Francesco Maria Sforza Pallavicino (or ''Pallavicini'') (28 November 1607,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

– 4 June 1667,

), was an Italian cardinal, philosopher,

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

literary theorist Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mora ...

, and

church historian Church Historian and Recorder (usually shortened to Church Historian) is a priesthood calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of th ...

. A professor of philosophy and theology at the Roman College and a fixture of important academies such as the Accademia dei Lincei and the Academy of

Prince Maurice of Savoy Maurice of Savoy (10 January 1593 – 4 October 1657, Turin) was a Prince of Savoy and a 17th-century cardinal. Life He was the son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain. Aged 14, in 1607, he became c ...

, Pallavicino was the author of several highly influential philosophical and theological treatises (praised among others by

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of math ...

, Benedetto Croce and

Eugenio Garin Eugenio Garin (May 9, 1909 – December 29, 2004) was an Italian philosopher and Renaissance historian. He was recognised as an authority on the cultural history of the Renaissance. Born at Rieti, Garin studied philosophy at the University of Flore ...

) and of a well-known history of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...

that remained authoritative until the late 19th century.

Early life and family

Pallavicino was born in Rome on November 28, 1607. He was the firstborn son of Marquis Alessandro Pallavicino and his second wife, Francesca Sforza di Santa Fiora, widow of Ascanio della Penna della Cornia. He belonged to the Parma branch of the ancient and noble

Pallavicini family The House of Pallavicini, also known as Pallavicino and formerly known as Pelavicino, is an ancient Italian noble family founded by Oberto II ''Pelavicino'' of the Frankish Obertenghi family. The Pallavicini of Genoa The first recorded member o ...

. He was baptized with the names Francesco Maria Sforza;. the last one was in honor of Sforza Pallavicino, a famous Italian condottiero,

Captain-General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Command ...

of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, who had adopted Marquis Alessandro, leaving him all his wealth and titles. An eldest son, he renounced the right of primogeniture and entered the priesthood.

Career

Pallavicino studied

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, philosophy, and

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

at the

Roman College The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...

, and received his doctorate in philosophy in 1625 at the age of eighteen. His thesis, ''De Universa philosophia'', was printed in the same year in the presses of Francesco Corbelletti. Soon afterward, Pallavicino started studying

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

in the same college under

John de Lugo John de Lugo (also Juan de Lugo y de Quiroga and Xoan de Lugo) (1583–1660), a Spanish Jesuit and Cardinal, was an eminent theologian of the Baroque.Accademia degli Umoristi and became friends with the poet Virginio Cesarini and with some of the most prominent personalities of

italian baroque Italian Baroque (or ''Barocco'') is a stylistic period in Italian history and art that spanned from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. History The early 17th century marked a time of change for those of the Roman Catholic religion ...

, including Agostino Mascardi, Fulvio Testi, John Barclay and

Giulio Strozzi Giulio Strozzi (1583 - 31 March 1652) was a Venetian poet and libretto writer. His libretti were put to music by composers like Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, Francesco Manelli, and Francesco Sacrati. He sometimes used the pseudonym Luigi ...

Alessandro Tassoni Alessandro Tassoni (28 September 156525 April 1635) was an Italian poet and writer, from Modena, best known as the author of the mock-heroic poem '' La secchia rapita'' (''The Rape of the Pail'', or ''The stolen bucket''). Life He was born in ...

praised him in a verse of his

mock-heroic Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic ...

poem ''

La secchia rapita ''La Secchia Rapita'' (The kidnapped bucket) is a mock-heroic epic poem by Alessandro Tassoni, first published in 1622. Later successful mock-heroic works in French and English were written on the same plan. Background The invention of the heroi- ...

