Gian Matteo Giberti>
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1908 489 Gian Matteo Giberti> Papal Politician and Catholic Reformer. PABX HE. f I \ H Hi subject of the reform of the church had engaged the JL attention of the papacy several times from the later part of the fifteenth century onwards. The question was discussed in the first consistory of Paul II, and under Pius II and SixtnB IV a project of reform took concrete shape, and was even embodied in a bull, which unhappily, owing to opposition in the Sacred College, was on neither occasion publicly issued. But in all these cases the reform intended was one in discipline and morals only. The papacy had grasped the idea that reform in these matters would take away from heretics matter for cavilling, and also be less dangerous if guided by the head of the church. But there was no idea of a change in doctrine or government. The fact, however, that Paul HI not only promoted men to the purple simply on a Consideration of merit, but chose men who believed in some of the cardinal doctrines of the Beformation, makes the reform begun by him demand our more serious attention. The first of the new cardinals promoted by Paul m was the learned and noble Venetian Gasparo Contarini, and others were subsequently proposed by him. In the autumn of 1585 Contarini informed Pole that the pope and the Sacred College showed them- selves inclined for reform. In December he wrote to Sadoleto asking him to return to Borne to help in the work of preparing for a general council. Sadoleto was not inclined to be so hopeful as Pole. He believed that the drift of the times would prove too strong for Paul's intentions, however sincere, and he did not want to leave his diocese, which was in danger of invasion. Therefore Contarini gave him leave in the pope's name to remain in Carpen- tras until a second summons should reach him. In the January of 1586 a consistory was held for the reading of a bull to reform the manners of the clergy, but it was finally decided to defer the publication of any bull, though a reform should be carried out none the less.48 " Dittrieh, Qa3pa.r0 Contarini, p. 850 (Braunsberg, 1885). 440 QIAN MATTEO GIBERTI July The idea of a special commissionM of cardinals and prelates to consider the question of reform and give definite advice to Paul HI on the subject, is by Dittrich, on the authority of the Venetian envoy Soriano, attributed to Nicholas Schomberg," the cardinal of Capua. A definite invitation to sit on this commission was sent by Contarini to Pole in the pope's name on 12 July 1586. After the threats from Cromwell and the entreaties of his mother and brother which he had received in his last letters from England Pole hesitated to obey the summons, but Giberti and Caraffa finally prevailed on him to obey the pope rather than the king.*8 In September Caraffa had set out from Venice for Verona, so the four friends Giberti, Caraffa, Pole, and Cortese travelled towards Borne together. According to Ballerini Caraffa had twice refused the invitation, and the pope's final letters of command had been sent to Giberti, that he might use his personal influence when he delivered them. They arrived in Borne at the end of October, and when Sadoleto followed, at the beginning of November, the commission, which consisted of Contarini, Giberti, Pole, Sadoleto, Fregoso, Cortese, Caraffa, Aleander, and Tommaso Badia, master of the Sacred Palace, set to work, meeting almost every day under the presidency of Contarini. These names seem to me to prove that the reform was seriously intended.1* Not only were they men actuated by really religious motives, and sincerely desirous of a reform in the corrupt clerical discipline of the age, but, with one exception, they held opinions in many respects analogous to those held by the protestants. Into the opinions of Contarini, Giberti, and Pole it will be necessary to go in more detail later. Here it will be sufficient for our purpose to advert to the fact that Sadoleto's commentary on St. Paul's epistle to the Bomans was declared to contain erroneous opinions on justification, which had to be cor- rected in a second edition, and that Fregoso's treatise on prayer was put on the Index for the same reason. Sadoleto, Cortese, And Badia were Modenese, and Cortese had been a canon and vicar-general in that city, which perhaps ranked next to Venice as a haunt of chosen spirits and a place where the new opinions met with eager and frank discussion. As Abbot of San Giorgio, in •* A commission had bean formed for the same purpose by Alexander VT, contain- ing men like Olivier Camfla; but the members o( Paul Hi's commission, as we shall see, were reformers in a larger sense. 