Matteo Al Kalak

During the discussions that took place at the Council of Trent, an extraordinary amount of information enlivened the contacts between the assembly and the various parts of Catholic Europe. Numerous representatives of the Sacred College appointed trusted men to keep them exhaustively up to date about the developments of the proceedings. This is the context in which, during the last stage of the Council, the Bishop of Modena, the Dominican Egidio Foscarari (1512-1564), kept up a correspondence with Milanese cardinal Giovanni Morone (1509-1580), his precursor in the Emilian diocese and President of the Assembly since 1563.
Born in Bologna in 1512, Foscarari entered the city's convent of San Domenico at fourteen years of age. He was appointed Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace in 1547. Having moved to Rome, he attended the sessions of the Holy Office and was promoted Bishop of Modena. Here he embarked upon a strict reform of ecclesiastical practice: he saw to the renewal of liturgical worship, preached personally in many parishes, made a pastoral visit, supported the poor with charitable works and led a rigorous, ascetic life. He took part in all phases of the Council's work, first as a theologian and then in his capacity as bishop. After the works had concluded, Pius IV called him to Rome to draw up the List of Prohibited Books, the Catechism, the Breviary and the Missal. Exhausted by his labours and by the complications of an infection, he died on December 22, 1564.
His relationship with Morone was close and confidential, as evidenced by the fact that when Morone was tried for heresy by Paul IV, Foscarari was imprisoned due to having received documents for the defence.
Because of this relationship, the letters that the two men of the Church exchanged during the last phase of the Council (from Foscarari's departure for Trent in April 1561, to March 1563 when Morone reached the assembly) testify to an intense exchange of views and information.
Among the many subjects discussed in the letters, the three most important ones concerned the debate as to which definition the new Council session should be given, participation of Protestants in the assembly and the violent clash over the bishops' obligation of residence.
With regard to the first point, which aimed at defining whether the works should be considered a continuation of the previous ones (Spain's position) or a new assembly (opinion of the Imperial party and the French), Foscarari appears to have opted for a third solution. In his opinion, rather than waste time in terminological disputes, it would have been better for the Council to continue the action undertaken with a certain degree of flexibility in order to reach a rapprochement with the Protestants. The Dominican's position was partly the same as that of Ercole Gonzaga, his principal contact in the Council, and of Giovanni Morone, testifying to a substantial agreement with the opinions of the Imperial party. To re-establish the relations with the reformed factions it would have been necessary to interpret some of the decisions that had already been taken in a non-restrictive way – first of all, the de iustificatione decrees of January 1547 – and, for example, to revise the overly severe List of Prohibited Books promulgated by Paul IV in 1558/59.
This was the context, where certain fathers and representatives of the Sacred College meditated on how to “rehabilitate” the Council, in which another operation was put into effect when the meeting resumed, i.e. the edition of the manuscripts by English cardinal Reginald Pole, especially the De concilio treatise. According to Foscarari, release of that text would have persuaded the Lutherans to join the assembly. However, after it had been published, the Dominican discovered several discrepancies between the manuscript and the volume printed by Paolo Manuzio. It seems reasonable to suppose that the very supporters of the operation – first and foremost Morone, a very close friend of Pole and, with him, member of the so-called “Spirituali”, or Spiritual circle – were the ones who suggested changes to the text to suit the decisions of the Council (thus an attempt to correct, in the Orthodox sense, certain doubtful or problematical passages).
The aforementioned issues led to the second point that emerges from the correspondence, that of the participation of heretics in the Council. Foscarari promoted an open-minded position. His attitude became clear during discussions about granting safe conduct to the Protestants, in which he took part so that an agreement might be reached. But most especially it was the chance to admit, to the Council, heretics who wished to reconcile themselves to the Church that aroused in him the greatest hope. The Dominican would have preferred those who had repented to be absolved by the assembly, thereby avoiding the Inquisitorial court. By making a stand for his beliefs, the then bishop of Modena had in mind the many dissidents in his diocese who, in some cases, had fled to avoid being sentenced by the Inquisition.
A similar desire to meditate and settle the religious rifts concerned the Petition for the Concession of the Chalice. In accordance with Morone and, again, with the Imperial party, Foscarari repeatedly declared that he was in favour of the provision, pointing out how further splits in the Germanic area were to be avoided.
However, the close relationship between Foscarari and Morone deteriorated over another issue, which threatened to jeopardize the Council: proclamation of the bishops' obligation of residence de iure divino. Despite the fact that many fathers strongly clamoured for the bishops' duty of residence, the Pope and the Roman Curia opposed vigorous resistance. According to its supporters, ius divinum would have reduced absenteeism and the number of dispensations from the Pope or the Roman courts, while in moral terms, it would have obligated the bishops, under penalty of mortal sin. As mentioned previously, the Curia took a different view: it saw, in that proclamation, a serious threat to its power and an excessive degree of autonomy for the bishops with respect to papal primacy. Through Ludovico Simonetta, papal legate to the Council, the upper echelons of the Curia rallied the various fathers (the majority of whom were Italian), exhorting them to oppose that ruling. During the dispute, Giovanni Morone also sided against ius divinum in favour of the pontifical reasons. This necessarily led to a serious clash with Foscarari who, on the contrary, stoutly defended a stricter definition of the bishops' duty of residence. As the Dominican explained in various letters, he was compelled to make that choice by reasons of conscience leading him to believe that it was a fundamental measure which could not be put off if the reform of the Church was to be effective and a rapprochement with the Protestants was to be achieved. Such was Foscarari's disappointment when Morone sided against him that he preferred to ask for permission to abandon the Council and return to his diocese. Halted by the legates when he was already wearing his boots and about to set off for Modena, the Dominican remained in the assembly until its conclusion, progressively softening his position and assisting Morone when the cardinal was called upon to superintend the works first-hand.
Owing to the importance of its protagonists and the matters discussed, the letters published here provide significant insight into the conciliar events while allowing new conjectures to be advanced as to the strategies adopted by one of its authoritative protagonists and by he who was to bring about a positive conclusion.
This edition comprises 133 letters: of these, only three are by Giovanni Morone, while the remaining ones belong to Egidio Foscarari.
The structure of Foscarari's letters – the majority of which archived in their originals – was affected by having been updated almost daily: the accounts are marked by the progress of the days of the week which, usually from the farthest to the nearest, divide the chronicle of events. Documents were often attached to the missives (draft decrees, compositions of assembly commissions, votes of the fathers, etc.) but very few of them have been conserved.
Unpublished until now, the originals of Morone's letters published here have not been traced. Their evident asymmetry is partly compensated by their help in piecing together Morone's point of view from the replies he received.