''. Federico Cesi portrayed him as a child prodigy, whose great ''ingegno'' (“ingegno grande”), relentless will (“volontà indefessa”), and his familiarity with writing (“l’amicitia stretta della penna”) held promise “of even greater things” (“di cose tuttavia maggiori”) in the future. An ardent supporter of Galileo, on 27 January 1629 Pallavicino became a Member of the Accademia dei Lincei, together with Lucas Holstenius and Pietro della Valle. Following Ciampoli’s guide Pallavicino started an open and harsh struggle against

Aristotelianism Aristotelianism ( ) is a philosophical tradition inspired by the work of Aristotle, usually characterized by deductive logic and an analytic inductive method in the study of natural philosophy and metaphysics. It covers the treatment of the so ...

. After

Federico Cesi Federico Angelo Cesi (; 26 February 1585 – 1 August 1630) was an Italian scientist, naturalist, and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei. On his father's death in 1630, he became briefly lord of Acquasparta. Biography Federico Cesi was ...

's death in 1630 he was taken under consideration as his successor for the presidency of the Academy. According to

Pietro Redondi Pietro Redondi (born 1950) is an Italian historian of science, known for his work on Galileo Galilei. Redondi obtained his doctorate in 1978 at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, in the History of Science. In 1981- ...

Pallavicino played a part in delaying, or deflecting,

Orazio Grassi Orazio Grassi, S.J. (b. Savona 1 May 1583 – d. Rome 23 July 1654), was an Italian Jesuit priest, who is best noted as a mathematician, astronomer and architect. He was one of the authors in controversy with Galileo Galilei on the nature of ...

’s attack against the atomistic argument in Galileo's '' Assayer''. In 1630 he took

minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...

. Soon afterwards, the Pope Urban VIII appointed him referendary of the Tribunals of the Apostolic Signatures of Justice and of Grace and member of the ''Congregatio boni regiminis'' and of the ''Congregatio immunitatis'', assigning him a pension of 250

scudi The ''scudo'' (pl. ''scudi'') was the name for a number of coins used in various states in the Italian peninsula until the 19th century. The name, like that of the French écu and the Spanish and Portuguese escudo, was derived from the Latin ''s ...

. When his friend

Giovanni Ciampoli Giovanni Ciampoli or Giovanni Battista Ciampoli (Florence, 1589 – Iesi, 8 September 1643) was a priest, poet and humanist. He was closely associated with Galileo Galilei and his disputes with the Catholic Church. Education and friendship with ...

, the secretary of briefs, fell into disfavour, Pallavicino's standing at the papal court was also seriously affected. In 1632 he was sent to govern the provincial towns of Iesi, Orvieto, and

Camerino Camerino is a town in the province of Macerata, Marche, central-eastern Italy. It is located in the Apennines bordering Umbria, between the valleys of the rivers Potenza and Chienti, about from Ancona. Camerino is home to the University of C ...

. In contrast with Ciampoli, who died in Iesi in 1643 without ever having set foot again in Rome, Pallavicino returned there in 1636. Over his father's objections, he entered the Society of Jesus on 21 June 1637. After the two years' novitiate he became professor of philosophy at the Roman College. In 1643, when John de Lugo was made a cardinal, Pallavicino succeeded him in the chair of theology, a position he held until 1651 while also fulfilling assignments for

Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X ( la, Innocentius X; it, Innocenzo X; 6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death in Januar ...

. He was appointed member of the commission that examined the writings of

Cornelius Jansen Cornelius Jansen (, ; Latinized name Cornelius Jansenius; also Corneille Jansen; 28 October 1585 – 6 May 1638) was the Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres_in_Flanders.html" ;"title="atholic-Hierarchy]/ref> Its seat was Saint Martin's Cathedra ...

and Martin de Barcos, which resulted in the condemnation of two works by de Barcos in 1647. Sforza Pallavicino was a staunch opponent of

Jansenism Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by th ...

and a vocal supporter of the Jesuit theological tradition, and while he certainly did not oppose

probabilism In theology and philosophy, probabilism (from Latin ''probare'', to test, approve) is an ancient Greek doctrine of Academic skepticism. It holds that in the absence of certainty, plausibility or truth-likeness is the best criterion. The term can ...

