GILES OF VITERBO. - Augustinian theologian and philosopher, b. in Viterbo in 1469 to the Antonini family, d. 21 December 1532. He attended the lectures of Agostino Nifo at Padua, heard those of Domizio Gavardo in a hermitage in Istria, and finally in Florence attended the school of Ficino, of whom he became one of the best disciples.
Having returned to Rome a convinced Neoplatonist, he inspired his lectures with that system, upholding public disputations with great honor. He began his career as a preacher quite readily in Florence, under the guidance of Fra Mariano da Genazzano (v.), and immediately acquired celebrity. He took part, but with moderation, in the campaign against Savonarola, toward whom he later somewhat changed his opinion and attitude, to the point of showing a certain esteem for him. After the friar's tragic end, he made a long stay in Naples, where he was elected a member of the Pontanian Academy.
In 1506 Julius II designated him as apostolic vicar to govern the Order, of which in 1507 he was elected general, despite his reluctance. His activity was great also because the Holy See often entrusted him with delicate assignments. With zeal and charity he attended to the restoration of monastic discipline and the reorganization of studies.
E. delivered the inaugural address of the Fifth Lateran Council on 3 May 1512: he spoke with noble frankness of the ills of the Church, arousing deep emotion in the assembly. In July 1517 he was created cardinal by Leo X; later the diocese of Napi was given to him in administration, and then that of Viterbo and Tuscania.
The years that passed from the end of the pontificate of Leo X to those of Clement VII and Paul III were employed by him in discharging the many offices that the pontiffs entrusted to him, and in pursuing his philosophical, literary and philological studies. He defended the teaching of the Oriental languages, in which he was most versed, and impressed it upon his confreres. When news reached him of the devastation wrought in Rome by the imperial troops and of the siege that the Pope was undergoing in Castel Sant'Angelo, E. enlisted at his own expense in the Marches two legions of about 2000 men and hastened to join the army of the league which, encamped a few miles from Rome, was supposed to bring aid to the Pope; but the ineptitude of the duke of Urbino frustrated the generous offer.
He left many critical works on biblical texts, treatises of theology, philosophical dissertations, politico-religious polemics, philological and grammatical disquisitions. Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi, his successor in the bishopric of Viterbo, collected E.'s writings in 64 volumes. But most of them were lost and few are those that are still preserved in manuscript in the various libraries of Europe. The Historia XX vasculorum is a precious source, often drawn upon by Pastor, for the period in which its author lived.
Bibliography3 works
Ugo Mariani