No More Learning

New York, March 10, 1911.
Rev. J. Henry Watson.
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? Few Americans know anything about Fra Paolo Sarpi; and
perhaps not many Italians, outside of Venice, appreciate fully
the wonderful wisdom and power that dwelt in the brain and
heart of a little dried-up monk who is considered the "Great
est of the Venetians".
Paolo Sarpi deserved this title as a most learned scholar, a
statesman of the first rank, a sincere and unselfish patriot, a
bold reformer, an unshrinking champion of justice and liberty,
a faithful and devoted Christian. As a statesman, he ahvar- VsJ^
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the love and trust of the people. He was the only reformer re
maining within the Roman Church who escaped a violent death.
As a champion he is the only priest who beat the Pope down
upon his knees and yet lived to a good old age.
There were many preachers of righteousness in medieval
times who tried to lead in reforming the evils of Church and
State, with the ain of producing religious and civil liberty, a-
gainst the inconceivable corruption and tyranny of the Papacy.
Arnold of Brescia, Savonarola and others strove to reform the
Church from within -- and they were burned alive.
Luther's great movement, early in the 16th century, proceeded
in a different method. Despairing of reform within the Church,
it detached large portions of nation from the Pope's control,
giving a blow which made the papacy stagger but not beyond
recovery. The English reformation, beginning soon afterwards, was the
first example of a national Church resuming its original auto
nomy, defying the Pope's usurped rule and taking its rightful
place as a self-governing branch of the Holy Catholic Church.
These reforming movements, which broke away from the
papacy, did not, however, destroy its power. Those monarchs
who held aloof from these movements did not dare to oppose the
Pope's claim of divine right to supremacy over them, for fear
of unsettling their own thrones. They did not wish to encour
age independence of religious thought among their subjects, for
fear of promoting at the same time an independence of political
thought and a tendency towards civil liberty. The Pope stib re
tained his powerful weapons which gave him command of the
situation as an ironclad among wooden ships. His claims to be
the King of kings and ruler of rulers. His right of investiture
and appointment of civil as well as ecclesiastical officials. His
holding of benefices and grasping of property, to the extent
sometimes of a third of the property of nations. His use of in
dulgences in such a way as to secure the submission . as well as
the wealth of the faithful. And above all, his terrible power of
excommunication and interdict by which he could crush his op
ponents. These thunderbolts of Jove remained in his hands
and he could use them to suppress any Ajax who defied him.
Besides these weapons, the popes were the most skilful poli
tical managers. They could play the kings and nobles against
each other or in combination so as to effect their objects. They
could manipulate the members of councils so that thcv would
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? carry out what was decreed at Rome. This was manifested in
the Council of Trent, which was called in 1545 under the in
fluence of all the movements for reform, with the professed pur
pose of satisfying and reconciling the discordant elements by
some concessions to demands for purer theology, practice and
morals. The result of it however was to cement the errors and
superstitions upon the church's system and to bind its subjects;
more closely than ever under the heel of their inexorable
master, making reconciliation with reformers utterly impos
sible. During the session of this council, in the year 1552, two
babies were born who yere destined to fight a battle with each
other which began the real disintegration of the Pope's autho
rity over the nations and opened their hopeful progress towards
civil and religious liberty.
One of these boys was named Camibo Borghese, the son of
a lawyer of Siena who went to Rome and became prominent
there. Camibo was educated as a lawyer of the Roman Curia,
and held offices as magistrate, inquisitor, executor of the papal
censures, and Papal Nuncio to the Court of Spain. He was
made Cardinal by Clement VIII, and elected Pope in 1605 taking
name of Paul V. From his management came the aggrandize
ment of the Borghese family, by grasping all the property he
could lay hands on; though, as regards personal morals, he
and Clement VIII were evidences of some improvement wrought
by the Council of Trent.
The other of these boy was named Pietro Sarpi, the son of
a Venetian trader and in early life gave evidence of the
prodigious scholarship to which he afterwards attained. At the
age of 13 he eminently excelled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, philo
sophy, mathematics, theology in all its branches, and many of
the sciences. At about this age he joined the order of Servite
friars and changed his name to Paolo. He became professor in
the Cathedral of Bp. Boldrino in Mantua and the private theo
logian of Duke Gonzaga. Here his fame spread extensively. No
lecturer had ever equalled him. He was entirely familiar with
the Scriptures in their original languages, and had the Apostolic
traditions, the Fathers and the Church Councils at his tongue's
end. At 23 years of age he went back to the Servites in Venice
as professor of philosophy and afterwards of mathematics, in
which study he was the acknowledged head of all Italy. He wa*
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? made provincial and procurator of his order and became an in
timate friend of Pope Sixtus V, and Urban VII.