, which he taught in his earlier scholarly career, he did not condone its most radical outcomes either.

Cardinal Pallavicino

Coat of arms of the House of Pallavicino

Pope Alexander VII created Pallavicino cardinal '' in pectore'' in his first creation on 9 April 1657. His appointment was made public in March 1650. He received the red hat and the title of

San Salvatore in Lauro San Salvatore in Lauro is a Catholic church in central Rome, Italy. It is located on a piazza of the same name in the rione Ponte. It stands on Via Vecchiarelli, just south of the Lungotevere Tor di Nona and north of via dei Coronari. Within Rom ...

on December 6, 1660. He was also appointed examiner of the bishops, and soon afterwards a member of the

Congregation of the Holy Office The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible ...

. As the master of the Jesuit novitiate on the Quirinal Pallavicino was closely involved in planning the church of

Sant'Andrea al Quirinale The Church of Saint Andrew on the Quirinal ( it, Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, la, S. Andreae in Quirinali) is a Roman Catholic titular church in Rome, Italy, built for the Jesuit seminary on the Quirinal Hill. The church of Sant'Andrea, an important ...

, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini from 1658 onwards. In his later years Pallavicino played an active role in Italian cultural life. He became a member of the so-called ''pleias alessandrina'', the international network of

neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

poets gathered around Alexander VII. He warmly endorsed the activities of the Accademia del Cimento and took part to them.

Leopoldo de' Medici Leopoldo de' Medici (6 November 1617 – 10 November 1675) was an Italian cardinal, scholar, patron of the arts and Governor of Siena. He was the brother of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Biography Prince Leopoldo was born a ...

entrusted him with the stylistic revision of the academy's sole publication, the ''Saggi di naturali esperienze''. On 3 February 1665 he entered the Accademia della Crusca, an association of scholars and writers devoted to the Italian language. The cardinal was a loyal protector of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's interests in Rome and with the French court, as well as mentor to his oldest son, Pietro Filippo. A late portrait of Pallavicino in red chalk on buff paper by Bernini is in the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

. Owing to ill health Pallavicino could not participate in the conclave of 1667, which elected

Pope Clement IX Pope Clement IX ( la, Clemens IX; it, Clemente IX; 28 January 1600 – 9 December 1669), born Giulio Rospigliosi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 20 June 1667 to his death in December 1669. Biography Ear ...

; he died in his room in the Jesuit house of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale on 5 June 1667, at the age of 59.. His pupil Sylvester Maurus assisted him on his deathbed. According to the provisions of his last will and testament, Pallavicino was buried in the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale. He was entombed under a magnificent slab designed by baroque architect

Mattia de Rossi Mattia de Rossi (14 January 1637 – 2 August 1695) was an Italian architect of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome and surrounding towns. Biography Born in Rome to a family of architects and artisans, he rose to prominence under the mentors ...

''History of the Council of Trent''

Pallavicino is chiefly known by his ''History of the Council of Trent'', a harsh if well researched rebuttal to Paolo Sarpi's ''Istoria del Concilio Tridentino''. The work was published at Rome in two

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

volumes in 1656 and 1657 (2nd ed., considerably modified, in 1666). Several potential candidates had been taken under consideration for the onerous task of correcting and superseding the very damaging work of Sarpi. According to an unpublished account by the custodian of the papal archives Felice Contelori (1588–1652), these were

Girolamo Aleandro Girolamo Aleandro (also Hieronymus Aleander; 13 February 14801 February 1542) was an Italian cardinal, and . Life Aleandro was born on 13 February 1480 in Motta di Livenza, in the province of Treviso, part of the Republic of Venice. He studied ...

, secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the historian Agostino Mascardi, the ex-Jesuit Francesco Herrera, Giovanni Ciampoli and Felice Contelori himself. The jesuit Terenzio Alciati had been eventually chosen for the task by Pope Urban VIII. In early 1652, a few months after Alciati’s death, Pallavicino took over Alciati’s task. Alciati had access to the original acts of the Council of Trent deposited in the Archives of Castello, Archivum Arcis ( Castel Sant'Angelo). Together Felice Contelori, Alciati collected and catalogued a huge amount of unpublished sources. Pallavicino draws on not only the sources collected over decades by P. Alciati, but also directly on the Latin manuscript of Alciati's unfinished and unpublished history ''Pseudo historia Concilii Tridentini refutata''. In addition to these sources Pallavicino continued searching the vast holdings of the roman archives for documentary materials relating to the Council of Trent. Fabio Chigi, an old friend of Pallavicino, gave him liberal access to the acts of the council and other important documents preserved in the

Vatican Apostolic Archive The Vatican Apostolic Archive ( la, Archivum Apostolicum Vaticanum; it, Archivio Apostolico Vaticano), formerly known as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pon ...

. Pallavicino read and made use of historical authors such as Johannes Sleidanus,

Francesco Guicciardini Francesco Guicciardini (; 6 March 1483 – 22 May 1540) was an Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. In his masterpiece, ''Th ...

Paolo Giovio Paolo Giovio (also spelled ''Paulo Jovio''; Latin: ''Paulus Jovius''; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate. Early life Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Com ...

, Nicholas Sanders, François de Beaucaire (1514–1591), and Florimond de Raemond. Thanks to the preparatory work by Alciati, as well as his own research, he was able to cite a large array of printed and unpublished documentary sources on the Council of Trent. Pallavicino's ''History'' exposed Sarpi's bias and inaccuracy and marked an advance in the collection and use of original documents. According to the great nineteenth-century historian

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

, who examined many of the manuscript sources from which Pallavicino drew his materials, the extracts he has made from the instructions and other official documents are “scrupulously exact” and he has “carefully consulted the whole of the documents”. Until the twentieth century, Pallavicino's ''History of the Council of Trent'' was the principal work on this important ecclesiastical assembly. It was translated into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

by a fellow Jesuit, Giovanni Battista Giattini ( Antwerp, 1670–1673), into French by Joseph-Epiphane Darras (

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...

series, Paris, 1844–1845); into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

by Juan Nepomuceno Lobo, Antolín Monescillo, and Manuel M. Negueruela (Madrid, 1846) and into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

by Theodor Friedrich Klitsche de la Grange (1835–1837). There is a good edition of the original by

Francesco Antonio Zaccaria Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (March 27, 1714 - October 10, 1795) was an Italian theologian, historian, and prolific writer. Biography Francesco Antonio Zaccaria was born in Venice. His father, Tancredi, was a noted jurist. He joined the Austria ...

(6 vols., Faenza, 1792–1799).

Original publication

* *

Other works

Literary works

Before his entrance into the Jesuit order Pallavicino had published orations and poems. His great

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

''I fasti sacri'', an imitation of

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

'' celebrating the main Christian feast days, was left unfinished upon his entrance into the novitiate. Pallavicino's ''Fasti'' were praised by

Ludovico Antonio Muratori Lodovico Antonio Muratori (21 October 1672 – 23 January 1750) was an Italian historian, notable as a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragment, the earliest known list of New Testament books. Biography Born ...

Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni (October 9, 1663March 8, 1728) was an Italian critic and poet. Crescimbeni was a founding member and leader of the erudite literary society of Accademia degli Arcadi in Rome. Biography Born in Macerata, which was then ...

, and Francesco Saverio Quadrio. His first considerable literary work as Jesuit was a

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, ''Ermenegildo martire'', a masterpiece of seventeenth-century

Jesuit drama Jesuit drama was a form of theatre practised in the colleges of the Society of Jesus between the 16th and 18th centuries, as a way of instructing students in rhetoric, assimilating Christian values and imparting Catholic doctrine. History In the ...

. It was published in 1644 after the first of several performances at the Jesuit

Seminario Romano The Roman Colleges, also referred to as the Pontifical Colleges in Rome, are institutions established and maintained in Rome for the education of future ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church. Traditionally many were for students of a particular nati ...

