civitate
mercatores
quidam se in (lollegium coe?
Sarpi - 1868 - Life of Fra Paolo Sarpi
IMN/N
Birth. - Parents. - Morelli. - Education - Capella. - Pietro resolves to be a friar,
takes the habit of a Servite, and the name of Paolo. - Disputation.
/ The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were remarkable eras in the
history of the world, both as to civil and ecclesiastical polity, and amid
the struggles of the nations of Europe to maintain their independence of
papal power, none offered a more determined resistance than the Republic
of Venice against Pope Paul V. This was chiefly attributable to the
counsel of Fra Paolo Sarpi, a Friar of the 'Order of the Servites, who was
summoned from his Convent by the Doge and Senate, and appointed their
Theologian. , He Was a remarkable man of his own or of any other age,
and his whole life is replete vith interest. Of true piety, of unsullied inte-
grity, of lofty aspiration, of sound judgment, and of rare genius, if ever
there lived a man whose heart glowed with pure and disinterested love to
his country, with great and noble purpose, with calm but strong resolve
to uphold her most sacred rights, that man was Paolo Sarpi. He was
known in his earliest youth by the name of Pietro, and Was born at Ve-
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? 2 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1665.
nice on the fourteenth of August A. D. 1552, and was the son of Fran-
cesco Sarpi and Isabella Morelli. ' His ancestors were of S. Vito, and
the small house in which his father Francesco was born, is still to be seen
on the shore of Codomada. His mother was of a family which enjoyed the
rights of the original citizens of Venice; and as the Venetians Were divi-
ded into three classes, nobles, citizens and people, the descendants of the
original citizens Were proud of their position.
Francesco was a merchant of Venice, but his ill success there and at
Soria must be ascribed to the turbulence of a spirit, which preferred war
and bloodshed to the calm routine of a life of commerce. His dark and
terrible visage, and short stature contrasted strongly with the fair com-
plexion, beautiful features, and stately form of his wife Isabella, who to the
charms of beauty added piety, wisdom, humility, and gentleness. Her
hours were given to devotion and fasting, while Francesco's were spent
in feats of arms.
Pietro resembled his mother, especially in the full dark eyes,/which
even to old age lighted up his finely formed features. Their expression
was penetrating, but not inquisitive, calm yet resolute. The Whole face
bespoke intellect' of no ordinary power, blended with an extreme modesty,
and taught of heaven, his mind was early impressed with those principles
of religion for which throughout life he was so distinguished. In infancy,
Pietro was so small that he was called Berino, or little Peter, and he con-
tinued to be short in stature.
In childhood, he was silent and grave, but early misfortune may have
contributed to cloud his brow, and for a time have robbed him of that
cheerfulness which he afterwards evinced, even in his deepest sorrows. The
death of his father left his mother and sister in reduced circumstances,
when he was of such tender age as to be unable to lend them aid, and this
could not fail to produce a deep impression on his mind.
But generous succour came, and in this exigency his maternal uncle,
Morelli, a priest of the Collegiate church of S. Ermacora, nobly rescued
Isabella and her children, Heriuo and his sister, from their forlorn condi-
tion, and not only provided for their maintenance, but devoted himself
with well directed energy to Herino's education; and both he and Isabel-
la " fostered those seeds of true religion, which by divine aid were in pro-
gress of time so fully developed, like the grain of mustard seed to which
our Saviour compares the kingdom of heaven. " '
Morelli was the Head of a school of high classical repute, to which the
nobles of Venice sent their sons, and thus Berino had the advantage of
1 Vita di F. P. Sarpi, MS.
3 Ibid.
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? am 1-13. ] FRA mono sanm. B
being educated with youths, who were destined in after years to fill the
most influential positions in the state; and they, attracted by his genial
and pleasing manners, formed friendships with him which were only
severed by death. .
The good Morelli soon discovered Berino's aptitude for learning,
taxed his abilities to the utmost, and, alive to the value of that rare
union which he found in Herino of a retentive memory combined with
profound judgment, resolved to cultivate both to their full extent. He
obliged him to recite much by heart, as Well as to repeat verbatim what
was once read to him, and in order to exercise his judgment, required him
to Write frequent compositions, but it is to be regretted that not one of
these earliest productions of his pen has escaped the destructive hand of
time. The Fathers of the Servi, who Were conversant with his great lear-
ning, related marvellous anecdotes of his memory, but Perino assured
them seriously, that his uncle had never asked him to repeat more than
thirty lines of Virgil, or any author, after having heard them only once.
Having soon acquired proficiency in the Latin language, as well as in
the other branches of a solid and classical education, Herino proceeded to
_ higher attainments. Mathematics, in youth and in age, may be said to have
been one of his favorite recreations. Philosophy, even in his boyhood, was
not left unexplored, and Logic, to a mind so capable of its perception, was
peculiarly attractive.
In this study he was assisted by Capella of Cremona, who was deeply
versed in the abstruse theology of Duns Scotus, and who having discer-
ned the great genius of Perino, read logic with him. Apparently this was
an act of condescension, or at least of kindness, to the youthful student,
but Capella soon avowed that his pupil, not only advanced opinions in
opposition to his own, but proved them by such force of reasoning that
he was constrained to adopt them, and confessed that he could teach him
nothing more. Capella, however, was the means of gaining the youthful
Sarpi to the Order of the Servi. He was one of the Servites, and being
then resident at their great convent in the neighborhood of the house of
Morelli, Perino had thus constantly associated with the Friars, and was
so satisfied with their manner of life as to long to be one of their
number.
His grave and silent disposition, added to his love of learning, tended to
foster in his mind a desire for the cloister. To devote his time to God, and
to be able to pursue his studies without molestation, appeared to him pre-
ferable to the life of a priest, which his mother and his uncle Morelli had
resolved that he should be. In fact, they provided him with a habit similar
to that of the priests of S. Ermacora, and endeavored by harsh treatment
to extort submission to their wishes; but Perino was not to be overcome.
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? 4 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1565.
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All their efforts were unavailing; one of the Servi, and one of the Servi
only, would Perino be.
. The tonsure could not be given without parental authority; ' the
time of this ceremony was yet distant, but even for permission to join the
Servi as a novice, he had to wait in patient hope. He knew that being a
native of Venice, according to the rules of the Servites, he could be receiv-
ed into their principal convent, and their eagerness to display his talents
immediately after his reception, affords strong proof that these Friars wish-
ed to number Perino amongst them.
The pomp and glitter of the great world seemed to have little place in
his mind. He was not insensible to the advantages of rank or position, but
even in his early youth his mind rose to the magnificence of eternity;
he weighed time and the things of time in the balance of true wisdom,
and on no occasion did he betray that love of splendour common to the
Venetians. This people, gifted by nature with a climate so favorable to
display, were accustomed in the time of Sarpi to expend their wealth upon
all that could minister either to luxury or to ease. ' The palaces of the
nobles were adorned within by the matchless efforts of the pencil of Ti-
tian , for twenty four years Sarpi's contemporary, as well as by the
works of Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, and other great masters, by classic
sculpture, both antique and modern, by costly and gorgeous furniture, by
rich and rare plate, all reflected in the brilliant mirrors of Venetia, while
without, the graceful piles which Palladio or Sansovino, or others of lit-
tle less renown had reared, drew admiration from every eye. The sun
poured down a golden flood by dayiand the moon by night cast her
silvery gleams over spacious hallfivhere the voice of revelry and the
splendour of the festivities given by the Doges Veniero and the Priuli,
the successors of the good Trevisano, might have evoked in many a
youthful breast a taste for amusement and a desire for wealth, but they
met no response in Perino. _
He had no other guides but those of the Church of Rome. They were the
interpreters of his Bible, with which every member of the Order of Saint
Augustine was, or might be, familiar. There exists no warrant for conven-
tual life within its pages, and in the present age its prolongation, * or
revival, can only be considered as a retrograde movement in religion, but
three hundred years since, it is no marvel that Perino coveted a cell in the
Convent of the Servi in the city of Venice.
