In silence and in profound secresy, they hid the remains of him
whom they dared not mourn, and they added yet this seal to inviolable
friendship, that they secured the precious deposit till one hundred
years had passed away, and till the fierce storms of persecution and
prejudice had subsided into calm.
whom they dared not mourn, and they added yet this seal to inviolable
friendship, that they secured the precious deposit till one hundred
years had passed away, and till the fierce storms of persecution and
prejudice had subsided into calm.
Sarpi - 1868 - Life of Fra Paolo Sarpi
" .
Grazie. \
Io Frat'AMANTE DA BnEsom, Priore nel Convento dei Servi.
Io Frate Bnnnnnrro Fnnao.
Io Fra Aeosrmo, affermo quanto si contiene in detta scrittura.
Io Fra Funennrro.
Io F3 GIOvANNI DA VENETIA.
Io Fra SEmsrrAuo DA VENETIA.
Io Fra RAFAELO DA VERom.
Io Fra AmsRocro CIGNANI DA VENETIA.
Io Fr? fGRieeme Pnrnn DA VENETIA.
Io Fra GncnrEmuo DA VENETIA.
Io Fra Grovmsr FRANCESCO segurta, DA VENETIA.
Io Fra GUGLIELMO DA VENETIA.
Io Fra Grosnrr DA VENETIA.
Io Fra VALENTINO DA VENETIA, Vicario di ll/Ionastero.
Io Fra Mmco DA VENETIA. -
Io Fra Pmrno DA VENETIA, Socio della Provincia.
Io Fra BASILIO DA VENETIA, Sacrestano.
Io Fra Fnnonrrrro DA VENETIA , Sindaco e Procuratore del
Monastero. \ . '
- - MM /4" ~
fig; PIETRO D'UD1NE. 4 %Mub_
Io Fra PrnrRo DI RovADo.
Io Fra Zossnuo DA VENETIA.
Mournful as was the sight, still the Venetians were permitted to
look once more on him they revered. It was the custom in Italy to
carry the dead to the grave with the face uncovered; and as few
hours had intervened between the death and burial of Fra Paolo Sarpi,
little change had taken place on the countenance, it was still over-
spread by a smile, still fresh in color, and finer even in death than
in life. ' Nobles, citizens, and people attended his funeral, and wept their
1 MS.
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? Ii'. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 225
common loss; although seventy one years of age, his intellect was
still so vigorous, that the Doge and Senate regarded the death of
Sarpi as one of the heaviest clouds that could overcast the political
horizon. '
To many of the nobles he was a genial companion and adviser;
while those of the youthful patricians who could find access to him,
prized his society. The citizens not only loved him, but were proud
that he was one of them; the people venerated him, and had they
been permitted would have superstitiously honored him after death;
he was ever the friend of the poor.
In spite of all this, the document from the Superior of the Convent
to the Doge was necessary to refute the falsehoods which were spread,
that Paolo Sarpi " died with frightful howlings and cries at sight of
apparitions; and that dreadful noises were heard in his cell. " The
same fables had been told when the pious Doge Leonardo Donato
died,1 and probably the disbelief of Fra Paolo in the doctrine of pur-
gatory incited some to spread a report that his soul was thus in tor-
ment, in and after death. But as Fra Paolo had written of the great
and good Doge Leonardo Donato, "He is in glory; " so might Fra
Fulgenzio Micanzio write of "his beloved Master. "
The reader will not linger on whatever of superstition dimmed the dying
cell of the great Fra Paolo Sarpi; it was not that he had taken the habit of
a friar, it Was not that he loved and served his country, it was not that he
had died in the communion of the Church of Rome that enabled him to
meet death with asmile; it was, as he had often said, by the grace of
God. He had nothing to present before God except sin, but he trusted
solely to the blood of the Immaculate One. If a pure and holy life, a life
of self-denial could have gained heaven, the life of Fra Paolo Sarpi would
have done so; but while he strove to fulfil the command of heaven to
be perfect, he freely confessed he was not. He laid all his genius, all
his learning, his life, his all, at the foot of the cross of Christ, content to be
nothing. It was not that he did not value human wisdom, but that he valued
the wisdom of heaven more, and however unintelligible to some were
his remonstrances against superstition, he persevered in his search after
and defence of the truth. He had found the mighty truths of religion
in the pages of the Holy Scriptures, and he believed and said that he
served the highest and eternal interests of his countrymen by remain-
ning in communion with the Church of Rome in the hope of reform,
if not in his time, by those who would come after him. By faith in
the Redeemer he saw that the crust of scholastic obscurity, superstition,
1 Appendix.
4s
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? 226 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1623.
love of money, and wordly distinction prevailed more than any desire
to make known the gospel, and like the great Cardinal Pole, Conta-
rini, and many other members of the Church of Rome, he Was glad
when he could present the simple tidings that the Saviour had died to
open the kingdom of heaven to all believers, to his fellow mortals. A
clear view of the particular reforms which Sarpi desired in the Church
cannot be obtained without a careful perusal of his whole works, and
few have time to undertake the task. His approval of the Liturgy of the
book of common prayer shewed What he thought of the mass and that
he did not believe in transubstantiation, he believed that the sacrament
ought to be given in both kinds. In the course of this biography his opinions
with regard to faith in the Saviour, the worship of the Virgin Mary
and of the saints, indulgences, confession, the temporal power and the
infallibility of the Pope, cannot have escaped notice. If they were only
shadowed forth, it was not because Sarpi did not distintly agree in many
of the fundamental truths of religion that he did not join the Reformed.
He was willing to suff'er, that future ages should benefit by what he
left to them, a warning that he hoped would ring the knell of all that
would rob the Monarch of the Universe of that honor due only to
Deity, a warning which echoed through Europe, a warning which yet
vibrates, although ages have passed since the eloquence of Sarpi' rivet-
ted the hearts of dying men on the Saviour, as He alone who died
to save all who call upon him.
He has been blamed by some for not following the steps of the
German reformer; but Sarpi had not, as the great German had, the
support of his prince.
