiff and
his court ? In short, it is remarked by the editor of Marsilio's

252 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
work, that his' Protestantism is scarcely surpassed by that of
John Calvin.1
Before leaving Padua I may notice that Mr. Ruskin has brought
Giotto's Chapel into connection with the general subject of this
work. He tells us that an order was instituted in the beginning of
the thirteenth century to defend the dignity of the Madonna against
the heretics, by whom it was beginning to be assailed ; that they
were called Cavaliers of St. Mary, and that the Arena Chapel was
employed in the ceremonies of the order. " The chapel itself may
not unwarrantably be considered as one of the first efforts of Popery
in resistance of the Reformation. For the Reformation, though
not victorious till the sixteenth, began in reality in the thirteenth
century. The remonstrances of such bishops as our own
Grossteste, ' the martyrdom of the Albigenses in the Dominican
crusades, and the murmurs of those heretics against whose
aspersion of the majesty of the Virgin this chivalrous order of
the Cavalieri Godente was instituted, were as truly the signs of the
approach of a new era in the religion, as the opponent work of
Giotto on the walls of the Arena was the sign of the approach of
a new era in art." 2
Not far from Padua, under the green slopes of the Euganean
hills, lies Arqua, where Petrarch spent much time during the last
four years of his life, dividing his solitude between that picturesque
retreat and the neighbouring city. If Dante was a pioneer of the
Reformation in some of its results, the same may be said, perhaps
more emphatically, of him who was born in 1 304, fifteen years before
the other died ; for Petrarch still more boldly denounced " the
impious Babylon which has lost all shame and all truth ; " and
still more distinctly attacked the scholastic philosophy of religion,
whilst he strenuously laboured to promote in his own country a
revival of ancient literature; but I must hasten on to another city.
1 "La Rivista," anno viii. 129-137.
2 "Giotto, and his works in Padua," by J. Ruskin, p. 10. Publication of the Arundel
Society.

VENICE.

253

Vicenza, where the Palladian architecture interested me very
little, after being subject to Padua and Verona, was subdued by
the Republic of Venice in 1404. It is often mentioned in'accounts
given of Lutheranism in the Venetian dominions. The Vicar-
General of Vicenza, in 1535, is noticed as having apprehended
Sigismund, a German, for his activity in promoting the interest of
the Reformation in Italy ; an" instance among many others of the
strong Saxon influence then at work in Lombardy. A letter was
addressed to Luther in 1 542 by " the brethren of the Church of
Venice, Vicenza, and Treviso," acknowledging their obligations to
him as a person by whom they had been instructed in the way of
salvation. They looked for the sympathy and assistance of
German Protestants, at whose call they had espoused the cause
of the Reformation ; and they begged the Saxon Reformers to
intercede with the evangelical princes to address the Venetian
Senate on their behalf. The letter was written by Baldassare
Altieri, and has been preserved by Seckendorf.1 Yet ten years
afterwards, Pope Paul HL, who had commended the zeal of the
Vicar-General, lamented the inroads which heresy was still making
in the city, and rebuked the indisposition of the magistrates to
suppress it with becoming rigour. Judging from the tone of his
appeal, we should infer that Protestantism was then and there
decidedly on the advance, and that it threatened to make
way in neighbouring towns. However remiss might be the
municipal authorities, Cardinal Rodolfo, who administered the
bishopric of Vicenza, was sufficiently on the alert ; and both
he and the Pope did what they could to spur the Lords pf
the Sovereign Republic to a course of more vigorous action
for the purification of their dependencies from the taint of heresy ;
the Podesta and Capitano of Vicenza coming in for special
blame because of their indifference and neglect. The Venetian
Senate thus- stimulated brought pressure to bear on the subject
1 Lib. iii. 401.
Z

"•¦¦*
254 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
city, and the result seems to have been very disastrous to the
reformed faith.1
The Vicenza Academy, as a literary society there is called,
discussed religious as well as other topics. Laelius Socinus is
said to have been a member of it. He does not seem to have
pronounced such advanced views in denying the Trinity as were
maintained by his nephew Faustus. He thought that the
Reformers did not go sufficiently far in their denial of popular
beliefs, and he shrunk from accepting the orthodox view of the
Trinity ; his habit being to start objections and difficulties in the
form of questions, rather than to assert any opinions of his own:
Doubts have been thrown upon the statement that he was a
member of the society at Vicenza ; but be that as it may, no
one can show satisfactorily what were the definite theological
beliefs current amongst the members ; and those of Laelius Socinus
in particular can be ascertained with confidence only on their
negative side. His writings have never been published, but only
used by Faustus Socinus, to what extent no one can determine.
That the idea that Christ was a real, but not a mere man, having
been begotten by the power of the Holy Ghost, obtained currency
among the northern Italians, is very probable. The tenets of
Faustus Socinus are well known, being clearly explained in his
works ; and from them we learn that whilst denying the proper
Deity of the Saviour, he asserted that Jesus is the Son of God
in a peculiar sense ; and is not to be lowered to any human or
angelic rank. He conceded the claim of the Redeemer to the
worship of mankind, and says in so many words, that Christ
" expiates our sins, as He frees us from the punishment of them." 2
But it is too much to conclude that .in the definite system of
Socinianism, as set forth in the Racovian Catechism, we have a
copy of what was taught by Laelius ; and it is going still further
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 254, 255.
See Appendix to "Life of Socinus," by Toulmin.

;•£¦ ¦ VENIC&*!t 255
 —  h.  *£ 

in the paths of conjecture to identify it with any prevalent specu
lations in the Vicenzan Academy. The utmost which can be
safely affirmed is, as Melanchthon says, that Italian theology
abounded in Platonic theories ; and it was no easy thing to bring
it down from love of science to truth and simplicity of explana
tion ; that a book by Servetus reviving the error of Samosata had
been introduced amongst the Venetians ; and that Melanchthon
received "disgraceful narratives from Venice which admonished
the brethren there to preserve discipline." '
Capo d'Istria, not far from Trieste, is a small town on a circular
island close to the shore of the mainland, and connected with it
by a stone causeway. It is said still to retain a Venetian appear
ance, and it has a Duomo which recalls to mind a famous bishop
who held the see in the middle of the sixteenth century, and who
largely figures in the history of the Italian Reformation. Pierpaolo
Vergerio was born in the little island now named, and was em
ployed by Clement VII. and Paul III. as German nuncio. He is
said to have conferred with some of the Protestant princes, and
even with Luther himself at Wittenburg, in reference to some sort
of reconciliation ; but the accounts given of this matter are contra
dictory. At all events two things are certain, that Vergerio, under
special pontifical patronage, rose to eminence in the Church,
and also that he became suspected of a leaning to Lutheranism,
probably from his evangelical views, and from his disposition to
conciliate opponents. Imputations on his orthodoxy induced him
to set to work on a controversial treatise against Protestantism —
which ended, as some other similar undertakings have done, in his
adopting the very views he had resolved to disprove. He had a
brother, Bishop of Pola, who was brought to sympathize with him,
in his convictions, and they both avowed themselves advocates of
reform. Before his open confession of a change of opinions the
celebrated Cardinal Bembo wrote in 1541 : " I hear some things of
' Melanchthon's Epistles " Col. 150; 835, S52.

1 11 1

2J6- FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
that bishop which if true are very bad — that he not only has
portraits of Lutherans in his house, but also that in the causes
which come before him he is eager to favour in every way the one
party, whether right or wrong, and to bear down the other." Soon
afterwards, no doubt could remain as to the course he adopted.
Yet it would appear that for a while neither he nor his brother
gave themselves to public controversy, but rather preferred
quietly to work in their respective dioceses for the welfare of their
flocks, taking care to insist on evangelical principles, and to
withdraw their people, from dependence on rites and ceremonies.
In the year 1546, a large number of the inhabitants of the neigh
bourhood had embraced the faith of the Reformers.
The Inquisition speedily afterwards is seen actively employed in
Capo d'Istria and Pola. Annibale Grisone acquired an unenviable
notoriety in this miserable enterprise. He searched houses for
suspected books, excommunicated those accused of Lutheranism,
pursuaded some to recant, and threatened wifh death those who
continued obdurate. He denounced the reading of the vernacular
Scriptures as a crime. Terror sprung up throughout the dioceses,
and families were divided by differences of opinion, the Roman
Catholic being encouraged to betray the Protestant ; wives bore
witness against husbands, and children against their parents.
A man's foes were those of his own household, the slightest
signs of deviation from the Church standard were constrained into
proofs of guilt. The Inquisitor celebrated Mass in the Duomo of
Capo d'Istria, and then ascending the pulpit told the people, " Of
late you have lain under calamities ; your olive trees, your corn
fields, your vineyards have been smitten with barrenness, your
cattle have suffered from distemper. And all this follows as the
consequence of heresies adopted by the Bishop and others. Do
not expect any relief until you have suppressed .these evils. Fall
upon the heretics then and stone them." A passage from
Tertullian has been appropriately cited as furnishing a parallel to

VENICE. 257
the Inquisitor's denunciations. "If the' Tiber overflows," said
heathen persecutors, "or the Nile does not water the fields, if the
heavens give not rain, if pestilence or earthquake happens,
then at once the cry is, Christianas ad leonem — the Christians
to the lion."
Vergerio could not remain in his diocese whilst the InquisitPr
thus inflamed the passions of the people, and he is reported to
have visited the city of Trent, where the council was sitting at
the time, in order to purge himself from the accusations which
stained his name ; but over this and other parts of his story there
rests much confusion. However, it is certain he did not appear
before the council — it was not likely he would be permitted to
do so ; and the next we hear of him is at Venice, where he was
advised to carry his case to Rome — counsel he was too wise to
adopt. Then we find him at Padua, in great distress from the
terrible end of the apostate Spira, who. died in agonies of despair.
The history of that unhappy man was much talked of in those
days. He had abjured Protestantism, through fear of the Inqui
sition, and Vergerio saw him on his death-bed. "To tell the
truth," says the Bishop, " I felt such a flame in my breast, that I
could scarcely refrain myself at times from going to the chamber
door of the legate of Venice, and crying out, ' Here I am ; where
are your prisons and your fires ? Satisfy your utmost desires
upon me ; burn me for the cause of Christ, I beseech you, since
I have had an opportunity of comforting the miserable Spira, and
of publishing what it was the will of God should be published.' "
Vergerio wrote a life of Spira, assisted by contemporary corres
pondence ; and it may be concluded from the above passage in
the book how excitable a person the author must have been. His
honesty I see no cause to doubt ; and he subsequently became
an earnest preacher of Protestantism in the Grisons, of which I shall
hereafter ¦ give an illustration ; but the character of the man, and
the merits of his authorship, have raised considerable controversy.