After the death of his father, his mother had associated with the Ere-
mite d'Ermacora, and her life was one of great sanctity. From her and
1 Annal. Baronius.
9 Sarpi dates its rise in Italy AD. 300, and at---Rome AD. 350. -- Trattato
delle Materis Benefiziarie, p. 11. I 9 ti
",:,;2rr-_~.
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? arr. 1-13. ] ' FRA mono sanrr 6
from his uncle, Pietro learned abstinence and selfdenial, and by natural
inclination as well as by early habit, having no taste either for public
amusements or the luxuries of the palate, neither comparative seclusion nor
the simple food of a convent was repulsive to him. Throughout life he had
almost a contempt for riches, and although endowed with talents which
might have commanded position and fortune, he was never seduced by
the golden bait on many occasions held out to him. .
From the year of his birth until A. D. 1565 a great part of Europe
had been plunged in war, and the future prospects of the State, as well
as of the Church, were full of gloom. Contrasted with this apparently
coming struggle, _the quiet and repose of a cell within the " religious Col-
lege " ' of the Servi was to him like the desired haven to an expecting
mariner.
He knew the wide difference between the life of a monk and that of a
friar, -- the perpetual seclusion of many of the former order being totally
at variance with his feelings. Capable of strong friendship and eager for
knowledge, as a friar he could go from place to place, see his friends,
visit the various seats of learning, and responsible chiefly to the Prior of
the Convent, could enjoy more liberty within than without its walls: this
was a powerful reason to his independent mind, but he had yet another.
Although so young, Perino was gifted with acute observation, and Venice
was the resort of many who had withdrawn from the Council of Trent in
dissatisfaction.
Overawed by the Ambassadors or Nuncios, or deceived by the pro-
mises of the Papal Legates and their supporters, the Venetian Prelates
had given their approval of the Council and its decrees at its close (A. D.
1563): all were to be excommunicated who did not obey its dictates, and
Perino had early held the doctrines of Saint Augustine, which were cer-
tainly not those enforced, through the influence of the Jesuits chiefly, at
the Council of Trent, but which nevertheless have been held by many
members of the Church of Rome, both before and since that Council.
Although there were many names of note amongst the Order of the
Servi, and they had long been esteemed an honorable body of men, yet
friars were generally of lower birth than monks; this, however, did not in-
fluence Perino. He believed that as one of a mendicant body he would be a
servant of God, who has worlds and their treasures at his disposal, and
although he mistook the meaning of the demand of heaven, in laying
on its altar a sacrifice unasked, in the manner of surrender of him-
self as approved by the. Church of Rome, no doubt can exist oh the
mind of those who study the life of " the incomparable historian Of
1 Sarpi.
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? 6 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1565.
the Council of Trent," 'that his piety was as sincere, as his ge-
nius was exalted. He never wavered in his resolution to enter the
Order of the Servi, though for a long and painful period he bent, as
the supple willow bends to the mountain. torrent, only to rise again to
its former height when the waters have passed by.
He suffered much from the continued opposition of his mother and
uncle, but at length they yielded, convinced that his purpose was ir-
revocable, and at the age of thirteen years, on the twenty fourth of
November 1565, Perino took the habit of the Servi, and assumed the
name of Paolo in lieu of Pietro. It was the custom of the times for
the learned to hold public disputations, and the day after Paolo became
a Servite he was required to argue on the proposed theses in the
Church of the Minor Order of the Francisans, commonly called the
Frari, which was built in the fourteenth century and consecrated in 1492.
Its architecture was after a design of Pisano, of the thirteenth century,
and both its interior and exterior bear witness to the zeal with which
the Franciscans were aided by the patricians and citizens of Venice.
It was ornamented by seven columns, the gifts of the nobles Giusti-
niani, Gradenigo and the citizen Aguie? , and was the mausoleum of
many of the heroes of Venetia. The Doge Dandolo, Conte della Torre,
Trevisano, Foscari, Foscarini and many more lie there.
The modern traveller or resident in Venice, as he gazes on the
tombs of Titian the Prince of Painters, and of Canova the sculptor, with
admiration, will not fail to trace the works of their predecessors Bellini
and Vivarni, or the chisel of Sansovino, who all lent their powerful aid to
beautify this venerable fane. The Palla dei Pesari was then in all its pri-
stine beauty, and was justly esteemed one of the greatest works of Titian.
The sculptures of the Fratelli Bregni, the statue of the Doge Tro-
no, that of Benedetto da Pesaro, and above all the beautiful alto re-
lievos of the crucifixion and entombment of the Holy Redeemer were
then as now objects of interest. Who has not looked on the Saint
John the Baptist, which surmounts the baptismal font, as a sculpture
which its artist Jacopo Sansovino rarely equalled and never surpassed?
There, amidst the monuments of the illustrious dead and a con-
course of the learned living, stood Fra Paolo Sarpi. And who was he
that, amid so much to attract the eye and charm the imagination,
arrested the attention of all? He was no high dignitary of the
Church in gorgeous and dazzling robes, -- he was no aged man, who
brought with him the influence of his position, and the maturity and
experience of years, -- he was no well known wrestler in the learned
J Gibbon.
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? ET. 1-13. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 7
encounters, -- he was no victor in these hard fought strifes, -- he
was but a beardless youth without station or influence, clad in the
simple black habit of a Servite friar. He was a stranger in the
lists of public controversy, he was as yet no aspirant for the palm.
Thirteen years only had passed over him, but he reasoned with an
ability which would have done honor to hoary hairs. The audience lis-
tened and wondered and admired, and the youth, unused to his con-
ventual habit, gave them cause to smile as, on bowing to the assem-
bly, instead of taking off his cap as he had been accustomed to do, he
was so engrossed with his subject that he took off his hood, and held
it in his hand all the time of the disputations.
In this Church, the arena of his first triumph in the world of let-
ters, the eye vainly seeks to rest on some monument to the fame of
Sarpi. A misconception exists as to the statue on the basement of the
tomb of Titian by Zandomenghi, that statue of an aged man is not a
representation of Fra Paolo, but an allegorical representation of the
sixteenth century; and the book which lies at the foot of the statue is
not the History of the Council of Trent, but the Canons and Decrees
of that Council, first published by Aldus Manutius A. D. 1564.
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? CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1233 -- A. D. 1565.
Fra Paolo's account of the origin and history of the Order of the Servites. -- The
seven founders leave Florence for Monte Sanario. --Ohurch and Convent. --
Monaldi, first General of the Order. --- S. Benizzi. --Servites sent to Venice.
--Church and Convent of the Servi there. --Government. --Bule.
Although it may perhaps be thought to be in some degree a digression
from our main subject, yet as every incident in the life of Fra Paolo, after
he took the vows, was so intimately connected with the Convent and Fra-
ternity of the Servi, some acquaintance with the history of that religious
Order cannot be altogether irrelevant, and almost appears to be required,
in this stage of his biography for the proper understanding of the sequel.
