Gasparo Contarini

His Eminence Gasparo Contarini
Bishop of Belluno
Church	Catholic Church
Diocese	Belluno
Appointed	23 October 1536
Term ended	24 August 1542
Predecessor	Giovanni Battista Casale
Successor	Giulio Contarini
Orders
Consecration	17 February 1538
Created cardinal	21 May 1535 by Pope Paul III
Personal details
Born	16 October 1483 Venice
Died	24 August 1542 (aged 55) Bologna

Gasparo Contarini (16 October 1483 – 24 August 1542) was an Italian diplomat, cardinal, and Bishop of Belluno. He advocated for dialogue with Protestants during the Reformation. Born in Venice, he served as the Republic's ambassador to Charles V during its war with him. He was the first to explain the time discrepancy in the Magellan–Elcano circumnavigation due to Earth's rotation. He participated in diplomatic efforts and reconciliations, and became a cardinal, even though he was initially a layman. Contarini was a leader in the reform movement within the Roman Catholic Church. He played a role in the papal approval of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He was also involved in attempts to restore religious unity in Germany.

Contarini's work, De magistratibus et republica venetorum, praised the Venetian government system for its harmony, fairness, and stability. He described the electoral process, particularly the lottery system for choosing officials, emphasizing fairness and equality. Contarini's depiction of the Doge, Venice's leader, highlighted the balance between symbolic monarchy and the power of civic institutions. He portrayed the Doge as both a regal figure and a representative of the city's republican governance. Contarini's writings aimed to glorify the republican nature of Venice while showcasing its ceremonial and symbolic elements.

Biography

He was born in Venice, the eldest son of Alvise Contarini, of the ancient noble House of Contarini, and his wife Polissena Malpiero. After a thorough scientific and philosophical training at the University of Padua, he began his career in the service of his native city. From September 1520 to August 1525 he was the Republic's ambassador to Charles V, with whom Venice was soon at war, instructed to defend the Republic's alliance with Francis I of France. Though he participated at the Diet of Worms, April 1521, he never saw or spoke with Martin Luther. He accompanied Charles in the Netherlands and Spain.

Contarini was in Spain when the Magellan–Elcano circumnavigation returned in 1522, bringing with them a cargo of spices from the East as well as a scientific curiosity. Although the sailors had carefully recorded every day of the three-year journey since they left Seville, the ship's log was one day earlier than the actual date when they returned to Seville. Contarini was the first European to give a correct explanation of this phenomenon. Since the ship had sailed westward around the world, in the same direction as the apparent motion of the sun in the sky, the sailors had experienced one fewer sunrise than a stationary observer.

He participated at the Congress of Ferrara in 1526 as the Republic's representative; at the Congress the League of Cognac was formed against the Emperor, allying France with Venice and several states of Italy. Later, after the Sack of Rome (1527), he assisted in reconciling the emperor with Clement VII, whose release he had obtained, and with the Republic of Bologna. Upon his return to Venice, he was made a senator and a member of the Great Council.

Spirituality

According to historian Constance Furey, Contarini "was representative of a European-wide phenomenon associated with names such as Erasmus, Thomas More and Lefèvre d'Étaples, people who combined an Erasmian critique of the established church and ritualism with an interest in biblical scholarship as a means of cultivating internal piety," each with no thought of leaving the Catholic church.

In a letter to encourage a missed friend who had become a hermit, Contarini late recounted an event in 1511 where, following Confession with a wise and holy monk, he had a peace-giving epiphany that reliance on penances and heroic asceticism was not necessary for salvation, instead of simple faith, hope and charity: Christ's passion was "more than sufficient." This has been likened by some historians as a similar event to Luther's "tower experience" and some historians even ascribe Lutheran views to Contarini, however the parallels are disputed by other historians.

Cardinalate

In 1535, Paul III unexpectedly made the secular diplomat a cardinal in order to bind an able man of evangelical disposition to the Roman interests. Contarini accepted, but in his new position did not exhibit his former independence. At the time he was promoted to cardinal, May 21, 1535, he was still a layman. However, already in October 1536 he was appointed Bishop of Belluno. One of the fruits of his diplomatic activity is his De magistratibus et republica Venetorum.