His letters and the evidence afforded by some of his contemporaries
testify that Sarpi wished a greater separation from the Court of Rome,
but above all the fall of the temporal power of the Pope. And there
can be no doubt, that as soon as the present monarch of Italy gives
sanction to still greater reform within the Church of Rome, this will
follow. The liberality of the policy of the illustrious Victor Emmanuel
is too well known to need any comment here. For 'whatever Sarpi
advocated he made direct appeal to the Scriptures, and the reader
will remember his quotation of the remark of Paul V on the sermons of
Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio. Let it be borne in mind, that Sarpi felt that
he could not conscientiously leave the Church of Rome; he believed
and said, that with all her defects, she was like the Church of Corinth,
a Church of Christ, and although he took the part of the Reformed, cor-
responded with them, welcomed them to his cell, and showed them
many acts of friendship, yet in some instances he thought them too
vehement. It has been seen that by some of the church of Rome he
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? zar. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 227
was called an atheist, because he refused to believe in many of the
superadded dogmas and superstitions of his own, and former times;
but it has been shown that an atheist was the only member of a com-
munity whom he declared unworthy of tolerance; he was too wise not
to know that atheism is but a signal of distress torn to fragments
on the top--mast of a vessel without weight or ballast, which ventures to
cross the rough waves of time, without a rudder or without a compass.
As Sarpi went to and fro to the Ducal palace, and oftentimes to
the Ducal chapel (now St. Mark's Cathedral), at the hours of prayer,
his eyes must have rested on these words over the entrance: " Ego
sum illud ostium, per me si quis introierit servabitur. " S. Johan
X, 9. " Ego sum via illa, et illa veritas, et vita illa. Nemo venit ad
Patrem nisi per me " S. Johan xrv, (i. "I am the door: by me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved. " S. John. X, 9. "I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man comcth unto the Father but by me. "
S. John. XIv, 6. This it was, as has been seen, which amidst all
the dark storms of life was the stay of his soul, and when the hour
came that Fra Paolo Sarpi was to leave the world, and the finite was
to stand before the Infinite, he could not regret that he had entered
heaven by the only entrance through which the countless number of
the redeemed enter, to go out no more. So long as he was permitted,
he had with all the powers of eloquence of which he was master,
pointed to the cross of Christ, and when he could no longer do so,
when his voice was mute in death, his countrymen remembered then,
and their posterity remembers now, that in that cross he triumphed.
Notice of the death of Fra Paolo Sarpi was immediately sent by
the Doge and Senate to all the Venetian Ambassadors who were re--
sident at the various courts of Europe, in order that their Excellencies
might communicate the irreparable loss which the Republic had sus-
tained to the Sovereigns and Princes of these States. The following is a
translation of that sent:
" To the Ambassador at Rome.
" It has pleased God to call Father Paolo to himself, one endeared to
us by his noble qualities, and he having in all times and seasons shown
the greatest fidelity, virtue and devotion in our cause, we feel that deep
sorrow which the loss of one so endeared merits. He was not only adorhed
with every excellence, as evinced in all his actions, but in his last illness
he consigned all that was given to him for his use into the hands of the
Prior; and surrounded by all the Chapter gave up his Spirit to God, to
the edification of all the friars who were present, who prayed with him
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? 228 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1623.
with much affection and many tears. A great number of the four religious
Orders of mendicant friars, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites at-
tended his funeral; and a large concourse of people from all parts of the
city who spontaneously Wished to accompany it.
" We, from the esteem which the Republic has always borne to him,
and on account of the important services he has at all times rendered,
together with the Senate, wish to give you this information.
" in Pregadi,
" ' 1622, 21st January. "
The following is from the pen of the Patrician Veniero.
PAVLUS VENETUS SERVITARUM
Ordinis Theologus, *
Ita Prudens, Integer, Sapiens,
Ut Majorem nec Humanorum
Nee Divinorum Scientiam,
Nee Integriorem nee Sanctiorem
Vitam Desiderares
Intelligentizi. Per Cuncta Permeante,
Sapientiai Affeetibus Dominante
Prseditus,
Nulla Unquam Cupiditate Commotus,
Nulhi Animi Egritudine Turbatus,
Semper Constans, Moderatus, Perfeetus,
Verum Innocentiae Exemplar,
Deo, Mira Pietate, Religione,
Continentia Addictus:
Tantis Yirtutibus
Reipublieae In Sui Desiderium,
Concitate Justum, Fidelem Operam
Navans:
(Religiosum Hominem, Dum Patrize servit, Haud a Deo
Separari ZExistimanslz)
Summo Consilio, Rationis vi Libera
Integra Mente Publicam Causam
Defendens,
1 The date in Venetian Style, delib. 1622. Senato di Venezia, (Archives of
Venice).
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? E1'. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI ' 229
Magnas a Libertate Veneta
Insidias Sua Sapientia
Repellens;
Majus Libertatis Praesidium In Se
Quam in Arcibus, Exercitibus
Positum,
Venetis Ostendens;
Mortales
An Magis Amandus, Mirandus,
Venerandus,
Dubios Faciens;
De Nominis Apud Probos
]Eternitate,
De Animi Apud Deum
Immortalitate
Securus;
Morbum Negligens,
Mortem Contemnens,
Loquens Docens, Orans,
Contemplans,
Vivorum Actiones Exercens.
LXXI ETATIS Anno
Magno Honorum Ploratu
Non Obiit, Abiit e Vita, ad Vitam
Evolavit.
J O. ANT. VENERIO, Pat. Ven. '
The Senate by decree commanded the noble Lando to arrange all
the writings of Fra Paolo Sarpi Which had any reference to the State,
a catalogue was made of them by Agostino Dolce, and they were care-
fully deposited in the Archives of Venice, where they now are,
twenty nine volumes (folio) in all.
But there were some who were jealous of the honors paid to Sarpi;
they were annoyed at his public funeral, and certain disturbances were
complained of as having taken place at the Convent of the Servi. The
Senate instantly interposed, and a decree was issued taking the Convent
under the special care of the State; at Rome it was soon shewn that,
although dead, Sarpi was still to be maligned, and the Pope Gregory
deemed it his prerogative to declaim against his memory.