The reader will therefore pardon its introduction in this place, commen-
cing with an extract from his autograph letter, followed by a literal
translation.
" De ordine servorum quod quaeris explicabo. Origo est ex Flo-
rentiai; in ee? .
civitate mercatores quidam se in (lollegium coe? gerunt
Anno Dom. 1230, quo tempore ea regio huiusmodi partuum ferax
fuit.
" Dicebant laudes * * primfim quod in laudibus B. Virginis can-
tillandis assidue occuparentur, mendioare coeperunt, ut tune et in ea
regione mos novorum Collegiorum fuit habito induti toto uigro, ut B. Vir-
gini mortuum filium lugenti collugerunt.
" Haec de causis. A vulgo tune servi B. Mariae vocati, unde ad nos suc-
cessores nomen et color vestium fuerit. " '
" Your inquiry, " says Fra Paolo to M. Gillot, " respecting the
Order of the Servi, I will explain. Their origin is from Florence.
In that city certain merchants united themselves into a College, A. D.
1230, at which period that country was fruitful in projects of this
nature. Their worship at first consisted of praises to * * and espe-
cially, they were assiduously occupied in chanting the praises of the
blessed Virgin, and they commenced begging as mendicants, as was
1 " Jesus Ohristus, " thus were the ** read to me by one of the Order.
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 9
the custom of new Colleges in that period and in that country, habi-
ted entirely in black, to mark their sympathy with the Blessed Virgin
mourning for her dead Son.
" Such is their origin, and being called from that time ' Servi di Ma-
ria, ' or ' Servants of Mary, ' it is from thence that the name, and color
of the vestments have attached to us, their successors. "
It is evident from this statement that the Holy Saviour was the
first great object of worship, and this is readily admitted by the Servi
who remain. As the worship of the Virgin in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries rose to a great height, the founders of the Servi shared
in the innovation. In the statement of Fra Paolo there is no mention of
miracles or visions attendant on the institution of the Order, but there are
such in the Annals of the Servites by Gianio.
The Order of the Servi di Maria was instituted A. D. 1233, ' in the
time of Gregory IX; in the reign of S. Louis, King of France; of Alfonso,
King of Castile; Peter of Arragon; Sancius II, King of Lusitania; Henry II,
King of England; Boleslaus King of Poland, and Alexander II, King of
Scotland. 2 There were three Orders of the Servi: one for men, another
for seculars of both sexes, and a third for women living in perpetual se-
clusion. The Servi were a lesser Order of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Its founders were seven in number; they were all members of the Senate,
and gifted with ample fortune. Monaldi, Manetti, dell'Antella, Amidei,
Uggucioni, Sostegni and Falconnieri, had long been accustomed to meet
together in the church of the Santa Reparata, and on "the day of the As-
sumption " they were all inspired with the same wish to renounce the world.
They communicated to each other an account of the celestial visions which
they believed they had seen, and all sold their property, and gave the pro-
ceeds to the poor. The sale was effected after they had received advice from
the Bishop Ardingo Foraboschi, 3 who filled the Bishopric of Florence
with credit for many years. His credulity, however, was great, and his belief
in the appearance of the Virgin Mary to himself and to the Servi was one of
the sources whence credence in miracles without proof, and the worship of the
Virgin were fostered amongst the greater part of the Order of the Servi,
especially those of Florence. Had Bishop Ardingo risen, as did Paolo Sar'
1 From a curiouse? illuminated MS. of the fourteenth century; Laurentian
Library, Florence. " Dialogvs Fratris Pavli Florentini de Origine Ordinis Server
ad Petrus Cosme incipit. "--P. 1. Anne moxxxrn. Gregori Noni Pontificum anno
quarto decimo. --P. 10.
Z "Annalivm sacri ordinis Fratrvm Servorvm B. Mariae Virginis. Archangelo
Gianio. Florentia, 1618. Bib. Riccardi. -- Magliabechi, lib. 1, cap. Garbi, lib. I,
17, Annalium Servorum, Marciana.
8 Cerrachini p. 75. Nobilita di Firenze, MS.
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? 10 THE LIFE OF
pi, above the prejudice and ignorance of his age, had he rejected the ac-
counts of the visions of these Florentines, it would have been an easier
task for all who succeeded him to convince his fellow countrymen that the
worship of the Virgin had neither the sanction of Holy Writ, the Fathers,
nor the early Councils. But the Bishop, not only listened to their recital of
visions, but confirmed them in their belief of these, exhorted them not
to defer obedience to the commands of heaven, and permitted them to
have an oratory and an altar to celebrate mass wherever they judged expe-
dient. He also became their Protector, and as they intended to live on
alms only, he allowed them to beg in the town of Florence and its envi-
rons. Their homes were no longer sumptuous palaces within their own
beautiful city, but a miserable house without its walls, where they
exchanged their senatorial robes for habits the color of ashes, their
fine linen for hair--cloth, their jewelled girdles for chains of iron. The
people who had known their previous riches and condition regarded
them with admiration, but it is incredible that even infants, of whom
S. Philip Benizzi was said to have been one, and who was then only five
months old, pointed to the Seven in the streets and cried, " Behold the
Servants of the blessed Mary! " " Ecce Servi! Ecce Servi! B. Mariae. "
However, Bishop Ardingo enjoined them to adopt " the Servants of
Mary " as the name of their Order, and appears to have believed that it
was miraculously given. They remained for a year in their wretched dwel-
ling, but such was the influx of visitors which the fame of their sancti-
ty attracted to their abode, that unable to obtain either quiet or seclusion,
on the thirteenth of March A. D. 1249 they retired to Monte Sanario, a
mountain situated about eight miles north of the city of Florence, and
Bishop Ardingo, with the consent of his Chapter, having bestowed a part
of Monte Sanario upon them, they began to build a church on the ruins of
an ancient castle, around which they constructed wooden cells, where roots
and herbs were their only food, and the mountain stream their only be-
verage. These austerities, however, were too severe for some of his brethren,
and Monaldi sent Manetti and Falconnieri to Florence to solicit alms, from
whence they returned daily to Monte Sanario, and there, where the
Convent of the Servi now stands, they were located for some time.
The position of the Convent is very grand: it towers far above the val-
ley beneath, where lies the beautiful city of Florence, from which to Mon-
te Sanario there is a continuous incline, by which it is customary to ascend
the highest part of the mountain in a Waggon drawn by oxen, and on the
building where they are kept, there is a cross and the letter S above a
representation of the six hills which surround the Convent.
Near this isolated retreat the road is rugged and steep, and a forest of
dark pine trees of enormous growth, on the slope of the mountain on ei-
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 11
ther side of the road, seem like an impenetrable phalanx of guards to defy
the approach of the rude tempest; but their dark frown is not reflected
within the Convent, the genial welcome of whose inhabitants to strangers
is as cordial as it is dignified. 1
The initials of the hermits of Monte Sanario may still be seen, with va-
rious other devices, over the entrance. The arms of the Servi in 1607 were
a lily interlaced with the letter S, as on the interior of the cloister and
on the Presbytero of the Aununciata, but in later years acrown was added.
On the writer questioning when this crown was added, the answer was,
" By a King of France, " and thus have the arms of the Servi remained.
But this addition of a crown is only one of many proofs of the increase of the
adoration of the Virgin among the Servites, and its history must be searched
into before determining what belongs to a present, what to a past age.
