DELFIN, PIETRO. — Superior General of the Camaldolese, born in Venice in 1444, died there on 15 January 1525. He entered religious life in 1480 and cultivated literature and theology, maintaining relations with the most illustrious men of his time, especially with the humanists. Elected superior general in 1480, he remained in office until his death; from 1514, however, his authority was purely nominal, because in that year Leo X entrusted the effective governance of the Order to two vicars.
A man of mild character, he gave d. Basilio Nardi, more an adventurer than a monk, a free hand, and lacked the energy necessary to implement the religious reform that he nevertheless desired. An unyielding and unsympathetic opponent of Savonarola, in his Dialogus in Ieronymum Ferrariensem he went so far as to demand that the friar of S. Marco be condemned to the stake. His correspondence is extremely rich, and was partly published by Giacomo da Brescia (Venice 1524); in addition to elegance of style, it displays theological learning and an abundance of historical information.