I. Church llistorij.—{\.) The planting of Christianity in Italy can be traced to the first years of the Christian ■XT&. The apostle Peter, according to old accounts, vis- ited Rome as early as A.D. 42, but no satisfactory evi- dence can be adiluced for the assertion of Roman theo- logians that Peter was at any time bishop of the Church of Rome, and still less that he held this office for twen- ty-five years. In 53 the Christians, together with the Jews, were expelled from Ivome by order of the emperor Claudius. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (about 55) indicates that the Church in Rome was at that time fully organized. Under Nero, Peter and Paul were prob- ably put to death, together with numerous other pro- fessors of Christianity. Among those who were put to death under Domitian (81-9G) was Flavins Clemens, a man of consular dignity, and belonging to the imperial family. jNIany other churches in Italy, besides that of Rome, trace their foundation to assistants of the apos- tles; thus Barnabas is said to have established the Church of Milan, Mark the Church of Aquileja, Apolli- naris the Church at Ravenna. The churches of Lucca, Fiesole, Bologna, Bari, Benevento, Capua, Naples, Paler- mo, Syracuse, Pavia, Urbino,]Mantna, Verona, Pisa, Flor- ence, "and Sienna also claim to be of apostolic origin. That man}' of the churches were really organized dur- ing the first centiu-y is not doubted, but hardly any of them has a documentary history which ascends beyond the beginning of the 2d century. Even the history of the Church of Rome is so involved in obscurity that it is not known in which order the first four bishojis suc- ceeded each other. From the beginning of the 2d cen- tury bishoprics rapidly increased, and down to the year 311 there are enumerated many seats of bishops in all the provinces. The first epistle of the Roman bishop Soter (A.D. 175 sq.) was written to the bishops of Cam- pania, and his second to the bishops of Italy. The Ro- man bishop Zephyrinus (203-221) addressed his first epistle to all the bishops of Sicily, and Eusebius his third to the bishops of Tuscia and Campania, A '• Pro- vincial Synod of Rome," consisting of twelve bishops, was presided over by Telesphorus (142-154) ; it was fol- lowed by a synod under Anicetus (1G7-175); another in 197, and many more in the 3d century. At the be- ginning of the 4th century Christianity was so firmly established throughout Italy that the jiagans could make no notable resistance when Christianity under Constan- tine the Great became the religion of the state. The apostasy of Julian retarded but little the victory of Christianity, which became complete when.tow.irds tlie close of the 4th centurj', Theodosius exterminated pa- ganism by fire and sword. As the bishop of Iiome was from the earliest period of the Church one of the three great bishops of the Christian Church (Rome, Alexan- dria, and Antioch), the churches of Italy became subor- dinate to his superintendence and juris(liction : only the Church provinces of the metropolitans of Milan and Aquileia remained independent of the jurisdiction of Rome for many more centuries. The more the jjower of the bishops of Rome rose, the more the Churcli his-
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ton' of Italy is absorbed by the liistorj' of tlie papacy and tlie Koman Church. In no other country of Eu- rope was the unity of faith better preserved and less in- terrupted than in Italy. The riUe of the Ai-ian Goths (493-5Go) lasted too short a time to establish Arianism on a lirm foundation, and all the following changes in the secular government of the country recognised the predominant Church. The unity of tlie Italian Church during the Middle Ages was but little disturbed by he- retical sects ; the Catharists and Fasagii never became poweriul, and soon disappeared; only the "Waldenses, in the remote valleys of Piedmont, siurvived all persecu- tion. See Papacy.
(2.) Ilislory of Ihe Reformation. — Italy, like other countries, had its forerunners of the Reformation, the most i)rominent of whom was the Dominican monk Sa- vonarola (q. v.), who fearlessly advoanted a radical re- form of the Church. The revival of the classical stud- ies on the one hand, and the corrui)ti()n which prevailed at the papal court on the other, disposed at the begin- ning of the IGth century many minds towards abandon- ing the doctrines of Kome. In general, however, the tendency towards freethinking was stronger among the malcontents than the wish for a religious reform. One of the most important efforts in the latter direction was made in the time of Leo X by some twenty earnest men, who formed a society for the purpose of rekindling in the Church a spirit of piety in opposition to the pre- vailing corruption. Among them were Cajetan, subse- quently founder of the order of the Theatines; Caraffa, subsequently pope Paul IV; and Contarini, subsequent- ly cardinal. All of them desired to effect a reformation witliin the Church, though some of them strongly in- clined towards the reformatory doctrine of justitication by faith alone. To this class of reformers belonged also liruccioli, who published an Italian translation of the Bible (15o0-15o2), which passed through several edi- tions. Among the sympathizers with this movement were also Foscarari, bishop of Modena ; San Felice, bish- op of Cava; cardinal Jlorone, Grimani, patriarch of Aquileia, and Folengo, a pious Benedictine of Monte Casino. In conse(iuence of the frequent intercourse of U])per Italy with Germany and Switzerland, the writ- ings of Luther and other reformers began to circulate in Italy from the beginning of the Poformation. To evade the Inquisition, they were generally luiblished either anonymously, or under the name of t)ther authors.