''The Beneficio di Cristo'' (''Trattato Utilissimo del Beneficio di Iesu Cristo Crocifisso'' or ''The Benefit of Christ's Death'') was one of the most popular and influential books of spiritual devotion in sixteenth-century Europe, and reflected Italian radical (or evangelical) religious thinking of the time (the so-called ''

Spirituali The Spirituali were members of a reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church, which existed from the 1530s to the 1560s. The movement is sometimes also called evangelism. The ranks of the Spirituali included Cardinal Gasparo Contarini (1483� ...

''). This group sought reform within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

by drawing inspiration from the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

. It is known that the second edition was published in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

in Italian in 1543 − although at least three editions are likely to have been published there in the 1540s, as well as one printing at

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

). After a couple of years the book was said to have sold 40,000 copies and been translated into English, French, Croat, and Castilian. The number is likely inflated, but the historian Benedetto Croce describes how the book, "barely off the press, ran swiftly like a torch through all Italy, igniting others". The work was certainly central to the thinking of Venetian evangelical communities, but was also read across Italy (including Bergamo and Modena).John Martin, ''Venice's Hidden Enemies: Italian Heretics in a Renaissance City'', Berkeley 1993 The printer Andrea Arrivabene and the bookseller Bonifacio Emilione promoted the book, although its authorship remained secret. However, in 1566 it was revealed that it had been written by a Benedictine monk called Benedetto da Mantova, residing in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The work had then been substantially edited by

Marcantonio Flaminio Marcantonio Flaminio (winter 1497/98 – February 1550), also known as Marcus Antonius Flaminius, was an Italian humanist poet, known for his Neo-Latin works. During his life, he toured the courts and literary centers of Italy. His editing of the ...

- a protege of

Juan de Valdes ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

and Cardinal

Reginald Pole Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal of the Catholic Church and the last Catholic archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558, during the Counter-Reformation. Early life Pole was bor ...

, and presented mystical themes from "Valdesian" theology. The work was heavily influenced by

Jean Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

's ''"Institutes''" of 1539, and incorporated substantial quotes.Dermot Fenlon, ''Heresy and obedience in Tridentine Italy'', Cambridge University press, 1972 It has been described as a "deeply Augustinian work", and stresses throughout man's absolute dependence on Christ for salvation. The first four chapters in particular expounded the doctrine of salvation by faith alone (

Sola fide ''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, fr ...

). Without faith in God, man is incapable of good works. Soon after its appearance the work was placed on the '' Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' (the Index of forbidden books, first published in 1559) and successfully suppressed by the Italian Inquisition. It continued with an underground following, but even by the 1560s and 1570s was proving hard to come by. The work was believed completely lost until a copy was rediscovered in England in the 19th century in St John's College, Cambridge.

References

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External links

''Beneficio di Cristo'', or ''The Benefit of Christ's Death'', Text at the Internet Archive
1543 books Christian theology books