258

FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

Bayle, in a copious and characteristic article on the subject;
mentions certain works ascribed to him, published anonymously
or under fictitious names, all of them antagonistic to Popery.
Into this field.it is impossible to follow the acute but rambling
critic ; and I shall only remark that Vergerio so indulged in
irony and satire that sometimes his burlesques have been
regarded as written in sober earnest on the opposite side.
Finally, in connection with Venice, I notice Rovigo, on the
marshy banks of the Adige. _ We find among the archives of the
Holy Office notices of there being in that small city six heretics,
five Lutherans and one Anabaptist. '
1 " La Rivista Cristiana," amio iv.

'. if(?t'iv «ai^w

MILAN CATHEDRAL.

yvi

I LAN AND THE

L

AKES,

EVER can j any one who has read the story
of Augustine's conversion forget it when
walking about the city of Milan. The sight
of pleasant gardens there has brought it to
my mind many a time. For in a garden
he and Alypius sat apart in silence and
sorrow, and then with " a load of misery,"
a shower of tears, Augustine broke away from his
companion and casting himself under a fig tree
exclaimed : " Thou, O Lord, how long, how long ?
to-morrow and to-morrow ; why not now ? Why is
not this the hour of my deliverance ? " " So I was
speaking," he says, "when I heard a voice as of a
child chanting and saying, 'Tolle lege, tolle lege,'
take up and read, take up and read. I returned
to where Alypius sat,, and opening the Epistle
of Paul which I had left there, I read, 'Not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus, and
make no provision for the flesh.'" Augustine needed a power
to master his mind and subdue his corruptions ; he saw it here,

262 , FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
saw it at once ; putting on the Lord Jesus was the secret of
victory and peace. He closed the book, another man. The
influence of Ambrose and Augustine in Milan continued
throughout the Middle Ages, and helped to keep alive that tone of
evangelical sentiment which may be traced in Northern Italy
during that long period ; and Augustine's theology was that with
which the Italian Reformers were most in sympathy. But the
Duomo attracts the chief attention of Milan visitors. Years on
years of patient toil were spent on that eighth wonder of the
world. Windows and doors, pilasters and pinnacles, niches
and statues, bands full of ornaments and varieties of elaborate
sculpture, flying buttresses and statues on the summit, as if
winged angels had alighted there — what a history of Art do
all these reveal ! The building slowly advanced during the
period of the Reformation, and its completion during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may be regarded as a
monument of the mediaeval Church's triumph over Italian
Protestants. The city of Ambrose and Augustine presents some peculiarities
of worship which mark it off from the Romish ritual. The Rito
or Culto Ambrogiano, is longer than that of Rome, and is less
musical and ornate, whilst the Scriptures are read not in the
Vulgate, but in the Italica, a version made before that of Jerome.
It is remarkable how tenacious of their rites the Milanese have
been, and how firmly they resisted the attempts of Rome to super
sede them. A measure of independence respecting the Papacy
may be recognised throughout the history of Milan. Nevertheless,
religion in the diocese, at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
showed the need of reformation.
Paul III., in a brief addressed to the Bishop of Modena, under
date 1536, makes mention of conventicles in Milan, consisting of
noble persons, men and women, who followed Friar Batista de
Crema, a teacher of doctrines condemned by the Church. I cannot

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 263

ascertain who this friar was> beyond the fact that he had come to
see the errors and evils of the existing system. The particular
heresies he taught are not mentioned, but most likely they were
opinions akin to those of Luther or Zwingle. In a condensed
contemporary account of Italian heresies, mention is made of
many heretical priests, friars and laymen ; . one Celso, a canon
regular, a powerful preacher and a favourite with the nobility, is
particularly mentioned as amongst the number, also a great
friend of his, who, to escape the Holy Office, fled to Geneva.'
Celio Secundo Curione, described in connection with Turin, of
which city he was a native, is noticed as having come to live
among the Milanese, where he married a lady belonging to a
noble family. His popularity as a professor of polite literature
earned him a high repute, and it may be inferred that he did not
neglect to help on the work of reformation in the duchy ; but
ravages accompanying the invasion of Spanish troops compelled
him to quit the country. Pius IV. had his attention called to the
state of things in that district, and consequently resolved to
establish the Inquisition there. But, regarding with jealousy the
encroachments of the Holy See, in accordance with old traditions,
the Archbishop and Bishops objected to the institution of a Roman
tribunal in that part of Italy. They did not approve of what was
done in Spain, and appealed to the Pope against like proceedings
in Lombardy. Whereupon he assured them he knew the extreme
rigour of the Spanish Inquisitors, and would see that no such
severity was practised in Milan. Rome would be tender and
merciful ; her decrees respecting the mode of process, he said, "were
very mild, and reserved to the accused the most entire liberty of
defending themselves."2 It will be remembered that a like repre
sentation was made in reply to Neapolitan objections ; but, whatever
might have been the management of the Inquisition in Milan, left
1 "La Rivista Cristiana," iv. 130.
2 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy,"- 232.

264 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
entirely to the agents of Pius IV., the Milanese Protestants had to
endure terrible treatment when the capital fell under the sway of
Philip 11. of Spain. The Inquisition was then worked in Spanish
fashion. We read of Galleazzo Trezio, a nobleman of Lodi, who
belonged to the University of Pavia, being brought up for heresy,
and condemned to be burned. In 1558 two persons on the same
account were committed to the flames. Scarcely a week in the
following year failed to witness some one suffering for heresy;
and in 1563, eleven citizens of rank were imprisoned.. De Porta
describes the execution of a young priest in 1569 dragged to the
gibbet at the tail of a horse. Half strangled, he was cut down,
and because he would not recant he was roasted to death, and his
remains thrown to the dogs.
The famous Archbishop Borromeo zealously opposed the Re
formation. In the course of a visitation he excited the displeasure
of one of the Swiss cantons bordering on Lombardy. An envoy
was despatched by its authority to request that the Governor of
Milan would recall the Archbishop. The Inquisitor seized the
envoy and committed him to prison. The Governor ordered his
release, and treated him with respect. The Swiss Government,
when it heard of such an outrage on an ambassador, sent word
that if an assurance of his enlargement did not instantly arrive,
reprisals would be taken on the Cardinal himself, and his eminence
would be detained as a hostage. Upon hearing this, he " retired
from the Swiss territories with less ceremony than he had entered
them." '
In the archives of the Holy Office, between 1541 and 1586, in
connection with Milan there are recorded processes against twenty
persons, all expressly named : — seventeen are charged with Luther
anism, one with heretical teaching, one with being an Anabaptist,
and one with offences against the clergy.2 And if I may leave
1 M'Crie's "History of the Reformation in Italy," 403.
2 Extracts are given in " La Rivista Cristiana," anno iv. 178.

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 265

Milan for a moment and proceed as far as Bergamo, it may be
added here that, in the same archives, between 1547 and 1591,
fifteen names are recorded as accused of heresy, chiefly under the
form of Lutheranism, and one as treating with contempt religion
in general.1 Mention is made in a document of the period — one
which I have already employed — of Vittorio Soranzo, Bishop of
Bergamo, and also a provost and a minor canon, who were charged
with heresy. The Bishop could not, with all his power, protect
himself from the proceedings of the Holy Office, but was com
mitted to the prison of St. Angelo, convicted of heresy and
deprived of his episcopate. He died in distress.2
In connection with Cremona, the Holy Office registers exhibit
five cases of false opinion which incurred ecclesiastical con
demnation, together with two accusations of Lutheran error ;"
there are two charges of heresy in general terms, and one definite
specification in these strange words : " Denial of the Divinity of
the Virgin" (nega la divinita di Maria) d
From these cities, I turn to the Lake of Como, of which the
green banks, the long cascades, the white houses, the tall churches,
and mountains in the background, present a series of charming
and diversified pictures, familiar to many of my readers.
"It is now fourteen years," writes an Augustinian monk, one
Egidio di Porta, from these beautiful shores, "since I, under the-
impulse of a certain pious feeling, but not according to knowledge,
withdrew from my parents and assumed the black cowl. If I did
not become learned and devout, I at least appeared to be so, and for
seven years discharged the office of a preacher of God's Word, alas,
in deep ignorance. I savoured not the things of Christ ; I ascribed
nothing to faith, all to works. But God would not permit His
servant to perish, for ever. He brought me to the dust. I was
made to cry out, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? At length
1 " La Rivista Cristiana," anno iv. 14.
2 Ibid., anno iv. 131. ' 3 Ibid., anno iv. 57.

266 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
my heart heard the delightful voice, Go to Ulric Zwingle, and he
will tell thee what thou shouldest do. Oh, ravishing sound ! my
soul found ineffable peace in that sound. Do not think that I
mock you ; for you, nay, not you, but God by your means, rescued
me from the snare of the fowler. But why do I say me ? for I
trust you have saved others as well as me." These glowing words
were addressed to Zwingle, and gratitude may be pleaded as some
excuse for an extravagant style of expression. Again the writer
takes up his pen, and addresses the Swiss divine with a request that
he would write an epistle to be shown to brethren of the Augus-
tinian order. " But let it be cautious," he says, " for they are full
of pride and self-coftceit. Place some passages of Scripture before
them, by which they may perceive how much God is pleased to
have His Word preached purely and without mixture, and how
highly He is offended with those who adulterate it, and bring
forward their own opinions as Divine." '
A native of Como, one Francesco Gamba, appears in the list
of Italian Protestant martyrs. He visited Geneva, where so many
Lucchese emigrants lived, and, perhaps convinced by their argu
ments and appeals, united with them in the communion of the
Lord's Supper, according to the reformed rite. Tidings of this
incident reached Como before his arrival, and in a boat on the
lake he was seized and cast into prison. Condemned to the
flames, he excited the commiseration of friends amongst the
Milanese nobility, who, however, could accomplish nothing more in
his behalf than a respite from execution for a few days. Entreaty
to recant took no effect, and when his doom was inevitable, he
declined the services of the priesthood, expressing at the same
time his forgiveness of the judge who had condemned him to die.
A gentleman of Como, who witnessed his sufferings, relates that
his tongue was perforated, to prevent his addressing the people
around the stake, and that after kneeling down he rose and waved
1 M'Crie's " History of the Reformation in Italy," 56.

MILAN AND THE LAKES.

267

his hand as a sign of his spiritual confidence and peace. He
was strangled and then burnt to ashes.1
Crossing a beautiful par-t of the country from Menaggio to
Porlezza, rich in wood, maize, and mulberries, we reach the Lake

LAKE MAGGIORE.

of Lugano, and proceed to Luino on the Lake Maggiore. Here
we come on Protestant footprints again.
Locarno, at the head of the lake, makes a considerable figure
in 'the history of the Italian Reformation. Here lived Baltasare
1 Foxe's " Acts and Monuments," iv. 466.

