Nicolò Rusca “Hate the error, but love those who err”

Introduction by Pier Carlo della 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 , 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 and the , 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. During this period, Fr Rusca promoted the re-founding of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament (1608-1609). As the years went by, the pres- ence of Fr Rusca began to be a thorn in the side of the leaders of the Protestant Leagues (Bünde). Towards the end of 1608, the Archpriest was accused of complicity in the attempt to murder the Protestant preacher Scipione Calandrino, a capital offence. After After a few months, in 1580, he attended the first surreptitiously taking refuge at Bedano, Collegio Elvetico, founded in by his birthplace, and then in Como, with Cardinal Carlo Borromeo for the specific pur- Bishop Archinti, Fr Rusca returned to Previous page: Portrait of Don pose of instructing and educating in the Sondrio the following year, since the League Nicolò Rusca, tenets of orthodox Catholicism young priests magistrates had, in the meantime, ascer- painted in 1852 by the Sondrio artist Antonio from frontier areas that were most exposed to tained his innocence and collected a substan- Caimi (Sondrio, the spread of Protestantism. Having complet- tial sum of money (representing a fine and Collegiate Church of Saints Gervasio ed his studies, in the course of which he was the payment of legal costs) which the people nd Protasio) able further to improve his knowledge of of Sondrio volunteered to defray.

Left: Greek and Hebrew, on 20th October 1586 Thus the priest resumed and intensified his Frontispiece of the Nicolò Rusca became a deacon and was pastoral activities in defence of Catholicism, first biography on ordained priest on 23rd May 1587. which developed into strenuous and tena- Rusca Nicolai Ruscae S.T.D. A few months later he was sent to minister to cious opposition when, at the beginning of Sundrii in Valle Tellina the parish of Sessa, a village in the Malcan- 1618, the Protestants instituted, at Sondrio, a Archipresbyteri anno MDCXVIII Tuscianae in tone, west of Lugano, and, two years later, college open to the representatives of both Rhetia¸ ab Hereticis ¸ necati was appointed Archpriest of Sondrio. He was religions, though essentially under the con- Vita & Mors – written in 1621 by Giovanni installed in September 1590, having been trol of Protestant teachers and preachers. Battista Bajacca duly approved by the municipal council of However, Fr Rusca exerted such an influence

Above: that town and by popular election, ratified over his parishioners that no Catholic attend- The house where the following year by the ecclesiastical ed the college, which, indeed, was never able Nicolò Rusca was authorities. He then went to Pavia, to take a to perform its function. born at Bedano in Canton Ticino doctorate in theology, as required by the This circumstance gave the Leagues and the

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pro-French-Venetian faction – which saw 19th century. When the Abbey was abolished, and feared the possible political implic- the relics were placed in the library, where ations of Fr Rusca's work in support of they lay forgotten until 1845, when, thanks Austro-Spanish efforts to gain control of the to the intercession of the Bishop of Como, – an opportunity to unleash a Monsignor Carlo Romanò, and the Canon of decisive attack on the Archpriest of Sondrio. Sondrio, Giacinto Falcinelli, authorization According to the descriptions of the was given for them to be transferred to the Catholic biographers of the day, on the Valtellina, to the Sanctuary of Sassella. night of 24th July 1618 sixty armed men, Meanwhile the Bishop of Como himself sent after surrounding the priest's house, burst the following request to the Vatican: "To the into his bedroom, pulled him out of bed and, glory of God, in veneration of the Priest who leaving him barely time to put on his habit, gave his soul for his flock, for their good, tied him on the back of a mule with his head therefore, and to support the dedicated work hanging backwards. The following day he of excellent parish priests in my large and dif- was taken, via Valmalenco and the Muretto ficult diocese, as well as to console me, I Pass, through the Engadine and thence to earnestly ask that the relics be solemnly car- , where he was shut in the attic of a ried to the Archpriest's church in Sondrio hostelry and kept a prisoner for almost a and placed in a niche, there to be exposed month, before being moved to . with lighted candles and revered, especially There, segregated in a small cell, he was on the day of his martyrdom, as has been subjected, at the beginning of September, to done since time immemorial, in the place a summary trial, accompanied by brutal tor- where they used to lie". Upon receipt of an tures, which his accusers used to get him to affirmative answer, on 8th August 1852, Nicolò Rusca's remains were solemnly borne to the Collegiate Church of Sondrio and placed at the beginning of the nave, to the right of the main door, where they remain to this day. At a time of violence, often perpetrated ruth- lessly and with savagery by both the opposing factions, Fr Rusca stands out essentially as a man of peace. His reasonableness and moder- ation, for all his firmness and convictions, are a striking contrast to the excesses of funda- mentalist and intransigent radicalism, of which the court that condemned him is an obvious example. If we are to believe the words of Bajacca, Fr Rusca's first biographer, confess to crimes he had probably never com- whose writings are nowadays endorsed even mitted. But "resolutely and fearlessly, with- by Protestants, the Archpriest of Sondrio out any hesitation", he rejected all accusa- "strongly disapproved of all those extreme tions as being false and baseless. Exhausted and injurious utterances that, while they by the brutality and violence of his ill-treat- might do no more than cause bitterness and ment, which his delicate health could not offence to heretics, in no way contributed to stand up to, Nicolò Rusca died on 4th their spiritual welfare". September 1618. The day after his death, the Archpriest of Intent upon winning back the faithful to The mule-track Sondrio was already being venerated as a Catholicism, and not on persecuting or elim- leading to the Muretto Pass, saint and his mortal remains immediately inating those who had embraced the new in the upper became the object of devotion for Catholics. religion, he succeeded in enlisting the good- Valmalenco. Fr Rusca passed In the summer of 1619, Fr Rusca's remains will of all people. A priest who was a good through here, were exhumed by night and taken secretly to shepherd, he strove to encourage civilized on 26th July 1618, the Abbey of Pfäfers, north of Chur, where attitudes and behaviour, to promote moral on his way to prison at Chur and Thusis they remained until half-way through the discipline; the faith he conceived and sup-

[56] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

ported he conveyed in words, by preaching, hearing confession, teaching the catechism, and stressing the importance of the word in religious practice; his attitude to the new religion was not that of the counter-reform- ing firebrand, but of a peaceful Catholic reformer.

"Hate the error, but love those who err" is a principle traditionally ascribed to the Archpriest of Sondrio Nicolò Rusca: for in him, faith and Catholic confidence in the truth that combats and hates error mani- fested themselves in open-mindedness and the willingness to enter into dialogue of a man who truly loved those who err.

16th-century picture of Pfäfers Abbey, where Fr Rusca's mortal remains were kept from 1619 to 1845

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“Hate the error, but love those who err”

Politics, Religion, and Society in the Valtellina under the First Government

The territory of the Free State of the in the second decade of the 17th century. The map is from Nuova descrizione della Rezia Alpina Federata e delle terre ad essa suddite, published in 1618 by Filippo Cluverio and Fortunat Sprecher von Bernegg Nicolò Rusca

As we know, in 1512, the Valtellina and the were theoretically "free", right up to the Counties of and were highest levels of authority. The neigh- incorporated in the Free State of the Three bourhoods were, moreover, amalgamated to Leagues, a somewhat singular political grou- form so-called juris-dictional Communes or ping that had its origin in various pacts to Grand Communes, about fifty in number, in which the three swore allegiance. The three their turn grouped into districts, and thence entities were: the League of the House of God, into Leagues. also known in the various languages of the In 1524, however, a "central" system of assem- area as Gotteshausbund, or Chadè; the Grey blies was formed, whose will was expressed by or Upper League, also called the Grauer or a Diet and a body consisting of three League Oberer Bund, or the Liga Grischa; and the last Heads, who generally met three times a year at to be formed, the League of the Ten Chur. Much advertised because of their "popu- Jurisdictions or Directorates or Zehnge- lar" structure, and very soon praised as being richtenbund, the smallest of the three. The the purest embodiment of "evangelical demo- Three Leagues were very different from each cracy" – but also much contested for precisely other: indeed, the only thing they had in com- those reasons – the Leagues were in actual fact mon was their spiritual dependence on Chur. a transitory political system masking diverse The Free State consisted of a loosely-knit social forces. From the very outset an unnatu- group of Communes that, incidentally, in the ral alliance of feudal noblemen – both lay and past, had not hesitated to include in their ecclesiastical – and of rural communes, the association a number of Italian-speaking Free State was to experience a powerful trend Alpine valleys, such as the Valley, in the direction of autocratic government by a which, in 1408, had joined the League of the ruling class all too skilled at penetrating com- House of God as a member with equal rights munal bodies and making them operate to against payment of an annual fee. Similarly, their own advantage1. from 1512 onwards, a document was to make How were the subject territories governed? In its appearance in the Valtellina – the Five principle, the Leagues were anxious to con- Articles of – as to whose authenticity serve, in the Valtellina and the Counties, the there is some disagreement and whereby, so it structures that had grown up when the area was said, the Leagues agreed that the was governed by Milan. All previous autono- Valtellina and the aforementioned Counties mies were therefore protected and this should join them as confederate members. applied especially to the old "border" districts According to this agreement, the Valtellina such as Livigno, Bormio, Chiavenna, and the would be fully entitled to take part on equal San Giacomo Valley. The situation was far terms in the Leagues' Diet, while, however, more complex in the Valtellina proper, which keeping their autonomy on local matters in was kept under tight control. The subdivision exchange for their allegiance to the Leagues of the territory remained virtually identical to and an annual fee of a thousand florins. False what it had been during the Milanese domi- or authentic, these articles nevertheless offer nation: the Terzieri therefore survived.The a clear explanation for the attitude of resent- whole valley was represented by a Council, ment of the people of the Valtellina towards whose most delicate task was that of apportio- what they regarded as their "subject status". ning expenses and special taxes, though these This state of affairs was very soon felt to be in any case were in the Valley's general inte- humiliating, among other things because the rest. In this case, too, the decisions taken had articles of incorporation of what was to beco- to be approved by the local communities, me known as the Free State of the Three

