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[English Version] . Die ligurisch-etruskische Siedlung wurde im 3.Jh. v.Chr. Bundesgenossin Roms und entwickelte sich schon in der Antike zu einem wichtigen Militärhafen. Eine langobardische Vogtei, unter den Franken Teil der toskanischen Marken, stieg P. im 11.Jh. zu einer bedeutenden See- und Handelsmacht auf (Siege gegen die Sarazenen, starker Einfluß auf Korsika und Sardinien). Die berühmten Gebäude der Piazza dei miracoli: die erzbfl. Kathedrale, der schiefe Glockenturm, das Baptisterium, ent…

[English Version] Sixtus IV., Papst 9.8.1471–12.8.1484 (Francesco della Rovere, geb. 21.7.1414 Celle). Der Franziskaner studierte Theol. in Bologna und Padua und lehrte selbst an verschiedenen ital. Universitäten. 1462 röm. Provinzial-, seit 1464 Generalminister, versuchte er mit einer Ordensreform die Spaltung zw. Observanten und Konventualen zu überwinden. Als Kardinal (seit 1467) vf. er noch theol. Schriften, bis er 1471 zum Papst gewählt wurde. Ohne eigene Hausmacht, berief er zahlreiche Verwan…

[English Version] Rosmini(-Serbati), Antonio (24.3.1797 Rovereto – 1.7.1855 Stresa). Die Philos. des 1821 zum Priester geweihten Privatgelehrten will das moderne Denken mit dem Christentum versöhnen. Im Gegensatz zum Empirismus und in Auseinandersetzung mit I. Kant entfaltet R. ein idealistisches System. Die Analyse der sinnlichen Erkenntnis zeige, daß sie die objektiv-reale Idee des Seins voraussetze. Die Seinsidee schlägt die Brücke von der autonomen Philos. zur übernatürlichen Theol. Den Rationa…

[English Version] Pius II., Papst 19.8.1458 – 14.8.1464 (Enea Silvio de'Piccolomini, geb. 18.10.1405 Corsignano bei Siena), ein bedeutender Humanist auf dem päpstl. Thron. Nach juristischen und humanistischen Studien in Siena und Florenz nahm P. im Gefolge verschiedener Prälaten am Konzil von Basel teil. Er schloß sich dem konziliaristischen Denken seiner Arbeitgeber an und wurde 1440 Sekretär des Konzilspapstes Felix (V.). König Friedrich III. krönte ihn auf dem Frankfurter Reichstag 1442 zum Dich…

[English Version] (Vornamen Giovanni Francesco legendär; 11.2.1380 Terranuova – 30.10.1459 Florenz), bedeutender Humanist. Nach der Ausbildung zum Notar in Florenz wurde er 1403 Schreiber bei Papst Bonifatius IX. 1414 reiste er mit Johannes (XXIII.) zum Konzil von Konstanz. Während seines dortigen Aufenthaltes entdeckte er zahlreiche wichtige verschollene Hsn. antiker Autoren, darunter Reden Ciceros und »De rerum natura« von Lukrez. Nach der Wahl Martins V. zunächst zurückgesetzt, hielt sich P. 14…

[English Version] Spiera, Francesco (1502 Cittadella – 27.12.1548 ebd.); der Anwalt widerrief 1548 vor der Inquisition seinen ev. Rechtfertigungsglauben, wurde danach depressiv, weil er die unvergebbare »Sünde wider den hl. Geist« begangen zu haben vermeinte, und starb schnell eines natürlichen Todes. Bf. P. P. Vergerio begleitete S. und führte seinen Übertritt zum Protestantismus auf diese Erfahrung zurück. Seine weit verbreitete Beschreibung von S.s Sterben (später von Calvin bevorwortet) warnte Kryptoprotestanten davor, ihren Glauben zu verheimlichen. Joachim Wein…

[English Version] (Steuco), Augustin (1496 Gubbio, Umbrien – 18. [?] 3.1548 Venedig), Humanist, als guter Kenner orientalischer Sprachen Bibliothekar bei Kardinal Grimani in Venedig, 1529 Prior von San Marco in Reggio (Emilia), 1538 Bf. von Kissamos (Kreta), 1542 Bibliothekar an der Bibliotheca Vaticana, Teilnehmer am Tridentinum. Er schrieb gegen Luther und Erasmus von Rotterdam und verteidigte die Echtheit der konstantinischen Schenkung gegen L. Valla. Auch als Exeget bedeutend, entfaltet er in s…