It would occupy too much space to tell of Fra Paolo's won
derful acquirements in all kinds of learning. He was an intel
lectual giant, the miracle of the age; able to converse with any
civilized man in his own language, and as master in every sub
ject. In Anatomy and Astronomy he is said to have preceded
the discoveries of Harvey and Galileo. In Chemistry, and every
branch of scienze he knew whatever was known by any man of
that day.
We will pass on to that part of his life wich specially con-
-cerns his influence for civil and religious liberty. In the year
1606 he was appointed by the Venetian Senate a Theological
Counsellor, a new office created in addition to three Counsellors
of Law, whose duty was that of instructing the Doge and
Senate in regard to the law on any question that came up. Sar
pi accepted this with the precaution of securing the consent of
the General of his order, who represented the authority of the
Pope. This was a most important provision, for it enabled him
to remain in Venice instead of obeying the Pope's summons to
bring the friar into his power. After the other Counsellors died,
"the Senate left their whole duties to Sarpi, so that he held entire
control of the legal and theological principles of Venice, and
-was practically dictator of all its affairs ; and he held this office
for 17 years until ? his death. He was revered by Doges, Se
nators and people throughout his whole life as no other citizen
bad been in that republic which was often ungrateful to its
best citizens.
Pope Paul V, soon after his accession, determined to humiliate
Venice as his predecessor had done. Seven times before,
within 300 years, the reigning Popes had compelled the proud
republic to yield to their will after terrible suffering and loss
under the effects of their interdicts, wich were in every case
laid in punishment for alleged offences against the worldly de
signs of the Pope; not in any wise for sins against Almighty
God. The last interdict had been a century before, and Venice
'occupied most of the century in recuperating from its injuries.
There was indeed good reason for the Pone's desire to hu
miliate Venice, because that republic, with all its troubles had
preserved such a measure of independence as threotened the
Pope's peace of mind. "Venice, alone among the nations of Eu
rope, never admitted priests and ecclesiastics to interfere with
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? its government. No order of men owing allegiance to a foreign
sovereign was allowed the smallest share of real power and in
fluence in the state. It "was also the only state wich kept no
member of the Apostolic court in her pay", Venice also had an-
Pope Paul V,
tient laws forbidding the church to own property or to erect
new buildings without the consent of the government. These
laws were not enforced for at time and the Church acquired a
fourth of the property of the city ; but they were re enacted in
1603. Moreover the State claimed the appointment of its patriarch
without confirmation by the Pope. It was exceedingly indignant
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when its Patriarch Matteo Zane was invited by Clement VIII to
visit him in a friendly way, and then the Pope declared that he
gave him the investiture. The State would no allow his suc
cessor even to visit Rome. To this day the Kingdom of Italy ad
heres to this right. Venice also insisted upon taxing the clergy
as well as the laity for public purposes.
The final offence was when two priests, charged with cruelty,
wholesale poisoning, murder and licentiousness, were arrested
by the Senate and put in dungeons for trial. The Pope demand
ed their liberation as. not being amenable to the secular law,
When this was refused, the Pope threatned an interdict on ac
count of the property laws and the imprisonment of ecclesiastics,
which threat was presented to the Senate on Christmas 1605.
The Senate did not shrink from the contest and called upon
Fra Paolo for advice. The Friar strongly advised them to re
fuse to receive the Pope's interdict, and to reason with him while
opposing force by force. The senate willingly accepted this ad
vice and Fra Paolo presented the case to Paul V, urging from
history that the Pope's claim to intermeddle in civil matters was
a usurpation; and that in these matters the Republic of Venice
recognized no authority but that of God. He said "God has in
stituted two kingdoms in the world, one spiritual and the other
temporal; each in its own sphere is supreme and independent.
The Kingdom of Christ is not of this world but in heaven, there
fore religion walks by a heavenly way, the government of the
State by an earthly way, and the one ought never to interfere
with the other. God wishes to be served in such a was as to
preserve this harmony between the two powers which He has
instituted ; maintaining them balanced so that one may not us
urp the place that belongs to the other". The Friar also quoted
from bubs of Popes wich expressly admitted to the Republic
the right of punishing all offenders clerical or lay.
The Pope did not attempt to combat this reasoning effective
ly, but insisted upon his rights, and, though the sympathies of
other nations except Spain were with Venice, and their ambas
sadors endeavored to restrain the Pope, he sent out his interdict
and excommunication April 17, 1606.
