DOI article:
Krasny, Piotr: Exempla viva: the prelates of the Roman Catholic Church as inspirers of Charles Borromeo’s instructions on shaping sacred srt
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38234#0042
41
Still more limited were the abilities of Daniele Barbaro
(1514-1579, Fig. 6) to engage in similar reforms. This ver-
satile scholar, famous mainly for his pioneering research
in the domain of optics and a superb Italian edition of
Vitruvius, devoted also much of his attention to the prob-
lem of educating future priests. He stated that they were
poorly prepared for their pastoral duties as theology was
taught to them neither clearly, nor rationally, nor was it
organised enough.38 Yet, he was able to do little to change
this, because he never reached church offices that were
high enough and with which real power was associated.
Although in 1550 Barbaro was appointed coadjutor bish-
op to his uncle, Giovanni Grimani (1506-1593), the Pa-
triarch of Aquileia, it was only a purely titular position
at that time, and Barbaro, having predeceased Grimani,
had remained ‘patriarca eletto’ until the end of his life.39
Therefore, this editor of Vitruvius restricted his activities
to conducting discussions of the Church reforms in the
Franciscan friary of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice40
and taking active part in a few sessions of the Council of
Trent. Yet, his purely theoretical involvement significant-
ly influenced the formulation of a number of important
creeds of the Tridentine reform (e.g. the bishops’ obliga-
tion to reside in their own sees and promotion of the cult
of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist), and Barbaro
recognised by Pope Pius IV (Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici,
1499-1565) who appointed him cardinal in pectore in 1561.
Also Borromeo, with whom Barbaro intensely collaborat-
ed on editing the final documents of the council, appreci-
ated the reformist zeal of the coadjutor bishop to the Pa-
triarch of Aquileia.41
However, it was the pioneering reformist attempts of
Giberti and Gonzaga, aimed at healing the religious life
in their dioceses, as well as the comprehensive ‘reformatio
Angliae’, undertaken by Pole, that the Archbishop of Mi-
lan admired most of all. He considered his own reforms
in Milan as a creative continuation of the achievement of
the three aforementioned prelates, since he assigned the
position of his vicar general to the pupil of Giberti, Nic-
colo Ormaneto (1515-1577), hoping that he would trans-
plant from Verona the administrative dexterity in the
Bibliography, 26,1973, pp. 232-234; T.F. Mayer, A Reluctant Au-
thor. Cardinal Pole and His Manuscripts, Philadelphia, 1999, p. 27.
38 P. Paschini, ‘Gli scritti religiosi di Daniele Barbaro’, Rivista di Sto-
ria della Chiesa in Italia, 5,1951, pp. 340-349; B. Mitrovic, ‘Pad-
uan Aristotelianism and Daniele Barbaros Commentary on Vit-
ruvius De Architectura’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 29,1998, no. 3,
pp. 686-687.
39 P. Paschini, ‘La nomina del patriarca di Aquileia e la Repubblica
di Venezia nel sec. XVI’, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 2,
1948, pp. 63-68.
40 F. BiFERALi, Paolo Veronese tra Riforma e Controriforma, Rome,
2013, pp. 51-57.
41 P. Paschini, ‘Daniele Barbaro letterato e prelato veneziano nel
Cinquecento’, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 16,1962, no. 2,
pp. 91-93; F. BiFERALi, Paolo Veronese, p. 84 (as in note 40).
Ritratto de danìf.l barbaro homo conspìcvo,
lilunn* fUVill # tl/i* 4 reyo n Uwa> łbtf Г .il Лш вmfmlt
6. Daniele Barbaro, copper engraving by Wenzel Hollar, after Titian,
1650
organisation of ecclesiastical structures and enormous
fervour for making canonical visitations, so character-
istic of his master.42 And, full of admiration for the cur-
riculum of the priestly instruction introduced in Mantua
by Gonzaga, he charged Settimio Borsari (d. 1594), a bril-
liant graduate of the cathedral school in Mantua, with the
organisation of education for seminarists in his diocese.43
Among Borromeo’s closest collaborators was also the one-
time Pole’s chaplain, Thomas Goldwell (1501-1585), who
had accompanied the cardinal in his mission to England,
during which he was appointed bishop of St Asaph. In
1563-1565 Goldwell played a significant role in prepara-
tions for the first metropolitan synod in Milan, serving
as Borromeo’s suffragan bishop and vicar general.44 Also
Ormaneto, whom Pole had taken with him to England as
42 E. Cattaneo, ‘Influenze veronesi nella legislazione di San Carlo
Borromeo’, in Problemi della vita regiosa in Italia nel Cinquecento,
Padua, i960, pp. 123-166; D. Zardin, ‘Tra continuità delle strut-
ture e nuovi ideali di “riforma”. La riorganizzazione borromaica
della curia arcivescile’, in Carlo Borromeo. Cultura, sanità, gover-
no, Milan, 2010, pp. 237-238, 288; A. Filipazzi, ‘L’influsso di Gian
Matteo Giberti attraverso l’azione di Nicolò Ormaneto’, in Gian
Matteo Giberti, pp. 80-83 (as in note 25).
43 P.V. Murphy, Ruling Peacefully, p. 82 (as in note 26).
44 К. Carleton, Bishops and Reform in the English Church 1520-
1559, Woodbridge, 2001, pp. 59,184.