At length the seven founders obtained a small hospital at Florence, near
the gate which led to their solitude, and adjoining their Convent the
Church of the Annunciata was built by Falconnieri. ' Its riches and
magnificence need no comment here, but the story of the founders of the
Servi was represented in after years by the frescoes which adorn the
court of the Church and the cloisters of the Convent, as also by the words
placed beneath the frescoes , and thus have the reports of miracles, for which
there is no divine authority, been perpetuated.
Gianio remarks, that the Virgin not only appeared in a vision to the
Servi, but showed them a black habit which she commanded them to wear
in memory of the passion of her Son, and also presented them with the
rule of Saint Augustine; 8 but those conversant with the pages of Gianio
will agree with Helyot and others in charging him with being apt to re-
peat from hearsay. '
After the above mentioned vision in which Bishop A1-dingo believed,
he gave the seven founders a habit similar to that which the Servites
said had been shown to them by the Virgin Mary. It was a large
black tunic together with a woollen shirt , a small white tunic , a
hood and mantle, and a girdle of leather. It was of the same form
as that still worn by the Order, and it corresponds very nearly with the
form and color of the habit as represented to have been worn by Paolo
Sarpi in his portrait by Carpioni, which till 1811 adorned the refectory of
his Convent, the only apparent difference in the dress given by Bishop
Ardingo and that represented in this portrait being, that the color of the
under garment determines it to have been linen.
1 Visited 1864.
2 Migliore. Chiese di Firenze. MS. -- MSS. Magliabechi.
8 Annal. Serv. 6. 11.
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? 12 THE LIFE OF
With the exception of Falconnieri, all took orders, and the Servi enjoyed
the protection of Innocent IV and the approbation of Pope Alexander, who
permitted them to receive the Convents offered to them, and also to pos-
sess churches and grounds for burial.
After filling the office of Prior, Monaldi became the first General of
his Order, and was succeeded by Manetti. In a Chapter convoked at Flo-
rence A. D. 1266, the Order was divided into two provinces, but after-
wards into four. Dell'Antella succeeded Jacopo di Poggibonzd as fourth
General, and this distinguished Servite died in the arms of Benizzi
who was elected in his place, and as he contributed greatly to the exten-
sion of the Order of Servi, he demands notice.
He was a youth of enthusiastic temperament, wont to believe in visions
and dreams, as people of warm imagination but weak judgment are apt to
do, and having attended service in the Chapel of the Annunciata, the
words " Philippe accede et adjunge te ad currum istum, " ' convinced
him that heaven called upon him to serve God more devotedly. He went
home, slept, and dreamed. In his dream he believed that he heard in a
vision the Virgin calling him to serve her. He awoke, forsook the study
of medicine, attached himself to the Servi, and became one of the most
distinguished of the Order; he preached throughout many of the towns of
Italy and of France, and taught his hearers to show that peculiar adora-
tion to the Virgin Mary for which he was so conspicuous. As a lover
of peace his presence was hailed by the discordant families of Tuscany,
but he was arrested in his career by Pope Innocent V, who having appro-
ved of the revival of the edict of the Lateran Council against all new
Orders, determined to abolish that of the Servi. Benizzi was forbidden to
receive any novice, or 'to sell any property belonging to the Convent which
was declared confiscated to the Pope, but as the Pontiff only survived
some months the Order was spared suppression, but only to receive further
vexatious treatment from several of the Pontifi"s successors until relieved
by Honorius IV.
Sostegni and Uggucioni after much toil returned to Monte Sanario.
They had expressed a wish to die together, and while discoursing on sub-
jects relative to their Order, they both expired on the same day and . at
the same hour. Their death was followed by that of Benizzi, whose tomb
is yet to be seen near the Convent of Monte Sanario, as well as some of
the incidents of his life delineated in the paintings in its chapel.
Boniface VIII granted the same privileges to the Order of the Servi
as he had bestowed on the Hermits of Saint Augustine. Benedict XI
protected them; Urban VI allowed them to hear confession; Martin V
1 Annal. Serv. c. 18, 22.
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 13
gave them the privileges of the begging Orders, and in the year 1484,
they were called Friars. Clement VI was the first Pope who approved
of their constitutions, Innocent VIII confirmed their former privileges
and bestowed greater upon them, and like all the other mendicant
Orders, the Servi were entitled to assist at the funerals of Cardinals.
Falconnieri, having attained the age of 110, expired in the year 1310,
and shortly after this event the Order was extended to Venice.
As in after years Fra Paolo was a friar of the principal Convent of
the Servites there, that body here claims our attention.
In the year 1314, several of the Servi, men of known piety, were
sent to Venice by Fra Pietro da Todi, eighth General of the Order,
and were well received by Giovanni Avanzo, who proposed to
found a Convent for them at his own expense. The Bishop was
absentl, but the Servi having procured a site, the Vicar General
allowed them to found an Oratory. The Bishop approved, pro-
mised the erection of a Church, and deputed the Bishop of Scar-
ponto to lay the first stone, and to consecrate the cemetery. The
Servi being held in great repute on account of their zeal, the of-
ferings were so large as to enable them to build a Convent: and
Avanzo having left a considerable revenue to the friars, they undertook
the building of their Church.
Its foundations were laid on those of the former, but it did not
reach the height of its magnificence till the close of the fifteenth cen-
tury. ' In raising this structure, the Friars had spent even the money al-
lotted for their food, in consequence of which the Cardinal Legate
enriched the Convent by the gift of S. Caterina d'Isola and its re-
venues, and his uncle Pope Sixtus granted plenary indulgence to all
who brought alms or offerings to the Church, ' by this means the
stately edifice was completed. This Church and the great Convent of
1 De Monasteris S. M. Ordinis Servorum, ccc. Ecclesia Venetze, 2, 6. F.
Gornelis.
2 " This manner of gaining money was put in practice after the ydare ? _
1100, for Pope Urbane II, having granted a plenary-Indulgence and remission
of all sins to whpever made warre in the Holy Land, to rcgaine and set at
liberty the sepulchre of Christ out of the hands of the Mahometans, was imi-
tated by his successors for many hundred of years, some of which, ( as always
new inventions are enlarged) granted it to thmho maintained a souldier in
case they could not or would not go to warre themselves in person. And in.
progresse of time, the same indulg-ehce and pardons were given for the taking
of arm_? _ against those that obeyed not _the Church of Rome, although they
Were Christians, and for the most part exactions Were made. Vnder these pre-
tences, all which, or the greater part, were applied to other uses. " -- Tran-
slation by Brent, and MS. His. of the Council of Trent. Marciana, Sarpi.
/. /Z {(12
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? 14 THE LIFE OF
the Servi once occupied a large area of ground on the north of the
city of Venice, and stood near the bridge of Santa Fosca, and in the
street S. Hieronomo. The Convent filled more than two sides of the
area, and the Church of the Servi was thus described by Sansovini.
" It is built in the form of a square, and is rich in sculpture,
paintings and many noble chapels dedicated to illustrious men. Here
are the B. Virgin and Saint Augustine by Paul Veronese, the As-
sumpti'on which adorns the altar by Salviati, and the Palla, the-Man-
_ ger and the three Magi by Giovanni di Perugia. There are also five
beautiful sculptures on the altar of Gabriel di Gazoni, a knight of
Malta. The Church is likewise famous on account of two princes who
lie buried here, the Doge Vedramino in a marble tomb of great
beauty, and the Doge Francesco Donato. Here also is the altar of the
Magdalene, at whose feet in mezzo relievo lies Verda daughter of
Martina della Scala, Lord of Verona, and wife of N. d'Este, Duke of
Ferrara.