268 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Fontana, a Carmelite monk, who proclaims his Protestantism in a
letter to the Churches of Switzerland, dated 1525 : "Hail, faithful in
Christ ! Think, oh think of Lazarus in the Gospels, and of the lowly
woman of Canaan who was willing to be satisfied with the crumbs
which fell from the table of the Lord. As David came to the
priest in a servile dress and unarmed, so do I fly to you, for the
shewbread and the armour laid up in the sanctuary. Parched
with thirst, I seek the fountains of living water ; sitting like the
blind man by the wayside, I cry to Him that gives sight. With
tears and sighs we, who sit here in darkness, humbly intreat you
who are acquainted with the , titles and authors of the books of
knowledge (for to you it is given to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of God), to send us the writings of such elect teachers as
you possess, and particularly the works of the divine Zwingle, the
far-famed Luther, the acute Melanchthon, the accurate Ecolam-
padius." ' This Fontana was an apostle to the Locarnese, and
worked amongst them assiduously, but at first with small success.
"There are, but three of us here," he says to Zwingle, "who have
enlisted and confederated in the cause of propagating the truth.
But Midian was not vanquished by the multitudes of brave men
who flocked to the standard of Gideon, but by a few selected for
that purpose by God. Who knows but Pie may kindle a great fire
out of this inconsiderable smoke ? It is our duty to sow and plant :
the Lord must give the increase." 2
About twenty years afterwards, Benedetto, surnamed Locarno —
from its being his birthplace — a preacher of great renown, who had-
laboured in Palermo, returned to his native place, and aided by
Giovanni Beccaria, also known as the Apostle of Locarno, carried
on the work. commenced by Baltasare Fontana in a "day of small
things." Four Locarnese presently appear — Varnerio Castiglione,
Ludovico Runcho, Taddeo de Dunis and Martino de Muralto ;
1 M'Crie's " History of the Reformation in Italy," 57.
2 M'Crie, ibid, 161.

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 269

and then we read that the ^rotestants of Locarno increased to a
numerous Church, which was regularly organized, and had the
sacraments administered to it by a pastor whom they called from
the Church of Chiavenna. The daily accessions which it received
to its numbers excited the envy and chagrin of the clergy, who
were warmly supported by the Prefect appointed in the year 1549
by the Popish canton of Underwald.' A neighbouring priest
also, who came and preached against the Protestants, challenged
their pastor to a public disputation. It ended in the committal
of Beccaria to prison, who was soon liberated through a popular
demonstration in his favour.
Beccaria, by the advice of friends, left Locarno to avoid
further persecution ; and then the burden of Protestant work in the
neighbourhood appears to have fallen on the shoulders of Taddeo
de Dunis. But being a physician of considerable fame, to facilitate
his practice he removed to Milan ; there, beyond Swiss protection,
the enemies of the Reformation accused him as a ringleader of
heretics ; then ensues a not uncommon story of retreat to the
mountains. This is followed by an account of his return to Milan,
his voluntary appearance before the Inquisition, the merciful
treatment of him, perhaps owing to his medical reputation, and
finally his exile from the city, to live once more amongst his
countrymen the Locarnese. Not long after this, the Locarnese,
in addition to other wearisome persecutions, were troubled by a
plot as ingenious as it was wicked. The town clerk of the
Popish canton of Uri forged a document dated back some years,
to the effect that the people of Locarno had bound themselves
by oath, that they would submit to the Pope until a general
council could be held. This document he sent to the assembly
of the Swiss cantons in 1554; and the assembly, without
inquiring into the genuineness of the paper, decreed that
those who had given the bond should enter at once into
1 M'Ciie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 162.
2 A 2

270 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
communion with Rome, and submit to its ceremonies. Of course
the victims of this, forgery appealed against it, urging its false
hood, and pointing out what wretchedness it would bring upon
two hundred innocent families. The Protestant cantons interfered
in favour of their co-religionists, when the Roman Catholics
accused the latter of having adopted the opinions of Servetus.
The accused met the accusation with a prompt denial, sending
in an orthodox confession as to the Trinity, the Incarnation, the
Atonement, and Justification by faith. The fabricated bond could
not stand examination, and was set aside ; but the Papists
resolved to persevere in their policy of repression. Roman
Catholic intrigues and Protestant jealousies prevailed so as to
bring about a judgment from certain arbitrators chosen for the
purpose, to the effect, that the Protestant inhabitants of Locarno
should either profess Roman Catholicism, or quit the country, but
that any of them chargeable with Anabaptism or dishonour done to
the Holy Virgin should be punished for their offence. . . The
Zurich deputies protested against the injustice ; but they could
not arrest the course of their antagonists. Some of the Locarnese
Protestants recanted, others were firm. Two and two, followed
by their wives carrying infants in their arms, they walked to the
Council-room, when one addressed the deputies in the name of the
rest. They insisted upon their orthodoxy, they disclaimed the
novel opinions laid at their door, they declared their political
allegiance, and supplicated the Lords of the Cantons to take pity
on the women and children.
" We are not come here," replied those Lords, " to listen to
your faith. The Lords of the Seven Cantons have by the deed
now made known to you declared what their religion is ; and they
will not suffer it to be called in question or disputed. Say, in
one word are you ready to quit your faith, or are you not ? "
"We will live in it, we will die in it." "We will never renounce
it." " It is the only true faith." " It is the one holy faith." "It

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 271
is the only saving faith," cried the band of confessors, as they stood
in the court-house of Locarno. This scene occurred in that
little town under tree-clad cliffs in which stands the church of
the Madonna del Sesso.
The Papal nuncio made his appearance at Locarno, and, not
satisfied with this severity, requested that the assembly should
insist on the Grisons delivering up the fugitive Beccaria, and that
the emigrants about to leave Locarno should take with them
neither their property nor their children, but hand over both to the
Church,— the first to be confiscated for ecclesiastical uses, the
second to be educated in the Catholic faith. The request seems
incredible ; and whilst the assembled deputies consented to seek
the surrender of Beccaria, they would not listen to the prayer for
robbing the poor people of their goods and their offspring. The
nuncio did all he could to convict them, but his efforts they
regarded only as so much annoyance and trouble.1
Thwarted and worried in many ways, the exiles started in
March, 1555, and, precluded from taking the shortest road, set sail
across the lake, passing through Bellinzona to reach Rogoreto in the
Grisons, to which canton their steps were bound. They took up
their quarters for a while at the foot of the snow-covered Alps, and
when the thaw came they scaled the barrier and reached friends
who were waiting to welcome them on the, other side. Half
settled amongst the Grisons ; half went on to Zurich.
Chiavenna also could boast of a Reformed Church at an early
stage of the Italian Reformation. Thither it is said to have been
brought by the Grison people, who looked with deep religious
interest upon their Italian neighbours. Strange means were
adopted to stem the tide of conversion ; and amongst others, a poor
girl was persuaded to believe that the Holy Virgin had appeared,
and given her a commission to reprove the townspeople of
M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 274-284. This author is unusually
copious in his history of the Church at Locarno.

272 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN ' REFORMERS.
Chiavenna for the favour they had shown towards heresy and
heretics ; processions, as . was the wont, marched through the
streets, to excite the enthusiasm of the children of the Church,
whilst seeking by their prayers and lustrations to cleanse the
district from the prevalent contagion. The detection of this
imposture as to. a vision of the Virgin turned the tables and
silenced the priests.
There lived in Chiavenna a man of noble descent, Hercules de
Salice, who had won a high reputation for soldierly courage and
ability, and he entertained a preacher named Agostino Mainardi, a
Piedmontese monk, who had adopted Protestant opinions. This
displeased the Romanists ; - and when it was proposed that the
Reformed worship should be established in the town, they con
tended that it was impossible without permission from a majority
of inhabitants. De Salice, Governor of the Grisons, who sympathised
with the Protestants, brought the matter before, the Diet, when it
was determined to allow those in the Valteline, and other places
under the Grison dominion, who had adopted evangelical views,
to entertain in their houses any teachers and schoolmasters they
chose, and also to permit exiles from other countries to adopt
Reformed worship, on condition of subscribing the orthodox
Protestant confession. Bringing the case, I suppose, under the
latter law, the authorities of Chiavenna sanctioned the settlement
of Mainardi in the town as a Protestant pastor ; when De Salice
devoted to his use a chapel, which he endowed with a house, a
garden and a salary.
Ludovico Castelvetro, — described as " an acute and ingenious
critic, 'and extensively acquainted with Italian and Provencal
poetry, as well as with the classics of Greece and Rome, to which
he added the knowledge of Hebrew " — we have met with already.
He finally returned to Chiavenna, and after many wanderings and
persecutions, there died in peace.
Jerome Zanchi, belonging to the Bergamese territory, a

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 273

learned man, whom Peter Martyr had drawn to Lucca, succeeded
Mainardi in the pastorate. He had for a colleague Simone
Florillo, a Neapolitan ; and after them the succession was continued
by Scipione Lentulo, of Naples, and Ottaviano Meio, of Lucca ; a
list of names indicating the stability and permanence of the
Protestant Church at Chiavenna. Zanchi, it may be observed,
engaged with the Lutherans in keen • controversy touching the
ubiquity of Christ's human nature — a doctrine which he denied.
Hence he met with opposition in Germany, both at Heidelberg
arid Strasburg, and at last died amongst friends in the former of
those university towns. He achieved a vast theological reputation
whilst living, and after his death his Commentaries and Treatises,
in eight volumes folio, continued to be studied ; but, as M'Crie
remarks, " they are too ponderous for the arms of a modern
divine." 1
Heterodox opinions made their way amongst the Protestants
at Chiavenna. They were introduced by Camillo Renato, and are
said to have included the sleep of the soul till the resurrection ;
the non-resurrection of the same body ; the natural mortality of
man ; the uselessness of the Decalogue to believers ; the possibility
of sin in the humanity of Christ; and the needlessness of sacraments
for the confirmation of justifying faith. No denial of the Trinity
appears amongst these tenets, but they were suspected of preparing
the way for it. The influence of Camillo Renato was prejudicial
to the ministry of Mainardi.
Disputes at Chiavenna created scandal, and ministers from the
Grisons came to investigate it. They found Camillo open to
charges brought against him, and concluded that Mainardi was
worthy of confidence. But the people were anxious to free them
selves from suspicion. " Our Churches in the Valteline," says Julio
de Milano to Bullinger, " which are planted at Puschiavo, Tirano
Teglio, and Sondrio, continue harmonious' in their adherence to the
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 386 ; 444~44°.