Leagues, or Three Grey Leagues – in German 1For these political and institutional aspects, the reader is

"Drei Graue Bünde" – were drawn up subse- referred to my Frontiere religiose della Lombardia. Il rinnova- quently, between 1524 and 1526. Thus, mento cattolico nella zona 'ticinese' e 'retica' fra Cinque e between these dates, there was born a federa- Seicento; Milano, Unicopli, 1999, and to the specific bibliography tion of federations that had some very intere- it contains. It is also worth mentioning the excellent introduction sting features, based on the principle of suf- by Diego ZOIA; Li Magnifici Signori delle Tre Eccelse Leghe. frage, which spread from the local assemblies Statuti ed Ordinamenti di Valtellina nel periodo grigionese; of neighbourhoods, rural communities that Sondrio, L'officina del libro, 1997.

[60] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

whose existence was regulated by statutes a further cause of friction, which was destined drawn up in Latin, in 1531, revised in 1538, to become more acute: religious differences2. and translated into the vernacular in 1548; Having become League territory before the they were finally published in 1549 at Reformation broke out, the Valtellina and the Poschiavo. Counties were soon to find out that they had Each community managed the many aspects to reckon with a State in which the ideas of of local life, in accordance with habits and Zwingli had spread like wildfire: this was also customs that had mostly been handed down due to the fact that the Rhaetian Communes by word of mouth and went back centuries. were autonomous and there was no central

This complex structure was supervised by a government to impose its will. number of League officials who resided in In a situation in which the , as Sondrio and in the Terzieri: their duties were the feudal overlord, was still extremely power- venal; in other words, they were rights that ful, the Articles of Ilanz in 1524 were above all had to be bought, and venality and corruption to revolutionize the part played by church- were connected with them, but also the inef- men, henceforth to be under the control of ficiency this engendered which became the the civil authorities: thus, judicial rights were "classic" accusation levelled by the bailiwicks circumscribed, ecclesiastical bequests were against the Leagues' rulers. Underlying such regulated, and the principle was established accusations was the complex problem of the whereby the secular clergy were to be directly political and social relationships between elected by parishioners' assemblies. those ruled – to be precise, the lords of the Subsequently, in June 1526, an attack was Valtellina, who were certainly far less power- launched, first and foremost, against the ful than those of the Plain of pro- authority of the Bishop of Chur. per, yet sufficiently strong and united to stand Vacant livings, which were generally in the up for their economic and, above all, political gift of the Pope, were now only to be given rights over their territory – and the great to local inhabitants, all endowments and families of the Leagues, who came from areas rights to tithes were readjusted, and strict that, when all was said and done, were poor limitations were set on the expansion of the and therefore had a vested interest in the pro- property of the clergy, on the freedom to sperous Italian-speaking valleys. Thus the make wills in favour of ecclesiastical bodies Valtellina was destined to be the main bone of and clerics, and even on the admission of contention, if only because it was the richest novices to convents: these were decisions Chur at the beginning of the 17th century, area and the Leagues would continue to that, in principle, should also have applied as shown in the regard it as economically indispensable and Descrizione della Rezia defend it tooth and nail. 2 See also my studies, especially regarding the case in point of the by Johann Guler von Weineck (1616) To this atmosphere of tension must be added Valmalenco, and the aforementioned bibliography.

[61] Nicolò Rusca

to the bailiwicks, which was to happen much State, when, at the beginning of the 1640s, later, when new Statutes were published. the initial doctrinal rigidity of the Catholics Moreover, the Leagues determined to act in produced a wave of religious exiles, many of the only way that would make it possible to them settled in the Valleys, which were lin- avoid the final break-up of the fragile, newly- guistically Italian and tolerant on religious born Free State. This was to be achieved by matters. The Leagues, being unaware of the assigning the ius reformandi to the indivi- religious anxiety of these exiles, allowed dual communities, at the same time recogniz- them to settle almost immediately, giving ing the equal status –the first time this had them a position of privilege: indeed, it was been done in Europe at that time – of the they who set in motion in the area new doc- Catholic and Reformed religions, with the trines that, while they took root among very explicit exclusion of any extremist sects – a small groups, nevertheless became extremely law that was of course applied, immediately, widespread throughout the territory. to the Valtellina and the Counties. At this It is generally held that the Reformation point it is above all worth reflecting on the appealed not so much to the aristocracy – fact that the application of this law to the very few of whom were attracted to it – nor to Valtellina and the Counties, which the Valleys humble folk, who retained their loyalty to the old faith, but to an intermediate class that was both educated and moneyed, consisting of merchants, but also notaries and perhaps churchmen too, for whom probably the set- ting up of links with the newcomers meant, as in the case of the Valmalenco, significant financial and perhaps political opportunities. From the religious angle, therefore, the action taken by the leagues was perfectly understandable, albeit clumsily executed. Indeed, the aversion of the nobility, who had been driven out of local government, added to which, naturally, there was the antipathy of the clergy in the Valleys, meant that pro- considered unduly harsh, represented the spects of expansion for the new church were extension - which it could hardly be said was extremely limited. Yet, precisely for that rea- not legitimate - of laws enacted by the son, the Leagues attempted to protect the Leagues in respect of the territories regarded small Protestant communities and to enable by them as to all intents and purposes them to settle permanently. "subject". However, it soon became clear that In 1557, the Diet of Ilanz accorded the the Leagues, inevitably, aimed not only to Protestant pastors – who, incidentally, were protect freedom of worship for the minor- also carefully watched – the freedom to preach ities, but also to implement a policy that and, at the same time, took steps that were would in various ways favour the spread in destined to become very unpopular. For the Valleys of the Reformed Church. It was a where there were at least three Protestants, course of action that was to some extent also this meant that a community had been legi- made necessary by the special nature of the timately constituted; according to the law, areas concerned, which were subordinate to a the Catholics must therefore give them a spiritual authority, that of the Bishop of church – where there was more than one – Como, located outside the confines of the or, allow them to share the one and only State and therefore beyond any control – for church, using it alternately; likewise, ceme- one thing, because they were part of an impe- teries were to be available to both religious rial state (as Milan itself was to be after the communities. Moreover, the following year, View of Sondrio between the 17th death of the last Duke): that of Spain, and the Diet of laid it down that every and 18th centuries therefore hostile. Thus, while the Protestant preacher should be guaranteed an annual (Sondrio, Valtellina communities of the Three Leagues were busy salary, to be paid for by drawing on the in- Museum of History and Art) organizing themselves throughout their come of the local churches, or of the com-