5 M8. Studii di Foscarini, Morciana.
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? 230 '. l. 'HE LIFE OF [. \. D. 1623-
Gregory XV died shortly after Sarpi, and was succeeded by Bar-
berini, Urban VIII, who with the Court did their utmost to vilify his
name. But they might as well have attempted to blot out the sun, as the
memory of Sarpi from the hearts of the good and the free, or his name
from its high place in the world of letters.
It is difficult to conceive more poignant grief or indignation than
that which stirred the heart of Fra Fulgenzio when he wrote the
concluding page of the life of Sarpi. It was not enoughthat he mourn-
ed him as his teacher, his friend, his counsellor, and his companion;
he liad to bewail the narrow-minded bigotry which denied his country-
men the gratification of erecting a monument to the memory of Paolo
Sarpi. Fulgenzio "Was the first to wish to raise some memorial to
him, but the Convent would not permit him, wishing that it should
be done by the public. The Senate interposed, and commanded by a
public decree that a memorial bearing an inscription should be raised
to Fra Paolo, but the monument which Girolamo Campagna was desired
to execute was stopped by government, although the sculptor had
furnished a design of the work. " The Court of Rome was still triumph-
ant; intolerance with broad step came forth to endeavour to fill up
the gap between the time of his death, and the end of time! In the
same palace where Fra Paolo had toiled early and late for his country,
a voice from Rome counselled the Senators not to raise any monument
to his name, " for a time; but, " concluded the speaker, " since the Pope
does not wish him to live in stone, he shall live in our annals with less
risk of his memory being consumed by the greedy hand of time. "
But notwithstanding the efforts to make his name forgotten, not-
withstanding the pains taken to publish abroad that there was no
portrait of him, he was not, he is not forgotten. We have said the
lamentation for his death was great throughout Venetia, and his per-
sonal friends, not content with portraits of their living friend, employed
painters and sculptors to delineate his features after death. Of these 4-r
there is one which appears to have transmitted to our times some(-hall?
what of that radiant smile which overspread his features when the
1 light of heaven was breaking upon his last moments. 'these few words,
,--r . I 1 H I E-I- HIALE Elia" "Eli aiiiin EH H "Jig
? ,/Q7 Egdflwsb-9-_--also---" , " Quid spectas! Dulcem credis dormire soporem.
Paulum hand falleris, hic dormit ut in Domino. Le R. P. Paul Sarpi
pretre Doctour Theologie Religieux de l'Ordre de Servites nacquit a
Venise le 14 Aout 1553, et mourut le 7 de J uillet (Janvier) 1623. " 'X
But if no place was found within or without the Senate for a public
? ' ,B_ib. Imp. Paris. % M M ' /O I
or/3*-e Jz' ya/S/LA--- MM Q2? -M y*"? """
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? Er. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARl'[ 231
\
monument to Fra Paolo Sarpi, his friends, nobles, citizens, and people
only cherished his memory the more. Their indignation was greatly
excited, that malice still pursued him to his grave; in consequence of
attempts to do injury to his remains, and to prevent the recurrence
of such acts, his body was hidden. It had been interred at some
distance from the usual burial place Within the walls of the Convent
of the Servi, but it was removed in order to be concealed, nine months
after its first interment; on opening the coffin, the body was found
entire and the face still of a flesh color. With what an earnest gaze
would Fra Fulgenzio look on that well known visage, ere it was again
lost to his sight for ever! It seems as if we heard the stealthy foot-
step, the slow-drawn breath, the almost silent whisper as some of his
chosen friends bore him to his new-made grave.
In silence and in profound secresy, they hid the remains of him
whom they dared not mourn, and they added yet this seal to inviolable
friendship, that they secured the precious deposit till one hundred
years had passed away, and till the fierce storms of persecution and
prejudice had subsided into calm.
The writer has often had occasion to note the nobility of character
of the Venetians; they felt gratitude to Paolo Sarpi, and many were
deeply grieved that in their time no deserved eulogium of him could
be graven on stone, no column of marble raised to his memory, no
statue of the individual who had so long perilled his life in the
service of his country be seen among the adornments of their beauti-
ful city.
The Republic of Venice was insensible to the great injury she inflicted
upon herself by having forbidden the elevation of a public monument
to Sarpi, she did not reflect that the non-recognition of his great services
to the State was apparently a tacit disapproval of his opinions, and a
marked declension from that independent action towards the Court of
Rome which Sarpi had been so desirous that she should cultivate, it
was more, it was a step in that gradual but downward course which
Venetia and the other States of Italy then trod, when afraid of a self
constituted power, they complied with the unjust and lawless requirements
of the Pope, and the non--erection of a monument was a triumph to
that party within the Senate who were enemies to liberty of conscience,
who even after the death of Sarpi continued to be his foes; but it was
also a triumph to the Jesuits, who now looked on their return to
Venice as certain. He Was dead, but his words lived on; Fra Fulgenzio
did not forget them, and never during his long life and term of oflice
as theologian and counsellor to the Republic were the Jesuits readmit-
ted there. But they did return, and persevere till the glory of Venice had
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? 232 THE LIFE OF |'A. D. 1623
set, but not for ever. No! her brave hearted people are now as free as
Fra Paolo desired, free, because partakers of that freedom which is the
birthright of every man, and which makes him value Christian liberty
the more, free to follow the religion of Fra Paolo without convent walls;
and they shall be freer still.
The body of Fra Paolo remained hidden and undisturbed until the year
1722, when the altar d'Addolorata in the Church of the Servi was
repaired. It was raised for the third time, and carefully reburied in the
same grave; there it reposed till the year 1742; when the altar was
rebuilt, and then the remains were again disinterred, but again restored
to the same place with an epigraph in lead. Amidst all the political
tempests which burst over Venice, amidst the voice of cannon which
levelled even churches to the ground, the grave of Sarpi was unmoles-
ted, undesecrated, unknown; the Venetian and the stranger trod uncon-
sciously over his tomb. At length,in the year 1828, when the chapel
and altar of the Addolorata were demolished and sold, the bones of
Fra Paolo Sarpi were sought for, discovered and disinterred for the fifth
time, in the presence of the Count Morosini, the noble Podesta of Venice,
the Cavaliere Cicogna, the Signor Ruggieri and many others, besides the
Rector and vice rector; the epigraph which had been laid in the grave
in the year 1742 was found, and was replaced together with the bones
of the great Venetian with much care in a chest lined with lead, which
being sealed, was consigned to the Marciana till the Government assigned
a place of interment.