The Doge, Leonardo Donato, and the Senate, with Sarpi's di
rection, were fully prepared to meet this emergency. They took
measures to stop any messenger at the frontier so that the Po
pe's Bulls should not get through; and they commanded the cler
gy to go on with their ministrations ' as though nothing had
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happened. The clergy were mostly loyal to the Government and
others were threatened with hanging. The Jesuits, who craftily
wished to compromise by hearing confessions but not saying
mass, were summarily expelled.
VROBERTV5 CARD BELLARMXNVS ? SOC IESV-
The nations watched this struggle with interest. England,
Holland and Germany wanted Venice to follow their course and
break away entirely from the Papacy. Spain and France ad
vised a reconciliation. The others were pleased to have the bat
tle fought out for the defense of their own rights. Sarpi and
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Venice were firm in this determination, so that the Pope might
be humiliated and his usurped power destroyed forever.
Sarpi was, in many respects, in sympathy with the doctrines
of the . reformers. Besides his denunciation of usurped Papal
claims, he showed the evil history of the benefices and traced the
growth of the error of Mariolatry. Sir Henry Wotton and Dr.
Bedell, the Engbsh delegates, considered him as holding pure
Catholic doctrines, free from Roman errors, like those of their
own Engbsh Church. Still Sarpi did not involve himself with
those who were called Protestants; although that might have
been the logical conclusion if he had failed to bring the Pope
down upon his knees.
The result was however that Paul V failed entirely in his
efforts to maintain his usurpations. After a year in which he
had striven to get some concessions, even the least, "to save his
credit in the eyes of Europe", he was Obliged to give in comple
tely. "Point after point was yielded to Venice. The ecclesiastic
al property laws were to remain in full force. The right of the
Republic to punish priests was conceded. The Jesuits were not
to be allowed to return to Venice, although the Pope begged for
this as a personal favor. The protest of the Republic against
the Pope's censures as not to be revoked, but, on the Pope's
removing the censures, it was declared thereby to fall to the
ground. The Cardinal was to take off the censures in the Doge's
palace and not in the Cathedral. Venice was to accept no
papal blessing, to abow no popular rejoicings,, and to send no
intimation of the removal of the censures to any foreign court;
for, asserting that she had done no wrong, and denying the vali
dity, of the censures, she would acknowledge no sense of their
deliverance on their being raised".
These conditions being carried out, Venice was restored to
its place in the Roman Church, reconciled to the Pope. But Paul
V, who had suffered this irremediable blow to his power and
prestige, was by means reconciled to Fra Paolo whom he re
cognized as the head and front of all the offence. He made e-
very effort to induce the friar to come to Rome, giving liberal
knew the papal methods too well to put himself in the hands of
those who would not rest until he was burned. He pleaded that
he could not leave his duties in the Republic ; and indeed the Se
nate would not allow him to go into any such danger. He was too
valuable to them, trusted and loved by all the citizens and
greatly respected by foreign courts.
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Failing in these efforts, the Pope tried to have him assassin
ated; and the attempt made upon his life, in October, 1607, by
assassins clearly connected with Paul V, very nearly succeeded.
He was stabbed fifteen times and left for dead ; but being cared
for with the best skill the Senate could provide, he recovered
and resumed his place at the heald of the affairs of the Republic,.
with increased reverence from all the citizens.
Fra Paolo lived for many years after this, attending to his
duties in the state and also putting forth much literary work.
He wrote a treatise on the interdict which showed that it was
not legal nor obligatory ; and enforced the teaching of his con
flict with the Pope by other works upon the subject. His action
and teaching gave force and direction, which Count Cavour
gratefully acknowledged, to the Kingdom of Italy in destroying
the Temporal Power of the Pope and establishing a free Church
in a free State.
His History of Ecclesiastical Benefices traced the growth of
the Mammon power in the Church and the vast change from the
spirituality of the Apostles to the grasping worldliness of the
Borghese Pope. The teaching of this was carried out in the mo
dern Italy, so that the church and charity funds are administer
ed by the officials, and the Pope has no right to lay any taxes
in Italy. He wrote also a History of the Council of Trent, in
which are unveiled all the artifices of the Court of Rome to
prevent the truth of dogmas from being made plain, and the
reform of the Papacy and of the Church from being dealt with.
He had worked at this most of his life, and had received much
information from delegates to the Council and from the reports-
in the Archives of Venice.