[62] “Hate the error, but love those who err” mune, should the former prove inadequate. from doing everything it regarded as most As was to be foreseen, these regulations led to critical and vital: the cultural, pastoral, and endless disputes and local vendettas, espe- moral reform of its clergy was a prerequisite cially when there were very few Protestants: not only for building a moral Christian as once again, in the case of the Valmalenco, society, but also a sine qua non for halting this happened whenever the interests of com- the spread of the Reformation, which, it was munities, which were mostly poor, were said, had been born of the "evils" of the involved, for they immediately considered Church. It is therefore easy to understand themselves treated unfairly, if only because a why most of the steps that Cardinal substantial part of the local ecclesiastical Archbishop Carlo Borromeo in Milan was endowments had probably been placed at the preparing to take to help the Catholics in the disposal of individual Protestants, or at any Free State of the Three Leagues involved rate of their families. visiting that area; permission to do this On the other hand, this provided the Catholic however, was always to be denied, until clergy with an excellent excuse to complain, Bishop Ninguarda of Como managed to pay a for, understandably, they felt themselves visit in 1589, since, being from the Valtellina hemmed in on all sides. Their main preoccu- himself, he could not be prevented from pation was the plan pursued by the Leagues entering the Valleys. Nor were outsiders bar- with great insistence until 1620, to sever all red merely from entering, but from leaving ties with the Bishop of Como, a link that had too, for in 1618, the Governor of Sondrio was begun to cause anxiety half-way through the still forbidding clergymen from the Valtellina, 16th century because of the Counter-refor- "on pain of a fine of a thousand scudi", to mation that the Catholics had set in motion attend the last synod in Como convened by at the Council of Trent, which at that time Bishop Filippo Archinti: a prohibition, was drawing towards its conclusion. The fact obviously, to be taken seriously, since no that the Bishop of Como had always felt him- priest dared go to Como. True, it had become self threatened by the Leagues was nothing a common practice for priests, generally new, for they were largely Protestant. In addi- members of orders, to be despatched to the tion, as we have said, they had no central Valtellina in disguise. Nevertheless, even the government: any decision to be taken for the official visit paid in 1589 by Bishop whole State involved laboriously securing Ninguarda, who, as we have said, since he majorities among the communes, one by came from the Valtellina, could not legally be one- which was normally done with money. kept out, was a very hurried one, aimed above On the other hand, the conclusion of the all at renewing contacts that had been inter- Council of Trent only increased the concern rupted for too long and estimating the dama- of the League leaders, for now the Church of ge caused by the Protestants – in other Rome was again energetically pursuing a words, little more than a rapid survey of the policy of expansion. situation. The first real visit was that paid by In 1576, a decree was issued by the Leagues Bishop Filippo Archinti in 1614-15, after he forbidding any foreign churchmen to enter had obtained authorization from the League the Valleys, including the Bishop of Como, leaders to enter the Valtellina. Permission whose task it was to reorganize the basic was granted in return for a considerable sum structure of the local churches, which were of money and at a most inconvenient time of often beset by errors and shortcomings, in year: the winter. The Bishop was then per- application of the decrees of the Council of suaded to shorten his stay, which therefore Trent, according to both the spirit and the became little more than a careful census of letter. The following year, an edict even threa- the churches and parish assets, about which tened with imprisonment, or other more there were many complaints due to the fact severe penalties, anyone, whether an indivi- that the Protestants had been entitled to live dual or a community, who offered hospitality off the parishes since 1557. Only with the or in any way helped foreign clerics or term of office of Bishop Carafino, who was in monks. All these measures were aimed at the charge of the Diocese of Como between 1626 very heart of the Church of the Counter- and 1665, do we finally get the impression of reformation, which found itself prevented the Valleys functioning in accordance with

[63] Nicolò Rusca the principles of the Council of Trent. customs and letters4". However, one has the With regard to Christian doctrine and the clear impression that Fr Rusca interpreted education of the laity, Bishop Archinti's visit this doctrine in accordance with his own was highly significant, because the Diocese of highly personal style, preferring discussion Como was situated on the border between to the mere teaching of the catechism: such two religions. Hardly any concrete informa- is probably the meaning of the children's tion transpired, however, from his visit. Only being made to "discuss" – in other words, to at Sondrio does Fr Rusca appear to have stand up in public – which, for the boys, organized things, for he reports on how this actually meant using a sort of "pulpit". It is was done: "After ringing the big bell a second worth noting that the report on Bishop time and calling the boys and girls together, Archinti's visit also contains a list of the we make them say their prayers a few times. "compositions of the Archpriest of Sondrio", The boys are taught by the priests and other most of them argumentative. men; the girls, by women, especially the But the case of Sondrio appears to be an school teachers. They are then made to take exception, and perhaps that is why it has been part in discussions, the boys being made to handed down to us in such detail. Thus, stand on pulpits made for the purpose; the generally speaking, the account of the girls assemble below. After that, if there is Bishop's visit says practically nothing about time, they will sing first the Paternoster, then teaching the catechism, of whose importan- the Ave Maria, then the Credo, and so on. ce, as we have seen, he was well aware, and Lastly, comes a song of praise, sung kneeling; this was perhaps because his mind was still the first verse is sung by the clergy and the largely taken up with checking on the clergy boys together, the second by the girls and and their training. The obligatory catechism women together, and so on; at the end, class on Sundays was certainly always stres- Vespers are sung. But it is difficult to get sed in instructions, but practically nothing them interested in Christian doctrine, espe- has been handed down to us on this subject, cially the boys, who are likely to run away and although that does not necessarily mean that hide so as not to be found by anyone looking the teaching of the catechism was neglected. for them"3. Even though the case of Sondrio On the contrary, no serious objection was rai- was rather special, Fr Rusca emphasized here sed by the local authorities to the conduct of some typical, yet striking points. Above all, the religious life of the Catholic communities we find the customary separation of boys as regards preaching and the teaching of from girls. The education of the former was Christian doctrine, as long as no proselytism handled entirely by the priests. The girls – an attitude that was expressly prohibited by were, as usual, taught by a few "women". We the Leagues' two-denominational regime – know, incidentally, that at Sondrio, there was practised. were actually six school mistresses, who also However, as regards the area of Chiavenna, dealt with the teaching of the catechism: we know of an edict dated 1597 on the moreover, it is probable that, as in the Three subject of the teaching of the catechism in Valleys, difficulties were overcome thanks to the Catholic community. This was a procla- the presence of schoolmasters who were mation by the League's representative at capable of inculcating the rudiments of the Chiavenna that laid down "the obligation of faith. This is what still happened, for exam- priests to have the Paternoster, the Credo, ple, at Poschiavo, another area of tension and the Ten Commandments said in the ver- from the religious point of view where, in nacular". This requirement probably reveals 1611, Cardinal Federico Borromeo "to meet some anxiety lest the teaching of the catechi- the urgent need of the Catholic community sm be conducted differently as between at Poschiavo for masters to teach the chil- Catholics and Protestants: "Whereas… it is dren, so as not to expose them to the risk of the common wish of our most illustrious and attending schools run by heretics", decided to pay for a master himself "with orders to 3 Filippo ARCHINTI; Visita pastorale alle diocesiI, partial edition; in attend to the teaching of the boys and young "Archivio Storico della Diocesi di Como", vol. 6, p. 521; Como, 1995. men, to meet the need of the village for our holy Catholic faith, and for Christian 4 Filippo ARCHINTI, cit., p. 374.

[64] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

excellent lordships… that in the country of Commandments of the Laws of God, which their subjects, and especially in places where are written in Exodus, Chapter 20 ….'". The the prayers mentioned below are not taught cry ended, in the Protestant manner, with by priests and friars to their flocks in this way another brief reference to the scriptures: – that is, the Our Father, the Creed, and the "The sum total of the whole law is this. Thou Ten Commandments – be by one and all shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, observed when conducting their sermons and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and masses; and, moreover, recited aloud in and with all thy strength. Though shalt love the vernacular and intelligibly, so that every thy neighbour as thyself. On these two com- person may understand them and profit the- mandments all the laws and the prophets reby, and live in a Christian way and in accor- depend. St. Mark, Chapter 12"5. dance with the pure and sacred word of God, The ban thus illustrated most eloquently the without either adding to or abridging any concern of the Leagues' leaders about the point, this being for the benefit of all, espe- teaching of the Catholic catechism materiali- cially the unfortunate and ignorant… whe- zing at that time, which was different from refore… this public cry, ban and command- Protestant teaching: neither precepts of the ment is issued, that each and every priest, church, therefore, nor training in the discus- friar, or curate,… be willed and obliged, sion of controversial subjects was considered. upon pain of being expelled from their office, The aim, leaving aside any differences of a or even banished from the domain of his denominational nature, was thus to find most excellent lordship… in all their ser- common ground in the area of upbringing, mons, masses, and other services celebrated or rather the education, both religious and by them, whether in public or privily, to say, secular, typical of the "good subject": expres- recite, or teach the aforementioned prayers, sed in a sober lifestyle, moral rectitude, use of the vernacular, and with ideas reflected in the scriptures alone: "to live in a Christian way and in accordance with the pure and sacred words of God, without adding to or abridging any point". As regards preaching, often a sub- stitute for doctrinal education, the "faithful subjects of the County of Chiavenna of the Catholic religion" were allowed "according to their need, to accept, take, or provide them- selves with preachers, upon condition, howe- ver, that… they be natives of the land ruled by their lordships of the Leagues and their subjects, or else Swiss, and that such prea- chers pronounce or say, in the Italian verna- cular, before the people, the ordinary prayers of their church according to their religion". From the point of view that concerns us here, we are bound to feel that, on the whole, the importance that the Protestant communities gave, both to preaching and to instruction in the catechism, were a convincing example for written below, the Creed and the Ten the Catholics too: for the same bell was, for

The religious wars in Commandments, being the sum total of the instance, used to call the faithful of both reli- the Valtellina culmi- law, in the aforementioned manner, as fol- gions to listen to a sermon or to their doctri- nated in the summer of 1620 in a massacre lows… First, the prayer that our Lord Jesus ne. For Catholics, the training of the clergy of Protestants. Christ spoke… that is, the "Our Father"… remained fraught with difficulty: nor was it a At the Battle of Tirano on 11th September the followed by the statement of our faith, as do coincidence that Bishops Archinti and Valtellina forces repulsed all Christians, which, commonly referred to Carafino both devoted much attention to this a League counter-attack as being the symbol of the apostles… (copper low-relief by 5 Renzo Antamati, 1950) That is: 'I believe… ' '…followed by the Ten Filippo ARCHINTI, cit., p. 659-661.