274 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
ancient and simple doctrine transmitted from the times of the
apostles, and at this day taught without controversy in your
Churches of Switzerland, and ours of the Grisons." '
Following for an instant the Locarnese to Zurich, we find them
there securing from the Senate a place of worship, with liberty to
use in it their own language. First they had as pastor their friend
and fellow-townsman Beccaria, but he did not remain with them
long. Then followed Bernardino Ochino, whom we meet with now
for the last time, and therefore I take this opportunity of saying
what is needful to the winding up of his history. On leaving Italy
he went to Geneva, then to Bale, then to Augsburg, then to
Strasburg, then to England, where he occupied a professor's chair
at Oxford. Thence he proceeded to Bale, where he was invited, in
1555, by the Locarnese at Zurich to become their pastor.
Ochino in some way commended himself to the good opinion
of Queen Elizabeth. " His authority, I know," says Thomas
Sampson to Peter Martyr, 1560, "has very great weight with the
Queen. If anything is written in these languages, Italian, Latin,
Greek, either by yourself or Master Bernardine, I am quite of
opinion that you will not only afford much gratification to Her
Majesty, but perform a most useful service to the Church of
England." 3 In reply, says Peter Martyr, " I have communicated
your letter, as you wished me, to Master Bernardine. He is in a
weak state of health, both through old age and the diseases incident
to that time of life, yet he did not decline the office of writing to the
Queen, but promises to do so as soon as he is able." 3 A letter from
Bernardino Ochino, preserved amongst papers in the Record Office,
dated August 25, 1561, and addressed to Secretary Cecil, "begs
that he will assist him in recovering the prebend which was given
to him in Edward Vl.'s time (which he wishes to enjoy although
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," 413.
2 "Zurich Letters," i. 64. By Bernardine is meant Bernardino Ochino.
8 "Ibid., ii. 48.

MILAN AND THE LAKES. 275

non-resident), and also his goods, which he left behind him, on his
departure, in the house of Richard Morrison, the use of which had
bean granted to him. Has five little children, and his wife is near
her confinement. Has commissioned Robert Clerke and James
Concio, an Italian, to act for him."
The opinions of Ochino have recently undergone a careful
investigation by the learned Karl Benrath, who has traced his
career from beginning to end in a singularly interesting memoir.
He throws much more light on the nature of his theological
and ethical opinions than Bayle, M'Crie, and M. Young had been
able to do, and shows very clearly how Ochino repeats again and
again, " You may say what you will, polygamy is immoral ;" and
how he also admits the principle that in this and in all other
cases " the final decision lies on the conscience of the individual
enlightened by the prayer of faith." '
With regard to the Trinity, Benrath considers that Ochino
discourses in a spirit of doubt, always ready at hand with objections,
but yet " himself represents the traditional doctrine adopted by the
Reformers." . There is, to say the least, a haziness resting over
Ochino's treatment of the doctrine, and there can be no doubt that
in forms of expression and even in the substance of his sentiments
he departed, to what extent it is difficult to say, from the teaching
of most Protestant as well as all Roman Catholic divines. Finally,
he went to Poland, where he died, and, as his sympathetic biographer
observes, "when at the close of his life he looked back with tears
upon his long path of sorrows, he was still able to say for the
consolation of his friends, 'I have had to suffer many things ; but
that is spared to none of Christ's disciples and apostles. But that
I have been enabled to endure all things shows forth the might
of the Lord.' " 2
1 "Bernardino Ochino of Siena," translated from the German, with a preface by
William Arthur, 1876.
2 Benrath, " Bernardo Ochino," 298.

276 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Shortly after Ochino settled as pastor in Zurich, Peter Martyr
was chosen Professor of Hebrew and Theology in the University of
that place. He died there in November, 1562. "Bullinger, who
loved him as a brother, closed his eyes, and Conrad Gesner spread
the cloth over his face, while the pastor and elders of the Locarnian
Church wept around his bed." '
To conclude this chapter : when I was at Pontresina, in the
Engadine, more than ten years ago, I remember well a picturesque
bridge, not far from the rural inn of the Krone, now superseded I
believe by a pretentious modern hotel. That bridge in the Roseg
valley, and within sight of the Piz Languard and other sublime
scenes, is connected with an interesting incident.
The celebrated Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'Istria, already
noticed, visited the Valteline, and penetrated into the mountain
vales of the Grison canton. He spent a night at Pontresina. The
parish priest had died that very day, and the inhabitants of the
village were talking in the hostelry about a successor. The
Bishop proposed to preach a sermon, which, after some demur
was accepted. In the parish church he proclaimed to his
hearers the doctrines of the Reformation in such a manner as
to fire their enthusiasm, and it ended in their resolving, there
and then, to abolish the mass, and to declare themselves
Protestants. The local tradition relates that they pulled down
the sacred images, dragged them to the bridge, and plunged
them into the sweeping waters. The people of Samaden are
said to have followed their neighbours' example.
1 M'Crie, " History of the Reformation in Italy," -424.

E-i
2;w
'«

Trent.

HE drive from Riva, on the Lago di Garda,
to the ancient city of Trent, is most charm
ing. Leaving the inn with its garden on the
shores of the lake, you pass through scenes
of rare beauty, which culminate about half
way in picturesque views of a rock- built
castle on the margin of a broad reach of water.
The rest of the journey is through mountain
scenery, bold and bare, but clothed at the bottom
with luxuriant vegetation. At the end the way
is through a narrow gorge, then there opens a
valley sprinkled over with trees and houses, cut
in twain by a river, on the banks of which spread
out a range of buildings, overlooked by mountains
all round, and by a huge rock standing in the
midst, well covered with dense foliage. The name by which it
is known to the Italians is Dos Trento. The river winding through
the vale is the Adige; those buildings form the city of Trent.
The city is completely encircled by chains of mountains, green,
brown, and slate-coloured, presenting a pleasant harmony of
tints; and in the month of May, when I was there, one of the
everlasting hills was covered with wide drifts of snow

280 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Having crossed the bridge, the traveller finds himself in the
midst of wide and stately streets,. ancient palaces, sculpture of all
kinds, balconies without number, carved medallions let into the
walls here and there, huge paintings in front of the house, oriel
windows, and all sorts of architectural bits, pleasant to the artist
and the antiquary. Some streets are narrow, and full of shops,
rather Italian-looking, and well stored with goods ; and if you
enter to make purchases, it is amusing to hear from the trades
people an odd intermingling of northern gutturals with the liquid
vocables of the south. Strange too it is to notice the contrast
between antique houses and ladies dressed in Parisian fashion.
One idea predominates over others in reference to this city of
quaint thoroughfares. Here at intervals, between 1545 and 1563,
were held those famous ecclesiastical assemblies which came as a
sequel to the reformatory agitations of the age. In these pages
already frequent notices have occurred of desires and discussions in
Italy, respecting a general council for the settlement of disputes
which agitated the whole of Europe. Many Papists and Protestants
concurred with each other so far as to wish for a settlement of >
differences ; but this wish on the one side led to stipulations incon
sistent with those contended for on the other. Liberty of individual
judgment lay at the basis of Protestant demands ; a determina
tion to deny it is found at the bottom of the Romanistic policy.
Incompatible requirements appeared in the two cases ; and in addi
tion to this, whilst there were some Protestants who saw no hope of
any improvement in the Church as the result of a council, there
were some Papists who endeavoured to keep things as they were
by a series of skilful manoeuvres. When finally it was settled that
a meeting should be held, delays arose on the question where it
should take place. Pope Paul III. in 1536 ;ippointed the city of
Mantua. The Duke of Mantua interposed to prevent the execution
of the Papal order. Vicenza was next selected, and the year 1538
was fixed for the gathering. But not a single dignitary would

TRENT. 281
obey this summons. A prorogation, as it was called, then followed,
and not until 1542 could the difficulty as to the place of meeting
be settled, when Pope Paul and the Emperor Charles V. agreed to
fix upon Trent, the former convoking the bishops there on the
ist of November in that year. Fresh difficulties arose, and not
till December, 1545, did the proceedings open.
At the first session, on the 13th of that winter month, three
cardinal legates from Rome presented themselves, together with
four archbishops, twenty-two bishops, and a large number of clergy
and laymen.
It requires no very inventive imagination to picture what the
citizens beheld at the opening of the council. Up through the
road from Italy, down from the cities of the north, came
ecclesiastical dignitaries in all the pomp and pride of priestly
splendour. On richly caparisoned horses and mules, with crowds
of attendants carrying symbols of rank and office, they would
slowly trot down the hills or emerge from the winding valleys.
Imperial representatives, displaying the utmost civil state or the
most imposing military splendour, would mingle with other proces
sions, and be followed by all sorts of folk, who in those days hung
on the skirts of great men as they travelled from place to place.
What crowds would await the coming of these visitors ! How
their names would pass from lip to lip ! How the ladies would
look down from the balconies, and the parish priests and the
monastic orders rally in full force to do homage to much-talked
of dignitaries ?
Though the temper and spirit of the fathers who assembled
were manifestly one-sided and exclusive, it soon appeared that on
several points a divergence of sentiments obtained amongst them.
They were of different lands, of different theological schools, of
different individual idiosyncrasies. They resembled the mediaeval
divines in this respect, that whilst acknowledging the supremacy of
the Pope, and the infallibility of the Church, many of them put their

282 , FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
own interpretation upon the teaching of Catholic antiquity.
Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus had held very different theolo
gical views, and some of the Trentine fathers rallied round separate
standards in an antagonistic attitude. Augustine was treated by
all with reverence, but what exactly was meant in certain portions
of his works remained an open question.
In the midst of the city stands a cathedral of weather-stained
marble, white, brown, and black, finished early in the fifteenth
century ; joined to a castle-like structure having forked battle
ments ; connected with an episcopal palace at a right angle ; and
flanked by an old square tower, perhaps as old as the cathedral
itself. The cathedral has a cupola over the end of the choir, and
a red pepper-box sort of top to the tower at the termination of the
nave. .In front of the principal side there is a large gushing foun
tain, ornamented by figures life size, and surmounted by a statue
of Neptune with his trident, whilst at the back of the fountain is
an ancient house, frescoed all over with coloured figures. A
curious marble porch resting on lions of an old conventional form,
each holding a nondescript animal in his paws, leads into the sacred
edifice ; and there were leaning against the door, as I entered,
two dusty umbrellas and a large bundle belonging to two humble
worshippers within the nave — a touching sign of the way in which
Tyrolese peasants unite religious acts with their daily life and work.
The interior of the edifice is lofty and imposing, with disproportion
ately tall columns supporting a roof hideously modernized both
within and without. There are two curiously-contrived marble
stairways with short columns let into each side of the nave, and
there is in the same portion of the building an external pillared
gallery running along the wall with a pleasant effect. There are a
few monuments, one by the door with a sculptured figure, and a
long inscription bearing date about the time of the council.
There are slabs on the old marble floor, once carved in bold relief,
but now worn away by the footsteps of many generations ; beneath

