ADORNO, FRANCESCO

ADORNO, FRANCESCO. - Jesuit preacher, born in Genoa on 13 Sept. 1533, died there on 13 Jan. 1586. He became acquainted with the Society of Jesus in Portugal and entered its novitiate in Coimbra on 10 June 1549. After ten years, he was recalled to Italy, where he achieved great success as a preacher in various cities and was entrusted with administrative duties (rector of the Colleges of Padua, 1560-67, and of Milan, 1581-84; Provincial of Lombardy, 1567-70, 1573-78). But he is chiefly known for his relations with St. Charles Borromeo, of whom he was the spiritual director (after Fr. Ribera), advisor in various matters, one of the most faithful collaborators in the formation of the clergy, in several controversies (such as that concerning spectacles), and in diplomatic and apostolic missions (e.g., in Valtellina, 1584). The saint took him as his companion on various pilgrimages. The account that Adorno dictated of the pilgrimage made by Borromeo in 1578 to the Holy Shroud in Turin is often cited in the Latin version by Giovanni Andrea Guarnieri, printed in Bergamo in 1579, but the original Italian was published by Msgr. P. Savio in *Aevum*, 17 (1933), pp. 423-54. Other works by Adorno, mostly remaining in manuscript form on questions of canon law (in the Ambrosian Library), are listed in the bibliography of Sommervogel. In 1580, St. Charles had proposed to Gregory XIII that Adorno be named General of the Society (Acquaviva was elected instead); in 1584, he wished him to be with him during his final journeys, the spiritual exercises at Varallo, and was assisted by him at his death.