As Cardinal, Contarini figured among the most prominent of the Spirituali, the leaders of the movement for reform within the Roman church. In April 1536 Paul III appointed a commission to devise ways for a reformation, with Contarini presiding. Paul III received favorably Contarini's Consilium de Emendanda Ecclesia, which was circulated among the cardinalate, but it remained a dead letter. Contarini in a letter to his friend Cardinal Reginald Pole (dated 11 November 1538) says that his hopes had been wakened anew by the pope's attitude. He and his friends, who formed the Catholic evangelical movement of the Spirituali, thought that all would have been done when the abuses in church life had been put away. What Contarini had to do with it is shown by his letters to the pope in which he complained of the schism in the church, of simony and flattery in the papal court, and the dangers of a papal fiat monarchy, its least grateful passages. Paul's successor Paul IV, once a member on the same 1536 commission and fellow spirituali, put it on the new Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

In 1541 Cardinal Contarini was papal legate at the Conference of Regensburg, the diet and religious debate marking the culmination of attempts to restore religious unity in Germany by means of conferences. There everything was unfavorable; the Catholic states were bitter, the Evangelicals were distant. Contarini's instructions though apparently free were in fact full of papal reservations. But the papal party had gladly sent him, thinking that through him a union in doctrine could be brought about, while the interest of Rome could be attended to later. Though the princes stood aloof, the theologians and the emperor were for peace, so the main articles were put forth in a formula, Evangelical in thought and Catholic in expression. The papal legate had revised the Catholic proposal and assented to the formula agreed upon. All gave their approval, even Johann Eck, though he later regretted it.

Contarini's theological advisor was Tommaso Badia; his own position is shown in a treatise on justification, composed at Regensburg, which in essential points is Evangelical, differing only in the omission of the negative side and in being interwoven with the teaching of Aquinas. Meanwhile, the papal policy had changed, and Contarini chose to follow this. He advised the emperor, after the conference had broken up, not to renew it, but to submit everything to the pope.

Ignatius Loyola acknowledged that Cardinal Contarini was largely responsible for the papal approbation of the Society of Jesus, on September 27, 1540. Meanwhile, Rome had drifted further into reaction, and Contarini died while legate at Bologna, at a time when the Inquisition had driven many of his friends and fellows in conviction into exile.

The Commonwealth and Government of Venice

Contarini's book De magistratibus et republica venetorum (Paris, 1543) is an important source for the study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Venice's unique system of government. It was published in an English translation in 1599. This magisterial work, written during his time as an ambassador to Charles V, extols the various institutions of the Venetian state in a manner designed to emphasize harmony, fairness and serenity. Historians have demonstrated that this text represents Contarini's idealization of Venetian reality. Probably written for a foreign, courtly audience, this work functions as the source for the everlasting propagation of the "myth of Venice" as a stable, unchanging and prosperous society.

His depiction of how members of the council were elected to the senate, for example, aimed to emphasise the way the electoral system prevented factionalism from occurring, instead making sure that “public benefits are largely extended among the citizens” rather than narrowly amongst “one family”. An elaborate lottery is described as giving the maximum amount of chance in appointing patricians to particular offices, and care is taken to point out if two of one family are standing for similar posts. Fairness is further emphasised in Contarini's constant references to the equality the members of the council enjoyed. They “sit down where it pleases them, for there is no place appointed to any”, and they “with oath promise to do their utmost diligence, that the laws may be observed”. He creates an image of disparate individuals, with factions broken up by the guiding hand of the law, working to ensure those in positions of importance are fairly chosen from their number and without the capacity to serve the interests of a smaller group.