TRENT. 285
the pavement is buried Sanseverino, the Venetian general, who
was slain in battle by the citizens of Trent, in 1487.
The fathers who assembled at the council must have celebrated
mass again and again within these time-honoured walls ; and a
crucifix, before which the decrees were pronounced, is preserved in
the sacristy ; but the deliberations of the assembly were carried on
in the church of S. Maria Maggiore, not far off. That church has
been altered a good deal ; indeed, I should conclude from its
appearance, rebuilt, since the time of the council ; but the guide
book says it was erected in 1520. Externally and internally it is
very plain, and of smaller dimensions than could conveniently
accommodate so many ecclesiastics ; certainly it has nothing to
recommend it architecturally ; yet there is in it an exceedingly
superb marble gallery, now supporting an organ, and it is carved
and adorned in the Renaissance style of the sixteenth century.
Of about the same date is a handsome doorway, not in harmony
with the rest of the structure, and which I suppose must have
belonged to an earlier edifice. Two representations of tlie council
are preserved on the walls, one differing considerably from the
other. That which hangs by the side of the altar is an old oil
painting, poorly executed, and in it the church appears quite unlike
what it is now, showing, instead of a narrow nave without aisles,
as is its present construction, columns and arches in perspective
forming a wide and imposing edifice. There are circular seats
indicated, by the side and in front of the altar, six rows deep,
crowded with the fathers — scarlet-robed personages on a raised
platform — sitting face to face with the rest, the papal legates being
intended by these prominent dignitaries. There is a lofty pulpit
in the midst of the congregated divines, occupied by some one who
is haranguing the audience. On the left-hand wall of the present
church, near the altar, is a marble slab, bearing an inscription,
addressed to the Madonna, declaring her Immaculate Conception,
and the homage paid to her within that temple, imploring her to

286 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
protect it, and praying that the light which shone from heaven
through her might be made more and more effulgent to the
inhabitants of Trent.
Sermons were customary at the opening of councils, and one
was preached on the occasion at Trent by the Bishop of Bitonto.
He compared, oddly enough, the council which he addressed to the
Trojan horse, telling the bishops to regard themselves as enclosed
within its sides. A more complimentary allusion succeeded, when
the preacher compared the commencement of proceedings that
day to an unfolding of the gates of paradise, for the outflov/ of
living waters to the ends of the earth. By another infelicitous
reference, he exhorted his hearers to ppen the bowl of their bosoms
for the reception of Divine knowledge, threatening them that if
they did not, their mouths would be forcibly opened by the Spirit
of the Lord, compelling them to speak like Balaam's ass, or to
utter a prophesy, like Caiaphas, which they did not understand, but
which would condemn themselves. He called upon the mountains
round about Trent, and the forests which clothed them, to re-echo
what was spoken at the council, that men might know the day of
their visitation ; and he then profanely applied to the Pope words
used in Scripture by our Lord respecting Himself, "Light (Papm
lux) is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than
light." He begged the Saviour to be present through the inter
cession of St. Vigilius, the patron saint of the city and the valley.
to whom the Cathedral is dedicated.
When the council had been sitting in Trent from December 4,
1545, to March 11, 1547, it was decreed that the sessions should
be removed to Bologna ; and accordingly in June the fathers
assembled in that city ; but the Pope and the Emperor not being
agreed as to the matter, a further postponement occurred. At
length, after another gathering at Trent, came a suspension of the
•council, which lasted for ten years.
At the expiration of that period, the council was renewed, and

TRENT. 287

the Pope sent nuncios to the different courts of Europe. A nuncio
was despatched to England, but Queen Elizabeth forbade him
to cross the sea. However, we find her communicating on the
subject with the ambassador of Spain in the following terms,
on the 5th of May, 1561 :
"She is very glad to hear of a general council, and will
speedily cause it to be understood whether this council is like to
be celebrated, in such sort and with such conditions as are requisite
for a general and free council. If it may so appear, she fully
purposes, as one of the principal monarchs of Christendom, to send
thither certain learned persons. But if it be otherwise, as the last
council at Trent was, then she will be very sorry, and will spare no
good means to help that there may be such a general and free
council obtained for all estates of Christendom, so that better
hope may be conceived of concord and unity."
Negotiations with regard to an English representative in the
council came to nothing, but stray notices of what went on at Trent
reached England, sometimes in a roundabout manner, of which
indications remain in the State Papers (Foreign, 1561-1562).
A man named Shakerley wrote to Sir Nicholas Throgmorton,
Elizabeth's ambassador at Paris, and the letter was immediately
forwarded to England. It bears date December 12, 1561, and Was
written just as the new meeting opened. " Among the cardinals
there is great straitness of lodgings, whereupon it comes that the
plague is spied in different places there. The holy churchmen say
that this is an augury that God is ill displeased with so late making
this council, that so often has been determined of so holy popes and
srreat wise clerks ; whereunto is answered of the other side, that it
is a sign of the just chastisement that has to come on the Roman
Church. In Trent there is one who prophesies that this is the last
Pope. He is a Franciscan, an Italian, born beside Perugia sixty-
two years ago ; he has left his religion and cast away his weeds,
and put on an old covering of hair like a hermit, and cries out

288 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
daily of the Pope ; unto whom is little said, for the cardinals and
others say that he is mad."
In January, 1562, notice arrived in England that at the first
session were present five cardinals, three patriarchs, eleven arch
bishops, and ninety bishops, and that on intelligence being
received in Trent that a victory was gained over the Huguenots in
France, thanksgiving was offered by the fathers. A mass was said
for the souls of the Catholics slain in battle.
Besides these waifs and strays of intelligence, the State Papers
(Foreign) include a communication from Guido Giannetti to Queen
Elizabeth, dated April 25, 1562.
" Nothing has occurred worth writing about. The proceedings
of the Council of Trent have been unsatisfactory. Some have
affirmed that the Pope ought to be subordinate to a council, not a
council to the Pope. The council will afford no remedy to the
troubles which prevail in Germany, France, Flanders and elsewhere.
The Emperor will not call a council, and the Protestants will not
attend at Trent. The sessions have been on 8th January and 26th
February, and another is fixed for the 14th of May. There are at
present in Trent about 150 bishops under five cardinals president,
legates from the Pope. The Pope has sent the blessed sword to
the Duke of Florence, who is very devoted to the Papal cause.
At the earnest entreaty of his Holiness, the Venetians have sent
two ambassadors to Trent, who, however, will be only spectators."
At the close of the following year there turns up this fragment,
dated December 20, 1563: "This morning there came a gentle
man from the Council of Trent, who brings the conclusions of the
said council, and says certainly that sentence is given against
England as schismatical."
There were two distinguished men taking part in the pro
ceedings at Trent who require, at least for a moment, some
particular notice. Cardinal Morone and Cardinal Pole were
Papal legates on the occasion. They have been noticed, especially

TRENT. 289
the latter, repeatedly in the course of these Italian memories ;
and it is remarkable how both of them ' showed a strong
sympathy with Protestants in reference to justification by faith.
Cardinal Morone, Bishop of Modena, though, like other prelates,
zealous in opposing Lutheranism, and anxious to root out the seeds
of heresy from his diocese, had his eyes open to the corruptions of
Christendom, and confessed, as we have seen, the audacity and
the uncharitableness of the monkish orders ; in addition to all this,
he believed that it is by faith in Christ, and not by works of
righteousness, that sinners are restored to Divine favour. No
speeches of his on the subject, when it came into discussion before
the council, are noticed in the history by Father Paul ; but it is to
be inferred from his known opinions, that Morone concurred with
those who, whilst condemning Lutheranism by name, approached
very near to the Saxon Reformer in that one particular. Cardinal
Pole, who perhaps went still further than Cardinal Morone, was not
present at Trent when justification came under debate. He had
retired from the sittings under the plea of ill health, and on the
draft decree touching the doctrine being sent to him, he expressed
himself with much cautiop. These are his words : " I have re
ceived a copy of the decree concerning justification, on which your
Lordships are pleased to ask my opinion. To speak the truth, I do
not see that I can say anything on the subject. It contains many
things on which I should desire an explanation, which being absent
I cannot have. Besides, I am too much out of order to think, much
less to write on a subject of such importance." At that very time
it would seem he was accused of Lutheranism, and in self-vindication
he asserts that the doctrine he held had been derived not from the
writings of the Reformer, but from the Holy Scriptures. This no
doubt was the case, but his statement was far from a disproval, or
even a denial that he had drawn from Holy Writ a belief which, in
some points at least, resembled the teaching of the famous Saxon
monk. Pole thought that Lutherans so expressed the doctrine of
2 c

5-
2Qo . FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
St. Paul as to make it inconsistent with the doctrine of St. James ;
whereas he himself endeavoured to reconcile the two, and wished
to interpret the former apostle so as to exhibit him in perfect
harmony with the latter.- A Lutheran, in the sense of adopting
Luther's doctrine on his authority, or in consequence of his. argu
ments, Pole was not ; but it would be hard to prove that Pole was
not a Lutheran in the sense of adopting St. Paul's doctrine very
much' in the same way as Luther himself did. "Before the decree
on justification was passed, when he was presiding at the congre
gation accustomed to assemble at, his residence, he ordered the
prelates to read the works of their adversaries, and not to suppose
that by stigmatizing a doctrine as Lutheran, the doctrine must by
that fact be condemned. They might, peradventure, find them-
selves, if they so acted, in the predicament of Pelagius,, and. in,
their answer to Luther become Pelagians." The author, who
states this on the authority of Pallavicini, remarks : " But when the
council dogmatized the Church spoke, and Pole was then silent ;
the Church was wiser than he."1 This is the habit of Roman
Catholic divines, illustrated at Trent, illustrated also at the last
council in Rome. Individual prelates reach their own conclusions,
and then repudiate them when a majority has decided in an opposite
way. Strange that a man's faith in other people's convictions
should be stronger than faith in his own. Nor should it be over
looked that, whilst holding the doctrine of justification in the way
I have described, such men as Pole and Morone, by adopting the
dogmas of Trent with regard to confession, purgatory, and transub-
stantiation, and.by upholding the sacerdotal system of Rome — which
introduces the mediation of man, so as to throw into the back
ground the mediation of Christ — could not but impair the force,
if they did not utterly neutralize the effect, of that evangelical
doctrine which, to a considerable extent, they held in theory.
It is curious and instructive to study the debates and decrees
1 Hook, "Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," 189. New Series, III.

