- Aonio Paleario
Aonio Paleario (c. 1500 –
July 3 1570 ), Italian humanist and reformer, was born about 1500 atVeroli , in theRoman Campagna . Other forms of his name are Antonio Della Paglia, A. Degli Pagliaricci.In 1520 he went to
Rome , where he entered the brilliant literary circle of Leo X. WhenCharles of Bourbon stormed Rome in 1527 Paleario went first toPerugia and then toSiena , where he settled as a teacher of Greek and Hebrew.In 1536 his didactic poem in Latin
hexameter s, "De immortalitate animarum", was published atLyon . It is divided into three books, the first containing his proofs of the divine existence, and the remaining two the theological and philosophical arguments forimmortality based on that postulate. The whole concludes with arhetoric al description of the occurrences of theSecond Advent .In 1542 a tract, written by him and entitled "Della Pienezza, sufficienza, et satisfazione della passione di Christo", or "Libellus de morte Christi" (The Benefit of Christ's Death), was made by the Inquisition the basis of a charge of heresy, from which, however, he successfully defended himself. In Siena he wrote his "Actio in pontifices romanos et eorum asseclas", a vigorous indictment, in twenty testimonia, against what he now believed to be the fundamental error of the
Roman Church in subordinatingScripture to tradition, as well as against various particular doctrines, such as that ofpurgatory ; it was not, however, printed until after his death (Leipzig, 1606).In 1546 he accepted a professorial chair at
Lucca , which he exchanged in 1555 for that of Greek and Latin literature atMilan . Here about 1566 his enemies renewed their activity, and in 1567 he was formally accused byFra Angelo the inquisitor of Milan. He was tried at Rome, condemned to death in October 1569, and executed in July 1570.An edition of his works ("Ant. Palearii Verulani Opera"), including four books of "Epistolae" and twelve "Orationes" besides the "De immortalitate", was published at Lyon in 1552; this was followed by two others, at
Basel , and several after his death, the fullest being that of Amsterdam, 1696. A work, entitled "Benefizio di Cristo" ("The Benefit of Christ's Death"), has been attributed to Paleario on insufficient grounds. Lives by Gurlitt (Hamburg, 1805); Young (2 vols., London, I860); Bonnet (Paris, 1862).References
*1911
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