Birth. - Parents. - Morelli. - Education - Capella. - Pietro resolves to be a friar,
takes the habit of a Servite, and the name of Paolo. - Disputation.
/ The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were remarkable eras in the
history of the world, both as to civil and ecclesiastical polity, and amid
the struggles of the nations of Europe to maintain their independence of
papal power, none offered a more determined resistance than the Republic
of Venice against Pope Paul V. This was chiefly attributable to the
counsel of Fra Paolo Sarpi, a Friar of the 'Order of the Servites, who was
summoned from his Convent by the Doge and Senate, and appointed their
Theologian. , He Was a remarkable man of his own or of any other age,
and his whole life is replete vith interest. Of true piety, of unsullied inte-
grity, of lofty aspiration, of sound judgment, and of rare genius, if ever
there lived a man whose heart glowed with pure and disinterested love to
his country, with great and noble purpose, with calm but strong resolve
to uphold her most sacred rights, that man was Paolo Sarpi. He was
known in his earliest youth by the name of Pietro, and Was born at Ve-
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? 2 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1665.
nice on the fourteenth of August A. D. 1552, and was the son of Fran-
cesco Sarpi and Isabella Morelli. ' His ancestors were of S. Vito, and
the small house in which his father Francesco was born, is still to be seen
on the shore of Codomada. His mother was of a family which enjoyed the
rights of the original citizens of Venice; and as the Venetians Were divi-
ded into three classes, nobles, citizens and people, the descendants of the
original citizens Were proud of their position.
Francesco was a merchant of Venice, but his ill success there and at
Soria must be ascribed to the turbulence of a spirit, which preferred war
and bloodshed to the calm routine of a life of commerce. His dark and
terrible visage, and short stature contrasted strongly with the fair com-
plexion, beautiful features, and stately form of his wife Isabella, who to the
charms of beauty added piety, wisdom, humility, and gentleness. Her
hours were given to devotion and fasting, while Francesco's were spent
in feats of arms.
Pietro resembled his mother, especially in the full dark eyes,/which
even to old age lighted up his finely formed features. Their expression
was penetrating, but not inquisitive, calm yet resolute. The Whole face
bespoke intellect' of no ordinary power, blended with an extreme modesty,
and taught of heaven, his mind was early impressed with those principles
of religion for which throughout life he was so distinguished. In infancy,
Pietro was so small that he was called Berino, or little Peter, and he con-
tinued to be short in stature.
In childhood, he was silent and grave, but early misfortune may have
contributed to cloud his brow, and for a time have robbed him of that
cheerfulness which he afterwards evinced, even in his deepest sorrows. The
death of his father left his mother and sister in reduced circumstances,
when he was of such tender age as to be unable to lend them aid, and this
could not fail to produce a deep impression on his mind.
But generous succour came, and in this exigency his maternal uncle,
Morelli, a priest of the Collegiate church of S. Ermacora, nobly rescued
Isabella and her children, Heriuo and his sister, from their forlorn condi-
tion, and not only provided for their maintenance, but devoted himself
with well directed energy to Herino's education; and both he and Isabel-
la " fostered those seeds of true religion, which by divine aid were in pro-
gress of time so fully developed, like the grain of mustard seed to which
our Saviour compares the kingdom of heaven. " '
Morelli was the Head of a school of high classical repute, to which the
nobles of Venice sent their sons, and thus Berino had the advantage of
1 Vita di F. P. Sarpi, MS.
3 Ibid.
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? am 1-13. ] FRA mono sanm. B
being educated with youths, who were destined in after years to fill the
most influential positions in the state; and they, attracted by his genial
and pleasing manners, formed friendships with him which were only
severed by death. .
The good Morelli soon discovered Berino's aptitude for learning,
taxed his abilities to the utmost, and, alive to the value of that rare
union which he found in Herino of a retentive memory combined with
profound judgment, resolved to cultivate both to their full extent. He
obliged him to recite much by heart, as Well as to repeat verbatim what
was once read to him, and in order to exercise his judgment, required him
to Write frequent compositions, but it is to be regretted that not one of
these earliest productions of his pen has escaped the destructive hand of
time. The Fathers of the Servi, who Were conversant with his great lear-
ning, related marvellous anecdotes of his memory, but Perino assured
them seriously, that his uncle had never asked him to repeat more than
thirty lines of Virgil, or any author, after having heard them only once.
Having soon acquired proficiency in the Latin language, as well as in
the other branches of a solid and classical education, Herino proceeded to
_ higher attainments. Mathematics, in youth and in age, may be said to have
been one of his favorite recreations. Philosophy, even in his boyhood, was
not left unexplored, and Logic, to a mind so capable of its perception, was
peculiarly attractive.
In this study he was assisted by Capella of Cremona, who was deeply
versed in the abstruse theology of Duns Scotus, and who having discer-
ned the great genius of Perino, read logic with him. Apparently this was
an act of condescension, or at least of kindness, to the youthful student,
but Capella soon avowed that his pupil, not only advanced opinions in
opposition to his own, but proved them by such force of reasoning that
he was constrained to adopt them, and confessed that he could teach him
nothing more. Capella, however, was the means of gaining the youthful
Sarpi to the Order of the Servi. He was one of the Servites, and being
then resident at their great convent in the neighborhood of the house of
Morelli, Perino had thus constantly associated with the Friars, and was
so satisfied with their manner of life as to long to be one of their
number.
His grave and silent disposition, added to his love of learning, tended to
foster in his mind a desire for the cloister. To devote his time to God, and
to be able to pursue his studies without molestation, appeared to him pre-
ferable to the life of a priest, which his mother and his uncle Morelli had
resolved that he should be. In fact, they provided him with a habit similar
to that of the priests of S. Ermacora, and endeavored by harsh treatment
to extort submission to their wishes; but Perino was not to be overcome.
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? 4 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1565.
I;
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All their efforts were unavailing; one of the Servi, and one of the Servi
only, would Perino be.
. The tonsure could not be given without parental authority; ' the
time of this ceremony was yet distant, but even for permission to join the
Servi as a novice, he had to wait in patient hope. He knew that being a
native of Venice, according to the rules of the Servites, he could be receiv-
ed into their principal convent, and their eagerness to display his talents
immediately after his reception, affords strong proof that these Friars wish-
ed to number Perino amongst them.
The pomp and glitter of the great world seemed to have little place in
his mind. He was not insensible to the advantages of rank or position, but
even in his early youth his mind rose to the magnificence of eternity;
he weighed time and the things of time in the balance of true wisdom,
and on no occasion did he betray that love of splendour common to the
Venetians. This people, gifted by nature with a climate so favorable to
display, were accustomed in the time of Sarpi to expend their wealth upon
all that could minister either to luxury or to ease. ' The palaces of the
nobles were adorned within by the matchless efforts of the pencil of Ti-
tian , for twenty four years Sarpi's contemporary, as well as by the
works of Paul Veronese, Tintoretto, and other great masters, by classic
sculpture, both antique and modern, by costly and gorgeous furniture, by
rich and rare plate, all reflected in the brilliant mirrors of Venetia, while
without, the graceful piles which Palladio or Sansovino, or others of lit-
tle less renown had reared, drew admiration from every eye. The sun
poured down a golden flood by dayiand the moon by night cast her
silvery gleams over spacious hallfivhere the voice of revelry and the
splendour of the festivities given by the Doges Veniero and the Priuli,
the successors of the good Trevisano, might have evoked in many a
youthful breast a taste for amusement and a desire for wealth, but they
met no response in Perino. _
He had no other guides but those of the Church of Rome. They were the
interpreters of his Bible, with which every member of the Order of Saint
Augustine was, or might be, familiar. There exists no warrant for conven-
tual life within its pages, and in the present age its prolongation, * or
revival, can only be considered as a retrograde movement in religion, but
three hundred years since, it is no marvel that Perino coveted a cell in the
Convent of the Servi in the city of Venice.