The effect of these publications stirred up his enemies to re
newed attempts upon his life and reputations; but, in spite of
them, he outlived Paul V and died peacefully Jan. 15, 1623, in
the 71st. year of his age. He was lamented by rich and poor,
and his burial, was conducted by the State on a magnificent scale,
his body being laid at the foot of the altar in the Servite church.
The announcement of his death was sent to all the Courts as if
he had been a sovereign, and a public monument was ordered
for his memory.
It would occupy too much space here to repeat the amazing
tale of how the successor of Paul V tried, during the next 300
years, to vent . their anger upon the body of the '"ter
rible friar". They sougth by every means to possess the re-
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mains and scatter them abroad. Ten times, during that period,
his body was removed by his friends to places of greater safety
and sometimes secretly hidden. The devotion of the citizens in
each age served to frustrate the malice of the Popes. It is only
during the last half-century that his bones have been allowed
to rest in peace where they were buried in the cemetery of San
Michele, Nov. 19, 1846.
The Popes did succeed in preventing the erection of his monu
ment when it was deceed in 1623, and it was only in 1892 that
the bronze figure of the Friar was placed in the Campo di San
ta Fosca.
The eloquent words of the Mayor of Venice, Signor Riccardo
Selvatico, at the unveiling of the monument, before a distin
guished assembly, sum up admirably the influence of Paolo Sar
pi towards civil religious liberty. He said "Half a century
has not passed since a Pope, marked in history by his blind
aversion to every idea of progress, maligning one day in tbe
presence of Venetians the, name of Sarpi, wished that his me
mory might perish forever", then, pointing to the statue, he add
ed "To that evil augury of Gregory XVI we answer with this
monument. Fra Paolo has for us a double value -- ab actual,
one, measurable by what he personally thought, wrought and
suffered; and a symbolic one because Tie incarnated the spirit of
a great people and government, devoted indeed to the Gospel
-of Christ, but not subservient to the ambition of His Vicars. He
fondly dreamt, for the Catholic Church, such a reform in gover-
ment in end and object, and in manners and customs, ,as would
of truth is what characterized him in every department of ac
tion. As State Counsellor, he broke down juridical sophisms; as
a Christians, he condemned the dissimulations of hypocrisy; as
a Scientist, he scrutinized with a fearless eye all the aspects of
truth ; as a Historian, he laid bare the human motives that cloak
ed themselves with religious pretensions; as a Writer, he dis
dained every artifice and used his words as a chisel that cuts,
and not as a flower that decorates. And all his- intellectual qua
lities were sustained and consolidated by his moral force, which
bore witness in favor of his ideas and contributed to their
triumph. How happy would his adversaries be if they could set
the man Sarpi against the thinker Sarpi! But no matter how
rabid their hatred and how dexterous their malignity* the life of
the friar shines forth immaculate before our eyes. The enemies
-of Fra Paolo affirm that to day we vilify Christianity, No ; we
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respect the religious sentiment, in all the forms in which it may
clothe itself, in the conscience and upon the altar. We combat
only those who drag it in the dust, who deform it, who belittle
Monument erected to P. Sarpi by the Italians
in Venice, September 20, 1892.
it among the conflicts of mundane passions; and the bronze that
stands before us means not a provocation to any, but a homage
to a great soul, who knew how both to adore his God and to
serve his country".
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Verily the influence of. the "Greatest of the Venetians" must
go', on still in this age. We who belong to the Anglican branch
of. ' the Catholic Church, are satisfied that England's method in
resuming the autonomy of the nation and church was the more
direct and effective way of promoting civil and religious liberty. .
Sarpi him,self recognized this, for he said of England's reforma
tion, approvingly and almost enviously, "Henry VIII has once
for all redeemed the nation from his bondage and restored both
himself and his subjects to the possession of their ancient, natu
ral rights. (Maxims for the Government of Venice).
But for those nations who were so tied by antiquated bonds
that they could not use England's method, and could only hope
to again the liberty of the church and nation by working within
the Roman church, we may see that Fra Paolo shattered the idol
from its pedestal, . destroyed the false claims of the Papacy, and
blazed the way for the slower advance of the European nations
which is now progressing even-in France, Spain and Portugal.
The future course of change in the Roman Church ought to
proceed on the lines and principles which Sarpi declared so clear
ly. There might be great assistance provided for any such mo
vements by publishing the writings of the humble monk, Paul
the Friar, who brought the proud Paul the Pope to his own
terms. ( 1 ) .
il) References to books:
Robertson's "Paolo Sarpi"
Trollope's "Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar"
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? YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
3 9002 08866 0494
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NXOOLET VI BROS. PRESS
242 I. 4FAYETTE ST.
NJ>,"'-' "i'ORK:
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