Nicolo 'Rusca
Nicolò Rusca “Hate the error, but love those who err” Introduction by Pier Carlo della Ferrera and Essays by Alessandro Botta, Claudia di Filippo Bareggi, and Paolo Tognina “Hate the error, but love those who err” Nicolò Rusca was born in Bedano, a small vil- papal regulations of those days. lage on the outskirts of Lugano, in April Fr Rusca's first years in Sondrio were marked 1563. His father, Giovanni Antonio, and his by his zeal as a priest who was determined to mother, Daria Quadrio, both of whom came improve the spiritual and material standards from distinguished families residing in the of the parish of Saints Gervasio and Protasio, area of Lake Como and the Ticino, sent their where conditions were still fraught with diffi- son for his first schooling to Domenico culty, both because of the rather singular Tarilli, the parish priest of Comano. After political climate of those days, and because of learning the basics of grammar and rhetoric, the behaviour of his predecessor, Francesco combined with an education that was strong- Cattaneo, which had been open to criticism. ly imbued with traditional Catholic princi- ples, Nicolò continued his studies, first at The Archpriest of Sondrio's work in defence Pavia, and then at the Jesuit College in Rome. of Catholicism against the spread of what in those days was called Protestant heresy took the form of energetic steps to restore regular observance of the sacraments (above all con- fession) and the incisive preaching with which he upheld the principles of Catholi- cism inherent in the mediation of Christ and the value of the mass in the public disputa- tions with the followers of the reformed church that took place at Tirano and Piuro between 1595 and 1597.
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