Contarini's depiction of the Doge lucidly demonstrates the way in which this figure embodies both the conscious illusion of a resplendent monarchical ruler and an equally conscious demonstration of a regime that wishes to portray itself as ruled by many limiting the powers of one. This calculated duality means that Contarini's doge, which the second book of De magistratibus is almost entirely devoted to discussing, represents the closest point in his text to what actually occurred, because the Doge served as a literal embodiment of the idealisation of the reality of Venetian politics. For Contarini, this duality almost defines the greatness of the Venetian constitution. The Doge is the “heart”, under which “all are comprised”. Contarini places him in the centre of his body metaphor, making him synecdochical for the city and the people that reside within it. This means he is to ensure that the disparate, competing interests of the city beat in time with one another, creating in the process the “perfection of civil agreement”. His job as a conductor, rather than a ruler, means therefore that the role takes on the aspect of representative of the entire city. Contarini's description of his vestments, privileges and rituals can therefore be compared to Marin Sanudo’s description of the physical spaces of Venice in his essay In Praise of Venice. Both are designed to extol the virtues of the entire city by describing representative parts. This is apparent in the way both authors treat the chapel of St. Mark. Patron saints were hugely important in terms of civic self-identification in renaissance Italy. Contarini emphasizes this, saying that he is “with exceeding honour solemnized of the Venetians”. His description of the Doge's close relationship with the saint, through the “solemn pomp” with which he attends mass at the saint's chapel, attaches him to the aforementioned “exceeding honour”, in a similar fashion to the way in which Sanudo glorifies Venice as a whole by constantly referring to the beauty and worth of St. Mark's square and chapel as part of his panoramic praise of the city.

At the same time, however, Contarini's overall purpose is, of course, the glorification of the republican nature of his city. Therefore, he cannot avoid referring to “the other side” of the Doge's figure when discussing his “royal appearing show”. Things like the “kingly ornaments” which were “always purple garments or cloth of gold”, both very ostentatious assertions of wealth and power, were to ensure he was “recompensed” for his “limitation of authority”. Contarini thus openly concludes that the Doge is a combination of myth and reality, saying that “in everything you may see the show of a king, but his authority is nothing”. Indeed, as Edward Muir points out, “by the sixteenth century virtually every word, gesture and act that the doge made in public was subject to legal and ceremonial regulation”. He could not buy expensive jewels, own property outside Venice or the Veneto, display his insignia outside the Ducal Palace, decorate his apartment as he wanted, receive people in his ducal dress, send official letters, or have close ties with guilds, amongst a great many other restrictions. Legally, therefore, power in Venice came from the numerous councils, not the figurehead. The Doge thus becomes a brazen republican statement. Venice drew attention to a princely, magnificently adorned figurehead, only to direct most executive power to councils of her citizens.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Gasparo Contarini — Venetian statesman and cardinal, born 16 October, 1483, of an ancient and noble family in Venice; died at Bologna, 24 August, 1542. He received his elementary training in his native city; and afterwards, from 1501 to 1509, he frequented the University of Padua, where he studied Greek, mathematics, Aristotelean philosophy, and theology. He was a close student and acquired the reputation of a great philosopher. After his return to Venice he became, like all the sons of patrician families, a member of the Great Council, and afterwards was named to a commission which administered the debt of the republic. In September, 1520, he was appointed orator or ambassador to the court of the Emperor Charles V (1519-56), with instructions to defend the alliance of his Government with Francis I of France (1515-47), and to prevent all hostile measures of the emperor. In Worms, where he arrived in April, 1521, he heard much about Luther and his errors; but, not being concerned with the matter, he refrained from all interference, and never saw Luther nor spoke to him. From Worms he went with the imperial court to the Netherlands, thence to England, and finally to Spain. In August, 1525, he returned to Venice. A report of his experiences was presented to the Senate 16 November following. During his absence he was named "Savio di terra ferma", i. e. president of a commission charged with the affairs of the Continental possessions of Venice, and he assumed the duties of this office. In 1527 he represented the Republic of Venice in the Congress of Ferrara, where the Duke of Ferrara joined the league, formed against the Emperor Charles V, between France and several states of Italy. In 1528 he was sent as ambassador to the court of Clement VII (1523-34), with instructions to retain the pope in the above-mentioned league, and to defend the action of the republic in withholding from the pope the cities of Ravenna and Cervia, seized during the late invasion of the Constable Bourbon. Contarini failed in both objects. Venice was forced not only to surrender the aforesaid cities, but also to make peace with the emperor; it was concluded through Contarini in January, 1530, at Bologna. On 24 February following, Contarini assisted at the solemn coronation of Charles V in Bologna, and then returned to Venice, where he presented the usual report to the Senate on 9 March. In compensation for his services he was appointed to several high positions in the government of the republic, and ultimately became a member of the Senate.

