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.

Youth and the Servites

He was born Pietro Sarpi at Venice, the son of a tradesman, but was orphaned at an early age. Ignoring the opposition of his remaining family, he entered the order of the Servi di Maria, a minor Augustinian order of Florentine origin, at the age of thirteen. He assumed the name of Paolo, by which, with the epithet Servita, he was always known to his contemporaries. In 1570 he sustained no fewer than three hundred and eighteen theses at a disputation in Mantua, and was so applauded that the Duke of Mantua made him court theologian. Sarpi spent four years at Mantua, studying mathematics and the Oriental languages. He then went to Milan, where he enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Borromeo, but was soon transferred by his superiors to Venice, as professor of philosophy at the Servite convent. In 1579 he was sent to Rome on business connected with the reform of his order, which brought him into close contact with three successive popes, as well as the grand inquisitor and other influential people.

Related Topics:
Venice - Augustinian - Florentine - Mantua - Theologian - Mathematics - Milan - Cardinal Borromeo - Philosophy - Rome

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Having completed the task entrusted to him, he returned to Venice in 1588, and passed the next seventeen years in study, occasionally interrupted by the need to intervene in the internal disputes of his community. In 1601 he was recommended by the Venetian senate for the small bishopric of Caorle, but the papal nuncio, who wished to obtain it for a protégé of his own, accused Sarpi of having denied the immortality of the soul and controverted the authority of Aristotle. An attempt to obtain another small bishopric in the following year also failed, Pope Clement VIII having taken offence at Sarpi's habit of corresponding with learned heretics. The pope was probably also eager to thwart the desires of the liberal rulers of Venice. Sarpi's feelings towards Rome became less friendly. For the time, however, he tranquilly pursued his studies, writing notes on François Viète which established his proficiency in mathematics, and a metaphysical treatise now lost, which is said to have anticipated the ideas of John Locke. His anatomical pursuits probably date from an earlier period. They illustrate his versatility and thirst for knowledge, but are otherwise not significant. His claim to have anticipated William Harvey's discovery rests on no better authority than a memorandum, probably copied from Andreas Caesalpinus or Harvey himself, with whom, as well as with Francis Bacon and William Gilbert, Sarpi corresponded. The only physiological discovery which can be safely attributed to him is that of the contractility of the iris.

Related Topics:
1588 - Caorle - Nuncio - Immortality - Soul - Aristotle - Pope Clement VIII - François Viète - Mathematics - Metaphysical - John Locke - William Harvey - Andreas Caesalpinus - Francis Bacon - William Gilbert

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