[65] Nicolò Rusca

matter. Now, most of the Valtellina priests all denominations were closing their ranks between the end of the 16th century and the and standing four-square in defence of their beginning of the 17th do not appear to have community in a situation fraught with ten- been particularly brilliant from the point of sion, including pressure from outside the view of their education, and many parish country: from the disputes regarding the pay- priests seem to have studied only "human let- ment of tithes to the disturbances connected ters" or "grammar"; nevertheless, despite the with the Johann von Planta affair, all issues criticism levelled at this situation, we find no fell within the framework of the Night of cases of glaring abnormality. A little less than Saint-Barthélmy massacre of the Hugue- one third of the clergy consisted of theolo- nots6. And if the key to an understanding of 16th-century Catholicism turns entirely on the implementation of the decisions of the Council of Trent, the events that marked the end of the 16th century in the area ruled by the Leagues have to be understood within the framework of the complex and convulsive political activities going on there – for, within that institutionally extremely weak, indeed almost non-existent structure there seethed, and continued to seethe in practice to the very end, the unsolved problem of striking a political balance between the "aristocratic" component of the Free State and its "popular" core. As the historian, Randolph Head, has gians, numbering 45 out of 126, 17 of whom very clearly shown, political and social deve- had studied at the Collegio Elvetico, which lopments in the area, since half-way through since 1579 had been the only practical, con- the 16th century, had been moving decisively structive step taken to help the Valtellina and towards a strengthening of the local position the Counties: for out of a total of 38 students of a number of families – especially the von – though this number varied over the years – Plantas and the von Salis – who had found a only 6 places were reserved for the "Grey virtually inexhaustible source of wealth in Leagues" and 8 for the Valtellina. Moreover, it military careers, in their estates, and in is worthy of note that, in the areas where banking – closely connected activities – as there was most political tension, special well as in official positions in the communes, attention was given to the training of priests: in the main offices of the Leagues, and of at Sondrio, as we have seen, there was Fr course in the bailiwicks – but above all in the Rusca, but in the Valmalenco 2 out of 3 of the pensions and donations received from the local priests had studied in Milan; at Villa di foreign powers, for whom these were a means Tirano and Mazzo, there were 8 theologians of bringing political influence to bear, both in all, 3 of whom had studied at the Collegio internally and externally, on the Leagues. Elvetico; at Tresivio, there were 3 out of 7; Thus two opposing fronts were created: the while, in the , 5 out of 9 theolo- gians came from the Elvetico and 2 from the 6 On these subjects, the reader is referred to La Valtellina crocevia Collegio Germanico in Rome. We can there- dell'Europa. Politica e religione nell'età della guerra dei fore see, in retrospect, that the challenge of Trent'anni, edited by Agostino BORROMEO, Milano, Giorgio which both the Borromeo cardinals and the Mondadori, 1998, which nevertheless, in substance, revives the Bishops of Como were aware was, above all, old politic–diplomatic–military approach to the subject. Far more that of the re-education of the clergy in recent is the study by Randolph C. Head, Early Modern democra- The bull with which Pope Gregory XIII accordance with the rules of the new Church cy in the Grisons. Social Order and Political Language in a Swiss ordered the founda- that had emerged from the Council of Trent Mountain Canton, 1470-1620 Cambridge, Cambridge University tion of the Collegio Press, 1995, which, however, the previous text does not even men- Elvetico in Milan, – and this explains the many gaps in our where Fr Rusca information regarding care of the laity right tion. Next it will be worth also consulting the manual of the his- completed his studies up to the end of the 17th century. A salient tory of the Grisons, Handbuch der Bünder Geschichte. Frühe (original in the Milan Archiepiscopal Archives) factor is that, as the new century approached, Neuzeit; Chur, 2000.

[66] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

civil war, would be risking total disintegration. Up to 1622, continual resort was had to the "Fähnlilupfe" – translated literally "raising of flags" – which were armed insurrections in which the Communes played a considerable part; they were a sort of endless spiral, since every peasant uprising ended in the setting up of a special court, whose activities consisted mainly in meteing out punishment, led to the organizing of further Fähnlilupfe, in a crescen- do that reached its climax with the famous Strafgericht of Thusis in 1618, which had originated in disturbances centered in Engadine, at , that were directed against Catholic leaders in the Valtellina and led by Protestant pastors and the heads of the Venetian faction. The insurgents marched to Chur and thence to Thusis, where eventually about 2000 men assembled. A court of sixty-six jurors was elected, though this time – and this great families, on the one hand, and the com- was a complete novelty – the Criminal Court munities on the other, whose ancient rights was supervised by nine young pastors repre- ended by being defended by the younger gene- senting the most radical wing of the synod of ration of Protestant pastors, who resorted to League pastors, who were the very incarnation armed insurrection and special courts as wea- of the will to defend the autonomy of the pons against the governing elite, made up of a Communes. The Court proceeded to take harsh small number of those same patrician families. action against the enemies of the Venetian The violent history of the Leagues, as well as party, and therefore against the von Plantas, as that of the Valtellina in the 17th century may be well as against the chief representatives of the seen as beginning with the unresolved conflict Valtellina clergy, who included Fr Rusca. Thus between the Communes and the dynasties. The the trial of the Archpriest of Sondrio occupies a Communes had very few arms at their disposal place in the complex political situation building to help them to put up a resistance: ancient up around him, in which the pressure exerted pacts and the traditional structures of the peo- by the great European powers on the impotent ple and, last but not least, the resort to "demo- Free State of the Three Leagues was very great. cracy", which the Protestants claimed as their Thus it was caught between the attempt by the very own. This process was strongly supported international Calvinism to unleash an unprece- by the Protestant church – many proposals to dented attack on the very heart of the Empire this effect were to be advanced by Protestant and the ferocious reaction to this of the armies ministers of religion – and in any case it found of the two Habsburg monarchies, which, after a sympathetic echo in the Protestant Cantons of the complete defeat of the Bohemians in 1620, the Swiss Confederation, thus forming a sort of led to the hereditary throne of Bohemia being united "Protestant front". Such therefore is the ceded to the Habsburgs, but was also to spark context in which we have to view the events off a series of chain reactions that transformed surrounding the Sondrio school and the gra- what had been an internal strife within the dual deterioration of an inter-denominational Empire into a long and terrible continental war The portrait of Nicolò Rusca in the modus vivendi that, without ever having run in which the Valtellina became the southern To w n Hall of too smoothly, had nevertheless lasted for some front of a contest that was being fought out Bedano. Painted a few years time. When international politics eventually set elsewhere. after the priest's death, its sights on League territory, assigning to it an the picture belonged to the Rusca family and important position on the European chess- Claudia di Filippo Bareggi was donated to the board, at the beginning of the 17th century, the Associate Professor of Modern History at Milan Ticino municipality result was to be years of chaos and hardship State University about half-way through the 19th century during which the Leagues, but a step away from

[67]

“Hate the error, but love those who err”

The Criminal Court of Thusis (1618) and the Death of Nicolò Rusca

A page from the minutes of the Criminal Court of Thusis in 1618 (the original is kept in the Grisons State Archives in Chur) Nicolò Rusca

The year 1618 was marked by two indirectly Nor was the Synod of the Pastors of the connected events that had negative conse- Leagues immune to the differences between quences for the future of the Free State of the factions, as is proved by the proceedings the Three Leagues: the failure to institute a of the Synod of Bergün in spring 1618, when Latin School at Sondrio, and the setting up a determined minority of young extremist of a criminal court at Thusis. pastors, who regarded with suspicion any The Sondrio school plan had already been persons who felt any sympathy for the discussed by the synod of pastors in 1596. It Spaniards, regarding them as the enemies of had been their intention to proceed with an the religious and political freedom of the existing scheme that had broken down in Leagues, took control of the meeting. The 1584 due to the pressure exerted by Cardinal chairmanship of the synod, which was the Carlo Borromeo and the Catholic cantons prerogative of the pastor of Chur, Georg on the government of the Leagues and the Saluz, a moderate who was against any opposition of the Archpriest of Sondrio, inter-faction strife, not automatically preju- Gian Giacomo Pusterla. diced against the pro-Spanish faction, and The second attempt to open a Latin school severe in his condemnation of the ideologi- in the Valtellina was likewise a failure. At a cal radicalization under way among some of time of growing discord and rumours of war, the Rhaetian pastors, went to the pastor when it would have been better to promote Caspar Alexius, principal of the Sondrio steps that would have reduced tension, the school. The Synod of Bergün attempted to plan to set up the school at Sondrio turned expel from among its ranks any pastors sus- out to be a grave error. Indeed, once again, pected of "Hispanism" and circulated a let- it resulted in conflict with the Archpriest of ter, which was read in all the Leagues' Sondrio – Pusterla's successor, Nicolò Rusca churches, that urged everyone to beware of – who was irritated at the fact that three of people with pro-Spanish sentiments, to the five teachers (including the principal, expose their machinations and denounce Caspar Alexius) were Protestants. The their plots. Ordinary citizens were warned financing of the school also proved to be a to be on their guard against anyone receiv- cause of friction, inasmuch as the inhabi- ing a pension from a foreign power, thus tants of the bailiwicks had no intention of posing a threat to the freedom of the contributing. In the Valtellina, opposition to Leagues. The letter concluded by urging the Sondrio school was further intensified that all this action should be conducted dis- by the fact that, at that time, the Leagues creetly and without the use of arms8. had forbidden the Jesuits to open a school at Bormio – not that the authorities in the This call, which had the effect of further Leagues were the only ones to oppose Jesuit stirring up feelings, went out during a peri- schools: suffice it to remember the closure od characterized by inflamed political and of the Jesuit college at Roveredo ordained by religious controversy and by frequent Cardinal Carlo Borromeo in 1583. clashes between the factions, enlivened by arguments as to whether a treaty of alliance In fact, at the Diet of Davos in August 1617, should be signed with Spain, or whether the a number of members pointed out that it one recently concluded with Venice, but was inadvisable to pursue a line that which had just expired, should be renewed. appeared to allow some to do things that others were forbidden to do; but their argu- 7 Silvio FÄRBER has devoted a number of illuminated pages to ments did not convince the majority: the subject of the factions present in the Leagues at the beginning indeed, they incited the extremists to of the 17th century in his essay Politische Kräfte und Ereignisse demand that the Latin school in the im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, in: Handbuch der Bündner Valtellina be opened at any cost. Moreover, Geschichte. Frühe Neuzeit; Chur, 2000, pp. 118-131. the tension that had built up in the Valtellina on the subject of the school fur- 8 This letter is partly reproduced in: Petrus Domenicus ROSIUS À ther aggravated the bitterness of the conflict PORTA; Historia Reformationis ecclesiarum Raeticarum ex genui- between opposing factions within the nis fontibus et adhuc maximam partem numquam impressis sine Leagues7. partium studio deducta. II; Chur, 1777, p. 258.