After the death of his father, his mother had associated with the Ere-
mite d'Ermacora, and her life was one of great sanctity. From her and
1 Annal. Baronius.
9 Sarpi dates its rise in Italy AD. 300, and at---Rome AD. 350. -- Trattato
delle Materis Benefiziarie, p. 11. I 9 ti
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? arr. 1-13. ] ' FRA mono sanrr 6
from his uncle, Pietro learned abstinence and selfdenial, and by natural
inclination as well as by early habit, having no taste either for public
amusements or the luxuries of the palate, neither comparative seclusion nor
the simple food of a convent was repulsive to him. Throughout life he had
almost a contempt for riches, and although endowed with talents which
might have commanded position and fortune, he was never seduced by
the golden bait on many occasions held out to him. .
From the year of his birth until A. D. 1565 a great part of Europe
had been plunged in war, and the future prospects of the State, as well
as of the Church, were full of gloom. Contrasted with this apparently
coming struggle, _the quiet and repose of a cell within the " religious Col-
lege " ' of the Servi was to him like the desired haven to an expecting
mariner.
He knew the wide difference between the life of a monk and that of a
friar, -- the perpetual seclusion of many of the former order being totally
at variance with his feelings. Capable of strong friendship and eager for
knowledge, as a friar he could go from place to place, see his friends,
visit the various seats of learning, and responsible chiefly to the Prior of
the Convent, could enjoy more liberty within than without its walls: this
was a powerful reason to his independent mind, but he had yet another.
Although so young, Perino was gifted with acute observation, and Venice
was the resort of many who had withdrawn from the Council of Trent in
dissatisfaction.
Overawed by the Ambassadors or Nuncios, or deceived by the pro-
mises of the Papal Legates and their supporters, the Venetian Prelates
had given their approval of the Council and its decrees at its close (A. D.
1563): all were to be excommunicated who did not obey its dictates, and
Perino had early held the doctrines of Saint Augustine, which were cer-
tainly not those enforced, through the influence of the Jesuits chiefly, at
the Council of Trent, but which nevertheless have been held by many
members of the Church of Rome, both before and since that Council.
Although there were many names of note amongst the Order of the
Servi, and they had long been esteemed an honorable body of men, yet
friars were generally of lower birth than monks; this, however, did not in-
fluence Perino. He believed that as one of a mendicant body he would be a
servant of God, who has worlds and their treasures at his disposal, and
although he mistook the meaning of the demand of heaven, in laying
on its altar a sacrifice unasked, in the manner of surrender of him-
self as approved by the. Church of Rome, no doubt can exist oh the
mind of those who study the life of " the incomparable historian Of
1 Sarpi.
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? 6 THE LIFE OF [A. D. 1552-1565.
the Council of Trent," 'that his piety was as sincere, as his ge-
nius was exalted. He never wavered in his resolution to enter the
Order of the Servi, though for a long and painful period he bent, as
the supple willow bends to the mountain. torrent, only to rise again to
its former height when the waters have passed by.
He suffered much from the continued opposition of his mother and
uncle, but at length they yielded, convinced that his purpose was ir-
revocable, and at the age of thirteen years, on the twenty fourth of
November 1565, Perino took the habit of the Servi, and assumed the
name of Paolo in lieu of Pietro. It was the custom of the times for
the learned to hold public disputations, and the day after Paolo became
a Servite he was required to argue on the proposed theses in the
Church of the Minor Order of the Francisans, commonly called the
Frari, which was built in the fourteenth century and consecrated in 1492.
Its architecture was after a design of Pisano, of the thirteenth century,
and both its interior and exterior bear witness to the zeal with which
the Franciscans were aided by the patricians and citizens of Venice.
It was ornamented by seven columns, the gifts of the nobles Giusti-
niani, Gradenigo and the citizen Aguie? , and was the mausoleum of
many of the heroes of Venetia. The Doge Dandolo, Conte della Torre,
Trevisano, Foscari, Foscarini and many more lie there.
The modern traveller or resident in Venice, as he gazes on the
tombs of Titian the Prince of Painters, and of Canova the sculptor, with
admiration, will not fail to trace the works of their predecessors Bellini
and Vivarni, or the chisel of Sansovino, who all lent their powerful aid to
beautify this venerable fane. The Palla dei Pesari was then in all its pri-
stine beauty, and was justly esteemed one of the greatest works of Titian.
The sculptures of the Fratelli Bregni, the statue of the Doge Tro-
no, that of Benedetto da Pesaro, and above all the beautiful alto re-
lievos of the crucifixion and entombment of the Holy Redeemer were
then as now objects of interest. Who has not looked on the Saint
John the Baptist, which surmounts the baptismal font, as a sculpture
which its artist Jacopo Sansovino rarely equalled and never surpassed?
There, amidst the monuments of the illustrious dead and a con-
course of the learned living, stood Fra Paolo Sarpi. And who was he
that, amid so much to attract the eye and charm the imagination,
arrested the attention of all? He was no high dignitary of the
Church in gorgeous and dazzling robes, -- he was no aged man, who
brought with him the influence of his position, and the maturity and
experience of years, -- he was no well known wrestler in the learned
J Gibbon.
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? ET. 1-13. ] FRA PAOLO SARPI 7
encounters, -- he was no victor in these hard fought strifes, -- he
was but a beardless youth without station or influence, clad in the
simple black habit of a Servite friar. He was a stranger in the
lists of public controversy, he was as yet no aspirant for the palm.
Thirteen years only had passed over him, but he reasoned with an
ability which would have done honor to hoary hairs. The audience lis-
tened and wondered and admired, and the youth, unused to his con-
ventual habit, gave them cause to smile as, on bowing to the assem-
bly, instead of taking off his cap as he had been accustomed to do, he
was so engrossed with his subject that he took off his hood, and held
it in his hand all the time of the disputations.
In this Church, the arena of his first triumph in the world of let-
ters, the eye vainly seeks to rest on some monument to the fame of
Sarpi. A misconception exists as to the statue on the basement of the
tomb of Titian by Zandomenghi, that statue of an aged man is not a
representation of Fra Paolo, but an allegorical representation of the
sixteenth century; and the book which lies at the foot of the statue is
not the History of the Council of Trent, but the Canons and Decrees
of that Council, first published by Aldus Manutius A. D. 1564.
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? CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1233 -- A. D. 1565.
Fra Paolo's account of the origin and history of the Order of the Servites. -- The
seven founders leave Florence for Monte Sanario. --Ohurch and Convent. --
Monaldi, first General of the Order. --- S. Benizzi. --Servites sent to Venice.
--Church and Convent of the Servi there. --Government. --Bule.
Although it may perhaps be thought to be in some degree a digression
from our main subject, yet as every incident in the life of Fra Paolo, after
he took the vows, was so intimately connected with the Convent and Fra-
ternity of the Servi, some acquaintance with the history of that religious
Order cannot be altogether irrelevant, and almost appears to be required,
in this stage of his biography for the proper understanding of the sequel.
