CORTESE, GREGORIO. - Cardinal, reformer of the Benedictines, and theologian, in secular life Giovan Battista Andrea, born at Modena in 1483 and died at Rome on 21 September 1548. Sent to Lérins in 1516 to reform that monastery, he transformed it into a sanctuary of piety and learning, attaching to it an academy for humanistic studies. Abbot at Lérins, Modena, Perugia, S. Giorgio di Venezia, Praglia, and Polirone, he was finally general visitor of the Cassinese Congregation and apostolic visitor for all Italy. Called to Rome in 1536 to collaborate in the Reform, created cardinal on 2 June 1542 and, on the following 6 November, bishop of Urbino, he was a member of the Congregation for the preparation of the Council of Trent. Less successful in poetry, he left short works on philosophy, theology, apologetics, Sacred Scripture, patristics, ecclesiastical history, and secular subjects; but much has been lost and much remains unpublished. The edition of his works was prepared by Giovanni Gradenigo, bishop of Ceneda: Greg. Cortesi, monachi cassinatis et S. R. E. Cardinalis, omnia, quae hucusque colligi potuerunt, apera ab eo scripta sive ad illum spectantia (2 vols., Padova 1774).
CORTESE, GREGORIO
BIBL.: G. A. Gradenigo, Biografia, in Opera Cortesi, I, Padova 1774; G. Tiraboschi, Storia della letteratura italiana, VII, parte 1ª, I, II, Roma 1784, chap. 1, nos. 16-17, pp. 285-89; A. G. Ansari, Vie de G. C., Parigi 1786; G. Prandi, Elogio storico del card. G. C., Pavia 1788; F. Dittrich, s. V. in Kirchenlex., III, cols. 1135-39; Huter, II, 1499-1500; M. Ott, s. V. in Cath. Enc., IV, pp. 400-401; Anon., s. V. ENOCH. eur. -americ., XV, pp. 1047-48; Pastor, V, pp. 135-36; V. Schweitzer, s. V. in LTNK, III, col. 57. Vito Zollini
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“CORTESE, GREGORIO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV (1950), p. 395. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/cortese-gregorio.