[70] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

Demonstrations, to which speeches made by – at whose participation even Protestants at a number of pastors also contributed, broke once protested vehemently9. Among those out in the against the present were Stephan Gabriel, a pastor from nobleman and judge Rudolf Planta of Ilanz, Jakob Anton Vulpius, a pastor from Zernez, who was accused of being pro- Ftan, Caspar Alexius, principal of the school Spanish and of having threatened to with- at Sondrio, Blasius Alexander, a pastor from draw to the Valtellina in order to organize Traona, Georg Jenatsch, a pastor from there an uprising against the Leagues. In Berbenno, Bonaventura Toutsch, a pastor at spite of the attempt to mediate, first by the Morbegno, Conrad Buol, a pastor at Davos, three heads of the Leagues, and then by a Johann à Porta, a pastor from Zizers, and delegation that included the pastors Georg Johann Janett, a pastor from . The Saluz and Stephan Gabriel, the disturbances chroniclers Bartholomäus Anhorn and Fortunat von Juvalta produced a critical analysis of the parts played by the pastors – especially Johann Janett, Georg Jenatsch, and Caspar Alexius – and became spokes- men whose comments were severely adverse. Juvalta stated that the pastors were in charge of proceedings and of the exami- nation of evidence, and that the proceedings of the court was in their hands. The pastors, however, had not been allowed to vote when the time came to decide on the sentences to be passed on the accused. In a declaration drawn up at Thusis, the pro- moters of the criminal court, presided over by Jakob Joder von Casutt, proclaimed their intentions to ensure the sovereignty and freedom of Rhaetia, to eliminate all foreign interference, to prevent the machinations of those citizens of the Leagues who received pensions from abroad, to annihilate the pro- did not subside. On the contrary, a criminal Spanish faction, and to compel all subjects court was even organized, and it was to respect the laws and the members of both planned to despatch armed detachments religions to live together in peace10. with instructions to arrest members of the Although the Court of Thusis is often Planta faction in the Valtellina, the remembered only for having tortured and Bregaglia Valley, and Chiavenna. At Sondrio, killed Nicolò Rusca, it should not be forgot- the Archpriest Rusca was arrested, together ten that it was active for a full six months, with some others. The town of Chur, which from August 1618 to January of the follow- had been chosen as the seat of the criminal ing year, and that during that time it passed court, refused to open its gates to the citi- Don Nicolò Rusca zen's brigades. A few days later, the court 9 Bartholomäus ANHORN; Der Graw-Pünter-Krieg. 1603-1629, appears miraculously edited by Conradin von MOHR; Chur 1862, pp.32-34; to Jürg Jenatsch. transferred itself to Thusis. This episode, in a draw- The declared purpose of the criminal court Fortunat von JUVALTA, Denkwürdigkeiten, 1565-1649, edited by ing by Otto Baumberger, was to act in the name of all the Leagues' Conradin von MOHR; Chur 1848, pp. 47-50 and 57-58. was imagined by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, the citizens in defence of political and religious 19th-century author 10 freedom. The 66 judges, sent above all by Andreas WENDLAND, Der Nutzen der Pässe und die Gefährdung who wrote the historical novel Jürg Jenatsch.Eine the Protestant communes of the League of der Seelen. Spanien, Mailand und der Kampf ums Veltlin (1620- Bündnergeschichte. God's House and the League of the Ten 1641); Zürich, 1995; pp. 72-76. As regards the general situation in Jenatsch was one of the judges of the Criminal Jurisdictions, included Catholics, albeit not the bailiwicks, at the beginning of the 17th century, and relations Court of Thusis who very many. The whole trial was influenced between the prince and his subjects: Guglielmo SCARAMELLINI, attacked the Archpriest I rapporti fra le Tre Leghe, la Valtellina, Chiavenna e Bormio, in: of Sondrio most from the very outset by the presence, in a relentlessly supervisory capacity, of a number of pastors Storia dei Grigioni, L'età moderna; Bellinzona, 2000, pp. 151-165).

[71] Nicolò Rusca

157 sentences against as many accused. In presumed to have with the emperor an initial phase, which lasted nearly two Maximilian of Austria, he was condemned, months, the court tried the brothers Rudolf in absentia, to permanent exile. The court and Pompejus Planta, the mayor Giovanni also decreed that all his property should be Battista Prevosti, the archpriest Nicolò confiscated and his house demolished; it Rusca, Gian Antonio Gioiero, Lucius de also proclaimed that he should immediately Mont, and the Bishop of Chur Johann Flugi. be put to death if he re-entered the country. All were citizens of the Leagues and laymen, On 1st September 1618, the trial began of except for Rusca and Flugi; all were the Archpriest of Sondrio, Nicolò Rusca, Catholics, except for Prevosti. who was just over fifty years old, though his health was delicate. Before beginning to cross-examine him, the court deprived him of his priestly status. The main charge lev- elled at Fr Rusca was that he had, during the years before 1590, together with Gian Paolo Quadrio and Vincenzo Gatti, both of the Valtellina, planned to eliminate the pastor of Morbegno, Scipione Calandrino. The Archpriest's intention was alleged to have been to murder the pastor or to have him kidnapped and taken away beyond the con- fines of Rhaetia and thence to Milan or Rome. The accusation was based on evi- dence given by Michele Chiappini, of Ponte in the Valtellina, in 1612. Rusca rejected the The first man to appear before the judges at charge, contesting the truth of Chiappini's Thusis was the mayor Giovanni Battista statement and maintaining that he had Prevosti, known as "Zambra", of Vicosoprano enjoyed friendly relations with Calandrino in the Bregaglia Valley. He was accused of and had even exchanged books with him having been in touch with Milan during the during the period when he was a pastor at construction of the Fuentes fort, of having Sondrio – to which other charges were spread false information regarding the added in connection with more recent intentions that had led the Spaniards to erect events. such a fortification at the entrance to the val- According to some witnesses, the Archpriest leys of the Adda and the Mera, of having had shown intolerance and a rebellious atti- opposed the idea of attacking the fort, and of tude towards the authority of the Leagues; having used threatening language against in particular, he was said to have poured anti-Spanish pastors. Prevosti, who was relat- scorn on decrees issued for the purpose of ed to the Planta brothers, rejected all accusa- ensuring the peaceful coexistence of the two tions and recalled that he had been acquitted religions. He was said to have told a young in the course of a previous trial. The pastors man that those who attended Protestant ser- advised him to denounce Rudolf Planta, but vices would most certainly end up in hell. It he would not speak. After lengthy tortures – was alleged that, according to a number of he was "hoisted up" more than 40 times – the letters, Fr Rusca had shown disdain towards seventy-year-old mayor of Vicosoprano made the decree issued by the Rhaetian Diet a confession that seriously compromised against preaching by foreign monks in him. On 22nd August 1618, the court con- southern bailiwicks, and that he did not demned him to death for high treason. The intend to obey such laws. On another occa- sentence against the Protestant Prevosti was sion, displaying insubordination towards carried out immediately. Next it was the turn the authorities, the archpriest was said to of Pompejus Planta, the owner of Rietberg have opposed the setting up of the school at Castle, in the Valley, who had Sondrio resolved upon by the Diet of the Thusis before fled to avoid arrest. Found guilty of high Three Leagues. Moreover, he was reported it was destroyed by fire in 1727 treason, because of the close links he was to have stirred up the common people to