The reader will therefore pardon its introduction in this place, commen-
cing with an extract from his autograph letter, followed by a literal
translation.
" De ordine servorum quod quaeris explicabo. Origo est ex Flo-
rentiai; in ee? .
civitate mercatores quidam se in (lollegium coe? gerunt
Anno Dom. 1230, quo tempore ea regio huiusmodi partuum ferax
fuit.
" Dicebant laudes * * primfim quod in laudibus B. Virginis can-
tillandis assidue occuparentur, mendioare coeperunt, ut tune et in ea
regione mos novorum Collegiorum fuit habito induti toto uigro, ut B. Vir-
gini mortuum filium lugenti collugerunt.
" Haec de causis. A vulgo tune servi B. Mariae vocati, unde ad nos suc-
cessores nomen et color vestium fuerit. " '
" Your inquiry, " says Fra Paolo to M. Gillot, " respecting the
Order of the Servi, I will explain. Their origin is from Florence.
In that city certain merchants united themselves into a College, A. D.
1230, at which period that country was fruitful in projects of this
nature. Their worship at first consisted of praises to * * and espe-
cially, they were assiduously occupied in chanting the praises of the
blessed Virgin, and they commenced begging as mendicants, as was
1 " Jesus Ohristus, " thus were the ** read to me by one of the Order.
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 9
the custom of new Colleges in that period and in that country, habi-
ted entirely in black, to mark their sympathy with the Blessed Virgin
mourning for her dead Son.
" Such is their origin, and being called from that time ' Servi di Ma-
ria, ' or ' Servants of Mary, ' it is from thence that the name, and color
of the vestments have attached to us, their successors. "
It is evident from this statement that the Holy Saviour was the
first great object of worship, and this is readily admitted by the Servi
who remain. As the worship of the Virgin in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries rose to a great height, the founders of the Servi shared
in the innovation. In the statement of Fra Paolo there is no mention of
miracles or visions attendant on the institution of the Order, but there are
such in the Annals of the Servites by Gianio.
The Order of the Servi di Maria was instituted A. D. 1233, ' in the
time of Gregory IX; in the reign of S. Louis, King of France; of Alfonso,
King of Castile; Peter of Arragon; Sancius II, King of Lusitania; Henry II,
King of England; Boleslaus King of Poland, and Alexander II, King of
Scotland. 2 There were three Orders of the Servi: one for men, another
for seculars of both sexes, and a third for women living in perpetual se-
clusion. The Servi were a lesser Order of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Its founders were seven in number; they were all members of the Senate,
and gifted with ample fortune. Monaldi, Manetti, dell'Antella, Amidei,
Uggucioni, Sostegni and Falconnieri, had long been accustomed to meet
together in the church of the Santa Reparata, and on "the day of the As-
sumption " they were all inspired with the same wish to renounce the world.
They communicated to each other an account of the celestial visions which
they believed they had seen, and all sold their property, and gave the pro-
ceeds to the poor. The sale was effected after they had received advice from
the Bishop Ardingo Foraboschi, 3 who filled the Bishopric of Florence
with credit for many years. His credulity, however, was great, and his belief
in the appearance of the Virgin Mary to himself and to the Servi was one of
the sources whence credence in miracles without proof, and the worship of the
Virgin were fostered amongst the greater part of the Order of the Servi,
especially those of Florence. Had Bishop Ardingo risen, as did Paolo Sar'
1 From a curiouse? illuminated MS. of the fourteenth century; Laurentian
Library, Florence. " Dialogvs Fratris Pavli Florentini de Origine Ordinis Server
ad Petrus Cosme incipit. "--P. 1. Anne moxxxrn. Gregori Noni Pontificum anno
quarto decimo. --P. 10.
Z "Annalivm sacri ordinis Fratrvm Servorvm B. Mariae Virginis. Archangelo
Gianio. Florentia, 1618. Bib. Riccardi. -- Magliabechi, lib. 1, cap. Garbi, lib. I,
17, Annalium Servorum, Marciana.
8 Cerrachini p. 75. Nobilita di Firenze, MS.
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? 10 THE LIFE OF
pi, above the prejudice and ignorance of his age, had he rejected the ac-
counts of the visions of these Florentines, it would have been an easier
task for all who succeeded him to convince his fellow countrymen that the
worship of the Virgin had neither the sanction of Holy Writ, the Fathers,
nor the early Councils. But the Bishop, not only listened to their recital of
visions, but confirmed them in their belief of these, exhorted them not
to defer obedience to the commands of heaven, and permitted them to
have an oratory and an altar to celebrate mass wherever they judged expe-
dient. He also became their Protector, and as they intended to live on
alms only, he allowed them to beg in the town of Florence and its envi-
rons. Their homes were no longer sumptuous palaces within their own
beautiful city, but a miserable house without its walls, where they
exchanged their senatorial robes for habits the color of ashes, their
fine linen for hair--cloth, their jewelled girdles for chains of iron. The
people who had known their previous riches and condition regarded
them with admiration, but it is incredible that even infants, of whom
S. Philip Benizzi was said to have been one, and who was then only five
months old, pointed to the Seven in the streets and cried, " Behold the
Servants of the blessed Mary! " " Ecce Servi! Ecce Servi! B. Mariae. "
However, Bishop Ardingo enjoined them to adopt " the Servants of
Mary " as the name of their Order, and appears to have believed that it
was miraculously given. They remained for a year in their wretched dwel-
ling, but such was the influx of visitors which the fame of their sancti-
ty attracted to their abode, that unable to obtain either quiet or seclusion,
on the thirteenth of March A. D. 1249 they retired to Monte Sanario, a
mountain situated about eight miles north of the city of Florence, and
Bishop Ardingo, with the consent of his Chapter, having bestowed a part
of Monte Sanario upon them, they began to build a church on the ruins of
an ancient castle, around which they constructed wooden cells, where roots
and herbs were their only food, and the mountain stream their only be-
verage. These austerities, however, were too severe for some of his brethren,
and Monaldi sent Manetti and Falconnieri to Florence to solicit alms, from
whence they returned daily to Monte Sanario, and there, where the
Convent of the Servi now stands, they were located for some time.
The position of the Convent is very grand: it towers far above the val-
ley beneath, where lies the beautiful city of Florence, from which to Mon-
te Sanario there is a continuous incline, by which it is customary to ascend
the highest part of the mountain in a Waggon drawn by oxen, and on the
building where they are kept, there is a cross and the letter S above a
representation of the six hills which surround the Convent.
Near this isolated retreat the road is rugged and steep, and a forest of
dark pine trees of enormous growth, on the slope of the mountain on ei-
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 11
ther side of the road, seem like an impenetrable phalanx of guards to defy
the approach of the rude tempest; but their dark frown is not reflected
within the Convent, the genial welcome of whose inhabitants to strangers
is as cordial as it is dignified. 1
The initials of the hermits of Monte Sanario may still be seen, with va-
rious other devices, over the entrance. The arms of the Servi in 1607 were
a lily interlaced with the letter S, as on the interior of the cloister and
on the Presbytero of the Aununciata, but in later years acrown was added.
On the writer questioning when this crown was added, the answer was,
" By a King of France, " and thus have the arms of the Servi remained.
But this addition of a crown is only one of many proofs of the increase of the
adoration of the Virgin among the Servites, and its history must be searched
into before determining what belongs to a present, what to a past age.