Contarini was created cardinal by Paul III in 1535. He accepted the honour and went to Rome (Oct., 1535). He used his influence with the pope to suppress abuses in the papal government and to secure virtuous men for the Sacred College. Contarini was the president of a commission appointed by the pope in 1536 to submit plans for a reform of evils in the Roman Curia or in other parts of the Church. It was largely due to him that, early in 1537, the commission could present its programme, the "Consilium de emendandâ ecclesiâ". He advised the pope not to abuse the great jurisdiction placed in his hands; and encouraged his friends among the bishops to take appropriate measures for discipline and good order in their dioceses, setting an example in his own Diocese of Cividale di Belluno, to which he was appointed in October, 1536. St. Ignatius acknowledged that Contarini was largely responsible for the papal approbation of his society (1540). At the desire of Charles V, Contarini was sent as papal legate to Germany in 1541, and took part in the conference held at Ratisbon between Catholics and Protestants in hope of conciliating the latter. As it gradually became evident that the differences in doctrine could not be bridged over, the conference was broken off; Contarini remitted the final decision of all articles of faith to the pope, and returned to Rome. In January, 1542, he was appointed cardinal legate at Bologna, where, after a few months, death put an end to his career. His remains were interred, first in the church of San Petronio, then transferred to the church of the monastery of San Proculo, and finally, in December, 1565, to the family tomb in a chapel of the church of Santa Maria dell' Orto in Venice.

Contarini's principal works are the following:

• (1) "Libri duo de immortalitate animæ';

• (2) "De officio episcopi libri duo";

• (3) "De magistratibus et republicâ Venetorum libri V";

• (4) "Compendii primæ philosophiæ libri VIII";

• (5) "De potestate Pontificis";

• (6) "De elementis libri V";

• (7) "Confutatio articulorum seu quæstionum Lutheri";

• (8) "De libero arbitrio";

• (9) "Conciliorum magis illustrium summa";

• (10) "De Sacramentis christianæ legis et catholicæ ecclesiæ libri IV";

• (11) "De justificatione";

• (12) "Cathechismus";

• (13) "De Prædestinatione";

• (14) "Scholia in epistolas divi Pauli".

In many of these writings Contarini touched upon the questions raised by Luther and other Reformers; in stating the Catholic view, however, he was not always fortunate. Thus, in describing the process of justification, he attributes the result largely to faith - not to faith with incipient charity in the Catholic sense, but to faith in the sense of confidence. However, he departs again from the Protestant view by including in the preparatory stage a real breaking away from sin and turning to good, a repentance and detestation of sin. Thus also, in describing the essence or the causa formalis of justification, he requires not only the supernatural quality inherent in the soul, by which man is constituted just, but, in addition to that, the outward imputation of the merits of Christ, believed to be necessary owing to the deficiency of our nature. It would be unjust, nevertheless, to class Contarini among the partisans of the Reformation. The above-mentioned views were taken only in part from the teaching of the Protestants; as yet the Church had given no definite decision on these matters. Moreover, Contarini wished always to remain a Catholic; at the Conference of Ratisbon he protested repeatedly, that he would sanction nothing contrary to the Catholic teaching, and he left the final decision of all matters of faith to the pope.

DITTRICH, Regesten und Briefe des Cardinals Gasparo Contarini (Braunsberg, 1881); IDEM, Gasparo Contarini, eine Monographie (Braunsberg, 1885); PASTOR in Kirchenlex. (Freiburg im Br., 1884), s. v.

Further reading

• Gleason, Elisabeth G. (1993). Gasparo Contarini: Venice, Rome, and Reform. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Gasparo Contarini". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

• Works of Contarini at the Internet Archive (in Latin)