. The tragedy narrates the last day in the life of St.

Hermenegild Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild (died 13 April 585; es, San Hermenegildo; la, Hermenegildus, from Gothic ''*Airmana-gild'', "immense tribute"), was the son of king Liuvigild of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. ...

, who converted to the Catholic faith and rebelled against his father, the Arian

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...

King

Liuvigild Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or ''Leovigildo'' (Spanish and Portuguese), ( 519 – 586) was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 568 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between the ...

, and whose defeat, exile, and death were celebrated as a

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

in the struggle against Arianism. Pallavicino’s postscript to the play elucidates the author’s views on

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, its rules, and its functions as a

pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

tool. While contemporary secular plays and operas played to an uneducated crowd that wanted to be amazed by scenic effects, the unspectacular theatre of Sforza Pallavicino aspired to educate by providing the public with strong and exemplary characters to emulate. Pallavicino identifies the true function of the tragic genre in the fortification of honesty and

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of co ...

in the audience. He believes that the plot of the tragedy is the foundation on which its success should rely. His disdain for ''

deus ex machina ''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...

'' characters, personifications of moral and allegorical qualities, supernatural events, and asides, choruses and messengers as devices to provide information, fully represents his belief that the dramatist should build dramatic action on detailed and verisimilar situations. According to Pallavicino «wonder without verisimilitude is easily achieved and gives no pleasure except perhaps that of laughter to those who hear the plot, nor does it merit the name of poetry». In clear opposition to the taste of Marino and his followers, Pallavicino suggests looking at classical writers to see how verisimilitude can convey a feeling of

wonder Wonder most commonly refers to: * Wonder (emotion), an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected Wonder may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * The Wonders, a fictional band ...

. Unlike the baroque writers of the time who thought that precious style could make the reader forget about any violation of verisimilitude, Pallavicino affirms that classic

decorum Decorum (from the Latin: "right, proper") was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry and theatrical theory concerning the fitness or otherwise of a style to a theatrical subject. The concept of ''decorum'' is also applied to prescribed limit ...

and good taste, the very foundation of verisimilitude, can convey the feeling of marvel to the public.

Theological and philosophical works

In 1649 Pallavicino began the publication of his great dogmatic work in conjunction with his theological lectures, ''Assertiones theologicae''. The complete work treats the entire field of

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...

in nine books. The first five books appeared in three volumes (Rome, 1649), the remaining four books are included in volumes IV—VIII (Rome, 1650–1652). Immediately after this he began the publication of disputations on the second part of the ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

'' of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

, ''R. P. Sfortiae Pallavicini. Disputationum in Iam IIae d. Thomae tomus I'' (Lyons, 1653). Pallavicino attempted to reconcile Aristotle with the new science. His Christian Aristotelianism did not keep him from calling himself a follower of Galileo (“Galileista”), and expressing his esteem for

Tommaso Campanella Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet. He was prosecuted by the Roman Inquisition for heresy in 1594 an ...

. He endorsed

Cartesian dualism Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher René Descartes—from his Latinized name ''Cartesius''. It may refer to: Mathematics * Cartesian closed category, a closed category in category theory *Cartesian coordinate system, moder ...

, though he did not approve of the Cartesian interpretation of the '' Cogito''. In 1649 Pallavicino published his ''Vindicationes Societatis Jesu'', a circumstantial refutation of the numerous accusations raised against the Society of Jesus. But Pallavicino did more than respond to the criticism of the Society of Jesus; he included several passages presenting his own view of the ideal intellectual environment within the Society. The ''Vindicationes'' have been considered a manifesto of the progressive current within the Jesuit order. Pallavicino refuted the need for strict adherence to

and

Thomism Thomism is the philosophical and theological school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. In philosophy, Aquinas' disputed questions ...

in all aspects of

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancient wo ...

