the venetian intellectual world 587
other humanists wrote devotional and theological works. candiano
Bollani, for example, wrote commentaries on the biblical book of Genesis
(1466) and the song (the “Magnificat”) of the Virgin Mary; Paolo Morosini
(see above) a treatise on predestination and free will (1471/1482); Girolamo
donato various works defending the roman primacy of the church; and
Marco dandolo, a translation of Greek commentaries on the psalms and
the powerful evangelical work Praeconium sanctissime crucis [Proclama-
tion of the Most Holy Cross, 1509/1513].48 all four of these men were states-
men entrusted with the most sensitive diplomatic missions and repeatedly
elected to high office.
clerical humanists, also noblemen, contributed as well—as one would
expect—to the corpus of religious works: Pietro Barozzi, bishop of Padua,
a treatise De modo bene moriendi [On Dying Well]; Gregorio correr, abbot
of San Zeno (Verona), among others, the Epistola ad Ceciliam virginem de
fugiendo saeculo [Letter to the Virgin Cecilia on Fleeing this World, 1443],
encouraging the learned cecilia Gonzaga, daughter of the ruler of Mantua,
to enter the convent; and cardinal Marco Barbo, translations from the
Greek of works by pseudo-dionysius the areopagite Gennadius, patriarch
of constantinople (458–471).49
Two prominent authors on religious themes transitioned from impor-
tant political careers to equally lofty clerical appointments. Fantino dan-
dolo, grandson of doge andrea dandolo and eventually bishop of Padua,
wrote a Compendium catholicae fidei [Compendium of the Doctrines of the
Catholic Faith].50 Gasparo contarini, most famously, a faithful servitor of
Venice until in 1535, was made cardinal (though still a layman) when he
reached age 52. he had already written on the office of the bishop—as he
had on the government of Venice, as discussed above. in his later years,
as the roman response to the Protestant revolt coalesced, he labored for
ecclesiastical reform, coauthoring the 1537 Consilium de emendanda eccle-
sia [Recommendation for the Reformation of the Church].51
48 For Bollani, King, Venetian Humanism, pp. 340–41; for Paolo Morosini, pp. 412–13; for
donato, pp. 366–68; for dandolo, pp. 359–61.
49 For Barozzi, see King, Venetian Humanism, pp. 333–35; for correr, pp. 355–57; for
Barbo, pp. 327–28. See also correr’s letter to cecilia in Margaret l. King and albert rabil,
Jr., eds., Her Immaculate Hand: Selected Works by and about the Women Humanists of
Quattrocento Italy, trans. King and rabil, 2nd ed. (Binghamton, 1992; repr. n.Y., 1997), pp.
91–105.
50 For dandolo, see King, Venetian Humanism, pp. 357–59.
51 For contarini as reformer, in addition to titles cited in n28 above, see Gigliola Fragnito,
“cultura umanistica e riforma religiosa: il ‘de officio episcopi,’ ” in Fragnito, ed., Gasparo