THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
" council," organized, by sixty of their representatives, at Venice in 1550; though not, indeed, without the separation of a more moderate from the radical faction, so that henceforth there are three distinct groups, instead of two, as previously, of Protestantism in Italy. In the subsequent fate of the Anabaptist congregations, which became closely affiliated with the center of the moderate Anabaptist cause at Nikolsburg in Moravia, two brilliant martyr names are encountered in the period when the storm began to rage: Giulio Gherlandi and Francesco della Saga, who fell a sacrifice to the Venetian Inquisition in 1565. Among advocates of the Reformation in Venetian territory may lastly be named Bishop Pier Paolo Vergerio, because, according to his own acknowledgment, the truth of the Gospel indelibly impressed itself upon him at Padua, by the sick-bed of the unfortunate Spiera; and because the Inquisition at Venice subjected him to a tedious course of trial. This disputatious battler wielded an inexhaustible store of fresh weapons against the Roman Church out of the armory of his own experience and exact knowledge of the hierarchy; although he did not equal the men of the first generation in disinterested devotion to truth, in courage and joy of sacrifice. Neither can his writings be justly compared with the other products of the movement, as some of them are revealed in the Biblioteca della Riforma Italiana (6 vols., Florence, 1881-86).
Among the writings of the Italian Reformation,
besides the invaluable yield of Juan de Valdes, the
previously cited little book " Of the
7. Italian Benefit of Christ's Death " fills an hon-
Reforma- orable place. There may also be mention tioned the fact that the Sommario della
Writings. Sacra Scrittura was no less effective, although it was not Italian originally, but a recast Middle Low German (Dutch) work, dating from the decade 1520-30. A collection of the literature of the Reformation in Italy after the plan followed by E. Bohmer for the Spanish Reformation in the Bibliotheca Wiffeniana is much to be desired. Rich contributions toward the project would be supplied by the serial volumes of Ri vista Cristiana from 1873; and a considerable portion of the original issues are to be found collected in the library accumulated by Count Piero Guicciardini, and made over to the national library of Florence. Long forgotten and concealed, hardly discoverable in their own country, these writings bear witness to the high mental significance of that minority which once existed in the land of the popes and fought under the banner of reform. K. Benrath.
Bibliography: The best guide to the sources is K. Benrath, Ueber die Quellen der italienischen Reformationsgeschichte, Bonn, 1876; idem, in ZKG, i. 613-626, iv. 394- 413. Rivista cristiana, a periodical published in Florence, 1873 sqq., contains much material of the first importance. Instructive hints as to sources are given in F. H. Reusch, Der Index der rerbotener Biicher, i. 373 sqq., Bonn, 1883. Consult further: J. Bonnet, Vie de Olympia Morata, Paris, 1850, new ed., 1862, Eng. transl., London, 1852; idem, Aonio Paleario, Paris, 1862, Eng. transl., London, 1864; idem, Recite du xvi. siecle, Paris, 1864; idem, Nouveaux and Derniera Recite, ib. 1876; idem, many contributions to Bulletin du protestantisme franca ise; D. Erdmann, Die Reformation und ihre Mfirtyrer in Italien, Berlin, 1855; J. Stoughton, Footprints of Italian Reformers, London,
1881; K. Benrath, Geschichte der Reformation in Venedig, Halle, 1887; idem, Bernardino Ochino von Siena, ib. 1892; B. Fontana, Renata . di Ferrara, 3 vols., Rome, 1889- 1899; A. R. Pennington, The Church in Italy, London, 1895; E. Comba, I nostri protestanti, vol. ii., Florence (unfinished, deals only with Venice); A. Agostini, Pietro Carnesecchi e il movimento Waldesia.no, ib. 1899; Cambridge Modern History, vol. ii., The Reformation, pp. 578-599, New York, 1904; E. H. Walshe, Under the Inquisition; The Reformationin Italy, London, 1904; G. Dejob, LaFoireligieuse en Italie au xiv. siecle, Paris, 1906; C. von Klenze, The Interpretation of Italy, Chicago, 1907; and the literature under the articles on the Reformers named in the text.
ITHACIUS CLARUS. See Priscillian, Pris-