[72] “Hate the error, but love those who err” such an extent that it became difficult for mayor of Morbegno, Gian Antonio Gioiero, any authorities to take action against him. of Val Calanca, also took place in the The list of charges ended by recalling that absence of the accused. Gioiero, like Rudolf the archpriest had not complied with the Planta, was charged with having fomented summons to appear before the criminal disturbances in the Rhaetian Leagues and court in Chur, in 1608, and that, on that with having been paid for that purpose by occasion, he had sought to bribe some foreign powers. Found guilty of spying for Catholic members of the court. It was added Spain and France, of complicity with Gio- that he continued to have close ties with the vanni Battista Prevosti in preventing the enemies of the Leagues, both abroad and attack on Fort Fuentes, of having harmed within the Leagues themselves; that, when Rhaetian interests by suggesting to the the Fuentes fort was being built, he was Spaniards in Milan that they should block reported to have been to Morbegno several all trade with the Leagues, of upsetting rela- times to urge Catholics not to lend their tions between the religions, and of corrup- support to any armed action against the tion in acquiring public posts, he was sen- Spaniards, and that he had held meetings, in tenced to permanent exile. The court also Sondrio, in the priest's house, in the course ordered that his house in Val Calanca be of which strong language had been used demolished and all his goods confiscated. against the Rhaetian authorities. Serious charges of corruption, betrayal of The archpriest rejected all charges, declared the interests of the Leagues, and close con- himself a loyal subject of the Rhaetian tacts with foreign powers led to sentencing authorities, implored the pastors not to tor- to permanent exile, confiscation of his ture him, and said that he would rather be goods, and the demolition of house, in exiled or sentenced to hard labour. The absentia, of the judge Lucius de Mont, judges ordered that cross-questioning mayor of Val . should continue and that torture should be In the case of the Bishop of Chur, found used. The prisoner died, on the second day guilty of high treason, the Thusis court, in of torture, without having confessed any- the absence of the accused, confirmed the thing. The court ordered that all his goods sentence of perpetual exile already passed on be confiscated, and the executioner buried him by the court of Ilanz in 1607. The his corpse beneath the scaffold. The dramat- judges ordered the confiscation of his goods, ic end of the Rusca trial resulted in a certain depriving Bishop Johann Flugi von amount of friction among the members of Aspermont of his ecclesiastical status, and the court. The judges, meeting at Thusis, stating that he would immediately be put to decreed that severe steps be taken to prevent death if he should return to the territory of any discussions or disagreements degener- the Three Leagues. ating into brawls11. In the space of less than two months, the Criminal Court had completed its trials of On 5th September, the trial began on the the main defendants. But the activities of nobleman and judge Rudolf Planta, the the court were far from being completed. brother of Pompejus, of Zernez, in the At Thusis, in the four months that followed, Lower Engadine. Having evaded arrest, 150 sentences were passed. These included Rudolf was accused of being the cause of the only one death sentence pronounced in the insurrections that had broken out the previ- second stage of the criminal court's activi- ous year within the League of God's House, ties, and concerned Biagio Piatti, who had of having fomented unrest in the Leagues, been found guilty of murder and of having and above all in the Engadine, on orders plotted to kill the Protestants of Boalzo. The from foreign powers. The judges of the

Thusis criminal court, ordered that he be 11 For a reconstruction of the Thusis trial from a Catholic view- expelled from the country for ever, that all point: Cesare CANTÙ; Il sacro macello di Valtellina. Episodio della his goods be confiscated, and that his house riforma religiosa in Italia; Bormio 1999 (reprint), pp. 100-104; Johan and the nearby tower of Wildenberg be Franz FETZ; Geschichte der kirchenpolitischen Wirren im Freistaat demolished. der drei Bünde (Bisthümern Chur und Como). Vom Anfang des 17.

The next trial, against the nobleman and Jahrhunderts bis auf die Gegenwart; Chur, 1875, pp. 69-78.

[73] Nicolò Rusca

other sentences passed by the court ranged having cast aspersions on the criminal from death in absentia and the confiscation court. The town of Chur, predominantly of all their goods for Antonio Maria and Protestant, and the Council of the Town of Giovanni Maria Paravicini and Giovanni Chur were sentenced to pay heavy fines for Francesco Schenardi; to permanent exile for their pro-Spanish attitude and to defray the Giacomo Robustelli, Francesco Venosta, cost of provisions for the armed bands of the Antonio Ruinella, Daniel Planta, Augustin communes, since they had not opened the Travers, Teodosio Prevosti, and the burger- town's gates to them. master of Chur, Andreas Jenni; to temporary exile for Nicolò Merulo, who had tolled the In January 1619, the Thusis Criminal Court, bells when Archpriest Rusca was arrested; some of whose judges were beginning to and for the interpreters of the King of show signs of bewilderment and fatigue, was France's emissary to the Leagues, Gueffier, finally dissolved. For some time there had Anton von Molina, and Johann Paul; and been general reactions of indignation at the heavy fines for the League governors action taken by the court, which was begin- Christoph Gess (1613-14) and Joseph von ning to damage the image of the Leagues Capaul (1615-16), punished for corrupt and their leaders. The Synod of Pastors, administration of their offices and personal which met at Zuoz after the court's pro- ceedings had been closed down and been forced by fresh disturbances in the Engadine to break up early, thus reflecting obvious public discontent at the way things had gone at Thusis, suspended Blasius Alexander and Georg Jenatsch from the exercise of their pastoral duties for six months. The Thusis Criminal Court had been not been the first such result of the ideological differences manifesting themselves in the Leagues, nor was it unfortunately the last. Thusis had been preceded by Ilanz and Chur, where the pro-Spanish faction had dealt severe blows against the pro-French and pro- Venetian factions. At Chur, in 1619, a crimi- enrichment; as well as for Francesco nal court favourable to the pro-Spanish fac- Paravicini di Ardenno and Fortunat von tion revised the proceedings of the Thusis Juvalta, and smaller fines for Giovanni Court, pointed out serious abuses committed Battista Schenardi and Nicolao Carbonera, by the Thusis judges, reduced or quashed for having protested on the occasion of Fr numerous sentences, and passed new ones. A Rusca's arrest in Sondrio. little later, as opinions swung perilously first The long list of sentences also included the in one direction and then in the other, a new pastors Georg Saluz of Chur, Andreas criminal court was set up at Davos that Stupan, and Ardez and Simon Ludwig of endorsed the findings of the Thusis Tribunal. Malans. The first of these was fined for hav- The way was open for the involvement of the ing criticized the involvement of a number Leagues in war on a European scale. of pastors in the proceedings of the criminal court of Thusis, for having spoken in favour The Thusis trial, conducted by a criminal of the proposals submitted by the Spanish court that saw itself as a new broom bent on negotiator to the Leagues in 1617, and for cleaning up the situation in the Leagues, having praised Rudolf Planta and blamed a has been the subject, in general, of numer- number of pastors; the second was sen- ous criticisms, last but not least from the tenced to temporary exile for having criti- procedural point of view. The episode of the The house in Thusis, cized the decisions of radical pastors and killing of the Archpriest Rusca is an act that where the Criminal having expressed his support, from the pul- was severely criticized, for various reasons, Court is said to have been held in 1618-19 pit, for Rudolf Planta; the third was fined for during the months and years that followed,

[74] “Hate the error, but love those who err” and the objectors included Protestants Thusis, of having intended to have Pastor (although many also approved). Thus, for Calandrino assassinated, Fr Rusca replied example, the pastor of Fläsch, Bartholo- that this was not true and that, on the con- mäus Anhorn, the author of a diary that trary, he had always had good relations with reported events in Rhaetia in the first half of the pastor. The archpriest's words indicate the 17th century, explicitly condemned the friendly relations, consisting of courtesy and killing of the priest, while Fortunat a mutual exchange of texts for their studies – Sprecher von Bernegg, a diligent narrator perhaps, too, some common ground on theo- who was a Protestant, paid the archpriest a logical subjects. most respectful tribute12. In any case, it was The chronicler, Sprecher von Bernegg, adds undoubtedly an episode marred by cruelty. that he lived in Sondrio for two years as deputy to the judge trying criminal cases, in In more recent years, the works of various a house near the archpriest's. "I was in close historians have made it possible, albeit contact with him", says Sprecher von through a different way of construing events, Bernegg, who recalls the archpriest as "a man to begin to throw light on the 1618 criminal with a sober lifestyle, nearly always engaged court, in particular on the killing of Fr Rusca in study and the performance of his priestly and the delicate and complex interplay of the duties", "a man who had an excellent knowl- political and religious factors at work in the edge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin". Are these Leagues and among the dominant powers. statements then false, motivated by the need Conradin Bonorand, in a full page in his to defend himself against accusations, in the "Quaderni Grigionitaliani"13, concentrates on first case, or by the desire to pay homage to a series of crucial questions, culminating in an outstanding personage, in the second, or an appeal to analyze historical events objecti- information on the basis of which we may vely, avoiding the pitfalls inherent in ideo- speculate on the existence, in Sondrio, and logical apologetics. In other words, any sys- perhaps in other towns of the Valtellina, of tematic simplification should be eschewed more relaxed relations between the church- that sought, for example, to present the men of the two religions than is often main- Thusis Court as one that existed to pass sen- tained? Bonorand, returning to the subject of tence on men from the Valtellina – in fact, it Fr Rusca's arrest in a work published after his sentenced fewer than twenty but more than death, raised the interesting point that the one hundred and thirty "Bündner"; or a Catholic population of Sondrio and of other Protestant court that condemned Catholics. parts of Rhaetia had hardly reacted to the At Thusis there were also Catholic judges, passage of the armed band as it proceeded and numerous Protestants were found guilty, slowly through their territory14, for no real including one death sentence; or as a court attempt was made to stop the procession and motivated exclusively by religious intole- free the priest either in Sondrio, in the Val rance. The Criminal Court of Thusis aimed, Malenco, or throughout its march through especially, to neutralize the leading members Catholic Rhaetian communes, from to of the pro-Spanish faction in the Leagues and Thusis. Nor, in evaluating the slaying of Fr to force subjects to obey their prince. Rusca at Thusis should we lose sight of the Approaching the subject in this way certainly numerous abductions, which often ended in does not mean acquitting everyone, inas- much as all were more or less seriously at 12 Fortunat SPRECHER VON BERNEGG; Geschichte der bündner- fault, but merely recording complex events ischen Kriege und Unruhen. Erster Theil. Buch 1-10. Vom Jahre objectively, against the widest background in 1618 bis 1628, re-edited by Conradin von MOHR; Chur, 1856, p. 84. which they took place, and the way in which they were interconnected. 13 Conradin BONORAND; Attuale situazione delle ricerche sulla