The entombment was on the 15th of November 1828, and an eye-
witness of the ceremony writes, " that Sarpi whose name is world-
wide had at length found honorable burial in a grave on which the
citizens of Venice as well as strangers can look. " '
The following is on a mural tablet of white marble, on the outer
wall of the church of the Servi, near the ruins of the great door. It
was placed there on the removal of the bones of Fra Paolo Sarpi to
the Church of S. Michele di Murano.
P. SARrrvs Th. R. P. Van.
H10 VBI SsnvoR Arenas
SvneasAr, m Connrrvs
An D. Mrcn. DI MvnrAno
TRANSLATvS Esr DEo. Pvn.
MDcccxxvm.
,2 The Cavaliere Oicogna. Inscris. Ven.
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? M. 70. ] FHA PAOLO SARPI' 233
It is, however, painful to relate that in the year 1846, in an unknown
hour, the' tomb was disturbed, and the stone, bearing the same inscription
as now, was forcibly taken away. But if it was intended to make Paolo Sar-
pi forgotten' the attempt signally failed, as the government commanded an
investigation of the matter. The chest had not been touched, the hidden
stone was restored to its place, as also the defaced inscription.
The small island of S. Michael di Murano was visited with . great
interest. It lies about a mile to the north of the city of Venice; the
site of the church near the rocky shore is beautiful, and the cloisters
and grounds of the monastery/adjoininywhich was the Franciscan, are
now the cemetery of Venice. Close to the door of the Ambulaco lie
the remains of Fra Paolo Sarpi, with the following inscription on the
tomb.
Ossn
PAVLI SARPII
THEOL. REIP. VENE
X A EDE J'EA'Va,q1? ';E/\q~.
U o T BA Ns LAT A
A . MDGCCXXVIII
Dncnnro Punmco
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? ii'/B1'. .
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? 235
NOTES -
~_q@! '_\'
Inrnonurrox ---- page I.
The autograph " Life " differs in many respects from the printed
"Life. " Fulgenzio's M. S. , has a preface of which the following is a
translation.
" It was not my intention to write the life of the Rev. M. Paul of
the Order of the Servi in Venice, except in a very brief and concise
form, with the view of prefixing it to some of his moral sayings or
maxims, and to arrange them in order under proper heads when I had
leisure to collect them from among his papers, where they are found
written down as they occurred to his mind, as rules of conduct.
I should not have been moved from my purpose by the earnest entrea-
ties which have been made to me, not only by the friars of the Order but
by many different parties, even by persons in high place, all entreatiug
me to give them without delay this greatly desired boon. Although it is
highly to the interest of the Order, in which he of whom I speak served
G-od for sixty one years, of the country which gave birth to so excellent a
man, of the Prince for Whom he labored for seventeen years with matchless
faith and with no unfruitful results, and of the age in which we live
(which by the singular example of so great a man repels the charge that
has been made against it, of being unproductive of heroic virtues), that
the memory of one so pious and so virtuous should be preserved, I
deemed it unnecessary to undertake such a task, believing that his
own works were sufficient to perpetuate his glorious memory. But,
since envy and malignity, which usually end with death even in the
bitterest enemies, still cruelly pursue his venerable remains, and have sti-
mulated the same unjust fury against the dead which pursued the living
with poniards, poison and treacherous devices, that only failed of their
effect through the singular and admirable intervention of Divine Pro-
vidence, on this account I have withdrawn 1ny determination, and
I come forward to declare to the world that it is most unreasonable
that innocence is thus cruelly persecuted. I will write the life of
a man who merits a pen far superior to mine.
" The things I have to relate are so well known and have the con-
current testimony of so many hundreds of monks still living, and so
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? 236 NOTFS
i? :~/
7'
hm
'I______,.
many senators and nobles of this illustrious city, that whosoever shall
venture to deny them will encounter the opposition of a cloud of liv-
ing witnesses and of the very facts themselves. "
" Vita di Fra Paolo'Sarpi. Manoscritto autografo di Fra Fulgenzio
successore di lui nella carica di consultatore della Repub. Veneta; without,
and entitled: '
" Vita del Padre Paolo Sarpi dell'Ordine dei Servi, Teologo della
Serenissima Republica di Venezia, Archives of Venice. " No date, but
Fulgenzio notes, " Contarini now Most Serene Prince of Venetia. " '
Throughout this work Fulgenzio's vita di Sarpi, is cited thus MS.
The life of F. P. Sarpi by Fulgenzio published anonymously 1646, has
two clasped hands and Aeternitas on the title page. It was republished
1658. Labus had a letter of Fulgenzio to Galileo in which he speaks
of the work as his, and Sir Roger Twysden endeavored to prevail on
him to dispose of it, but Fulgenzio would not part with it. There are
son1e particulars respecting this, and other notes on Sarpi's works in
the Archaeolgia Cantiana from Sir R. T's papers for which I am in-
debted to Mr. Rye of the British Museum.
Fulgenzio died 7th Feb. 1554, aged 83, and the inscription on his
tomb gracefully alluded to him as the Sol Fulgens and Sydus Micans.
InrRonucrron --- page vr.
Auberi C. Acquapendente. Arrighetti. Asselineau. Alhazen. S.
Augustinus. Arnulphiu. Bellarmine. Baronius. Bizar. Bouhours.
Bentivoglio. De Burigny. Bonnani. Bossuet. Birch. Bergantini.
Blount. Boethius. Bovio. Bossuet. Bunsen. Contarini. Cotton.
Cicogna. Canaye. Caracciola Colomie. Cornet. Crasso. Cardella.
Castellani. Canale. Davila. De Thou. De Dominis. Donne. Do-
nato. Dandolo. Dupin. Foscarini. Filian. Filosi. Fontanini Gia-
nius. Garbij. Gualdo. Guissano. Gillot. Guette? e. Gilbert. Golat.
Gibbon. Gratiani. Gianotti. Giustiniani. Helyot. Haller. Hariot.
Harris. Houssaye. Herbert. Johnstone. Knolles. Llovd. Langier.