TRENT. 291
of the couricil, the former illustrating the remarks I have already
made as to the theological divergences of the fathers ; and any
one who will read Father Paul's history will find, perhaps, to his
surprise, how many points of doctrine very familiar to modern
disputants came under review. Indeed, not a few of the questions
then earnestly mooted are anything but uninteresting at the
present time. The rule of faith lay at the bottom of the main
dispute, .and one bishop went so far as to affirm, that it was
impious to put tradition on a level with the Scriptures, a remark
which Pallavicini, who wrote in opposition to Father Paul, declares
was received with " surprise and horror." How did sin enter the
world, how is it transmitted, does it come through a material or an
immaterial channel ?t— these were problems knotty and obscure, yet
having a strange fascination for certain metaphysical minds, and
they abundantly exercised the dialectic powers of the assembled
controversialists. The question of future punishment, now a
theme of so much interest, occupied a large share of attention ; and
none of the fathers denied the position of St. Augustine, that
perdition was a necessary consequence of moral evil ; but a
distinction was made between the privation of blessedness, and the
infliction of torments ; and it was thought the former only, as the
result of original sin, had to be endured by little children. Grace
and free will, of course, came under discussion, the Franciscans,
following Duns Scotus, manifesting a Pelagian bias ; the Domini
cans, in the wake of Aquinas, exhibiting strong Augustinian
tendencies, and assigning the first place in personal salvation to
the'grace of God ; indeed, some went so far in that direction as
to maintain what differs little, if at all, from the teaching of
Luther. Here it may be noticed as remarkable, that as to
predestination not the doctrine itself, but the rash confidence of
predestination, was pronounced worthy of censure; while as to
doctrines of justification by faith, a key to the controversy of the
day, opinions, I repeat, were broached like those of the Saxon

292 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
.  —  ,  m  —
Reformer. The Archbishop of Siena ascribed all merit to Christ,
and none to man, and spoke of righteousness as obtained by faith
only. The Bishop of Cava followed on the same, side, contending
that hope and love are the companions of faith, and not the causes
of justification; whilst Catarinus maintained that good works are
not the foundation, but the evidence of righteousness.
The decisions of the council, too numerous to specify, were
intended to reform abuses and settle the faith of the Church ; and
they certainly laid a professedly immutable society open to the
charge of addition and change, for the Trentine decrees, under
pretence of development, advanced on many points beyond the,
conclusions of mediaeval divines. The fathers conceded no
liberty whatever to private judgment, which they deemed the
parent of heresy and schism, yet, as in the Middle Ages, so in
post-Reformation times, active minds within the pale of Romish
Christendom found room for vigorous and even fierce controversy
without breaking bounds. The Trentine decisions, however, took
hold on the- common thought and faith of Roman Catholics
throughout the world, by means of the creed of Pius IV,
which formulated and condensed, the newly edited doctrines
of the council.
The morning after I had revived these recollections of the
council I took another walk through the city, which deepened my
impressions of its magnitude, picturesqueness, and prosperity.
Street after street presents something or other which interests the
tourist ; and in the spring, the sharp crisp air from the neigh
bouring mountains has an invigorating and delightful effect,
most acceptable to those who, on former occasions, may have
experienced lassitude produced by summer heat in the Tyrol. May
is the best month for visiting that beautiful region, and I would
recommend this as a desirable route for those who are returning
*» from Italy at that season. In the course of my morning ramble I
re-entered the cathedral, and found in it a goodly number of people

TRENT.

293

engaged in their devotions ; then proceeding to Santa Maria
Maggi@re, close by, I found priests saying mass at three different
altars, ,and a large number of men and women on their knees.
Returning to the hotel, I passed another church, where a long
procession of boys filed up to the door and disappeared. This
induced me to enter, and there I discovered a large building
completely filled with a juvenile congregation, consisting of many
hundreds, who were singing with well-modulated voices what, as I

BOTZEN.

learned from the books in their hands, was a litany to the Virgin.
On the evening of the same day, having reached Botzen, in the
neighbourhood of the Dolomite Mountains — of which a good view
is obtained both at the railway station and on the old wooden
bridge — I went into the parish church, the bright parti-colbured
roof of which forms a conspicuous figure in the varied and
charming landscape. There I saw another crowded congregation,
including a number of children, who, in a low, murmuring voice,

2 c 2

294 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
were repeating a litany in German, like that at Trent in honour of
the Virgin ; for it was the month of May, and to her that month
is specially consecrated. Therefore the numbers present on this
occasion offered no fair specimen of the numbers attending at
other times. Certainly Roman Catholic worship in that and some
other countries has a hold on rustic, as well as on town popula
tions, to which Protestant worship in England affords no parallel.
The fact should be laid to heart, and the causes of it ought, to be
gravely pondered by English ministers and Churches. We profess
that our faith is purer, more scriptural, more Divine, than that of
our brethren abroad ; should we not then regard it as a solemn
duty to inquire into the question, and to seek to bring evangelical
Protestantism to bear upon the lower classes so as to win their
hearts ? The Church of England and Nonconformist communities
must have been remiss, or the state of the case amongst us would
not be what it is.
The Italian Reformation did not touch the Southern Tyrolese ;
and to the new Trentine code of Roman Catholic doctrine and
law, the bishops, the clergy, and the people of the beautiful
mountains and valleys readily submitted. At the same time, or
soon afterwards, the top stone having been put on the counter-
Reformation by the decrees of the council, the Roman Catholic
Church resumed its undivided and almost undisputed sway over
the cities, towns and villages of the fair Italian peninsula.

CONCLUSION.

BESIDES the cities and otlier places to which I have particularly
called attention, Genoa, Verona, Citadella, Cremona, Parma,
Brescia and Civita di Friuli are mentioned by Dr. M'Crie as having
been to some extent touched by Reformatory influences. A work,
only just published, by Dr. J. B. G. Galiffe, entitled, " Le Refuge
Italien de Geneve," throws new light on some of these spots, by
disclosing the names and circumstances of many persons who
removed from them to the City of Refuge on tlie shores of Lake
Leman, tliat they might escape tlie persecutions to which they
we're exposed at home. It appears tliat from Verona several
refugees were added to tlie expatriated colonists who found a home
at Geneva. The same may be said of Genoa, Parma and Brescia.
The number was increased by outcasts from tlie ducliy of Milan,
from the Valteline, tlie Grisons, and the neighbouring valleys ; from
the Venetian territories, from the duchies on the River Po ; from
the Tuscan States, from tlie Pontifical domains, from the kingdom
of tlie Two Sicilies, and from otlier countries. The north-east of
Italy supplied about 350 out of tlie whole number, the ducliy of
Milan sent more than 120. Lucca, for its size, perhaps made the
largest contribution of any. It was represented by a compact
colony of sixty families. The estates of the Holy See stand low
in the list.
The number of Italian sources which contributed to swell the
streams of emigration flowing towards Geneva is truly wonderful ;
and they indicate at how many points tlie principles which mainly
occasioned the emigration must have come in contact with Italian

296 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
society. And ¦ one remarkable peculiarity, amongst others, is
pointed out by Dr. Galiffe, namely, the high position of the
Genevese Italian refugees. They included members of aristocratic
houses, such as the Blandrate, de Thienes, Martinengo, Pepoli,
and the Caraccioli, who furnished Doges to Venice and Genoa.
They were mostly fathers and mothers of families ; and the
inferior classes of the Italian community in Geneva were chiefly
composed of domestic servants — men and women— who had
faithfully followed their superiors into exile.
Wide, then, especially in the higher circles of society, must the
influence of the Reformation have spread in Italy ; yet no doubt
many important places remained unaffected by the great movement.
I do not remember having noticed Loretto, Ravenna, Piacenza,
Pistoja, Pavia or Monza,1 amongst cities mentioned as having
contributed victims to the Inquisition, or refugees to Geneva ;
they may have escaped my attention, but if unknown at present
to have been tinctured with Protestantism, future researches may
discover that they were not totally unaffected by the wide
spread excitement.
But, however extensive might be the range of the Italian
Reformation, its failure, at least for a season, was most lamentable.
That failure may, to a considerable extent, be explained.
The political condition of the country, broken up as it was, into
a number of more or less independent states, might at first be
supposed favourable to the progress of free religious thought and
action. But a closer examination of the fact alters its primary
impression. The kingdom of Naples, the duchies of Florence
and Milan, the republic of Venice and certain minor powers were
at liberty, politically speaking, to pursue their own course in
ecclesiastical affairs, uncontrolled by imperial or other influence ;
for by that time the idea of Ghibelline supremacy had nearly faded
1 Since writing the above I find Dr. Galiffe says that the cities of Pisa, Pistoja,
Arezzo, Certona, and Volterra contributed no refugees to the city of Geneva.

CONCLUSION. .297

away. So far the Italian dominions might seem, to be more
favourably circumstanced in reference to internal reforms than even
. those of Germany. But, if there was no Emperor to coerce, or, by
persuasion to sway their destinies, there was another authority of
still higher pretensions which, without adequate check from any
other source, lorded it over their consciences in a manner most
"despotic. If another government had existed in Italy, capable of
checking the policy of Rome, and that government had enlisted
itself on the side of ecclesiastical reform, the issue might, and
probably would, have been very different. The republic of Venice
alone had sufficient courage to resist, with anything like decision
and effect, the imperious interference of the Papacy in internal
affairs, religious or civil; but that proud mistress of the Adriatic soon
succumbed before the dreaded threats of the Papal court, backed
by the terrors of the Inquisitionary tribunal. The Papacy had its
own way from the River Po to the . Sicilian Isle, and carried all
before it. The Holy Office, equipped with extraordinary powers by
successive popes, proved a tremendous engine of persecution, and
before it one individual after another quailed. Some, indeed, as
we have seen, bravely stood the fire ; but large numbers recanted,
and others, warned or discouraged by their example, feared to
enlist , in the ranks of confessorship. Persecution in Italy, as
in Spain, carried out with relentless fury, did its work with
frightful success. Nowhere, as in the two peninsulas,, was there
such a system of comprehensive and compact coercion — compre
hensive, for it covered the whole country from shore to shore,
compact, because its operations were inspired by the Romish
priesthood, drilled into a state of unparalleled obedience, and
moving, with the. utmost precision, according to mandates issued
from head-quarters. The unity of purpose and effort in the
proceedings of the Holy Inquisition throughout Italy was a chief
factor in the repression of Italian Reform.
Further, peculiarities of character must be taken into account

298 FOOTPRINTS OF. ITALIAN REFORMERS.
if we would properly inquire into the causes which checked the-
ecclesiastical reform of Italy. Aonio Paleario, Bernardino Ochino,
Peter Martyr, and Juan de Valdes, seem all to have possessed,
in different degrees, the gift of eloquence. Three of them were
pulpit orators, and could sway congregations by their felicitous
diction and the musical tones of their mother tongue ; the fourth,
by birth a Spaniard, through familiarity with the language of his
adopted country, could also charm a select number of hearers by
the sweetness of his conversational expositions and appeals. All
these could write as well as speak, and produce works which were
widely circulated ; but it would seem that in both respects they
touched only the upper classes of society, they chiefly interested
the learned and intellectual, and had not, like Luther, Latimer,
and Knox, the power of influencing the uncultured multitude, the '
masses of the people. Paleario and Ochino were marked by
defects already pointed out — the one impulsive, irritable, and
vain, the other, for awhile at least, given to the concealment of
his theological convictions, and often uttering little more than
half what he believed. Neither of them were born to be leaders
of men. They had not the attributes which secure intellectual
and moral kingship. Peter Martyr, too, though his work at
Lucca is a pleasant episode, had manifest infirmities, and was
lacking in constancy to his proper life-work, the reformation of
his own native land. And though Paleario was constant unto
death and Carnesecchi sealed his faith by a sacrifice of life, though
both were men in good position, enriched with wisdom and
learning, and therefore, by their martyrdom, bore a testimony
which powerfully told on those who so far resembled themselves, —
the decided majority of Italian confessors were of a humble class,
whose example obtained any influence which it might possess
entirely through the sincerity of their profession. Moreover, as
we have had to notice, there were not a few who failed in the
terrible night hour of fiery trial.

