Paolo Sarpi

Paolo Sarpi (often known simply as Fra Paolo) (August 14, 1552 - January 15, 1623) was a Venetian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer and author of the History of the Council of Trent.

History of the Council of Trent

In 1615 a dispute between the Venetian government and the Inquisition over the prohibition of a book led him to write about the history and procedure of the Venetian Inquisition; and in 1619 his chief literary work, the History of the Council of Trent, was printed at London under the name of Pietro Soave Polano, an anagram of Paolo Sarpi Veneto. The editor, Marco Antonio de Dominis, has been accused of falsifying the text, but a comparison with a manuscript corrected by Sarpi himself shows that the alterations are both unnecessary and unimportant. This memorable book, together with the rival and apologetic history by Cardinal Pallavicini, was minutely criticized by Leopold von Ranke (History of the Popes), who tests the veracity of both writers by examining the use they have respectively made of their manuscript materials.The result is not highly favourable to either; neither can be taxed with deliberate falsification, but both have coloured and suppressed.They write as advocates rather than historians. Ranke rates the literary qualities of Sarpi's work very highly. Sarpi never acknowledged his authorship, and baffled all the efforts of Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé to extract the secret from him.

Related Topics:
1615 - Inquisition - 1619 - Council of Trent - Leopold von Ranke - Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé

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He survived the publication four years, serving the Venetian state to the last. The day before his death he had dictated three replies to questions on affairs of state, and his last words were "Esto perpetua." His posthumous History of the Interdict was printed at Venice the year after his death, with the disguised imprint of Lyons. Great light has been thrown upon Sarpi's real belief and the motives of his conduct by the letters of Christoph von Dohna, envoy of Christian, prince of Anhalt, to Venice, published by Moritz Ritter in the Briefe und Acten zur Geschichte des dreissigjährigen Krieges, vol. ii. (Munich, 1874). Sarpi told Dohna that he greatly disliked saying mass, and celebrated it as seldom as possible, but that he was compelled to do so, as he would otherwise seem to admit the validity of the papal prohibition, and thus betray the cause of Venice. This supplies the key to his whole behaviour; he was a patriot first and a religious reformer afterwards. He was "rooted" in what Diodati described to Dohna as "the most dangerous maxim, that God does not regard externals so long as the mind and heart are right before Him." Sarpi had another maxim, which he thus formulated to Dohna: Le falsith non dico mai mai, ma la yenta non aognuno. It must further be considered that, though Sarpi admired the English prayer-book, he was neither Anglican, Lutheran nor Calvinist, and might have found it difficult to accommodate himself to any Protestant church. On the whole, the opinion of Le Courayer, "qu'il était Catholique en gros et quelque fois Protestant en detail" (that he was Catholic overall and sometimes Protestant in detail) seems not altogether groundless, though it can no longer be accepted as a satisfactory summing up of the question.

Related Topics:
Diodati - Anglican - Lutheran - Calvinist - Protestant - Le Courayer

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His scientific attainments must have been great. Galileo would not have wasted his time in corresponding with a man from whom he could learn nothing; and, though Sarpi did not, as has been asserted, invent the telescope, he immediately turned it to practical account by constructing a map of the moon.

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