At length the seven founders obtained a small hospital at Florence, near
the gate which led to their solitude, and adjoining their Convent the
Church of the Annunciata was built by Falconnieri. ' Its riches and
magnificence need no comment here, but the story of the founders of the
Servi was represented in after years by the frescoes which adorn the
court of the Church and the cloisters of the Convent, as also by the words
placed beneath the frescoes , and thus have the reports of miracles, for which
there is no divine authority, been perpetuated.
Gianio remarks, that the Virgin not only appeared in a vision to the
Servi, but showed them a black habit which she commanded them to wear
in memory of the passion of her Son, and also presented them with the
rule of Saint Augustine; 8 but those conversant with the pages of Gianio
will agree with Helyot and others in charging him with being apt to re-
peat from hearsay. '
After the above mentioned vision in which Bishop A1-dingo believed,
he gave the seven founders a habit similar to that which the Servites
said had been shown to them by the Virgin Mary. It was a large
black tunic together with a woollen shirt , a small white tunic , a
hood and mantle, and a girdle of leather. It was of the same form
as that still worn by the Order, and it corresponds very nearly with the
form and color of the habit as represented to have been worn by Paolo
Sarpi in his portrait by Carpioni, which till 1811 adorned the refectory of
his Convent, the only apparent difference in the dress given by Bishop
Ardingo and that represented in this portrait being, that the color of the
under garment determines it to have been linen.
1 Visited 1864.
2 Migliore. Chiese di Firenze. MS. -- MSS. Magliabechi.
8 Annal. Serv. 6. 11.
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? 12 THE LIFE OF
With the exception of Falconnieri, all took orders, and the Servi enjoyed
the protection of Innocent IV and the approbation of Pope Alexander, who
permitted them to receive the Convents offered to them, and also to pos-
sess churches and grounds for burial.
After filling the office of Prior, Monaldi became the first General of
his Order, and was succeeded by Manetti. In a Chapter convoked at Flo-
rence A. D. 1266, the Order was divided into two provinces, but after-
wards into four. Dell'Antella succeeded Jacopo di Poggibonzd as fourth
General, and this distinguished Servite died in the arms of Benizzi
who was elected in his place, and as he contributed greatly to the exten-
sion of the Order of Servi, he demands notice.
He was a youth of enthusiastic temperament, wont to believe in visions
and dreams, as people of warm imagination but weak judgment are apt to
do, and having attended service in the Chapel of the Annunciata, the
words " Philippe accede et adjunge te ad currum istum, " ' convinced
him that heaven called upon him to serve God more devotedly. He went
home, slept, and dreamed. In his dream he believed that he heard in a
vision the Virgin calling him to serve her. He awoke, forsook the study
of medicine, attached himself to the Servi, and became one of the most
distinguished of the Order; he preached throughout many of the towns of
Italy and of France, and taught his hearers to show that peculiar adora-
tion to the Virgin Mary for which he was so conspicuous. As a lover
of peace his presence was hailed by the discordant families of Tuscany,
but he was arrested in his career by Pope Innocent V, who having appro-
ved of the revival of the edict of the Lateran Council against all new
Orders, determined to abolish that of the Servi. Benizzi was forbidden to
receive any novice, or 'to sell any property belonging to the Convent which
was declared confiscated to the Pope, but as the Pontiff only survived
some months the Order was spared suppression, but only to receive further
vexatious treatment from several of the Pontifi"s successors until relieved
by Honorius IV.
Sostegni and Uggucioni after much toil returned to Monte Sanario.
They had expressed a wish to die together, and while discoursing on sub-
jects relative to their Order, they both expired on the same day and . at
the same hour. Their death was followed by that of Benizzi, whose tomb
is yet to be seen near the Convent of Monte Sanario, as well as some of
the incidents of his life delineated in the paintings in its chapel.
Boniface VIII granted the same privileges to the Order of the Servi
as he had bestowed on the Hermits of Saint Augustine. Benedict XI
protected them; Urban VI allowed them to hear confession; Martin V
1 Annal. Serv. c. 18, 22.
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? FRA PAOLO SARPI 13
gave them the privileges of the begging Orders, and in the year 1484,
they were called Friars. Clement VI was the first Pope who approved
of their constitutions, Innocent VIII confirmed their former privileges
and bestowed greater upon them, and like all the other mendicant
Orders, the Servi were entitled to assist at the funerals of Cardinals.
Falconnieri, having attained the age of 110, expired in the year 1310,
and shortly after this event the Order was extended to Venice.
As in after years Fra Paolo was a friar of the principal Convent of
the Servites there, that body here claims our attention.
In the year 1314, several of the Servi, men of known piety, were
sent to Venice by Fra Pietro da Todi, eighth General of the Order,
and were well received by Giovanni Avanzo, who proposed to
found a Convent for them at his own expense. The Bishop was
absentl, but the Servi having procured a site, the Vicar General
allowed them to found an Oratory. The Bishop approved, pro-
mised the erection of a Church, and deputed the Bishop of Scar-
ponto to lay the first stone, and to consecrate the cemetery. The
Servi being held in great repute on account of their zeal, the of-
ferings were so large as to enable them to build a Convent: and
Avanzo having left a considerable revenue to the friars, they undertook
the building of their Church.
Its foundations were laid on those of the former, but it did not
reach the height of its magnificence till the close of the fifteenth cen-
tury. ' In raising this structure, the Friars had spent even the money al-
lotted for their food, in consequence of which the Cardinal Legate
enriched the Convent by the gift of S. Caterina d'Isola and its re-
venues, and his uncle Pope Sixtus granted plenary indulgence to all
who brought alms or offerings to the Church, ' by this means the
stately edifice was completed. This Church and the great Convent of
1 De Monasteris S. M. Ordinis Servorum, ccc. Ecclesia Venetze, 2, 6. F.
Gornelis.
2 " This manner of gaining money was put in practice after the ydare ? _
1100, for Pope Urbane II, having granted a plenary-Indulgence and remission
of all sins to whpever made warre in the Holy Land, to rcgaine and set at
liberty the sepulchre of Christ out of the hands of the Mahometans, was imi-
tated by his successors for many hundred of years, some of which, ( as always
new inventions are enlarged) granted it to thmho maintained a souldier in
case they could not or would not go to warre themselves in person. And in.
progresse of time, the same indulg-ehce and pardons were given for the taking
of arm_? _ against those that obeyed not _the Church of Rome, although they
Were Christians, and for the most part exactions Were made. Vnder these pre-
tences, all which, or the greater part, were applied to other uses. " -- Tran-
slation by Brent, and MS. His. of the Council of Trent. Marciana, Sarpi.
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? 14 THE LIFE OF
the Servi once occupied a large area of ground on the north of the
city of Venice, and stood near the bridge of Santa Fosca, and in the
street S. Hieronomo. The Convent filled more than two sides of the
area, and the Church of the Servi was thus described by Sansovini.
" It is built in the form of a square, and is rich in sculpture,
paintings and many noble chapels dedicated to illustrious men. Here
are the B. Virgin and Saint Augustine by Paul Veronese, the As-
sumpti'on which adorns the altar by Salviati, and the Palla, the-Man-
_ ger and the three Magi by Giovanni di Perugia. There are also five
beautiful sculptures on the altar of Gabriel di Gazoni, a knight of
Malta. The Church is likewise famous on account of two princes who
lie buried here, the Doge Vedramino in a marble tomb of great
beauty, and the Doge Francesco Donato. Here also is the altar of the
Magdalene, at whose feet in mezzo relievo lies Verda daughter of
Martina della Scala, Lord of Verona, and wife of N. d'Este, Duke of
Ferrara.