CONCLUSION. 299

As to the courage of leading Italian Reformers in general, we
can have no reasonable doubt. They were children of a noble
country, from ancient times famous for bravery and endurance ;
they had a soil where heroism grew, fruitful as their own green
vineyards, and on their natural temperament was engrafted many
a grace derived from the Gospel they received into their hearts ;
but their virtues derived little support from union of effort, from
concert of plans, and from combination of forces, upon which, in
every cause, and in every enterprise, so much depends. Courage
is not the only thing essential either to victory in the field or to
reform in the Church. There must be system, cohesion, and
some sort of organic arrangement. Religious reform, to be
thorough and permanent, must include ecclesiastical reform.
Government and discipline after some definite type is necessary.
But this idea does not seem to have been reached by the Italian
Reformers ; and valid excuses may be made for them, inasmuch
as circumstances rendered a practical attempt in this direction
extremely difficult. Individualism in excess appears throughout
our historical notices, and whether it arose from choice, or from
the position in which the men found themselves placed, that makes
no difference as to the actual result. There was from beginning
to end an obvious want of mutual understanding and social
consolidation. Each soul " was like a star, and dwelt apart " ;
-they did not form one united constellation. Had there been full
sympathy and wise correspondence with the Waldensian Church,
and also progress along its lines of government and discipline,
the consequences might have been most beneficial.
There were causes at work amongst the Reformers themselves
which contributed to their failure. The disunion which existed, the
controversies which arose, the disputes between Lutherans . and
Zwinglians which penetrated into Lombardy, and, worse still, the
anti- evangelical speculations which became rife in some divisions of
the Protestant camp ; these produced disastrous effects — impairing

300 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
Protestant strength, and giving occasion for Roman Catholic
reproaches. Morever, the flight of certain standard-bearers is to
be added to the causes of defeat. The abandonment of Italy by
the two native Protestants, Ochino and Peter Martyr, has been often
deplored. "If Ochino's departure," remarks Benrath, "was for him
the only means of attaining inner peace and calmness of soul, it
was an irreparable loss for the evangelical movement in Italy.
Only a short time before a cardinal had said at Rome, 'Lutheranism
would be at an end in Italy, if Ochino would declare against it,
but he will not ; ' so great was his reputation in the circles
pervaded by Reformatory ideas." No doubt, in the existing state
of Italian opinion, opposition to reform would have' been more
effective on one side, than- any measure of support, however able
and zealous, on the other ; still, had Ochino remained in his own
country, he might have done immense good to a cause that had to
struggle with enormous difficulties ; and the moral effect of such
a man's heroism might have told more than that of less illustrious
confessors. Peter Martyr's flight was in some respects more lament
able. His Church had been held up as a model of constancy :
for him to desert it was a fatal blow. He weighed the advantages
and disadvantages of opposite courses in the scales of prudence,
and though his hopes of usefulness elsewhere might be plausible,
it was impossible to prevent his conduct from being ascribed to
fear ; and that was most discouraging to his Italian brethren.
The Evangelical Reformation of the sixteenth century nearly
died out in Italy within the next hundred years ; but a revival has
occurred in our own time. Italy now is different from Italy
twenty-five years ago. Many towns and cities remain much as
they were ; mediaeval piazzas, palaces, and fountains look as they
did when proud, wilful, warlike republics and duchies quarrelled
with one another. But Venice and Milan, Florence and Rome
show symptoms of material change, and picturesque streets are
giving place to modern architecture. The Via National e, in " the

CONCLUSION. 3° i

Eternal City," is typical of revolution elsewhere, and of another kind.
The political events of the last few years are marvellous. Italy
now enjoys political freedom! It has a constitutional sovereign,
and a popularly elected parliament. There is a free press, and it
teems with expressions of sentiments in the utmost variety. Edu
cation, once in the hands of priests, is now widely extended, and
largely based on lay principles. The object is to keep the training
of youthful minds as much as possible free from sacerdotal
despotism, no doubt an effect of the maxim that " a burnt child
dreads the fire." Not that Catholicism, though repressed, is crushed
by the energies of the secular powers. Where scepticism does not
prevail, the people are intensely attached to the faith of their
fathers. They still regard with deep reverence their old ritual, with
its prominent worship of " the Holy Virgin." Of this circumstance,
as might be expected, advantage is taken by the Papal party, and
everything practicable is done by priests, in opposition to the efforts
of Protestant propagandism. Even the present Pope, in a letter
to the Cardinal-Vicar, under date March 25, 1879, asserts in effect,
" that he understands the liberty and dignity of the Roman
Pontiff, to signify removing from Rome the means of practising
and propagating whatever, in the opinion of the Roman Church,
is heretical ; that, if he possessed the liberty he claims, he would
employ it to close all Protestant schools and places of worship in
Rome ; and that his gradually increasing insistance on the restora
tion of the temporal power, is prompted by the equally increasing
conviction, that until the Roman Pontiff regains earthly sway in the
city it will be impossible for him to prohibit liberty of worship
and instruction." The antagonism of Church and State in Italy
is unmistakable, but, as to the legal existence of religious liberty,
the latter is in the ascendant ; and in this respect the contrast
between the nineteenth and the sixteenth centuries is complete
and perfect.
Protestants avail themselves of the liberty afforded.' The
2 D

302 FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.

ancient Church of the Vaudois, animated by their cherished
traditions, has regarded itself as the vanguard of the evangelical
army. The head-quarters of a peaceful crusade is established at
Florence, where -young men are educated for the Christian ministry,
under the superintendence of Professor Comba. In 1880,
Waldensian Missionary Reports record about forty constituted
Churches, thirty-two stations, and about eighty localities visited for
evangelistic efforts. One hundred and eight pastors, evangelists,
and other agents, are employed in instructing above 20,000 people,
regular and occasional attendants ; communicants being reckoned
in 1879 as 2,813. In tne month of April this year, 1881, the
Roman Catholic church of San Giovanni in Conca, in Milan, was
reopened after being adapted for Divine worship, conducted by the
Waldensian community ; and Signor Turino reports : " If we are
meeting with opposition from the priests and infidels, we are
happy to tell our friends that everywhere we are finding some
souls who listen eagerly to the Gospel." The Chiesa Libera, or
Free Italian Church, combines a number of congregations, acting
upon Independent principles, whilst something of a Presbyterian
element constitutes them one comprehensive organization. This
body, which is of recent origin, has eighteen hundred communicants,
and above two thousand pupils in day and Sunday schools. On
the heights of Albano, and in the streets of Brescia and Milan,
Genoa and Venice, it is spreading the simple gospel of Jesus Christ,
with small means and amidst great difficulties. They have a
college in Rome at the foot of the bridge of S. Angelo, where I
met with fifteen students under the care of the Rev. Mr. Henderson,
a clergyman of the Scotch Church. At Florence, the Chiesa Libera
is very active, aided by the influence of the Rev. John McDougal,
who has for so many years laboured in that city as pastor of
the Scotch Church with honqur and success ; during my visit there
last year, I was present when the agents brought in encouraging
reports of their mission work. Another band of labourers, called

CONCLUSION. ¦ ' 3°3

the Chiesa dei Fratelli, or the Free "Church of the Brethren,
commenced operations in 1848, under the auspices of Count
Guicciardini, and this community has small congregations in
several Italian cities. The Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, under
the superintendence of an eloquent preacher, the Rev. Mr- Pigott,
has fourteen ordained ministers in Italy, besides other agents, and
their church in Rome is a very handsome edifice. The Chiesa
Battista, in communion with the American Baptists, under - the
Rev. Dr. Taylor ; and the Chiesa Cristina Apostolica, an open
communion Baptist Church, with the Rev. James Wall for pastor,
are both at work in Rome, the latter having sister communities in
Turin, Leghorn, and Naples ; ' and to the labours of the minister
must be added those of Mrs. Wall, who is; actively employed in
holding meetings of the Roman poor, and supporting a small
Protestant hospital. There are others engaged in Italian evan
gelical efforts ; and during the spring of 1880, the Rev. Dr.
Somerville, a Scotch clergyman, visited Florence, Rome, and
Naples, gathering together very large congregations, to hear
English addresses, which were translated sentence by sentence.
I attended on more than one occasion, when I was surprised as
well as interested, to hear Italian hymns sung to Sankey's tunes,
reminding one strongly of the movement in' England a few years
ago, conducted by the American revivalists. When I was visiting
Rome last year, a congregation of between two and three hundred
Protestant citizens attended a meeting of different denominations,
held in the Waldensian church, where I had the privilege of
addressing them through the medium of Mr. Pigott, who acted
as interpreter. During the same visit I met at my friend's house
a number of ministers engaged in the city and neighbourhood,,
all of whom appeared to be in sympathy with the spirit and.
purpose of the Evangelical Alliance.
1 Most of this account is taken from Annuario Evangelico anno 2° di pubblicazione.
Anno 1880.