Chi fu Egidio Foscarari? Per molti oggi il suo nome è quello di un personaggio minore del Cinquecento religioso. In realtà, le questioni che fu chiamato ad affrontare lo videro impegnato, spesso con ruoli di primo piano, su alcuni dei fronti più caldi del momento. Domenicano e teologo, partecipò ai lavori del Sant’Ufficio per la stesura del primo Indice romano e, negli ultimi anni di vita, fu incaricato di compilare il Catechismo tridentino e di riformare il Breviario e il Messale. Principale collaboratore di Giovanni Morone alla chiusura del concilio di Trento, venne riconosciuto da tutti come uno dei più autorevoli membri dell’assemblea. Quando fu destinato come vescovo alla diocesi di Modena, cercò di riassorbire con mitezza il dissenso religioso spendendosi per una riforma della Chiesa incentrata sul rigore morale e la povertà. Ciò nonostante, l’Inquisizione lo processò e continuò a ritenerlo un pericoloso fiancheggiatore di eretici, di cui bisognava in ogni modo cancellare il ricordo.

Il volume propone la riedizione della Pubblica felicità e la prima edizione critica delle lezioni impartite da Muratori al principe ereditario Francesco Maria d'Este (i cosiddetti Rudimenti di filosofia morale). Il volume è preceduto da un'ampia introduzione del curatore e da un saggio di Cesare Mozzarelli

Solitamente il nome di Lodovico Antonio Muratori è associato alle grandi opere sul Medioevo, alla riforma della cultura e della Chiesa o alle dotte ricostruzioni degli Annali d’Italia. Meno noto è invece il volto giovanile dell’erudito, cresciuto nella partecipazione a numerose accademie letterarie e impegnato in un intenso lavoro di scavo tra i tesori della Biblioteca Ambrosiana. A questa stagione risalgono otto orazioni, sinora inedite, in cui Muratori sondò temi e argomenti che sarebbero risultati centrali nella sua produzione successiva: l’importanza della filosofia morale per l’educazione dei giovani, il ruolo delle passioni umane, le forme politiche del vivere comunitario e la storia sacra. Attraverso gli otto brevi componimenti è così possibile scorgere i primi bagliori del Muratori a venire e toccare con mano la precocità con cui il vignolese individuò i temi essenziali cui avrebbe dedicato il resto della sua vita.