0 Dittrich, Oatparo Contarini, p. 350, note. *• Ballerini, Opera Oiberti, e»p. xii. p. 80. " Gairdner's Letters and Papen, Henry VIII, TOL xi., Cranmer to Henry VIII, 18 Nov. 1586: ' The pope has summoned many prelates about the council. They be all singular (•Le. exceptional ?) fellows, ever absenting themselves from the court and desiring to live holily, u the bishops of Verona and Chieti, the archbishop of Salerno, and S&doleto, bishop of Carpentras.' 1903 GIAN MATTEO QIBERTI 441 "Venice, Cortese protected the Benedictine Marco, who publicly lectured on St. Paul's epistles, and was the first inspirer of Pole. Not only were these men's names a guarantee of serious purpose on the part of the pope, but the hopes of all friends of reform were raised still higher by the fact that in the Christmas consistory a promotion of cardinals was made, which included Pole,60 Sadoleto, and Garaffa, members of the commission who were especially desirous of reform. The elevation of Garaffa was due to the exertions of Giberti, who, moreover, took care that his friend also received a pension, in order that he might be able to sustain bis new rank with adequate dignity.61 The report or consilium of the commission of nine must have been fully prepared and pre- sented to the pope before Pole started with Giberti on his legation to England in 1587, for we know that it was fully discussed and hotly opposed by Schomberg in a consistory, and, as he was dead by 29 Oct., this discussion could scarcely have followed the return of Pole to Borne on 25 Oct." It is not known to whom the form of the consilium is due. Beccadelli says that Pole was the author, while Ballerini naturally inclines to attribute a large ahare of it to Giberti; but a letter of Cortese to Pole in the Quirinal archives8I mentions the fact that both Pole and Sadoleto were asked by Gontarini to embody the result of the discussions in the form of a letter, and it is quite possible therefore that the final form was due to a compromise between the two. The consilium is a notable document.54 Though presented to the pope himself, it frankly discusses the faults of former popes and the basis and limits of the papal authority. The introduction began by referring to the ' very grave diseases and abuses in the church,' which had crept in through the fault of Paul's predecessors, who had been wont to choose their counsellors, the members of the Sacred College, not to advise them what they ought to do, but in order that they might do what they liked. Beform must therefore begin with the papal curia. Abuses such as simony, non-residence, pluralities, and the choice of unfit persons to fill ecclesiastical posts, are enumerated as pressing subjects for reform, but perhaps the most remarkable idea of a remarkable document is that the papacy is a government over free men, and must therefore be founded on law and justified by reason. • He was at that time still a layman, not yet tonsured; Oayangos, Oaltndar of State Paptn, voL v. pt. ii. no. 1S4. This ohange in the Sacred College was very im- portant, for the pope could not act against the wishes of the majority of the wnrrHnaln, as we may see from the fate of Sixtos IV's bull of reform. ° Ballerini, Vita Giberti, cap. xii. p. 31. " See Dittrioh's Qasparo Contarmi, p. 862, note, and Ballerini, Vita Giberti, p. 82, for the discussion of this point. «• Beferred to by Dittrich, p. 868, note. M The text is giyen in Wolfs Lutionts tt Memorabilia XVI Sateuli, p. 899, edit. Lavingae, 1600. 442 GIAN MATTEO GIBERTI July Law must be supreme over the pope's own will no leas than over the wills of his subjects. That is the great distinc- tion between lawful rule and tyranny, as Aristotle had pointed out. Contarini was said to know Aristotle so well that if his books had been lost he could have written them again, and here in this contiUum we see reminiscences of Aristotle's teach- ing. Traces of the new Augustinian opinions can be seen also in the reflexion that the pope must not impose on his subjects his arbitrary will as law, for he is by nature prone to evil, as are all men, and likely to be led away by capricious inclinations and affections. The pope must never forget that the object of his rule is the happiness of his subjects. A different turn of thought is indicated by the prohibition of the use of the Colloquies of Erasmus as a school book." Many of the reforms enumerated in this docu- ment recall reforms actually carried out by Giberti in Verona, and provision is also made for the education of the clergy in minor orders after ordination.