Lobeira. Lebret. Micanzio. Marsand. Maffei Manutius. Mazu-
chelli. Maurocenus. Magrini. Montanus. Muratori. Mexia. Mee-
'n-a'y. _ Montfaucon. Nani. Niceron. Nelli.
Grazie. \
Io Frat'AMANTE DA BnEsom, Priore nel Convento dei Servi.
Io Frate Bnnnnnrro Fnnao.
Io Fra Aeosrmo, affermo quanto si contiene in detta scrittura.
Io Fra Funennrro.
Io F3 GIOvANNI DA VENETIA.
Io Fra SEmsrrAuo DA VENETIA.
Io Fra RAFAELO DA VERom.
Io Fra AmsRocro CIGNANI DA VENETIA.
Io Fr? fGRieeme Pnrnn DA VENETIA.
Io Fra GncnrEmuo DA VENETIA.
Io Fra Grovmsr FRANCESCO segurta, DA VENETIA.
Io Fra GUGLIELMO DA VENETIA.
Io Fra Grosnrr DA VENETIA.
Io Fra VALENTINO DA VENETIA, Vicario di ll/Ionastero.
Io Fra Mmco DA VENETIA. -
Io Fra Pmrno DA VENETIA, Socio della Provincia.
Io Fra BASILIO DA VENETIA, Sacrestano.
Io Fra Fnnonrrrro DA VENETIA , Sindaco e Procuratore del
Monastero. \ . '
- - MM /4" ~
fig; PIETRO D'UD1NE. 4 %Mub_
Io Fra PrnrRo DI RovADo.
Io Fra Zossnuo DA VENETIA.
Mournful as was the sight, still the Venetians were permitted to
look once more on him they revered. It was the custom in Italy to
carry the dead to the grave with the face uncovered; and as few
hours had intervened between the death and burial of Fra Paolo Sarpi,
little change had taken place on the countenance, it was still over-
spread by a smile, still fresh in color, and finer even in death than
in life. ' Nobles, citizens, and people attended his funeral, and wept their
1 MS.
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? Ii'. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 225
common loss; although seventy one years of age, his intellect was
still so vigorous, that the Doge and Senate regarded the death of
Sarpi as one of the heaviest clouds that could overcast the political
horizon. '
To many of the nobles he was a genial companion and adviser;
while those of the youthful patricians who could find access to him,
prized his society. The citizens not only loved him, but were proud
that he was one of them; the people venerated him, and had they
been permitted would have superstitiously honored him after death;
he was ever the friend of the poor.
In spite of all this, the document from the Superior of the Convent
to the Doge was necessary to refute the falsehoods which were spread,
that Paolo Sarpi " died with frightful howlings and cries at sight of
apparitions; and that dreadful noises were heard in his cell. " The
same fables had been told when the pious Doge Leonardo Donato
died,1 and probably the disbelief of Fra Paolo in the doctrine of pur-
gatory incited some to spread a report that his soul was thus in tor-
ment, in and after death. But as Fra Paolo had written of the great
and good Doge Leonardo Donato, "He is in glory; " so might Fra
Fulgenzio Micanzio write of "his beloved Master. "
The reader will not linger on whatever of superstition dimmed the dying
cell of the great Fra Paolo Sarpi; it was not that he had taken the habit of
a friar, it Was not that he loved and served his country, it was not that he
had died in the communion of the Church of Rome that enabled him to
meet death with asmile; it was, as he had often said, by the grace of
God. He had nothing to present before God except sin, but he trusted
solely to the blood of the Immaculate One. If a pure and holy life, a life
of self-denial could have gained heaven, the life of Fra Paolo Sarpi would
have done so; but while he strove to fulfil the command of heaven to
be perfect, he freely confessed he was not. He laid all his genius, all
his learning, his life, his all, at the foot of the cross of Christ, content to be
nothing. It was not that he did not value human wisdom, but that he valued
the wisdom of heaven more, and however unintelligible to some were
his remonstrances against superstition, he persevered in his search after
and defence of the truth. He had found the mighty truths of religion
in the pages of the Holy Scriptures, and he believed and said that he
served the highest and eternal interests of his countrymen by remain-
ning in communion with the Church of Rome in the hope of reform,
if not in his time, by those who would come after him. By faith in
the Redeemer he saw that the crust of scholastic obscurity, superstition,
1 Appendix.
4s
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? 226 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1623.
love of money, and wordly distinction prevailed more than any desire
to make known the gospel, and like the great Cardinal Pole, Conta-
rini, and many other members of the Church of Rome, he Was glad
when he could present the simple tidings that the Saviour had died to
open the kingdom of heaven to all believers, to his fellow mortals. A
clear view of the particular reforms which Sarpi desired in the Church
cannot be obtained without a careful perusal of his whole works, and
few have time to undertake the task. His approval of the Liturgy of the
book of common prayer shewed What he thought of the mass and that
he did not believe in transubstantiation, he believed that the sacrament
ought to be given in both kinds. In the course of this biography his opinions
with regard to faith in the Saviour, the worship of the Virgin Mary
and of the saints, indulgences, confession, the temporal power and the
infallibility of the Pope, cannot have escaped notice. If they were only
shadowed forth, it was not because Sarpi did not distintly agree in many
of the fundamental truths of religion that he did not join the Reformed.
He was willing to suff'er, that future ages should benefit by what he
left to them, a warning that he hoped would ring the knell of all that
would rob the Monarch of the Universe of that honor due only to
Deity, a warning which echoed through Europe, a warning which yet
vibrates, although ages have passed since the eloquence of Sarpi' rivet-
ted the hearts of dying men on the Saviour, as He alone who died
to save all who call upon him.
He has been blamed by some for not following the steps of the
German reformer; but Sarpi had not, as the great German had, the
support of his prince.