Still more limited were the abilities of Daniele Barbaro
(1514-1579, Fig. 6) to engage in similar reforms. This ver-
satile scholar, famous mainly for his pioneering research
in the domain of optics and a superb Italian edition of
Vitruvius, devoted also much of his attention to the prob-
lem of educating future priests. He stated that they were
poorly prepared for their pastoral duties as theology was
taught to them neither clearly, nor rationally, nor was it
organised enough.38 Yet, he was able to do little to change
this, because he never reached church offices that were
high enough and with which real power was associated.
Although in 1550 Barbaro was appointed coadjutor bish-
op to his uncle, Giovanni Grimani (1506-1593), the Pa-
triarch of Aquileia, it was only a purely titular position
at that time, and Barbaro, having predeceased Grimani,
had remained ‘patriarca eletto’ until the end of his life.39
Therefore, this editor of Vitruvius restricted his activities
to conducting discussions of the Church reforms in the
Franciscan friary of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice40
and taking active part in a few sessions of the Council of
Trent. Yet, his purely theoretical involvement significant-
ly influenced the formulation of a number of important
creeds of the Tridentine reform (e.g. the bishops’ obliga-
tion to reside in their own sees and promotion of the cult
of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist), and Barbaro
recognised by Pope Pius IV (Giovanni Angelo de’ Medici,
1499-1565) who appointed him cardinal in pectore in 1561.
Also Borromeo, with whom Barbaro intensely collaborat-
ed on editing the final documents of the council, appreci-
ated the reformist zeal of the coadjutor bishop to the Pa-
triarch of Aquileia.41
However, it was the pioneering reformist attempts of
Giberti and Gonzaga, aimed at healing the religious life
in their dioceses, as well as the comprehensive ‘reformatio
Angliae’, undertaken by Pole, that the Archbishop of Mi-
lan admired most of all. He considered his own reforms
in Milan as a creative continuation of the achievement of
the three aforementioned prelates, since he assigned the
position of his vicar general to the pupil of Giberti, Nic-
colo Ormaneto (1515-1577), hoping that he would trans-
plant from Verona the administrative dexterity in the
Bibliography, 26,1973, pp. 232-234; T.F. Mayer, A Reluctant Au-
thor. Cardinal Pole and His Manuscripts, Philadelphia, 1999, p. 27.
38 P. Paschini, ‘Gli scritti religiosi di Daniele Barbaro’, Rivista di Sto-
ria della Chiesa in Italia, 5,1951, pp. 340-349; B. Mitrovic, ‘Pad-
uan Aristotelianism and Daniele Barbaros Commentary on Vit-
ruvius De Architectura’, Sixteenth Century Journal, 29,1998, no. 3,
pp. 686-687.
39 P. Paschini, ‘La nomina del patriarca di Aquileia e la Repubblica
di Venezia nel sec. XVI’, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 2,
1948, pp. 63-68.
40 F. BiFERALi, Paolo Veronese tra Riforma e Controriforma, Rome,
2013, pp. 51-57.
41 P. Paschini, ‘Daniele Barbaro letterato e prelato veneziano nel
Cinquecento’, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 16,1962, no. 2,
pp. 91-93; F. BiFERALi, Paolo Veronese, p. 84 (as in note 40).
Ritratto de danìf.l barbaro homo conspìcvo,
lilunn* fUVill # tl/i* 4 reyo n Uwa> łbtf Г .il Лш вmfmlt
6. Daniele Barbaro, copper engraving by Wenzel Hollar, after Titian,
1650
organisation of ecclesiastical structures and enormous
fervour for making canonical visitations, so character-
istic of his master.42 And, full of admiration for the cur-
riculum of the priestly instruction introduced in Mantua
by Gonzaga, he charged Settimio Borsari (d. 1594), a bril-
liant graduate of the cathedral school in Mantua, with the
organisation of education for seminarists in his diocese.43
Among Borromeo’s closest collaborators was also the one-
time Pole’s chaplain, Thomas Goldwell (1501-1585), who
had accompanied the cardinal in his mission to England,
during which he was appointed bishop of St Asaph. In
1563-1565 Goldwell played a significant role in prepara-
tions for the first metropolitan synod in Milan, serving
as Borromeo’s suffragan bishop and vicar general.44 Also
Ormaneto, whom Pole had taken with him to England as
42 E. Cattaneo, ‘Influenze veronesi nella legislazione di San Carlo
Borromeo’, in Problemi della vita regiosa in Italia nel Cinquecento,
Padua, i960, pp. 123-166; D. Zardin, ‘Tra continuità delle strut-
ture e nuovi ideali di “riforma”. La riorganizzazione borromaica
della curia arcivescile’, in Carlo Borromeo. Cultura, sanità, gover-
no, Milan, 2010, pp. 237-238, 288; A. Filipazzi, ‘L’influsso di Gian
Matteo Giberti attraverso l’azione di Nicolò Ormaneto’, in Gian
Matteo Giberti, pp. 80-83 (as in note 25).
43 P.V. Murphy, Ruling Peacefully, p. 82 (as in note 26).
44 К. Carleton, Bishops and Reform in the English Church 1520-
1559, Woodbridge, 2001, pp. 59,184.