[English Version] Savonarola, Hieronymus (21.9.1452 Ferrara – 23.5.1498 Florenz), Enkel des berühmten Hofarztes der Herzöge von Ferrara, Michele S., studierte in der Artistenfakultät seiner Heimatstadt und sollte später auch Arzt werden. Die kirchl. und gesellschaftlichen Krisenphänomene seiner Zeit erweckten in ihm Zweifel an der Existenz bzw. Vorsehung Gottes. Schließlich deutete er den empfundenen Verfall von Kirche und Welt als Vorzeichen des bevorstehenden Jüngsten Gerichts, floh 1475 aus dem …

[German Version] (the forenames Giovanni Francesco are legendary; Feb 11, 1380, Terranuova – Oct 30, 1459, Florence), outstanding Humanist. After training as a notary in Florence, he was appointed secretary to Pope Boniface IX in 1403. In 1414 he traveled with John XXIII (Antipope) to the Council of Constance. During his stay there, he discovered numerous important forgotten manuscripts of classical authors, including speeches of Cicero and Lucretius’s De rerum natura. With his career initially interrupted by the election of Martin V, he resided in England from 14…

[German Version] (1496 Gubbio, Umbria – Mar 18 [?], 1548, Venice), Humanist and expert in biblical languages. He was Cardinal Grimani’s librarian in Venice. In 1529 he became prior of San Marco in Reggio (Emilia). In 1538 he was appointed bishop of Chisamo (Crete). In 1542 he was appointed prefect of the Vatican Library. He participated in the Council of Trent. He wrote against Luther and Erasmus and defended the authenticity of the Donation of Constantine against L. Valla. Besides being a notable exegete, in his major work De perenni philosophia (1540) he elaborated on the thesis of…

[German Version] (Enea Silvio Piccolomini, born Oct 18, 1405, Corsignano, near Siena; pope Aug 19, 1485 – Aug 14, 1464), an outstanding Humanist on the throne of St. Peter. After legal and humanistic studies at Siena and Florence, he participated in the Council of Basel in the entourage of various prelates. He supported the conciliarist ideas of his employers and in 1440 was appointed secretary to the conciliar pope Felix V. At the Frankfurt diet of 1442, King Frederick III crowned him imperial po…

[German Version] was founded in 59 bce as a settlement of Roman veterans on the site of an old post on the Via Cassia. First occurrences of martyrdom may have taken place under Decius (250). The earliest bishop ¶ known by name is Felix (c. 313). Florence was the seat of a Lombardian duke (Lombards), then of a Frankish count, and became the center of the Margravate of Tuscany in c. 1050. In the 12th century, the community emancipated itself from the authority of the bishop, as symbolically expressed by the course of the new city walls…

[German Version] (Aug 11, 1492 – Aug 18, 1503). Born as Rodrigo de Borja/Borgia in 1430/1432 near Valencia, he was appointed cardinal in 1456 by his uncle Callistus III, and vice-chancellor of the Vatican in 1457. The adroit canon lawyer held this office for 35 years under five popes. Initially, his un-canonical lifestyle – while still a cardinal, he held …

[German Version] (1313, Rome – Oct 8, 1354, Rome). The son of an innkeeper, Cola went to Avignon as a notary with a Roman delegation (1343/1344), whereupon Clement VI appointed him to a communal government office. Cola showed the Romans his enthusiasm for the ancient greatness of their city by explaining the extant relics to them. On the Feast of Pentecost (May 20) in 1347, he stirred a popular rebellion against the baronial nobility of the city and had the righ…

[German Version] As early as the 3rd century bce, this Ligurian-Etruscan settlement became an ally of Rome, and developed in antiquity into an important military port. It was under a Lombard governor; then, under the Franks, became part of the Tuscan Marche; and in the 11th century rose to become a significant sea and trading power (with victories against the Saracens, increasing influence on Corsica and Sardinia). The famous buildings of the Piazza dei Miracoli – the archiepiscopal cathedral, the leani…

[German Version] (degli Albizzeschi) (Sep 8, 1380, Massa Marittima – May 20, 1444, Aquila) was canonized in 1450. Reared in Siena, where he later studied canon law, the theologically trained Franciscan gained great fame as a preacher in many Italian cities. In 1415, he became Vicar General for the Tuscan, and in 1438–1442 for the Italian Observance. Living strictly according to …

[German Version] (Oct 24, 1749, Osterode – Jun 1, 1827, Kiel), studied in Göttingen with the goal of attaining a level of scolarship that was as broad as possible. As a private tutor in Bückeburg he became friends with J. Herder, upon whose recommendation he became prorector of the Gymnasium in Lemgo in 1775. From 1778, he was rector of the Council Gymnasium in Osnabrück. Kleuker wrote and translated many works, especially on the history of religion in relation to the Bible and Asian religions. His involvement in the Fragments Controversy – against H. Reimarus – is recorded in the Neue Prüfung…

[German Version] (1490, Marino – Feb 25, 1547, Rome), poet, born into the powerful noble Colonna family. In 1509 she married the Marchese di Pescara; her early poems glorify her husband as a heroic Christian warrior. The poems composed after his death in 1525 are dominated by the themes of contempt for the world, longing for heaven, and suffering (her own and that of Christ) as the way to salvation. A few ascetic works exemplify passion mysticism. Wherever she wa…

[German Version] From 1201, some members of this Florentine merchant family had served in high government offices in their city, but its definitive ascent began in 1421 with Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (1360 – Feb 20, 1429, Florence) as gonfaloniere di giustizia (“banner bearer of justice”). After successes in foreign policy, the rich banker obligated himself to the popolo minuto (lower and middle classes) through a tax reform. ¶ His son Cosimo (Sep 27, 1389, Florence – Aug 1, 1464, Florence) was at first banished by a patrician party, but from 1429 to 1464 he dire…

[German Version] (Mar 24, 1797, Rovereto – Jul 1, 1855, Stresa). The philosophy of Rosmini-Serbati, an independent scholar ordained to the priesthood in 1821, sought to reconcile modern thought with Christianity. In opposition to Empiricism and in debate with the work of I. Kant, he developed an Idealistic system, arguing that analysis of acquired cognitions shows that they presuppose an objectively real idea of being. This idea of being bridges the gap between autonomous philosophy and supernatur…

[German Version] (Sep 21, 1452, Ferrara – May 23, 1498, Florence), the grandson of Michele Savonarola, a famous court physician to the dukes of Ferrara. He studied at the arts faculty of Ferrara, intending to become a physician himself. The crises shaking the church and society gave him doubts about the existence or providence of God. Finally he interpreted the decay of the church and the world that he was experiencing as a sign of the imminent Last Judgment; he fled his parental home in 1475 and …

[German Version] (May 3, 1469, Florence – Jun 22, 1527, Florence). Born to an impoverished family, the brilliant Humanist was barred from the highest public office, but in 1498 he was appointed secretary of the second chancery of his home city. As permanent head of the chancery, it was his responsibility to prepare decisions regarding military and foreign policy for members of the regime, whose term of office was short. In the course of diplomatic missions, first to Italian princes, then to the king of France, the emperor, and the pope, he developed a keen eye for Realpolitik. With the end …

[German Version] (May 20, 1470, Venice – Jan 18, 1547, Rome) prepared a philologically revised print edition of F. Petrarca's poems and of Dante's “Commedia” (1501/1502), an occupation that prompted him to write “Prose della vulgar lingua” (1525), which established him as the founder of Italian vernacular philology. Bembo himself wa…

[German Version] (Nov 24 or 25, 1444, Venice – Jan 15, 1525, Murano), from a Venetian patrician family, classically educated, became a Camaldolese in 1462. In 1479, he became the abbot of his monastery San Michele di Murano, and general of the order in 1480. In this position he appealed for disciplinary reform. He turned down the office of bishop several times. His resi¶ dence in Camaldoli, Tuscany, brought him into contact with the Medici. Delfino was at first on friendly te…

[German Version] (Oct 3, 1851, Kettwig – Dec 28, 1935, Halle) studied theology from 1869 to 1872 in Bonn, Berlin, and Halle. In 1873, he became university tutor in Göttingen, where he found his teacher in A. Ritschl, whose theology he later defended against E. Troeltsch and the history of religions school. However, as professor of systematic theology (1878: Gießen, 1904: Göttingen, 1906: Halle), Kattenbusch's publications dealt almost exclusively with symbolism and the history of theology ( Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Confessionskunde, 1892; Das apostolische Symbol, 1894/1900; Di…

[German Version] (Aug 9, 1471 – Aug 12, 1484; Francesco della Rovere, born Jul 21, 1414, Celle Ligure). The future pope, a Franciscan, studied theology in Bologna and Padua and also taught at various Italian universities. He was elected Roman provincial of the order in 1462 and minister general in 1464; in that office, he sought to resolve the schism between the Observants and the Conventuals by internal reforms. After being made a cardinal (1467), he continued to write theological works until ele…

[German Version] (1502, Cittadella, – Dec 27, 1548, Cittadella). In 1548 Spiera, an Italian jurist, recanted his Protestant belief in justification by faith before the Inquisition. He fell into a depression because he believed he had committed the unforgiveable “sin against the Holy Spirit” and soon died a natural death. Bishop P.P. Vergerio cared for him and ascribed his conversion to Protestantism to this experience. His widely published account of Spiera’s death (later with a foreword by Calvin) warned crypto-Protestants against concealing their faith. Joachim Weinhardt Biblio…

[German Version] (born in Barletta, southern Italy, died after 1481) was a Dominican, for a time teacher of theology in Parma, prior in Siena, and preacher of repentance in several northern Italian cities. He relaxed the customary manner of scholastic preaching somewhat through the use of many examples and, occasionally, by means of an earthy humorous tone. His sermons were widely distributed. According to the proverb, Nescit praedicare, qui nescit barlettare. Joachim Weinhardt Bibliography A. Alecci, DBI VI, 1964, 399f SOPMA II, 1975, 4f.

[German Version] (Dec 6, 1846, Melkow – Jan 2, 1922, Marburg). The son of a minister who was strongly influenced by F.D.E. Schleiermacher, A. Neander, K.I. Nitzsch and K.B. Hundeshagen, he studied theology at Halle (1866/67–1870) during which time he became closely associated with F.A.G. Tholuck, in whose home he lived and worked as an amanuensis (assistant) for two and a half years. In 1870/71, he fought as a volunteer in the Franco-German War, which turned into a national and religious experienc…

[German Version] (Pierozzi) (1389 – May 2, 1459), the son of a Florentine notary, was canonically educated. He was the prior of various Italian Dominican monasteries (e.g. San Marco in Florence), auditor rotae, vicar general of the Observant branch of the order in central and southern Italy; in 1446, he became archbishop of Florence; he was canonized in 1523. His works (confessional guide, summa theologica moralis, chronicle of world history) were also distributed beyond Italy in many editions. Joachim Weinhardt Bibliography RAMi 1990, 221–451 (several contributions, bibl.).

[German Version] (Mar 6, 1483, Florence – Feb 22, 1540, Montici), Renaissance politician and historian. The attorney trained in civil law was ambassador ¶ of the Florentine Republic to Spain in 1512/13. In 1516, Leo X Medici called him to be governor of Modena and, in 1517, also of Reggio. Clement VII Medici named him president of Romagna in 1524. After 1526, he remained at the curia as adviser. Definitively involved in the decisions of the Anti-imperial League of Italian States in 1526, he remained with the army as the papal delegate. When, after the sacco di Roma, the Florentines expelled…

[German Version] 1. Balthasar I (Feb 27, 1565, Bad Sooden-Allendorf – Jan 6, 1627, Marburg). Having studied in Marburg and served as a pastor in Kirtorf, Mentzer became professor in Marburg in 1596 and was awarded a Dr.theol. on Feb 14, 1600, but was dismissed in 1605 for his rejection of the forced “Calvinization” imposed by Landgrave Moritz. In 1607, he became professor at the University of Giessen, in the establishment of which he had been significantly involved since 1605. He returned to Marburg …