His letters and the evidence afforded by some of his contemporaries
testify that Sarpi wished a greater separation from the Court of Rome,
but above all the fall of the temporal power of the Pope. And there
can be no doubt, that as soon as the present monarch of Italy gives
sanction to still greater reform within the Church of Rome, this will
follow. The liberality of the policy of the illustrious Victor Emmanuel
is too well known to need any comment here. For 'whatever Sarpi
advocated he made direct appeal to the Scriptures, and the reader
will remember his quotation of the remark of Paul V on the sermons of
Fra Fulgenzio Micanzio. Let it be borne in mind, that Sarpi felt that
he could not conscientiously leave the Church of Rome; he believed
and said, that with all her defects, she was like the Church of Corinth,
a Church of Christ, and although he took the part of the Reformed, cor-
responded with them, welcomed them to his cell, and showed them
many acts of friendship, yet in some instances he thought them too
vehement. It has been seen that by some of the church of Rome he
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? zar. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 227
was called an atheist, because he refused to believe in many of the
superadded dogmas and superstitions of his own, and former times;
but it has been shown that an atheist was the only member of a com-
munity whom he declared unworthy of tolerance; he was too wise not
to know that atheism is but a signal of distress torn to fragments
on the top--mast of a vessel without weight or ballast, which ventures to
cross the rough waves of time, without a rudder or without a compass.
As Sarpi went to and fro to the Ducal palace, and oftentimes to
the Ducal chapel (now St. Mark's Cathedral), at the hours of prayer,
his eyes must have rested on these words over the entrance: " Ego
sum illud ostium, per me si quis introierit servabitur. " S. Johan
X, 9. " Ego sum via illa, et illa veritas, et vita illa. Nemo venit ad
Patrem nisi per me " S. Johan xrv, (i. "I am the door: by me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved. " S. John. X, 9. "I am the way,
the truth, and the life: no man comcth unto the Father but by me. "
S. John. XIv, 6. This it was, as has been seen, which amidst all
the dark storms of life was the stay of his soul, and when the hour
came that Fra Paolo Sarpi was to leave the world, and the finite was
to stand before the Infinite, he could not regret that he had entered
heaven by the only entrance through which the countless number of
the redeemed enter, to go out no more. So long as he was permitted,
he had with all the powers of eloquence of which he was master,
pointed to the cross of Christ, and when he could no longer do so,
when his voice was mute in death, his countrymen remembered then,
and their posterity remembers now, that in that cross he triumphed.
Notice of the death of Fra Paolo Sarpi was immediately sent by
the Doge and Senate to all the Venetian Ambassadors who were re--
sident at the various courts of Europe, in order that their Excellencies
might communicate the irreparable loss which the Republic had sus-
tained to the Sovereigns and Princes of these States. The following is a
translation of that sent:
" To the Ambassador at Rome.
" It has pleased God to call Father Paolo to himself, one endeared to
us by his noble qualities, and he having in all times and seasons shown
the greatest fidelity, virtue and devotion in our cause, we feel that deep
sorrow which the loss of one so endeared merits. He was not only adorhed
with every excellence, as evinced in all his actions, but in his last illness
he consigned all that was given to him for his use into the hands of the
Prior; and surrounded by all the Chapter gave up his Spirit to God, to
the edification of all the friars who were present, who prayed with him
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? 228 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1623.
with much affection and many tears. A great number of the four religious
Orders of mendicant friars, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites at-
tended his funeral; and a large concourse of people from all parts of the
city who spontaneously Wished to accompany it.
" We, from the esteem which the Republic has always borne to him,
and on account of the important services he has at all times rendered,
together with the Senate, wish to give you this information.
" in Pregadi,
" ' 1622, 21st January. "
The following is from the pen of the Patrician Veniero.
PAVLUS VENETUS SERVITARUM
Ordinis Theologus, *
Ita Prudens, Integer, Sapiens,
Ut Majorem nec Humanorum
Nee Divinorum Scientiam,
Nee Integriorem nee Sanctiorem
Vitam Desiderares
Intelligentizi. Per Cuncta Permeante,
Sapientiai Affeetibus Dominante
Prseditus,
Nulla Unquam Cupiditate Commotus,
Nulhi Animi Egritudine Turbatus,
Semper Constans, Moderatus, Perfeetus,
Verum Innocentiae Exemplar,
Deo, Mira Pietate, Religione,
Continentia Addictus:
Tantis Yirtutibus
Reipublieae In Sui Desiderium,
Concitate Justum, Fidelem Operam
Navans:
(Religiosum Hominem, Dum Patrize servit, Haud a Deo
Separari ZExistimanslz)
Summo Consilio, Rationis vi Libera
Integra Mente Publicam Causam
Defendens,
1 The date in Venetian Style, delib. 1622. Senato di Venezia, (Archives of
Venice).
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? E1'. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI ' 229
Magnas a Libertate Veneta
Insidias Sua Sapientia
Repellens;
Majus Libertatis Praesidium In Se
Quam in Arcibus, Exercitibus
Positum,
Venetis Ostendens;
Mortales
An Magis Amandus, Mirandus,
Venerandus,
Dubios Faciens;
De Nominis Apud Probos
]Eternitate,
De Animi Apud Deum
Immortalitate
Securus;
Morbum Negligens,
Mortem Contemnens,
Loquens Docens, Orans,
Contemplans,
Vivorum Actiones Exercens.
LXXI ETATIS Anno
Magno Honorum Ploratu
Non Obiit, Abiit e Vita, ad Vitam
Evolavit.
J O. ANT. VENERIO, Pat. Ven. '
The Senate by decree commanded the noble Lando to arrange all
the writings of Fra Paolo Sarpi Which had any reference to the State,
a catalogue was made of them by Agostino Dolce, and they were care-
fully deposited in the Archives of Venice, where they now are,
twenty nine volumes (folio) in all.
But there were some who were jealous of the honors paid to Sarpi;
they were annoyed at his public funeral, and certain disturbances were
complained of as having taken place at the Convent of the Servi. The
Senate instantly interposed, and a decree was issued taking the Convent
under the special care of the State; at Rome it was soon shewn that,
although dead, Sarpi was still to be maligned, and the Pope Gregory
deemed it his prerogative to declaim against his memory.
5 M8. Studii di Foscarini, Morciana.
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? 230 '. l. 'HE LIFE OF [. \. D. 1623-
Gregory XV died shortly after Sarpi, and was succeeded by Bar-
berini, Urban VIII, who with the Court did their utmost to vilify his
name. But they might as well have attempted to blot out the sun, as the
memory of Sarpi from the hearts of the good and the free, or his name
from its high place in the world of letters.
