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Luigi Lippomano

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Luigi Lippomano
Fresco showing the bishops of Verona Luigi (left) and Agostino (right) Lippomano.
Fresco showing the bishops of Verona Luigi (left) and Agostino (right) Lippomano.
Diocese Methone (1538)
Verona (1548)
Bergamo (1558)
Personal details
Born 1496
Died 15 August 1559 (aged 62–63)
Parents Bartolo Lippomano

Luigi Lippomano (also Alvise, or Aloisio, in Latin Aloisius Lipomanus) (1496, Venice[1] – 15 August 1559, Rome) was an Italian bishop and hagiographer.

Life

Luigi Lippomano was the illegitimate son of Venetian patrician Bartolo Lippomano, who determined to provide an ecclesiastical career for his son.[2] He graduated from the university at Padua and eventually entered into service at the papal court in Rome. Distinguished for his piety and integrity of character, he was among the first in Rome to join the "Oratorio della Carità" founded by Cajetan of Tiene, and composed of distinguished men, who in the Roman Curia were the leaven of Church reform, and afterwards took a prominent part in the Council of Trent. In 1528 he accompanied the court of Pope Clement VII to Orvieto after the sack of Rome by imperial troops. Later that year he sent his brother Thomas a detailed firsthand report of the great flood of the Tiber.

In 1538, he was consecrated titular Bishop of Methone by Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa, future Pope Paul IV, and appointed coadjutor cum jure successionis to his cousin Pietro Lippomano, Bishop of Bergamo, who was also active in Catholic reform.[1] Due to his illegitimate birth and some say also opposition from German cardinals, Luigi would never become a cardinal. In 1542 Pope Paul III sent him as nuncio to Portugal to announce the convocation of the Council of Trent. He returned to Italy and took an active part in the council, following the council fathers to Bologna in 1547, where he attended all the sessions.

When Pietro was transferred to Verona in 1544, Luigi accompanied him. Pietro died in Edinburgh Castle during the summer of 1548 while on a diplomatic mission in Scotland, and Luigi succeeded him as Bishop of Verona.[1]

In 1548 he was sent with Bertano and Pighi to Germany. From 1551 he was one of the presidents of the Council until its suspension (25 April 1552), during that period the dogmatic decrees on the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction were published, as well as several decrees on reform.

In 1555 Pope Paul IV sent him as nuncio to Poland, where, on account of his lively opposition to the pretensions of the Protestant nobility, his reception was mixed. Tired and sick he returned to Verona in February 1557, and later, after recovery to Rome, where he stayed until his death on 15 August 1559.[3]

Works

Amid his numerous official duties, he did not neglect his studies, which, however, he directed towards spiritual edification. Thus he wrote "Catenae in Genesin" (Paris, 1546), "In Exodum" (Paris, 1550)—both works republished at Rome in 1557; Confirmatione et stabilimento di tutti i dogmi Catholici, con la subuersione di tutti i fondamenti, motiui & ragioni de i Moderni Eretici sino al numero (Venice, 1553). His chief work was Sanctorum priscorum patrum vitae (8 vols., Venice, 1551–60; 2 vols., Louvain 1564), for which he engaged the services of many learned men, and himself, on his travels, searched libraries and archives. This collection gave a great impulse to scientific hagiography, and opened the way for Surius and the Bollandists.

Notes

  • Marco Foscarini, Della letteratura veneta (Venice, 1854)
  • Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia sacra, IV (2nd ed.) 497-9
  • Streber in Kirchenlexikon, s. v.
  • Diaria Conc. Trid., I-II (Freiburg, 1901-4), passim.
  • Lorenzo Tacchella, Il Processo agli eretici veronesi nel 1550: S. Ignazio di Loyola e Luigi Lippomano (Verona, 1979)
  • Henryk Damian Wojtyska, Acta Nuntiaturae Polonae: Aloisius Lippomano 1555-1557 (Rome, 1993)
  • Magda Teter, Sinners on Trial (Cambridge, Mass, 2011), chapter 5

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Luigi Lippomano — (Or Aloisius Lipomanus Lippomano).

A cardinal, hagiographer, b. in 1500; d. 15 August, 1559. Of a noble Venetian family, he devoted himself from his youth to the study of the classical languages and later to the pursuit of the sacred sciences. Distinguished for his piety and integrity of character, he was among the first in Rome to join the "Oratorio della Carità" founded by St. Cajetan of Tiene, and composed of distinguished men, who in the Roman Curia were the leaven of Church reform, and afterwards took a prominent part in the Council of Trent. He was consecrated titular Bishop of Methone (1538), and appointed coadjutor to his uncle Pietro Lippomano, Bishop of Bergamo, who was also active in Catholic reform. When Pietro was transferred to Verona (1544), Luigi accompanied him and succeeded him in that see in 1548, whence he was transferred to Bergamo in 1558. In 1542 Paul III sent him as nuncio to Portugal to announce the convocation of the Council of Trent, where he arrived in 1547 and was commissioned to present to the pope the reasons for transferring the council to Bologna. In 1548 he was sent with Bertano and Pighi to Germany. From 1551 he was one of the presidents of the council until its suspension (25 April, 1552), during that period the dogmatic decrees on the Eucharist, penance, and extreme unction were published, as well as several decrees on reform. In 1556 Paul IV sent him as nuncio to Poland, where, on account of his lively opposition to the pretensions of the Protestant nobility, his life was frequently threatened. After his return to Rome he remained in the Curia until his death. Amid his numerous official duties, he did not neglect his studies, which, however, he directed towards spiritual edification. Thus he wrote "Catenae in Genesin" (Paris, 1546), "In Exodum" (Paris, 1550) - both works republished at Rome in 1557; "Confirmazione e stabilimento di tutti li dogmi cattoliei... contro i novatori" (Venice, 1553). His chief work was "Sanctorum priscorum patrum vitae" (8 vols., Venice, 1551-60; 2 vols., Louvain 1564), for which he engaged the services of many learned men, and himseIf, on his travels, searched libraries and archives. This collection gave a great impulse to scientific hagiography, and opened the way for Surius and the Bollandists.

FOSCARINI, Della letteratura veneta (Venice, 1854); UGHELLI, Italia sacra, IV (2nd ed.) 497-9; STREBER in Kirchenlex., s. v.: Diaria Conc. Trid., I-II (Freiburg, 1901-4), passim.

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 "Lippomano, Luigi", Italian Biographical Dictionary, Volume 65 (2005)
  2. Back to citation Tacchella Il Processo agli eretici veronesi; Wojtyska, Aloisius Lippomano
  3. Back to citation Tacchella Il Processo agli eretici veronesi; Wojtyska, Aloisius Lippomano; Teter Sinners on Trial, chapter 5
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