Riforma e sulla Controriforma in Valtellina e in Valchiavenna; in:

Moreover, there is a need to clarify, in this "Quaderni Grigionitaliani", special number 1991, p. 95. spirit, what sort of relations there were between the Archpriest Rusca and the pastor 14 Conradin BONORAND, Reformatorische Emigration aus Italien of Sondrio Scipione Calandrino and perhaps, in die Drei Bünde. Ihre Auswirkung auf die kirchlichen Verhält- other Protestant preachers. When accused, at nisse. Ein Literaturbericht; Chur, 2000, p. 269.

[75] Nicolò Rusca

the execution of the victims, of a significant ceed in turning the people of the Valtellina number of Protestants, seized forcibly from into obedient subjects; on the contrary, League territories and handed over to the they put a final end to any chances of peace- Inquisition. If the arrest and killing of Fr ful coexistence. Rusca was brutal and unjustified, so too was To conclude, a brief mention of the main, the seizure of the pastor of Morbegno more easily accessible sources of informa- Francesco Cellario (abducted in 1568, he was tion regarding the Court of Thusis and the taken to Rome and killed in front of Castel trial of Nicolò Rusca, consisting of records of Sant' Angelo the following year) and that of the trial and some contemporary writings. pastor Lorenzo Soncino of Mello (who was The State Archives of Graubünden in Chur taken to Milan and killed in 1588), or the (Staatsarchiv Graubünden Chur AB 5/13), attempts on the life of Pastor Calandrino, the "Strafgerichtsprotokoll Thusis 1618 und attempt to abduct Pastor Ulisse Martinengo, Malans 1621", contain the minutes of the and many other similar acts recorded up to sessions of the Criminal Court of Thusis. the beginning of the 17th century. The text available appears to be a copy of the Thusis minutes, made for the League of the Ten Jurisdictions, to which is added a copy of the minutes relating to the activi- ties of the criminal court of Malans. Christian Kind15 believes that the original minutes were destroyed when the verdicts of the Thusis trials were revised by the court of Chur in 1619. The copy kept in the Chur State Archives lacks the pages giving the names of the members of the court, which are either missing or have been damaged. This makes it impossible to know exactly who the members of the criminal court of Thusis were. Another version of the court's proceedings, shorter than the one just referred to, of which it might be a summary, has been transcribed in the fifth volume of the records kept by the Rhaetian historian Conradin von Mohr, "Documente zur vater- One of the last points that remain to be ländischen Geschichte. Sec. XVII. 1538- made concerns the polarization of the fac- 1681", to be found in the State Archives of tions that took place in the Leagues and Graubünden (Staatsarchiv Graubünden subject territories – a development that also Chur AB IV 6/22). involved many exponents of Catholicism and Protestantism. At Thusis, the Leagues' The main printed sources regarding the judges were inclined to regard as of sec- proceedings of the Criminal Court of ondary importance the fact that Fr Rusca Thusis, especially the trial of the Archpriest was a leading clergyman in the subject ter- of Sondrio, Nicolao Rusca, consist of the ritories through whose arrest a serious contemporary chronicles of the Leagues of blow had been struck against the Roman Bartholomäus Anhorn, Fortunat Sprecher church in the Valtellina. In their opinion, von Bernegg, and Fortunat von Juvalta, as the fact that they were giving a rebel a well as of Giovanni Battista Bajacca of

Fortunat Sprecher sound lesson was more significant. As – Como. Bartholomäus Anhorn, a Protestant von Bernegg, the according to the chronicler Juvalta – Pastor pastor at Fläsch and , wrote Der League magistrate who met Fr Rusca Caspar Alexius said: "These subjects are an Graw-Pünter-Krieg 1603-1629, a ten-vol- and spoke well of him. obdurate lot and hold their heads too high: This engraving is in we must teach them how to bow them and 15Christian KIND; Das zweite Strafgericht in Thusis 1618; in: the Rhaetian Museum at Chur humiliate them". But Thusis did not suc- "Jahrbuch für Schweizer Geschichte", 1882, p. 292.

[76] “Hate the error, but love those who err” ume diary published by Conradin von who was a lawyer and a secretary to the Mohr, in the "Bündnerische Geschichts- papal legate Sarego, were re-published in schreiber und Chronisten" series in 1862. Como, in 1958, by the historian Pietro Fortunat Sprecher von Bernegg, who Gini. The appendix consists of a long letter hailed from Davos, is the author of Historia from Bajacca to the capuchin monk Tobia, motuum et bellorum (in two volumes, the guardian of Melzo. first of which covers the period 1608-1628 and the second the years 1629-1644). Paolo Tognina Sprecher von Bernegg held various posts in Head of evangelical broadcasts for Italian the Valtellina, personally made the Swiss Radio and Television, ; for- acquaintance of the Archpriest of Sondrio merly pastor of the evangelical reformed Nicolò Rusca, whose neighbour he was for church of Locarno two years, and carried out various diplo- matic missions on behalf of the Rhaetian Leagues. While the first two authors described cur- rent or recent events, the third, Fortunat von Juvalta, wrote, towards the end of his life, Commentarii vitae (translated into German and published by Conradin von Mohr in Chur, in 1848, under the title Denkwürdigkeiten, 1567-1649), a book of memoirs full of autobiographical refer- ences that, in particular, describes the troubled lands of Rhaetia. Fortunat von Juvalta was born at Zuoz, in the Engadine, attended Latin schools in Germany, was taught by the Jesuits, for two years worked as a clerk for his uncle, the Bishop of Chur Peter de Raschèr, held administrative posts in the Valtellina, and was appointed bish- op's bailiff for Fürstenau in 1641. A Protestant who was in constant touch with Catholics, von Juvalta was tried by the Judges at Thusis, in 1618, and sentenced to a heavy fine.

His description is not without resentment towards his judges, but is at the same time full of detail regarding the court's proceed- ings. Felici Maissen (Die ältesten Druck- schriften über den Erzpriester Nicolò Rusca, in: “Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte”, 54/1969, pp. 211-239) finally gave convincing proof, based on meticulous comparison, of the validity of the chronicle of events at Thusis written by Giovanni Battista Bajacca of Como and published as an appendix to his biography of the Archpriest of Sondrio, Nicolai Ruscae S.T.D. Sundrii in Valle Tellinae archipresbyteri anno MDCXVIII Tuscianae in Raethia ab haereticis necati vita et mors. The biography and chronicle of Bajacca,

[77]

“Hate the error, but love those who err”

The Good Shepherd Nicolò Rusca

Don Nicolò Rusca, the "good shepherd" in the stained-glass window made in 1935 for the presbytery of the Collegiate Church of Sondrio. Nicolò Rusca

On 8th November 1927, on behalf of one clear for the case to go forward. But for var- hundred and twenty-six parish priests from ious reasons it was not to be taken up again the Valtellina, the Archpriest of Sondrio until 50 years later, with the new diocesan Monsignor Pietro Maiolani petitioned the proceedings solemnly concluded in the new Bishop of Como, Monsignor Adolfo Sondrio Collegiate Church on 26th April Pagani, to contact the Holy See. They want- 1996. However, the long interval had not ed the Vatican to initiate the beatification been in vain. Indeed, all the documents proceedings of Fr Nicolò Rusca, the "arch- required have been examined, and much priest martyr", as he was commonly known new material has been found, collated and and invoked in our parts. studied in depth in Como, Milan, and Among the arguments in support of this abroad. It is hoped that the positio will soon petition to Pope Pius XI (previously the be published. Milanese Cardinal Achille Ratti), two recent canonizations of priests were cited: on 23rd Among the many Swiss and Italian scholars May 1920, Benedict XV had beatified the pri- and "postulators" who have investigated and mate of Ireland, Oliver Plunket, killed in researched Nicolò Rusca in recent decades London in 1681, and the same Pius XI, at are the following: Giuseppe Trezzi, the first Pentecost 1925, had canonized Jean-Marie postulator from 1934 to 1956; Alfonso Vianney, the "Curé of Ars". Codaghengo and Pietro Gini, who took on The petitioners were representative of wide- this role as titular and vicar respectively spread opinion, both in the diocese of Como until 1965; Lorenzo Casutt and Theophil and in the Ticino. Their hope and wish was Graf, both Capuchins, appointed in 1963 by to honour the martyr and shepherd of souls, Monsignor Fruttaz of the Relatio Historico- the heroic Archpriest of Sondrio, "a jewel Critica, followed up in 1974 by Fr Rocco of among priests and a model among Holy Bedano; Burckhardt Mathis, Melchiorre de Shepherds who fought for the faith and a Pobladura, Gilberto Agustoni, and Paolino true martyr of the […] will Rossi were postulators from 1966 to the pre- spur many on to love, uphold and defend the sent day. In different roles and periods, faith of their fathers with greater vigour […] Giuseppe Cerfoglia, Tarcisio Salice, Gio- a shining example for shepherds of souls, vanni Da Prada, and Saverio Xeres have uplifting spirits at times discouraged in the made important contributions to what is exercise of their sacred ministry". known about the historical, political and This letter did not achieve the perhaps over- religious events connected with Fr Nicolò ingenuously hoped-for effect. However, Rusca. One thing to have emerged from all together with the efforts of Fr Luigi the studies is certain: the death of the Guanella (also beatified in 1964) for the Archpriest of Sondrio was – as it has always "Rusca cause" in the early 1900s, it encour- been held to be, especially by Catholics – aged numerous suits by Monsignor true "martyrdom". However, the image and Alessandro Macchi, Monsignor Pagani's suc- sanctity of Fr Rusca are somewhat dimin- cessor. He took the matter to heart and ished by the title of mere martyr, even reached an agreement with the Bishops of though martyrdom represents the "greatest Lugano and Chur regarding territorial com- love" and is sufficient ground alone for can- petence. On 3rd November 1932, he onization. "This crowning event in his exis- obtained permission from the Congregation tence, which has to be understood in the of Rites for the beatification proceedings to light of his entire previous life, has risked be held in Como. attracting too much attention and obscur- In the meantime, he had assembled a per- ing the value of the daily 'taking up of the manent committee and set up the "College cross' that Jesus practised and asked of his of Petitioners", consisting of all the vicars followers". forane, the town parish priests, the canons Nicolò Rusca was thus both a good shepherd from the cathedral, and other eminent and a martyr: "a good shepherd who gives priests. The Informative Diocesan Procee- his life for his flock" (John, Ch. 10), but who dings were celebrated in 1935. The official first gets to know, gathers together, guides, records were sent to Rome and the way was nourishes, and defends it …

[80] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

The idea of further exploring the way people worship, the sacred furnishings, the times considered Fr Rusca's life and work, and not and decorum of services, encouragement of just his glorious martyrdom, had already the laity, associations and confraternities, the appealed greatly to Fr Gian Antonio care of vocations (he accompanied twenty Paravicini, a cleric trained by Fr Rusca in priests, carefully listed, to the altar), and his Sondrio who then became his successor, zeal for the priestly brotherhood. who wrote in Stato della Pieve di Sondrio: Of the clerics from Pieve, Fr Rusca says: "The "Not only did he behave like a martyr, he priests are all good and live far from scandals also showed himself worthy of being includ- and bad practices, and I have received no neg- ed among the Anchorites, Confessors, ative information about them; they are quiet Doctors, and Pontiffs for his attentive care men, distant from troubles and desirous to of his fold and flock: among the Doctors, for please the people and your office. […] As for his tireless preaching of the word of God; the priests resident in Sondrio, whom I see among the Confessors for his unique com- and speak to daily, they live excellent, impec- passion for and edification of the people; and cable lives. They are good, loving, and ready among the Anchorites for the solitude into to serve the church and help me in every way, which he retired for study and meditation. In the time left over from his parish duties and active life, he dedicated himself to con- templation, speculations, or buried himself in books, he was more in the company of Good than of men, more with books than with himself. Books were his table, God his table-companion, and heaven his supper- room …". Even taking into consideration the seven- teenth-century style and the exaggeration inspired by filial affection, the image of Fr Rusca outlined by Fr Paravicini tallies with the reports in official documents kept in the Curia of Como and published a few decades ago by Fr Tarcisio Salice, as well as with var- ious other writings and testimonies from that time. Among the records of the pastoral visit in 1614 by the Bishop of Como Filippo Archinti (1595-1621) is the Report written by Fr Rusca and the Memorandum of the trou- bles borne by the Archpriest, written by the parishioners who commend their parish priest. The style in both cases is serious and schematic. Both list facts, dates, and num- bers that represent a parish "reformed" in accordance with the standards of the Council of Trent, and an awareness of Milan and Saint Carlo Borromeo, recognized as their model so much so that I could not wish them to be by the bishops who strove to reform the better. They get on with each other and with Catholic church. Fr Rusca, with all his myself so well that when we are together we strengths and counting on the grace of God, derive great consolation, as if we were sons of bestowed on him for so much prayer, devoted the same mother". This information is in The so-called himself unceasingly to all the problems that itself enough to make Rusca not only the Trattato sulle decime (Treatise on Tithes), arose in those particularly difficult times. ideal "post-Tridentine shepherd" but, with a a manuscript by Nicolò Fr Rusca's report to Bishop Archinti covers little "updating", a very valid model for "post" Rusca, written in 1618 all aspects of pastoral life: the conservation Vatican II priests. It is not easy to describe and kept in the Sondrio Parochial Archives and restoration of buildings and places of here, fully and exhaustively, all Fr Nicolò

[81] Nicolò Rusca

Rusca's work, from administering the sacra- sacrifice". Perhaps not by chance, the more ments and educating adult Christians in the recent likeness of Nicolò Rusca on the faith – with the catechism organized accord- stained-glass window in the apse of the ing to the methods of the priest from Lake Collegiate Church is different. It was placed Como, Castellino da Castello - to careful here in 1935, at the time of the "informative administration of the property of the proceedings" for the beatification. Fr Rusca church, the chapter, and the benefice. stands upright, his biretta, red stole, and Even as a good citizen, Fr Rusca carried out white surplice contrasting with his long his valuable, enlightened, sagacious pastoral black cassock; in his right hand he holds a crucifix and in the left a book. The inscrip- tion below says: Pastor bonus, Nicolaus Rusca archipresbyter Sondriensis. 1618." "Good shepherd": there could hardly be a more concise and apt inscription than this to sum up twenty-eight years of priesthood, his trial, and his martyrdom.

Mons. Alessandro Botta Archpriest of the Collegiate Church and Episcopal Vicar of the

work. Fr Tarcisio Salice wrote: "As a striver after peace Fr Rusca was a man of great equilibrium. For these gifts of his […], pri- vate individuals, Valtellina officials, and even magistrates of the Leagues often used him as an arbitrator in matters of inheri- tance, the sharing of expenses among Valtellina communities, and even questions relating to competence as between Catholic and Protestant families". The numerous descriptions of Fr Rusca that have reached us show him to have been an intrepid fighter and above all a martyr who gave his life for his faith in Christ. Even the

The first page of the famous portrait above the casket containing printed edition the Archpriest's bones (painted by Antonio of the speech praising Fr Rusca by the Caimi and commissioned by the Confra- Archpriest of Sondrio ternity of the Blessed Sacrament in 1852, Antonio Maffei on 8th August 1852, when the relics were transferred from the during the ceremony Sassella Sanctuary to the Collegiate Church marking the transfer of the martyr-priest's mor- of Sondrio) gives a three-quarter view of the tal remains from the priest in an attitude that tries to show – as Sanctuary of Sassella to Tommaso Levi writes – "the inmost feelings the Collegiate Church of Sondrio of man almost transfigured by his supreme

[82] “Hate the error, but love those who err”

Acknowledgements

Our grateful thanks go to: the Parish of Saints Gervasio and Protasio in Sondrio, the Parish of Sessa, the Municipality of Bedano, the "Pio Rajna" Civic Library of Sondrio (for kindly permitting us to reproduce the pictures on pages 61, 66, 71, and 82), the Valtellina Museum of History and Art at Sondrio, the Grisons State Archives in Chur, and all those who, in various ways, have provided the information, various particulars and advice that helped us to produce this work.

Photographs

Paolo Antamati (p. 65)

Pino Brioschi (p. 55, 67)

Massimo Mandelli (p. 54, 57, 61, 66, 71, 72, 74, 76, 81, 82)

Federico Pollini (p. 53, 62, 78, 79)

Reto Reinhardt (p. 68, 69)

Massimo Tognolini (p. 56) DESIGN AND CO-ORDINATION SDB, Chiasso

GRAPHIC DESIGN Lucasdesign, Bellinzona

Reverse of flyleaf:

Giovanni Battista BAJACCA, Nicolai Ruscae S.T.D. Sundrii in Valle Tellina Archipresbyteri anno MDCXVIII Tuscianae in Rhetia¸ ab Hereticis ¸ necati Vita & Mors, Como, 1621; Italian translation by Giuseppe ROMEGALLI, 1826