This article traces the foundation and development of confraternities in the city of Modena and identifies key events that influenced how lay associations determined the social, spiritual, and cultural responsibilities outlined in their statutes. Over time, however , the confraternities underwent major changes to their corporate identity and subsequently adapted their statutes to reflect those changes. The article also charts the documentary lineage of the regulations that governed Modena's confraternities, revealing the complexity of both internal and external influences that affected the ways in which the societies designed, updated, and enforced their statutes.

Il saggio indaga la costruzione di una tradizione erudita estense a opera di L.A. Muratori. In quest'ambito, la rilettura e la valorizzazione dell'opera di Alessandro Tassoni svolgono un ruolo fondamentale nell'ottica di codificazione di una memoria estense, che in Castelvetro, Tassoni e nello stesso Muratori ha i suoi esponenti di punta.

L'articolo ripercorre le vicende che portarono all'elaborazione del Catechismo tridentino, pubblicato a Roma per i tipi di Paolo Manuzio nel 1566. Con l'ausilio di nuovi documenti, si propone una ricostruzione puntuale degli eventi intercorsi tra la conclusione del concilio di Trento e la stampa romana, esaminando i lavori della commissione redazionale e i successivi interventi di revisione. Si delinea così una cronologia precisa, in cui non mancano riferimenti agli altri libri affidati dal concilio alla Santa Sede (Indice, Breviario e Messale). Al termine, sono inoltre formulate alcune ipotesi per una nuova interpretazione del manoscritto del Catechismo conservato presso la Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana e una diversa datazione degli interventi in esso contenuti.

This article investigates the actions of the eighteenth-century Roman Inquisition, looking at controlling sexuality and social control in particular. To this end, it examines the actions of an " atypical " outlying tribunal: the Modena tribunal. In the 1700s, the tribunal's activities did not decline, as the number of trials held increased. Possible reasons for this anomaly and its characteristics are illustrated in response to certain questions: what instructions did Modena receive from the Holy Office in Rome? What was the Modena tribunal's actual reaction? The article demonstrates the existence of not only a discrepancy between the Roman Congregation's instructions and the behavior of the judges in Modena, but also differing priorities regarding which crimes to pursue. The Modena anomaly is compared with other Italian inquisitorial offices, identifying idiosyncrasies and points of convergence: in the case of Modena—capital of the Duchy of Modena—it seems the Inquisition acted as a tool of social control and moralization, alongside a relatively weak political power. Lastly, the case in question highlights a methodological matter: the documentation from Rome (e.g. correspondence with local inquisitions) does not reflect the reality of events in the outlying offices, thus requiring caution and, where possible, verification, when used.

The issue of heresy in Modena may be described in terms of a long line of humanists, religious figures, merchants and also common people who, over the course of some 50 years, gave life to a fervid movement of doctrinal dissent, of which the inquisitional trial documents that we now have access to show the form and scale. The case of Pietro Antonio da Cervia, put on trial and burnt at the stake by the Holy Office of Bologna in 1567, would be no more than one of many similar episodes, had his confessions not demonstrated to the judges of faith the workings and contents of that "community of brothers" which, after its learned beginnings at the Academy of Grillenzoni, had radicalised its theological stance and profoundly altered the organisational framework of the local heterodoxy. Following the confessions of the heretic thus constitutes an implicit journey through the ideas and the men that faced one another in those years of hard-nosed contrast, allowing us to gather the tensions and strategies that developed during the period of return to order promoted by the Catholic authorities.

Il contributo prende in considerazione la comunicazione letteraria tra Italia e Inghilterra concentrandosi sull’azione del residente inglese Henry Davenant (1681-1739?). Dopo una missione in Germania nel primo decennio del Settecento, dal 1714 al 1721 il diplomatico fu incaricato di rappresentare la Corona presso la Repubblica di Genova, il Granducato di Toscana e i Ducati di Modena e Parma. In quegli anni, oltre a intessere proficui rapporti con Anton Maria Salvini e altri intellettuali toscani, Davenant stabilì un confronto a distanza con l’erudito Lodovico Antonio Muratori, bibliotecario del duca Rinaldo I d’Este e consigliere di corte. Attraverso la corrispondenza tra i due, viene ricostruita la promozione delle opere di Joseph Addison in ambito estense, secondo un modello adottato anche in Toscana e a Genova. Ne emerge un quadro articolato di confronto culturale, che rivela l’utilizzo sistematico dei canali diplomatici per favorire la circolazione di opere inglesi in contesto italiano e, specularmente, l’invio di testi italiani in Inghilterra.