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St Pius V (1504–72) and Sta Caterina De’ Ricci (1523–90): Two Ways of Being a Saint in Counter-Reformation Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Patrick Preston
Patrick Preston*
Affiliation:
University of Chichester
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Extract

Recent students of the Counter-Reformation in Italy have not neglected the subject of sanctity. For example, one such student, Peter Burke, has dealt with it in a general and theoretical way, while others, such as Gabriella Zarri, have concentrated on certain classes of saints, in her case female saints and beatae. Scholars, however, whose interests are in the particular rather than the general, have tended to prefer to study the lives and times of individual saints, and the perceptions of them by their contemporaries. A different approach altogether has been to study a particular aspect of sanctity, such as hagiography or canonization. Similarly, some scholars have concentrated on the salient aspects of the contribution that particular individuals made to the work of the Church militant, for example church reform in the case of Charles Borromeo or the repression of heresy in that of Michele Ghislieri.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 47: Saints and Sanctity , 2011 , pp. 208 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2011

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References

1 Burke, Peter, ‘How to be a Counter-Reformation Saint’, in idem, The Historical Anthropology of Early Modern Italy: Essays on Perception and Communication (Cambridge, 1987), 48–62 Google Scholar.

2 Zarri, Gabriella, Le santé vive. Cultura e religiosità femminile nella prima età moderna (Turin, 1990).Google Scholar

3 For Neri, see, e.g., Papàsogli, G., Filippo Neri. Un secolo, un uomo (San Paolo, 2002)Google Scholar; Russo, Maria Teresa Bonadonna and del Re, Niccolò, eds, San Filippo Neri nella realtà romana del XVI secolo. Atti del convegno di studio in occasione del IV centenario della morte di San Filippo Neri (1595–1995)Google Scholar, Roma, 11–13 maggio 1995 (Rome, 2000)Google Scholar. For Borromeo, see, e.g., Joannes, Fernando-Vittorino, Vita e tempi di Carlo Borromeo (Brescia, 1985)Google Scholar.

4 See e.g., Polizzotto, Lorenzo, ‘The Making of a Saint: The Canonization of St Antonino, 1516–1523’ Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 22 (1992), 353–81.Google Scholar For another example of this approach, see Turchini, Angelo, La fabbrica di un santo. Il processo di canonizzazione di Carlo Borromeo e la Controriforma (Casale Monferrato, 1984).Google Scholar

5 For Church reform, see, e.g., Headley, John M. and Tomaro, John B., eds, San Carlo Borromeo: Catholic Reform and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century (Washington, DC, 1988)Google Scholar. For the prosecution of heresy, see, e.g., Firpo, M. and Marcatto, D., eds, Il processo inqitisitoriale del Cardinal Giovanni Morone (Rome, 1981-95).Google Scholar

6 There is a huge literature on Savonarola. Notable works published in English during the last forty years are Weinstein, D., Savonarola and Florence: Prophecy and Patriotism in the Renaissance (Princeton, NJ, 1970)Google Scholar; Polizzotto, L., The Elect Nation:The Savonarolan Movement in Florence, 1494–1545 (Oxford, 1994)Google Scholar. In Italian, there are Cordero, F., Savonarola, 4 vols (Rome, 1986-8)Google Scholar; Dall’Aglio, S., Savonarola e il savonarolismo (Barl, 2005).Google Scholar

7 On Gonzaga, see, in this volume, Logan, Oliver, ‘San Luigi Gonzaga: Princeling-Jesuit and Model for Catholic Youth’, 208–27.Google Scholar

8 For Caterina de’ Ricci, see Santa, G. M. Bertini, Caterina de’ Ricci (Florence, 1935)Google Scholar. Otherwise, the literature on her is very sparse, except for what is to be found in the Collana Ricciana. Fonti, a large collection of sources that have been published under the editorship of Guglielmo Di Agresti: Fonti I. Santa Caterina de’ Ricci. Testimonianze sull’età giovanile (Florence, 1963); Fonti II Libellus de Gestis di Fr. Niccolo Alessi, 2 vols (Florence, 1964).

9 F. Capes, ‘St. Catherine de’ Ricci’ (1908), <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03444a.htm>, accessed 8 July 2009. Though the choice was her own, she had no doubt been influenced by the fact that her family on both sides were piagnoni. The term piagnone — ‘weeper’ — was applied to the followers of Savonarola by his enemies. It was one of a battery of such terms of abuse that the characteristic attitudes and behaviour of the Savonarolans attracted. Eventually the piagnoni came to be proud of this pejorative description. In the early summer of 1497, Alexander VI had excommunicated Savonarola. That June, the Piagnoni drew up a petition in an attempt to convince the pope to lift the excommunication. The list of signatories to this petition is an important source for determining the strength of Savonarola’s support. The name of Francesco de’ Ricci appears among them. Caterina’s mother was a Ricasoli, her stepmother a Diacceto, and members of the Ricasoli and Diacceto families also signed it. See Polizzotto, Elect Nation, 18, 451, 457.