It is difficult to conceive more poignant grief or indignation than
that which stirred the heart of Fra Fulgenzio when he wrote the
concluding page of the life of Sarpi. It was not enoughthat he mourn-
ed him as his teacher, his friend, his counsellor, and his companion;
he liad to bewail the narrow-minded bigotry which denied his country-
men the gratification of erecting a monument to the memory of Paolo
Sarpi. Fulgenzio "Was the first to wish to raise some memorial to
him, but the Convent would not permit him, wishing that it should
be done by the public. The Senate interposed, and commanded by a
public decree that a memorial bearing an inscription should be raised
to Fra Paolo, but the monument which Girolamo Campagna was desired
to execute was stopped by government, although the sculptor had
furnished a design of the work. " The Court of Rome was still triumph-
ant; intolerance with broad step came forth to endeavour to fill up
the gap between the time of his death, and the end of time! In the
same palace where Fra Paolo had toiled early and late for his country,
a voice from Rome counselled the Senators not to raise any monument
to his name, " for a time; but, " concluded the speaker, " since the Pope
does not wish him to live in stone, he shall live in our annals with less
risk of his memory being consumed by the greedy hand of time. "
But notwithstanding the efforts to make his name forgotten, not-
withstanding the pains taken to publish abroad that there was no
portrait of him, he was not, he is not forgotten. We have said the
lamentation for his death was great throughout Venetia, and his per-
sonal friends, not content with portraits of their living friend, employed
painters and sculptors to delineate his features after death. Of these 4-r
there is one which appears to have transmitted to our times some(-hall?
what of that radiant smile which overspread his features when the
1 light of heaven was breaking upon his last moments. 'these few words,
,--r . I 1 H I E-I- HIALE Elia" "Eli aiiiin EH H "Jig
? ,/Q7 Egdflwsb-9-_--also---" , " Quid spectas! Dulcem credis dormire soporem.
Paulum hand falleris, hic dormit ut in Domino. Le R. P. Paul Sarpi
pretre Doctour Theologie Religieux de l'Ordre de Servites nacquit a
Venise le 14 Aout 1553, et mourut le 7 de J uillet (Janvier) 1623. " 'X
But if no place was found within or without the Senate for a public
? ' ,B_ib. Imp. Paris. % M M ' /O I
or/3*-e Jz' ya/S/LA--- MM Q2? -M y*"? """
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? Er. 71. ] FRA PAOLO SARl'[ 231
\
monument to Fra Paolo Sarpi, his friends, nobles, citizens, and people
only cherished his memory the more. Their indignation was greatly
excited, that malice still pursued him to his grave; in consequence of
attempts to do injury to his remains, and to prevent the recurrence
of such acts, his body was hidden. It had been interred at some
distance from the usual burial place Within the walls of the Convent
of the Servi, but it was removed in order to be concealed, nine months
after its first interment; on opening the coffin, the body was found
entire and the face still of a flesh color. With what an earnest gaze
would Fra Fulgenzio look on that well known visage, ere it was again
lost to his sight for ever! It seems as if we heard the stealthy foot-
step, the slow-drawn breath, the almost silent whisper as some of his
chosen friends bore him to his new-made grave.
In silence and in profound secresy, they hid the remains of him
whom they dared not mourn, and they added yet this seal to inviolable
friendship, that they secured the precious deposit till one hundred
years had passed away, and till the fierce storms of persecution and
prejudice had subsided into calm.
The writer has often had occasion to note the nobility of character
of the Venetians; they felt gratitude to Paolo Sarpi, and many were
deeply grieved that in their time no deserved eulogium of him could
be graven on stone, no column of marble raised to his memory, no
statue of the individual who had so long perilled his life in the
service of his country be seen among the adornments of their beauti-
ful city.
The Republic of Venice was insensible to the great injury she inflicted
upon herself by having forbidden the elevation of a public monument
to Sarpi, she did not reflect that the non-recognition of his great services
to the State was apparently a tacit disapproval of his opinions, and a
marked declension from that independent action towards the Court of
Rome which Sarpi had been so desirous that she should cultivate, it
was more, it was a step in that gradual but downward course which
Venetia and the other States of Italy then trod, when afraid of a self
constituted power, they complied with the unjust and lawless requirements
of the Pope, and the non--erection of a monument was a triumph to
that party within the Senate who were enemies to liberty of conscience,
who even after the death of Sarpi continued to be his foes; but it was
also a triumph to the Jesuits, who now looked on their return to
Venice as certain. He Was dead, but his words lived on; Fra Fulgenzio
did not forget them, and never during his long life and term of oflice
as theologian and counsellor to the Republic were the Jesuits readmit-
ted there. But they did return, and persevere till the glory of Venice had
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? 232 THE LIFE OF |'A. D. 1623
set, but not for ever. No! her brave hearted people are now as free as
Fra Paolo desired, free, because partakers of that freedom which is the
birthright of every man, and which makes him value Christian liberty
the more, free to follow the religion of Fra Paolo without convent walls;
and they shall be freer still.
The body of Fra Paolo remained hidden and undisturbed until the year
1722, when the altar d'Addolorata in the Church of the Servi was
repaired. It was raised for the third time, and carefully reburied in the
same grave; there it reposed till the year 1742; when the altar was
rebuilt, and then the remains were again disinterred, but again restored
to the same place with an epigraph in lead. Amidst all the political
tempests which burst over Venice, amidst the voice of cannon which
levelled even churches to the ground, the grave of Sarpi was unmoles-
ted, undesecrated, unknown; the Venetian and the stranger trod uncon-
sciously over his tomb. At length,in the year 1828, when the chapel
and altar of the Addolorata were demolished and sold, the bones of
Fra Paolo Sarpi were sought for, discovered and disinterred for the fifth
time, in the presence of the Count Morosini, the noble Podesta of Venice,
the Cavaliere Cicogna, the Signor Ruggieri and many others, besides the
Rector and vice rector; the epigraph which had been laid in the grave
in the year 1742 was found, and was replaced together with the bones
of the great Venetian with much care in a chest lined with lead, which
being sealed, was consigned to the Marciana till the Government assigned
a place of interment.