394 ¦ FOOTPRINTS OF ITALIAN REFORMERS.
In some respects, work, of this kind now going on in Italy
resembles Reformatory efforts of the sixteenth century. A strong
foreign element is infused into home operations. As then, so at
present, a few native-Italians appear prominently as leaders of their
brethren. Peter Martyr Vermiglio and Bernardino Ochino may
be said to have successors, to some extent, in Signor Prochet, the
president of the Waldensian missions, and Signor Gavazzi, who has
identified himself with thejChiesa Libera. Both of them being men
of eloquence, can command, the attention of their fellow-country
men ; and if the latter Reformer, whose name is so well known
throughout Europe, has played a conspicuous part in Italian
politics, he has also the reputation of being an effective preacher of
the gospel. The cause of civil liberty in Lucca of old, as we have
seen, became connected with spiritual Protestantism ; and most
likely modern Italian Protestants hold what are called liberal
opinions as to civil affairs ; but politics are not predominant
factors" in the interests of their cause, any more than they were
in the case of their predecessors three hundred years ago.
Another point of resemblance between past and present occurs,
when we turn to the operations of the British and Foreign Bible
Society. What was being done amidst extreme difficulties by
Brucioli and others is now more advantageously accomplished
through the agency of that noble Institution. The circulation of
the Scriptures promoted the Italian Reformation I have described ;
and the same method of usefulness is a mainstay and a chief
motive power in the instrumentalities which have revived the
evangelical excitement of earlier days. Some who still adhere
to the Romish Church secretly and quietly read the vernacular
Scriptures. This is the case even in Rome ; it is so also in
certain small towns and remote villages, as appears from reports
of the Bible Society. But the foreign element now differs in its
influence from that which existed at the former period. Move
ments are largely controlled and money is largely contributed

CONCLUSION. ,, ¦ '305
 :  : — —  -=— ¦  '  Nf — f1—  :  : 
by English and American Societies, whereas the impulses from
without at the era of the Reformation were chiefly derived
~ from the writings of Luther and Melanchthon. It' is moreover.,
to be observed, that . thpugh indeed Valdes was n$t an Italian,
but a Spaniard, yet most persons engaged in spreading Protestant
opinions were natives of the country ; on the other hand, some
leading evangelists of Italy now are Anglo-Saxon missionaries,
and the native Churches are largely supported by friends in
Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Further, it
is to be remembered that these agents belong to distinct
denominations, and adopt distinct modes of action, the nature
of which is not obvious to persons connected with the Roman
Catholic Church. I have heard that when a Protestant deputation
was presented some time ago to the King of Italy, he told
them each party would be at liberty to work in its own way,
but he did not clearly understand the difference between the
colours they carried. To many who take a deep inteuest in
Italian missions, the extreme division of labour is matter for regret
on several grounds, especially this, that it presents a broken
surface to the eyes of Italians, a fact which they urge to the
disadvantage of Protestantism. It encourages them to employ
arguments against the cause akin to those plied long ago by the
rhetorical Bossuet.

Jndex.

Alujgenses, 14, 54
Algieri, Pomponio, 148, 240
Altieri, Baldassare, 239
Angelo, Michel, 101
Angrogna, Valley of, 22
Antony, St. of Padua, 250
Aosta, 27
Ariosto, his home at Ferrara, 196
Arqua, 252
Artesius, Jerome, of Perugia, 166
Bale, Council of, 36
Bartoccio, Bartolomeo, 149
Beccaria, Giovanni, 268
Bembo, Cardinal, 255
Berni, author of " Orlando Innamorato," 68
Bergamo, Bishop of, charged with heresy,
265
Bergamo, Reformation in, 265
Bobbio, 18
Bologna, Public buildings and works o'
art, 174; Coronation of Charles ¦ v. in
San Petronio, 175 ; University, 177 ;
spread of the Reformation, 178 ; meet
ing of Cardinals to correct abuses, 180 ;
resemblance between the Reformation
in Bologna and the Reformation in
Modena, 185-190
Boniface IX., 138
.Borromeo, Cardinal, 264
Botzen, 293
lirescia, 295
Bruno, Giordano, of Nola, 247

Brucioli, Antonio, 7r
Bucer, Martin, his congratulations of
Italian Reformers, 179
Calabrian Waldenses, 122, 126 *
Calvin at Aosta, 29 ; at Ferrara, 203
Capo d'Istria, proceedings there, 255
Carnesecchi, Pietro, in favour with
Clement VII.; , 73 ; apprehended in
Florence, 74 ; imprisonrnent and exe
cution, 75
Castelvetro, Ludovico, of Modena, 189,
272 ••£ 1.
Catherine, Sta., of Siena, 81
Cellario, Francesco, 149
Charles v., at Lucca, 40; at Bologna,
1 75
Chiavenna, Reformed Church, 271, 272 i
Claude of Turin, 4 ; his opinions, 5, 6
Clement -VII., 255
Colle, near Siena, 88
Colonna, Vittoria, 98
Constance, Council of, 35
Contarini, Carlo, 223
Contarini, Francis, 223
Contarini, Gaspar, favoured doctrine of
justification by faith, 97 ; made* a
cardinal, 228
Cremona, 295 , ,
Curione, Celio Secundo, 7, 263
Dante, birthplace in Florence, 58 ; . his
Commedia, 55
De Dominis, Archbishop of Spolato, 140

INDEX.

3°7

LVEste, Ippolito, Cardinal of Ferrara, 211
Faenza, 191 .
Fabiano, Tomaso, Minorite friat, 147 .
Fannio, Faventino, imprisoned and exe
cuted at Ferrara, 206-209
Ferrara, the city, 195 ; Duke Hercules,
197; castle, 199, ,209; altar at which
Calvin celebrated Lord's Supper, '203 ;
persecutions in Ferrara, 205
Fiesole, Augustinian convent at, 70 ;
Lorenzo de Medici's Villa, 70
Fontana, Baltasare, a Carmelite monk,
his letter to the Swiss Churchy, 268
Florence, 51;' in the Middle Ages, 52 ;
Church of S. Martino, 59 ; Duomo,
61 ; S. Marco, 61 ; Palazzo Vecchio, 65 ;
Maria Novella, 75 ; Santa Croce, 76
^ulgentio, Fra, 151
Galateo, Giralamo, 230
Gamba, Francesco, of Como, 266
Geneva, Italian refugees at, 295
Genoa, 295
Gonzaga, Colonna, Duchess of Trajetto
and Countess of Fondi, 119
Grisone, Annibale, 256
Guirlauda, „ Julio, Venetian martyr, 244
Imofa, incident in the cathedral, rgi
Ischia, Island of, 118
Julius II., 130
Leo X., 130
Locarno, Reformation at, 267-271.
Lucca, cathedral of, 38 ; Church of S. Fri
diano, 38 ; Imperial and Pontifical visit,
40; Church founded by Peter Martyr
Vermiglio, 40; orders for suppressing
the. conventicle, 44
Luther, Martin, at Rome, 129
Lupetinus, Baldo, Venetian martyr, 246
Mar6t, Clement, at Ferrara, 203
Margilio of Padua, author of " Defensor
Pads," 251
Milan, Augustine's conversion, 262 ; the
Duomo, 262 ; the Ambrosian rite, 262 ;
Inquisition, 263
Modena, 181'; its illustrious authors, 182;
resemblance* between the history of
the Reformation in Modena and its
history in Bologna, 185-190

Montilcinus (sometimes caljed , ilollio),
profesSor at Bologna-, 177
Morata, Fulvis Perigrino,t at Ferrara, 200
Morata, Olympia, 201
Morone, Bishop of. Modena, 289
Naples, 105 ; meetings held there by J.
Valdes, 109 ; spread of the Reformation
and persecution of Reformers, 121
Ochino, Benardino, " native of Siena, 80 ;
at Naples with J. Valdes, 116; at
Venice, 235 ; obtained the good, opinion
¦of. Queen Elizabeth, 274 ; opinions,
275; influence oj his flight, 300
Orvieto, Cathedral, 91 ; papal palace, .91 ;
visit of Stephen Gardiner, 93 ; Edward
Fox, 93
Padua, significancy of Giotto's frescoes
at, 252
Paleario, Aonio, professor at Lucca, 47 ;
residence at Siena, 84; speech in the
Sala del gran Consiglio, 85 ; residence
at Colle, 88 ; connection with the
" II Beneficio," 88 ; prisoner and martyr
at Rome, 150, 151 1
Parma, 295
Paul m., 138, 139, 141, 280
Paul IV., 142
Perugia, Footprints of Reformers at,
165-170
Petrarch at Arqua, 252
Pisa, 'renowned edifices, 33-37 ; Council,
35
Pole, Cardinal, 94, 288
Pontresina, incident there, 276
Pra del Tor and its association's, 20
Ren^e, Duchess of Ferrara, 197-203
Ricetto, Antonio, of Vicenza, a martyr at
Venice, 244
Rora in the Waldensian Valleys, 24
Rosselli, Lucio Paolo, a Venetian, his
i letter to Melanchthon, 231
1 Rome, Luther's visit, 129 ; Basilica of
S. Peter, 131 ; conviction of the need
of reform, and Oratory of Divine love
132 ; Castle of S. Angelo, 133 ; siege
of Rome, 134 ; church and convent
of Sopra Minerva, 139; scene there,
140 ; tribunal of the Holy Office, 141 :

INDEX.-

letters from Rome sent" to England,
. I42 ; Jnquisitionary Recorcjs, 140*145 ;
mattyrs in Rome/ .147;
Rovere, , Lavinia, 202^208, 211
PRovigOi 'heretics at, 258 »
Salice, Hercules de, 272
Sartoire, Nicholas, 28
Savonarola, Jerome, his birthplace and
early days, 196 * at Florence, 60 ; his
preaching, -6 1 ; interview with Lorenzo
dcMedici, 62 ;' trial and execution, 63^66
Siena, 79 ; ' native place of Bernardino
Ochino, 80 ; fountain of Fontebranda,
80 ; Sta. Catherine's house, 81 ; Palazzo
Pubblico, 85 ".-. ¦'.
Sixtus v., 138- V. . .
Socinus, Lselius, 254 * .
.Soranzo, Vittorio, 265
Soubise, Madame de, at Ferrara, 200
Spinola, Cardinal, Bishop of Lucca, 46
Tasso relics in the , library of Ferrara,
196
Trent, city, 280;' cathedral, 282; church
of S. > Maria, Maggiore,' 285;' 'Council,
286 ; notices of it in, contemporary
correspondence, 287 ; debates, 290
Turin, approaches to it, and. its appear
ance, 4 ; castle,, 10 "
Valdes, Alfonso, 107
Valdes, Juan, 107;; his -meetings held in
. Naples, 109 ; his " Hundred and Ten

10 ; appreciated .jjjby
" ¦ his shajft-Jin ;
his friends^ .'

Considerations,'
George Herbert^ 112;
the " II Ben«fico," 1 14 ;
116
Varaille, Geoffrey, 8 •",
Venice, 215; connection , with' the history
of the Reformation, and letters respect
ing it, ''216;' policy with, regard to"
the-. .Pr;0testant powers, 2*17 ; a'iiid the'
.¦ Holy; j,. See, 220 ¦;; Protestant ,. worjcs
printecf * at Venice, 224 ; Ochino's
preaching in Venice, 235 ; phaj^cter of
Venjee by Sir John Cheke, 236 ; per-,4
secution, 239 .; martyrs, 240-248
Vergerio, Bishop of Capo d'Istria, 255 ;
his eulogy on the "II Beneficio,",exr ,
pressed in a letter respecting Cardinal
Pole, 87, 93, ,2,5,5
Veroli, birthplace of Paleario, 159
Verona, ,Era Pietro of (Peter Martyr the
Dominican), 55 J* y
Vermiglio i(Petef Martyr the Protestant),
38 ; 'birthplace;, 69 ; early history, 7/0 ;
history in connection with 'Lucca, 40
Vicenza, Lutherans at, 253 ; Academy,
254
Villar, visit to, 17.,
Viterbo, Polefe ' jii^gdence .atf~ 94^. his
friends at that time, 96 *
. Zanchi, J Jef orrie, 272
Zurich, refugees in, 2.7

). AND W. RIDER, PRINTERS, LONDON.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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