, because much of what Aristotle had stated had been shown to be false. It was “ridiculous” to forbid discussion of new questions, as if nothing new could ever arise in philosophy. True to his Galileian leanings, Pallavicino edited the first, posthumous editions of Giovanni Ciampoli's ''Rime'' (1648) and ''Prose'' (1649), in an attempt to restore his friend's reputation. A work of ascetic character, ''Arte della perfezione cristiana, divisa in tre libri'', appeared in 1665 (Rome). In the ''Trattato dello stile e del dialogo'' (A treatise on style and dialogue), first published in 1646 (under a slightly different title) and revised for the final time in 1662, Pallavicno endorses a neo-Aristotelian ideal of dialogue as a pleasant form of instruction. Pallavicino's treatise ''Del bene libri quattro'', a dialogue in four books between prominent members of the Barberini circles (Rome 1644 and often reprinted), has been praised by the Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce for its contribution to the development of modern

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...

was familiar with the work of Sforza Pallavicino and quoted this book with high esteem. When he visited Rome in 1689, he regretted that Pallavicino had died as he would have loved to have met the Jesuit and conversed with him. Leibniz’s friend Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont (1618–1699) appreciated Pallavicino’s philosophy too. Richard Cumberland in his treatise ''De legibus naturae disquisitio philosophica'' (London, 1672) borrowed a great deal from Pallavicino's ''Del bene''.

Posthumous works

Several of Pallavicino's works were not printed until later; others are still in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

. An opinion which he had written on the question whether it was most appropriate that the pope live in Rome at St. Peter’s, was printed together with a discussion of the same question by his fellow Lincean Lucas Holstenius, in Rome (1776). Larger collections of various works of Pallavicino were brought out as late as the nineteenth century. His biography of Alexander VII, written in close collaboration with the pope himself, was published posthumously in 1839–40 as ''Della vita di Alessandro VII''.

Correspondence networks and published letters

In the year after Pallavicino's death, his former secretary, Giambattista Galli Pavarelli, published a collection of his letters, ''Lettere dettate dal card. Sforza Pallavicino'' (Rome, 1668). Other collections appeared in Bologna (1669), in Venice (1825), in Rome (4 vols., 1848). His extensive network of correspondents included Fabio Chigi, the future Pope Alexander VII, and Philip IV's official historian Virgilio Malvezzi.

Legacy

Pallavicino's life was first recounted in a laudatory biography by the noted eighteenth-century scholar

Ireneo Affò Ireneo Affò (born Davide, 10 December 1741 – 14 May 1797) was an Italian art historian, writer, numismatist and Franciscan friar. Life Affò was born in Busseto in the province of Parma, in the region of Emilia-Romagna. Observin ...

and much of our information about him comes from this. Affò’s life was picked up by Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (1714–1795), who included an expanded version of the biography in his edition of the ''Istoria del Concilio di Trento'' (1792–1797). An eulogy of Pallavicino was written by

Pietro Giordani Pietro Giordani (January 1, 1774 – September 2, 1848) was an Italian writer, classical literary scholar, and a close friend of, and influence on, Giacomo Leopardi. Biography Born in Piacenza, Giordani originally set out to become a monk. But ...

as a premise to ''Perfezione cristiana'' in the edition of Pallavicino's works published in Milan in 1820. Giordani emphasised the literary qualities of Pallavicino’s work, positioning and comparing him to contemporaries such as Virgilio Malvezzi,

Daniello Bartoli Daniello Bartoli, SJ (; 12 February 160813 January 1685) was an Italian Jesuit writer and historiographer, celebrated by the poet Giacomo Leopardi as the "Dante of Italian prose" Ferrara He was born in Ferrara. His father, Tiburzio was a chemis ...