10 San Vincenzo had been founded in 1503 by nine ladies who had been followers of Savonarola. The foundation was under the jurisdiction of the Vicar General of the Congregation of San Marco, at that time Fra Francesco Salviati. The monastery became a library of Savonarola’s works, and a memorial chapel to his memory where his relics were kept. Though Ricci was not a channel for the spirituality of books and relics, she nourished herself with the former and collected the latter: Agresti, Fonti II, 2: lxxxviii-ix.

11 Sincet he documents concerned were all produced during Ricci’s lifetime, they are probably devoid of hagiographical elaboration.

12 In 1552, 1558, 1566, 1572, 1576, 1582 and 1586.

13 Domenico di Agresti, ‘L’interpretazione savonaroliana di S. Caterina de’ Ricci’, Memorie Domenicane n.s. 29 (1998), 281–340, at 289, 299.

14 Agresti, Fonti I, 27.

15 How painful the affliction normally is may be judged from the account given of it by John Calvin, a fellow sufferer; see Gordon, B., Calvin (New Haven, CT, 2009), 329.Google Scholar

16 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 348.

17 Agresti, Fonti I, 13.

18 Ibid.

19 Ambrosio Catharino Polito [sic], Discorso contra la dottrina e le profetie di Fra Girolamo Savonarola (Venice, 1548), 22.

20 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 348.

21 Agresti, Fonti I, 28–29.

22 Ricci’s passion ecstasies were not unprecedented, as the case of the beata Stefana Quinzani shows: see Cordelia Warr, ‘Performing the Passion: Strategies for Salvation in the Life of Stefana Quinzani (d. 1530)’, in Peter Clarke and Tony Claydon, eds, The Church, the Afterlife and the Fate of the Soul, SCH 45 (Woodbridge, 2009), 218–27.

23 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 348.

24 Agresti, Fonti I, 32.

25 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 349.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Polizzotto, Elect Nation, 432–3.

29 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 349.

30 Agresti, Fonti I, 49.

31 Agresti, Fonti II, 2: 349.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid. 350.

34 Agresti, ‘L’interpretazione’, 289.

35 Agresti, Fonti I, 9–10.

36 Agresti, Fonti I, 10.

37 Agresti, ‘L’interpretazione’, 284.

38 Ibid. 287.

39 Ibid. 294.

40 Polito, Contra la dottrina et le projette di Savonarola, 18r.

41 The Savonarolan reform programme originated at a time when the Church, at a very low ebb during the pontificate of Alexander VI, seemed to ignore the obvious need for reform. When the Lutheran revolt made church reform essential, the problem was still evaded by the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII, but Paul III eventually took the necessary step of calling a Council. Thereafter, the papacy became increasingly intolerant of all independent inititatives, such as that of Savonarola. The Counter-Reformation Church spoke for itself.

42 Polizzotto, Elect Nation, 440.

43 ‘The Friars Preachers in Italy’, translation [1963?] of Part B of the article in DSp, <http://www.domcentral.org/study/ashley/ds02ita12.htm>, accessed 14 August 2009.

44 On the Marian devotion of Caterina de’ Ricci, see di Agresti, G., ‘Mediazione mariana nell’ Epistolario di Santa Caterina’, Rivista di ascetica e mistica 3 (1958), 243–55.Google Scholar

45 For Pius V, see von Pastor, L., The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages, ed. and trans. Antrobus, F. I. and Kerr, R. F., 24 vols (London, 1929), vols 17, 18Google Scholar; Anon., San Pio V e la problematica del suo tempo (Alessandria, 1972); Nicole Lemaître, Saint Pie V (Paris, 1994); M. Guasco and A. Torre, eds, Pio V nella società e nella politica del suo tempo (Bologna, 2005).

46 See Firpo, M., ‘Introduzione’, in Guasco, and Torre, , eds, Pio V, 9–25 Google Scholar, at 10.

47 Pastor, History, 18: 11.

48 Ibid. 17: 179–81.

49 Ibid. 101, 136.

50 Ibid. 86.

51 Ibid. 90.

52 Ibid. 172–3.

53 Ibid. 175. See also Göller, E., Die päpstliche Pönitentiarie von ihrem Urspmng bis zu Hirer Umgestaltung unter Pius V, 2 vols in 4 parts, Bibliothek des königlich Preussichen historischen Instituts in Rom 3, 4, 7, 8 (Rome, 1907-11), 2/1: 128–31.Google Scholar

54 Pastor, History, 17: 178.

55 Ibid. 179.

56 Ibid. 98.

57 Ibid. 148, 187–90, 216–18.

58 Ibid. 211.

59 Ibid. 193.

60 Ibid. 196.

61 Ibid. 199.

62 Ibid. 240–87.

63 Ibid. 18: 353–99.

64 It is true that he eventually held the degree of master of theology, but that was conferred on him by Julius III ex apostolica auctoritate in 1553; see Tavuzzi, M., Renaissance Inquisitors (Leiden, 2007), 210.Google Scholar

65 Ibid. 38–44.

66 Ibid. 210.

67 For these details of his early career, see ibid.

68 For details of the Davidico trial, see Marcatto, D., ed., Il processo inqtiisitoriale di Lorenzo Davidico (1555—1560) (Florence, 1992)Google Scholar; Firpo, M., Nel labirinto del mondo. Lorenzo Davidico tra santi, eretici, inquisitori (Florence, 1992).Google Scholar

69 For details of the Carnesecchi trial and its importance, see Firpo, M. and Marcatto, D., eds, J processi inquisitoriali di Pietro Carnesecchi (1557–1567), 2: Il processo sotto Pio V (Vatican City, 2000)Google Scholar; also Firpo, M. and Simoncelli, P., ‘I processi inquisitoriali contro Savonarola (1558) e Carnesecchi (1558–1567). Una proposta di interpretazione’, Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 18 (1982), 200–52.Google Scholar

70 For an introduction to Firpo’s views, see Firpo, M., Inquisizione Romana e Controriforma. Studi sul Cardinal Giovanni Morone e il suo processo d’eresia (Bologna, 1992), 7–28.Google Scholar

71 Marcello Cervini attended the first phase of the Council (1545–7), when he was one of the legates along with del Monte and Pole; Felice Peretti di Montalto attended the last phase (1562–3).

72 This judgement remains true, although Gigliola Fragnito has recently shown that Pius V was working to modify the Trent decrees that he implemented; see Fragnito, G., ‘Pio V e la Censura’, in Guasco, and Torre, , eds, Pio V, 129–58.Google Scholar

73 Ambrosius Catharinus Politi, ‘De certa gloria, invocatione ac veneratione sanctorum disputationes’, in idem, Opuscula (Lyons, 1542), 2–88, esp. 10–18, cf. Thomas Aquinas, Quaestiones de quodlibet, IX.a.16.

74 Polito, Contra la dottrina et le profetie di Savonarola.

75 Firpo and Simoncelli, ‘Processi inquisitoriali’, 216.

76 Dall’Aglio, Savonarola e il savonarolisnio, 186.

77 Weinstein, Savonarola, 3.

78 Ibid. 4.

79 Anon., ‘Girolamo Savonarola’, 24 July 2009, <http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola>, accessed 10 August 2009.

80 <http://findarticles.eom/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_12_35/ai_53705898/>, accessed 20 July 2009. The National Catholic Reporter of 22 January 1999 carried an article by John L. Allen Jr with the title ‘Jesuits and Dominicans square off anew over Savonarola — Dispute over whether to Canonize Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola’. This article referred to the historical commission convened in 1998 by Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli in conjunction with the five-hundredth anniversary of Savonarola’s death. The commission, it seemed, was likely to issue a positive report, which could clear the way for an investigation by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In the summer of 1998, L’Osservatore Romano, the semi-official newspaper of the Holy See, paid tribute to Savonarola, referring to him as ‘a tireless preacher for the moral reform of civil society’. Yet, in spite of these favourable omens, nothing has happened so far. One possible reason for this may be the attitude of the Jesuits. At the beginning of 1999, the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica referred to Savonarola in disparaging terms, and on 7 January 1999 the Jesuit journalist Fra Ferdinando Castelli told the Daily Telegraph that ‘Savonarola rebelled against ecclesiastical authority. We do not believe that he was a religious man worthy of sanctification.’

81 Firpo and Simoncelli, ‘Processi inquisitoriali’, 202–32, esp. 221.

82 There is no evidence whatsoever that the Inquisition ever contemplated a processo against Ricci, even though Catarino might have been pointing in that direction. See Polito, Contra la dottrina et le profetie di Savonarola, 24r-24v: ‘It would be good and necessary, a part of the bishop’s job, in cities where there are people who have images or relics of Fra Girolamo, to give strict instructions that such images or relics be declared and that under the penalty of grave censures, no one should have the effrontery to venerate them. All conventicles where sacrifices are made and common prayers directed to Fra Girolamo against the express command of the sacred Canons … should be prohibited.’

83 Evennett, H. O., The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation (Cambridge, 1968).Google Scholar