The entombment was on the 15th of November 1828, and an eye-
witness of the ceremony writes, " that Sarpi whose name is world-
wide had at length found honorable burial in a grave on which the
citizens of Venice as well as strangers can look. " '
The following is on a mural tablet of white marble, on the outer
wall of the church of the Servi, near the ruins of the great door. It
was placed there on the removal of the bones of Fra Paolo Sarpi to
the Church of S. Michele di Murano.
P. SARrrvs Th. R. P. Van.
H10 VBI SsnvoR Arenas
SvneasAr, m Connrrvs
An D. Mrcn. DI MvnrAno
TRANSLATvS Esr DEo. Pvn.
MDcccxxvm.
,2 The Cavaliere Oicogna. Inscris. Ven.
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? M. 70. ] FHA PAOLO SARPI' 233
It is, however, painful to relate that in the year 1846, in an unknown
hour, the' tomb was disturbed, and the stone, bearing the same inscription
as now, was forcibly taken away. But if it was intended to make Paolo Sar-
pi forgotten' the attempt signally failed, as the government commanded an
investigation of the matter. The chest had not been touched, the hidden
stone was restored to its place, as also the defaced inscription.
The small island of S. Michael di Murano was visited with . great
interest. It lies about a mile to the north of the city of Venice; the
site of the church near the rocky shore is beautiful, and the cloisters
and grounds of the monastery/adjoininywhich was the Franciscan, are
now the cemetery of Venice. Close to the door of the Ambulaco lie
the remains of Fra Paolo Sarpi, with the following inscription on the
tomb.
Ossn
PAVLI SARPII
THEOL. REIP. VENE
X A EDE J'EA'Va,q1? ';E/\q~.
U o T BA Ns LAT A
A . MDGCCXXVIII
Dncnnro Punmco
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? ii'/B1'. .
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? 235
NOTES -
~_q@! '_\'
Inrnonurrox ---- page I.
The autograph " Life " differs in many respects from the printed
"Life. " Fulgenzio's M. S. , has a preface of which the following is a
translation.
" It was not my intention to write the life of the Rev. M. Paul of
the Order of the Servi in Venice, except in a very brief and concise
form, with the view of prefixing it to some of his moral sayings or
maxims, and to arrange them in order under proper heads when I had
leisure to collect them from among his papers, where they are found
written down as they occurred to his mind, as rules of conduct.
I should not have been moved from my purpose by the earnest entrea-
ties which have been made to me, not only by the friars of the Order but
by many different parties, even by persons in high place, all entreatiug
me to give them without delay this greatly desired boon. Although it is
highly to the interest of the Order, in which he of whom I speak served
G-od for sixty one years, of the country which gave birth to so excellent a
man, of the Prince for Whom he labored for seventeen years with matchless
faith and with no unfruitful results, and of the age in which we live
(which by the singular example of so great a man repels the charge that
has been made against it, of being unproductive of heroic virtues), that
the memory of one so pious and so virtuous should be preserved, I
deemed it unnecessary to undertake such a task, believing that his
own works were sufficient to perpetuate his glorious memory. But,
since envy and malignity, which usually end with death even in the
bitterest enemies, still cruelly pursue his venerable remains, and have sti-
mulated the same unjust fury against the dead which pursued the living
with poniards, poison and treacherous devices, that only failed of their
effect through the singular and admirable intervention of Divine Pro-
vidence, on this account I have withdrawn 1ny determination, and
I come forward to declare to the world that it is most unreasonable
that innocence is thus cruelly persecuted. I will write the life of
a man who merits a pen far superior to mine.
" The things I have to relate are so well known and have the con-
current testimony of so many hundreds of monks still living, and so
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? 236 NOTFS
i? :~/
7'
hm
'I______,.
many senators and nobles of this illustrious city, that whosoever shall
venture to deny them will encounter the opposition of a cloud of liv-
ing witnesses and of the very facts themselves. "
" Vita di Fra Paolo'Sarpi. Manoscritto autografo di Fra Fulgenzio
successore di lui nella carica di consultatore della Repub. Veneta; without,
and entitled: '
" Vita del Padre Paolo Sarpi dell'Ordine dei Servi, Teologo della
Serenissima Republica di Venezia, Archives of Venice. " No date, but
Fulgenzio notes, " Contarini now Most Serene Prince of Venetia. " '
Throughout this work Fulgenzio's vita di Sarpi, is cited thus MS.
The life of F. P. Sarpi by Fulgenzio published anonymously 1646, has
two clasped hands and Aeternitas on the title page. It was republished
1658. Labus had a letter of Fulgenzio to Galileo in which he speaks
of the work as his, and Sir Roger Twysden endeavored to prevail on
him to dispose of it, but Fulgenzio would not part with it. There are
son1e particulars respecting this, and other notes on Sarpi's works in
the Archaeolgia Cantiana from Sir R. T's papers for which I am in-
debted to Mr. Rye of the British Museum.
Fulgenzio died 7th Feb. 1554, aged 83, and the inscription on his
tomb gracefully alluded to him as the Sol Fulgens and Sydus Micans.
InrRonucrron --- page vr.
Auberi C. Acquapendente. Arrighetti. Asselineau. Alhazen. S.
Augustinus. Arnulphiu. Bellarmine. Baronius. Bizar. Bouhours.
Bentivoglio. De Burigny. Bonnani. Bossuet. Birch. Bergantini.
Blount. Boethius. Bovio. Bossuet. Bunsen. Contarini. Cotton.
Cicogna. Canaye. Caracciola Colomie. Cornet. Crasso. Cardella.
Castellani. Canale. Davila. De Thou. De Dominis. Donne. Do-
nato. Dandolo. Dupin. Foscarini. Filian. Filosi. Fontanini Gia-
nius. Garbij. Gualdo. Guissano. Gillot. Guette? e. Gilbert. Golat.
Gibbon. Gratiani. Gianotti. Giustiniani. Helyot. Haller. Hariot.
Harris. Houssaye. Herbert. Johnstone. Knolles. Llovd. Langier.
Lobeira. Lebret. Micanzio. Marsand. Maffei Manutius. Mazu-
chelli. Maurocenus. Magrini. Montanus. Muratori. Mexia. Mee-
'n-a'y. _ Montfaucon. Nani. Niceron. Nelli.