, Paolo Segneri,

Giovanni Battista Doni Giovanni Battista Doni (bap. 13 March 1595 – 1647) was an Italian musicologist and humanist who made an extensive study of ancient music. He is known, among other works, for having renamed the note "Ut" to "Do" in solfège. In his day, he was ...

and Galileo. In his history of aesthetics, Benedetto Croce singled out Pallavicino as a major Italian seventeenth century literary theorist and argued that Pallavicino's writings contained a historically important kernel of aesthetic considerations that suggested that mimetic art is concerned with its expressive qualities rather than the constraint of ''verosimilitude'' imposed by the legacy of Aristotle. Pallavicino was highly praised by Italy's leading historian of philosophy

, who called him the "one of the more lucid minds of the seventeenth century". When authors like Giovanni Getto, Carlo Calcattera, Guido Morburgo-Tagliabue, Franco Croce, Ezio Raimondi and Mario Costanzo reevaluated Italian baroque literature, Pallavicino's oeuvre emerged as a point of reference for the so called “moderate baroque”, authors who attempted to ground the formal innovations of poets like

Giambattista Marino Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to "John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, Gi ...

in a more reasoned and religiously inspired approach to literary invention. Pallavicino distances himself from the two Baroque extremes,

marinism Marinism (Italian: ''marinismo'', or ''secentismo'', "17th century") is the name now given to an ornate, witty style of poetry and verse drama written in imitation of Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), following in particular ''La Lira'' and ''L'Ad ...

and

conceptismo ''Conceptismo'' (literally, conceptism) is a literary movement of the Baroque period in the Spanish literature. It began in the late 16th century and lasted through the 17th century, also the period of the Spanish Golden Age. ''Conceptismo'' is ch ...

, aligning himself with the

Ciceronian Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

position, as held by Agostino Mascardi..

Selected works

* * * * * * * ''Assertiones theologicæ''. Rome. 1649-1652; * * * * * * ''Della vita di Alessandro VII''. 2 vols. Prato: Giachetti. 1839-1840. The following editions of his ''

Complete Works The complete works of an artist, writer, musician, group, etc., is a collection of all of their cultural works. For example, '' Complete Works of Shakespeare'' is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. A ''Complete ...

'' are to be noted as the most important: Rome, 1834 (in 2 volumes); Rome, 1844-48 (in 33 volumes); and a collection of other works in five volumes published at the same time by Ottavio Gigli.

Works in English translation

* Pallavicino, Sforza. ''Martyr Hermenegild''. Edited and translated by Stefano Muneroni. Renaissance and Reformation Texts in Translation 13. Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2019.

References

Notes Select Bibliography * * * * * * von Ranke, Leopold, ''Geschichte der römischen Päpste'', ii, pp. 237 ff.; 3, Appendix. * * * * Giordani, Pietro (1839). ''Sulla vita e sulle opere del Cardinale Sforza Pallavicino'' in ''Vita di Alessandro VII''. Vol. I. Prato. pp. 3–16. * * * Sommervogel, Carlos, ''Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus'', VI, Bibliography (new edition, Brussels, 1895), 120–143. * * * * * * * * * Schmutz, Jacob, «Aristote au Vatican. Le débat entre Pietro Sforza Pallavicino (1606–1667) et Frans Vanderveken (1596–1664) sur la théorie aristotélicienne de la vérité», in: Der Aristotelismus in der frühen Neuzeit, Kontinuität oder Wiederaneignung ?, Frank, Günter; Speer, Andreas (eds.), Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2007, 65–95. * * * *

External links

* *
Sforza Pallavicino in the Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian UniversityBritish Library database of Italian Academies, for Pallavicino's membership of the Accademia dei Desiosi and links with other intellectuals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallavicino, Pietro Sforza 17th-century Italian cardinals Cardinals created by Pope Alexander VII 17th-century Italian Jesuits 1607 births 1667 deaths

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

17th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians Members of the Lincean Academy Clergy from Rome 17th-century Italian historians Jesuit cardinals Italian Baroque people Italian religious writers 17th-century Italian philosophers Metaphysicians Metaphysics writers Catholic philosophers Jesuit philosophers Philosophy teachers Scholastic philosophers Thomists Aristotelian philosophers 17th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights