FIORI

### FLOWERS

**I. Archaeology.** — In the Octavius of Minucius Felix it is asserted that Christians did not place flower crowns on their heads like the pagans, but the Christian custom of strewing roses, lilies, and other flowers over the tombs of their loved ones revived in his time, "as if to soothe their grief and console their sorrow with these offerings" (ep. 66, 5; PL 22, 642); yet flowers soon wither, he observes (ep. 107, 9; ibid. 875). Instead, he praises a perfect sacristan, a certain Nepotian, who adorned the basilicas and the tombs of the martyrs with flowers and vine leaves (ep. 60, 12; ibid., 21, 596-97). This pious custom is attested for Milan by St. Ambrose (De Valentiniani, 56; ibid., 16, 1376); for Africa by St. Augustine (De civitate Dei, 28, 8; ibid., 41, 767); for Spain by Prudentius (Peristephanon, III, 201-207; ibid., 60, 356); for Nola by St. Paulinus (De Felice natal., III, 108-13; ibid., 51, 467); and for Gaul by Gregory of Tours (De gloria martyrum, 71; ibid., 71, 768; id., De gloria confessorum, ibid., 866, 897).

For representations of martyrs or the deceased in a flower-filled garden, see **Paradiso**.

**Bibliography:**
G. Bonaventura, *Se gli antichi cristiani abbiano nesso fiori nelle esequie dei loro defunti*, in *Civ. Catt.*, 1888, 11, pp. 274-84; H. Leclercq, *Fleurs*, in *DACL*, V, 11, cols. 1693-99. Enrico Josi

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**II. Liturgy.** — In the Middle Ages, where it was impossible to obtain palms for the blessing and procession on the Sixth Sunday of Lent, flowers were used instead. Flowers were showered from above during the Mass of Pentecost (= "Rose Easter") to signify the shower of charisms of the Holy Spirit (cf. E. Martène, *De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus*, IV, 28, Antwerp ed. 1764, III, p. 195). At St. Mary Major on August 5, white rose petals are scattered in memory of the snow that, according to legend, fell on that day.

Modern liturgical legislation stipulates: "When a church celebrates one of its most solemn feasts, the exterior doors should first be adorned with flowers and green branches and foliage" (*Cerimoniale dei Vescovi*, I, XII, 3), and on the altar, between candlesticks and relics, it is customary to use vases suitably adorned with fragrant flowers or foliage, or silk" (ibid., no. 12), and "at the place called the *martirio* or *confessione*, where beneath the high altar the bodies of the martyrs repose, it is fitting to place flowers, foliage, and other adornments" (no. 16). Likewise (ibid., II, XXXII, 2), on the occasion of the Corpus Christi procession, it is prescribed "that the streets along which the procession is to pass be cleaned and adorned with carpets, draperies, garlands, flowers, and green plants according to the natural possibilities of the place." The Roman Ritual for the burial of children suggests that a crown of flowers or fragrant herbs be placed on the coffin "as a sign of the integrity and virginity of that body." Artificial flowers are forbidden in penitential services and during Lent; they are also reproved by many diocesan authorities.

**Bibliography:**
R. Doctrman, *Florete, flores*, in *Les questions littéraires et paroissiales*, 12 (1927), pp. 225-30. Enrico Caumone

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### FLOWERS OF VIRTUE

A classical work of civil and moral education, founded on the authority of major theologians and philosophers; highly recommended by the ancients to youth as rich in examples of pure Tuscan language and filled with precious teachings for good conduct and the proper governance of oneself and others.

It is divided into 40 chapters, each treating of the most necessary virtues and principal vices, each associated with an animal. In some editions the work is titled *Priori di virtù e costumi* or *Fiori di T.*, among the earliest editions the best is that of 1515 (Rome, Marcello Silberg Alf Frang); among more recent editions, those of Rome (1710) and Padua (1731) are highly esteemed. Its author is not known with certainty, but it is now widely attributed to Tommaso Leoni and believed to have been composed before 1323, that is, before the canonization of St. Thomas.

**Bibliography:**
*Vocabolario degli «Accademici della Crusca»*, VI, Naples 1748, pp. 2 and 23; *F. di V. redotto alla sua vera lezione. Ritratto del romanzo originale del 1730, migliorato solo intorno all'ortografia e all'intonazione*, Padua 1751; *Nuovo fior di virtù riformato, arricchito con dottrine, similitudini, ed esempi adattati ai costumi dei tempi*, Venice 1805. Felice da Mareto

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### FIRMINUS

A Gnostic of the Italian school who lived in the 2nd century. In his youth he served as an imperial officer in Smyrna, where he met St. Polycarp and the young St. Irenaeus. Later, becoming a priest of the Roman Church around 190, he embraced Valentinian Gnosticism, for the defense of which he composed writings that reached Gaul.

From there, Irenaeus wrote two letters: one to Firminus to recall him from error; the other to Pope Victor to warn him of the danger posed by these writings. When Firminus remained unyielding, he was deprived of the priesthood. The identification of Firminus with Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullian is untenable.

**Bibliography:**
Eusebius, *Hist. eccl.*, V, 15, 20; A. Baumstark, *Die Lehre des röm. Presb. Flor.*, in *Zeitschrift für neutestamentliche Wissenschaft*, 13 (1912), pp. 306-10; Bardenhewer, I, pp. 361-413. Vincenzo Monachino

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### FIQH

An Arabic word that literally means "understanding" or "sound judgment." In its earliest usage, it denoted, in contrast to *'ilm* ("science" in the sense of certain knowledge derived from the Qur'an and tradition), the autonomous, logical consideration based on personal opinion. In a broader sense, *fiqh* later came to signify Islamic jurisprudence in general.

It, however, extends widely to encompass all aspects of religious, state, and civil life. It includes laws governing the ritual relationship of man with God (ibd.), the entire field of inheritance, family, property, and obligations (legal relationships conditioned by social life). It also encompasses penal law and procedure, laws on governance and state administration, and the law of war, all considered according to the rule of a law recognized as "religious."

**Bibliography:**
Th. W. Juynboll, *Manuale di diritto musulmano*, Italian trans. by G. Baviera, Milan 1916. Alessandro Busani

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### FLORENCE, ARCHDIOCESE OF

In Tuscany. Metropolitan (since 1420). Suffragan dioceses: Borgo San Sepolcro, Colle Val d'Elsa, Fiesole, Modigliana, Pistoia, Prato, San Miniato. Seat of the Etruscan royal tribunal.

The diocese extends into the Arno valley from the confluence of the Sieve as far as the confluence of the Elsa; it includes parts of the valleys of the Idice and the Santerno; the upper Sieve valley (Mugello) and part of its lower valley; part of the Chianti region, the Val di Pesa, parts of the valleys of the Elsa and the Bisenzio. It borders the dioceses of Fiesole, Colle Val d’Elsa, Volterra, San Miniato, Pistoia, Prato, Bologna, Imola, and Modigliana. In 1592 it lost the pieve of Poggibonsi to Colle Val d’Elsa; in 1785 it acquired several parishes in the Apennines, three from Bologna and one from Imola; in 1795 it received one in exchange from Fiesole; in 1916 it ceded twelve to the diocese of Prato. The diocese covers an area of 2,075 square kilometers and has a population of 785,000, of whom 775,000 are Catholic. There are five urban vicariates, comprising 83 parishes; thirty-nine rural vicariates, comprising 394 parishes. There are 598 priests. There are fifty-eight male religious houses and two hundred nineteen female religious houses (1948). Major seminary (theology), founded by Archbishop Della Gherardesca in 1712; minor seminary (lyceum and gymnasium), founded by Cardinal Archbishop Dalla Costa in 1938; seminary of Firenzuola (gymnasium), founded by Archbishop Martini in 1801. The Eugenia School, founded by Eugenius IV in 1435. The archbishop holds the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by diploma of Charles IV and of Grand Chancellor of the Florentine Theological University. Patron of the city and of the ancient Florentine dominion: Saint John the Baptist. Patrons of the diocese: Saint Zanobius, bishop, and Saint Antoninus, archbishop.

I. HISTORICAL NOTES

SUMMARY:

I. Civil history

II. Religious history

III. Illustrious figures

IV. Cultural institutions, libraries, archives

V. Archaeology

VI. Fortresses

VII. Abbey of Saint Mary.

I. CIVIL HISTORY

Florence, perhaps so named from the prosperity of the region or its inhabitants. It is very uncertain whether a pre-Roman Etruscan city existed here, built by the people of Fiesole for their trade needs. The Roman Florence arose under Caesar to guard the Arno, where the Mugnone then flowed into it near the present-day Ponte Vecchio; it stood astride the Via Cassia, later restored, which crossed the city from south to north and formed its cardo, traces of which are still recognizable in the streets of Por Santa Maria, Calimala, and Roma, while the decumanus is to be identified with the streets of Corso, degli Speziali, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, and Via Strozzi. It was a modest fortress of 2,000 meters in perimeter, destined to grow in importance because it became a nearly obligatory station for officials, legates, and merchants traveling from Rome beyond the Apennines, and because the roads to Faenza, Lucca, and Pisa converged there.

The first recorded contact between the Florentines and the Roman Senate is attested by Tacitus: Florentine orators asked that the Clanis not be diverted into the Arno, fearing it might bring disaster upon them. Thereafter, for several centuries, there are no reliable records. Florence was still a small center when, in the fifth century, it became the seat of a corrector, i.e., the general governor of Tuscia; in that century, the Ostrogoths of Radagaisus clashed with its walls, were repelled, and routed by Sicilian forces that came to its aid. Another danger befell Florence at the hands of the Goths of Totila, who had to retreat before the arrival of Byzantine forces, which dominated Florence until, in the sixth century, along with the rest of Italy, it succumbed to the Lombard invasion. At that time, Tuscia was divided into duchies, and Florence too had its duke and royal curtis; hence began the first development of the feudal system, which was later consolidated under Frankish rule. During his descents into Italy, Charlemagne celebrated Christmas in Florence in 786.

Under the Franks, the Margrave of Tuscany accumulated the office of Count of Florence. The ecclesiastical capitularies of 882, issued by King Lothar and known as the Capitular of Olona, made Florence a center of learning for the Tuscan region because its location favored attendance at schools even by the poor. Later, its famous teachers included a Guido who later became a bishop, a Master Peter, and a legisperitus Nordilone. In the transition from Frankish rule to that of the three Ottos, one of the most powerful margraves was Albert of Tuscany; so much so that, to diminish the margraves’ power, the office of Count of Florence was separated from theirs. But the margrave most popular among the Florentines was Hugh (the “great baron” of Dante), who enriched the Florentine territory with many foundations and whose name became surrounded by legend. He was followed by the margraves Boniface and Beatrice, whose rule again asserted itself in Florence after the city had for a time been an imperial city. Meanwhile, the great Investiture Controversy between Pope and Emperor was taking shape. Matilda, the great Marchioness of Tuscany, was a staunch supporter of the reform and a faithful ally of Gregory VII in the difficult struggle for the freedom of the Church. Florence remained loyal to Matilda even when Henry IV entered Tuscany in triumph and reached its walls without capturing it, and Matilda’s power seemed submerged. In 1076, when Gregory VII marched against the Emperor, who was later to meet him at Canossa, the Pope had been a guest of Florence.

Meanwhile, the first forms of communal autonomy were recognized in Florence by Matilda herself. In the feudal society encastellated in the lands near the city, the bonds loosened from the imperial authority of which it was an expression. The people had changed in its deepest strata and aspired to a freedom hitherto unknown. Florence fought against the feudal lords who obstructed its autonomy: against the Alberti of the Val Bisenzio, the Adimari of Monte Gualandi, the Ubaldini of the Mugello, the Cadolingi of Mangona di Settimo, the Counts Guidi, the Ormanni, and the Buondelmonti. The Commune arose. Its first consuls date to 1138. By the first half of the twelfth century, Florence had expanded and girded itself with a first circle of walls (the “ancient circle of Dante”); at the close of the following century it erected a second circle; in 1333 the last circle was completed. Meanwhile, in the struggle of the communes against the Empire, it adhered to the Guelph league among Tuscan municipalities promoted by Celestine III against Henry VI. But the division of the citizenry into Guelphs and Ghibellines arose in 1215 over a quarrel occasioned by a betrothal between the Buondelmonti and the Amidei. The latter, with their allies, followed the Ghibelline party, the Buondelmonti the Guelph. When, under Frederick II, Ghibelline fortunes rose, the Guelphs fled Florence en masse; this occurred in February 1248. With the death of Frederick II and the resurgence of Guelph power, the Ghibellines returned, only to be exiled again, joining with the Sienese to fight the Florentine forces at Montaperti (1260). Attempts at pacification between the two factions were made by Gregory X and then by Nicholas III, who sent Cardinal Latino to mediate in 1278. The Guelph Florentines fought the Ghibelline Aretines at Campaldino. Yet Florence knew no peace. The democratic experiment attempted by Giano della Bella with his Ordinances of Justice did not meet with success. The Guelph city split again into the factions of the Whites and the Blacks, led respectively by the Cerchi and the Donati. Matteo d’Acquasparta, who came to mediate between them, failed in his mission. The attempt of Charles of Valois, openly favorable to the Blacks, likewise failed. Then the forces of Henry VII encamped near the city in 1312, but the emperor had to withdraw without obtaining the obedience of the Florentines.

In the fourteenth century, internal strife between the great and the people, between the fat people and the little people, intensified. The Duke of Athens took advantage of these divisions to establish a dictatorship, but was driven out by a popular uprising.

After the War of the Eight Saints fought against the legate of Gregory XI, who threatened Florence, fiercer became the struggle between the city’s factions: it thus led to the tumult of the *Comuni* and the democratic experiment of Michele di Lando, which ended in exile. Yet amid this whirlwind of shifting fortunes, in which eternal peace seemed denied to the Florentine Republic, one family of plebeian origin—enriched by trade—rose to prominence and distinction. Hated and opposed by many, it too was struck by exile; but soon it was recalled, and its head, Cosimo dei Medici, was proclaimed *pater patriae* after his death. Lorenzo the Magnificent was in fact lord of Florence without the formal institutions of a principality. Nor did the Pazzi conspiracy succeed in toppling Medici supremacy. The religious and social movement of Savonarola, ending in the Dominican’s condemnation, struck at Medici power, yet it revived later under Leo X. Under Clement VII the city was besieged by the imperial army of Charles V and forced to surrender (1530). The Florentine Republic came to an end forever, and the principality arose, with Alessandro de’ Medici as its first duke, assassinated by his kinsman Lorenzo. He was succeeded by Cosimo I, who, through rigorous measures, quelled his enemies and, through shrewd policy, consolidated his house’s power; for him Pius V elevated Tuscany to a grand duchy, not without protests from rival potentates. Thus constituted, the Medici dynasty ruled Tuscany for more than two centuries, until the sovereignty of the grand duchy passed in 1737 to the House of Lorraine with Francis II. After a brief regency, Peter Leopold I succeeded him as an absolute prince, author of beneficial reforms in civil matters, though his religious reforms were far less successful. The city suffered French occupation in 1801 and again in 1807–14. In 1801, by Napoleon’s will, the grand duchy was transformed into the Kingdom of Etruria and bestowed upon Louis of Bourbon, who was succeeded by Infante Charles Louis. It then reverted to the status of a grand duchy under Elisa Baciocchi. The restoration of the Lorraines under Ferdinand III was welcomed by Florentines and Tuscans alike. But when popular consciousness seemed ripe for national unity, the Lorraine dynasty had to yield, and Leopold II was expelled from Tuscany in a peaceful revolution on 27 April 1859. Florence, together with Tuscany, then became part of the Kingdom of Italy, of which it was the capital from 1865 to 1871.

II. RELIGIOUS HISTORY

In tracing reliable information about the spread of Christianity in Florence, we cannot go back beyond the 3rd century. The first name we encounter is that of a martyr: during the persecution of Decius, it is said, on 25 October 250, St. Minias was beheaded on the hill overlooking the Arno, where the basilica of the same name later arose. At the beginning of the 4th century the Christian community in Florence gathered around its own bishop; indeed, in 313 Bishop Felix took part in Rome, under Pope Miltiades, in the synod against the Donatists. Yet the population was still largely pagan when, from Easter 393 to August 394, Ambrose of Milan sojourned in Florence and there consecrated the basilica of St. Lawrence, then outside the walls, built by a pious woman named Juliana. This was Florence’s first cathedral, later replaced by St. Reparata.

The oration delivered by St. Ambrose on that occasion is still read among his works. Nor is it unlikely that it was on Ambrose’s advice that the Florentines, deprived of their shepherd, elected St. Zenobius to that office; he was present at the victory over the hordes of Radagaisus and is the most distinguished bishop of the Florentine community in the Roman period. According to Florentine annals, the introduction of the cult of St. Reparata should be traced to that victory, though recent historians consider it imported by the numerous Greek element present in the city shortly afterward. Among other early bishops we know the names of Reparatus, who in 680 took part in the Council of Pope Agatho against the Monothelites; Speciosus, bishop in 716; Thomas, who attended another council convoked by Pope Zachary in 743; Bishop Andrew between 886 and 897; and Bishop Paul in 987.

A new spirit arose, aflame with hitherto unknown zeal for struggle, when the nearest Apennine slopes around Florence witnessed the monasteries founded or reformed by St. Romuald and St. John Gualbert. It is this latter

However, there is no doubt that monasticism assumes a new aspect and blazes forth with a fervor of struggle hitherto unknown when the Apennine slopes nearest to Florence became home to the monasteries founded or reformed by St Romuald and St John Gualbert. It is this latter saint who is of greatest interest to the history of Florence, both because he was a Florentine by birth and because Florence became the center of the militia he founded, which took its name from Vallombrosa. The reform sponsored within the Church by the purest and greatest figures who, with it, emerge into the second millennium—though not without opposition—found wide acceptance in Florence. The voices of Peter Damian and Hildebrand resounded beneficially in a considerable part of the clergy. In this cause, both were in constant communication: the object was the purification of the clergy from concubinage and simony. The Vallumbrosans, from the monasteries of San Salvi and Settimo, waged war against the corrupt clergy with a vehemence that knew no obstacles; hence first came popular opposition to the monks, the nocturnal assault on the monastery of San Salvi, and then the uprising against Bishop Peter Mezzabarba, notorious for simony, and the ordeal by fire of Peter Igneus near the abbey of Settimo—an experiment from which the monk emerged victorious.

Yet already under Benedict IX the Florentine Chapter had undertaken its own reform, imposing on its members the common life. Pope Victor II had convened a council in Florence in 1055, attended by the Emperor and many of the most distinguished prelates of Italy and Germany, at which severe sanctions were published against simony and concubinage. His successor was Gerard, Bishop of Florence, who took the name Nicholas II without relinquishing the spiritual governance of the city, and Nicholas II likewise renewed the condemnation of clergy tainted by concubinage and simony. During his visits to Florence, he consecrated the newly rebuilt church of San Lorenzo, restored upon its ancient foundations.

But the crucial moment of the reformist movement against a clergy that had fallen from its dignity and forgotten its purpose had now passed. New institutions arose in response to new orientations in civic life. In Florence, divided between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Order of the Servants of Mary carried on its activity by advocating peace among the troubled spirits of its native city. From almost their very origins, they were the trusted agents of Florentine Guelphism; when Cardinal Latino composed the peace between the contending factions, the Servites were appointed custodians of the peace agreements. They had their convent near Santa Maria di Cafaggio; later, that church would be transformed into the sanctuary of the Most Holy Annunciation, a well-known center of Marian devotion.

Meanwhile, the new Orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans also opened their convents in Florence, and soon established flourishing studia there. To the activity of the Dominicans at Santa Maria (not yet Santa Maria Novella) is owed the victory over the Patarenes, who had gained a troubling foothold in the city. Of all the medieval heresies, that of the Patarenes succeeded in organizing itself particularly within the city and countryside, establishing a hierarchy presided over by their own bishop; at one point they represented a serious danger not only to the orthodoxy of the city but, given the principles they professed, even to the stability of the communal institutions themselves, until they were overcome and driven to flight by the Dominican St Peter Martyr.

Against the heretics, the very communal statutes of 1325 contained condemnations; as did, later, the explicit provisions against the Fraticelli. Moreover, the Synod held by Bishop Francesco da Cingoli in 1327 threatened severe sanctions against the Patarenes, ordering the demolition of the houses where they administered their consolamentum. This was the first Synod of Jocano, from which emerged a body of constitutions to be observed by clergy and people; yet there is no doubt that other synods had been held before 1327, among them one by Bishop Ranieri in 1073 at San Reparata, which at that time shared with San Giovanni the honors and prerogatives of the cathedral.

Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, Florence lived the most glorious age of its communal fortunes. It was then that faith inspired and sustained the greatest creations of Florentine genius: the *Divine Comedy*, a singular expression and vision of a believing citizen; and Santa Maria del Fiore, a collective work of the believing populace. Meanwhile, popular piety found sublime expression in the humble saints of the countryside: Verdiana of Castelfiorentino, Giulia of Certaldo, Giovanna of Signa, and Giovanni of Vespignano.

Then, in the rebirth of the people’s thought—now assuming national dimensions—the city’s convents became beacons of light for Christian Humanism, supplying the Commune with theologians and diplomats. Great was the influence exerted on the culture and political life of the city by Luigi Marsigli from the convent of Santo Spirito; the humanists Coluccio Salutati, Niccoli, and Tommaso da Sarzana frequented Santo Spirito. At the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Ambrogio Traversari gathered the youth of Florence around him, among them Giannozzo Manetti and Matteo Palmieri. The Blessed Dominici alternated between his cell at Santa Maria Novella and the chair of the Studium, where he lectured on canon law. Already, the Acciaioli had founded the Certosa on the outskirts of Florence, richly endowed so that masters and students might dwell there. Later arose the convent of San Marco, beloved of the sanctity of Antoninus and the purest art of Fra Angelico.

The fifteenth century was truly rich in momentous events for the religious history of the city. Martin V received the obedience of John XXIII in Florence and elevated the city to a metropolitan see (1420). Eugene IV took refuge there in 1434 from the Roman uprising that had forced him to flee, and he carried out a major reform of the Florentine convents, suppressing some and assigning others to different religious orders. He consecrated Santa Maria del Fiore (1436), then completed with Brunelleschi’s dome, and established the Scuola Eugenia to serve it and to cultivate Christian-humanistic learning among the clergy. He reformed the statutes of the theological university, and for a time even held the office of Archbishop of Florence himself.

Yet the name of Eugene IV is also linked to Florence because it was in Santa Maria del Fiore that, on 5 July 1439, the great ecumenical Council of Ferrara-Florence concluded. The Florentine Chapter petitioned the Pope that the plenary indulgence granted by Eugene IV for 25 March, the anniversary of the cathedral’s consecration, be transferred in memory of the achieved union to 5 July each year. Florence also owed to Eugene IV the appointment of St Antoninus as its archbishop (1446–1459).

The fifteenth century closed with the religious and social upheaval of Savonarola, whose movement began from the convent of San Marco, founded by St Antoninus.

The 16th century advances. The Florentine LEO X, already a canon of S. Reparata, closes the Lateran Council (1517), and his cousin Giulio de’ Medici, whom he had created archbishop of his native city, celebrates the provincial synod (1518), which aims to reorganize *ex toto* the discipline and religious life of the entire ecclesiastical province. This synod is particularly important not only because it marks the attempt to implement the conciliar constitutions immediately, but also because it represents a bulwark against the already visible prodromes of the Reformation: against false preaching, against the dangers of humanistic scholarship, against erroneous philosophical propositions, against the excesses of printing, and against the growing superstition. Notable Protestant infiltrations did not occur: Pietro Martire Vermigli, a Florentine, spread his doctrine elsewhere; Pietro Carnesecchi, a friend of Duke Cosimo, was little favored in Florence and was delivered by Cosimo to the Roman Inquisition. The best-known episode is that of Senator Bartolomeo Panciatichi and a few others who, wearing the *sambenito*, abjured heresy. On the contrary, almost at the dawn of the century, the humble piety of Domenico del Paradiso, founder of the monastery of La Crocetta, became very popular in Florence; she was not hostile nor unwelcome to the Medici. Then came a flourishing of saints: the Blessed Bartolomea Bagnesi; St. Caterina de’ Ricci, a Florentine who illuminated a monastery in nearby Prato; St. Maria Maddalena de’ Pazzi, the ecstatic of the Florentine Carmel, who consumed herself in penance for the sanctification of the clergy; the Blessed Ippolito Galantini, who founded a congregation of laity for catechetical instruction, which spread beyond Florence; and St. Philip Neri, who left his native city to become the apostle of Rome. Meanwhile, new religious congregations penetrated the cities. First came the Jesuits, summoned by Eleonora of Toledo, who opened their house near the present church of S. Giovanni, with schools for youth. In 1626 the Barnabites arrived in Florence, distinguished in assisting the sick during the plague of 1630; in 1630 the Scolopi came to care for the education of the children of the people.

Religious disturbances arose later under the reforming prince Peter Leopold I. Jansenist tendencies were promoted by the bishop of Pistoia, Scipione de’ Ricci, formerly vicar of the Florentine archbishop Incontri. There were lively disputes and polemics even among the clergy, but no deep or widespread adherence to Jansenism. The people remained hostile and estranged from this movement. Regalist tendencies also emerged, which persisted among the clergy until Peter Leopold was succeeded by Ferdinand III, under whom the direction of government changed. Under Peter Leopold, an assembly of Tuscan bishops had been convened by him at the Pitti Palace to prepare a national council, but it came to nothing, also thanks to Archbishop Martini. Thus the council project foundered. During the Napoleonic occupation, the episode of Archbishop Eustachio d’Osmond (1810), bishop of Nancy, intruded into this see by Napoleon, occurred. He abandoned Florence only with the withdrawal of French troops. Among the clergy who opposed him, some were deported, including Ferdinando Minucci, who later became archbishop of the city. Among the events of the last decades, mention should be made of the diocesan synod celebrated in 1905 by Archbishop Mistrangelo, after more than a century and a half. In 1934 the First Etruscan Council was held in Florence under the presidency of Cardinal Archbishop Elia Dalla Costa as papal legate, and in 1935 a diocesan synod was celebrated by the same archbishop. Another synod was convoked by Cardinal Archbishop E. Dalla Costa for May 1946 and, like the previous one, was celebrated in S. Maria del Fiore on the 8th and 9th of that month.

III. ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES

Worthy of mention are: Bishop Gerardo, who became NICHOLAS II (1059–61); Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, LEO X (1513–21); Cardinal Archbishop Giulio de’ Medici, CLEMENT VII (1523–34); Cardinal Archbishop Alessandro de’ Medici, LEO XI (1605); Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, URBAN VIII (1623–41); and Cardinal Lorenzo Corsini, CLEMENT XII (1730–40). Also to be remembered are: Archbishop François Gaston Incontri, author of works on moral theology; Antonio Martini, translator of the Bible; and Eugenio Cecconi, historian of the Councils of Ferrara-Florence and of the Vatican. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, many humanists were canons of S. Reparata: Angelo Poliziano, the poet; Marsilio Ficino, founder of the Platonic Academy; Leonardo Bruni, secretary of the Republic; Gentile da Urbino, lecturer at the Studium; Scipione Ammirato, the historian; and Francesco Berni, the poet. Other ecclesiastics who distinguished themselves in the literary republic include Benedetto Varchi, philologist and historian; Benedetto Buonmatttei, grammarian and Dante scholar; Monsignor Giovanni Della Casa, poet and treatise writer; Pier Francesco Giambullari, who wrote on history and language; Vincenzo Borghini, scholar of Tuscan and Florentine antiquities; Antonio Francesco Gori, archaeologist and epigrapher; and Anton Maria Salvini, one of whom was most learned in classical languages, the other wrote on academic subjects concerning Florence. Giovanni Lami, a most erudite man, around whose name so many controversies arose in the 18th century, should not be forgotten. Nor should Cardinal Agostino Bausa, a Dominican, former Master of the Papal Sacred Palaces and later archbishop of Florence in the final years of the 19th century, be omitted.

IV. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS, LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES

From the time when a general *Studium* was established in Florence by a bull of Clement VI, dated Avignon, 31 May 1348, and this was confirmed by an imperial diploma of Charles IV, the theological faculty formed the most substantial part of the *Studium*. The first doctorate in theology was conferred in 1349 on Friar Francesco di Biancozzo dei Nerli, amid the unanimous enthusiasm of the Florentines. While the other branches of the *Studium* ceased their activity and existence for various reasons—first among them the transfer of certain chairs to Pisa at a given time—the theological university remains the sole collegiate institution representing the uninterrupted continuity of the Florentine *Studium* from its origins to the present day. It has enjoyed notable papal privileges. It was reformed by Eugenius IV and received new constitutions from Leo XIII. At present, the Florentine Theological College, following the publication of the apostolic constitution *Deus scientiarum Dominus* of 24 May 1931, has suspended the conferral of doctorates. Important archives and libraries include: the Chapter Archive of S. Maria del Fiore, for the ancient documents preserved there; the Archive of the Works of S. Maria del Fiore, concerning the construction of the Duomo; the Archive of the Archdiocesan Curia; and the Archive of the Laurentian Chapter. Notable for the number of its publications, especially from the 17th and 18th centuries, is the Library of the Major Seminary, which also contains a section of manuscripts on Florentine subjects.

Other works: V. Borghini, *Trattato della Chiesa e dei vescovi fiorentini*, in *Discorsi storici*, II, Firenze 1585, pp. 337-508; L. Cerratcchini, *Cronologia sacra dei vescovi e arcivescovi di F.*, Firenze 1761; Idaphonus a S. A., *Etruria Sacra*, ibid. 1782; P. N. Cianfogni - D. Moretti, *Memorie storiche della basilica di S. Lorenzo*, ibid. 1804-17; C. Guasti, *S. Maria del Fiore*, ibid. 1887; R. Davidsohn, *Storia di F.* The origins, 10 vols., ibid. 1907-1909; V. CRISPOLTI, FILIPPO, *S. Maria del Fiore*, ibid. 1936; E. Sansoni, *Il Seminario fiorentino*, ibid. 1913; id., *Canzoni e vici, for.* and the case of Savonarola, ibid. 1932; id., *L'Università dei teologi dello Studio di F.* in *Arch. stor. ital.*, 1937, ibid. 1940, pp. 190-204; A. Aliani, *S. Zenobi vescovo di F.*, in *Atti Soc. Colombaria*, 1938-39; B. Quilici, *La chiesa di Firenze nell'alto medioevo*, Firenze 1938; id., *La chiesa di F. nei primi decenni del sec. XI*, ibid. 1940; E. Sanesi, *La vita di s. Antonino*, Firenze 1941; B. Quilici, *Il vescovo Ranieri e la chiesa di F. durante la lotta per le investiture*, in *Istituto ecc. comm. Filiberto di Saravia*, ibid. 1943; A. Panella, *Storia di Firenze*, Firenze 1949; Cattaneo, I, cols. 1955-61.

Emilio Sanesi

V. ARCHAEOLOGY

No precise information exists regarding the beginnings of Christianity in Florence; however, it is highly probable, and certain elements seem to confirm it, that its first center was among the Greek-Oriental Jewish community, which, as was customary, had settled on the outskirts of the city near the road leading out of the southern gate: immediately south of the Arno, this road divided into two branches, one heading east toward Chiusi (the so-called Cassia Nova), the other descending directly south toward Volterra and Siena. Remains of an early Christian cemetery basilica were uncovered in Florence in 1948 following excavations conducted by the Superintendency of Antiquities in the area of the ancient church of S. Felicita. This basilica had three naves: it measured approximately 26 meters in width and about 40 meters in depth; the central nave was 10 meters wide, the side naves 6.50 meters. The numerous common *fossa* have yielded various funerary inscriptions — to which those discovered previously in the area must be added — for the most part dating to the

one man draws from a bowl. The other is the famous lamp of the Valerii, found near the home of this noble family on the Caelian Hill. It takes the form of a ship: one figure, identified by some as St. Peter or the Redeemer Himself, holds the tiller, while another in an attitude of prayer stands at the prow and may be St. Paul; however, this interpretation is highly debated. Attached to the mast, which supports the sail, is a tablet with the inscription: *«Dominus legem dat Valerio Severo. Eutropi vivas»*. Its most probable date is the 4th century.

V. ART

From the late 13th century until the early 16th, Florence was the most vibrant artistic center in all of Italy.

In architecture, the Romanesque style did not bring the characteristic Lombard forms to Tuscany; only certain elements of it became acclimatized there. The Florentine Romanesque churches continued the basilican forms, as seen in the church of the SS. Apostoli and S. Jacopo Soprarno, while the Baptistery so closely repeats the ancient forms that it was believed by 14th-century men to be a work from the classical period. Similar characteristics are found in S. Miniato al Monte and the Badia Fiesolana, churches in which the distinctive two-tone polychromy is particularly notable.

Florence, archdiocese of — Plan of the remains of the paleochristian basilica in relation to the archaeology of S. Felicita.

which, dated to 405, the construction of the building can be fixed to the late 4th century — early 5th. It is therefore the oldest Christian place of worship whose remains have been found in Florence; among the inscriptions discovered in the area are mentions of a deacon, several readers, and individuals holding civil and military offices. The dedication of the church, that of another church on the same side dedicated to St. Felix, and the cult of St. Lawrence, to whom the first basilica within the city was consecrated at the end of the 4th century, all suggest that the new faith reached Florence, most likely, from Rome, or at the very least that the Florentine Church was in close relations with the Roman Church.

A later tradition attributes the martyrdom of St. Minias to the time of the Decian persecution; he is said to have been buried on the hill overlooking the city. However, this is a late tradition and appears to be entirely unreliable.

The first certain mention of a Florentine bishop is found in the work of Optatus of Milevis; he, among the participants in the Roman Synod of 313 against the Donatists, names a Felix *a Florentia Tuscorum*; whether this was the first bishop of the city cannot be stated with certainty. In 393, Ambrose was in Florence, where he consecrated the church dedicated to St. Lawrence, founded by a pious woman named Giuliana; a fragment of an inscription found in the crypts may belong to the generous donor. At the same time, St. Zenobius lived and led the Florentine Church; he died, it seems, in 417.

In addition to the materials found near the church of S. Felicita, some seals discovered in the Borgo SS. Apostoli and a sarcophagus uncovered in the bed of the Arno near the Ponte della Vittoria in 1933 should be noted. Datable to the 4th century, it depicts scenes not among the most common: the farewell of the Apostles to Jesus, the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, and the refusal of the three Hebrew youths to worship the statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

Florence has also received, at various times, Christian monuments discovered in Rome: among them, two particularly important bronze lamps now in the archaeological museum: one has as its handle a laurel wreath, within which is the representation of Moses striking water from the rock.

The Gothic style, which produced two masterpieces in S. Maria Novella and S. Croce, seems, however, to remain on the surface of the elements without penetrating the structure of the building: the Loggia dei Lanzi, with its three round arches, already foreshadows the Renaissance; while the Cathedral, whose internal balcony in the central nave seems to restrain the upward thrust of the Gothic lines, has a dome-like crown; Giotto’s bell tower is Gothic only in its details.

At the beginning of the 15th century, a new architecture emerged in Florence BRUNELLESCHI, FILIPPO (v.). To explain the reappearance of the classical spirit in it, it is not necessary to accept Vasari’s account of Brunelleschi’s journey to Rome with Donatello, for in Florence Brunelleschi could find classical inspiration in the Romanesque monuments, all imbued with the ancient spirit. Brunelleschi, who defined the laws of perspective, represents for this aspect the mathematical conception of the Renaissance and provides painters with the most characteristic means of renewing their art, which in the 15th century is marked by the conquest of the third dimension.

Brunelleschi’s art spread throughout Tuscany; all Florentine architects, Alberti (v.), educated in the humanist school, built upon his foundations up to Michelangelo. Michelozzo (v.) in the Convent of S. Marco, SAN GALLO (v.) in the Madonna delle Carceri in Prato and in S. Maddalena dei Pazzi in Florence, and followers of the Brunelleschian Benedetto da Maiano (v.), Giuliano da Maiano (v.), ROSSELLI, COSIMO (v.), and Cronaca.

MERISI, MICHELANGELO (v.), too, in the New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, maintains the plan of the Old Sacristy, though interpreting it with his own particular conception of architecture as masses in motion.

Michelangelo, although he worked almost always in Rome, dominated Florentine architecture of the 16th century. In Florence itself, the most characteristic architect of the time was Vasari, a Mannerist who elaborated forms already acquired.

The first sculptor in whom one can recognize the characteristic sharp Cambio (v.), who was also the architect of S. Reparata and then of S. Maria del Fiore. However, most of his sculptural works are found outside Florence, especially in Rome, where he spread among the marble-workers the elegance and spirituality of Florence.

In the 14th century, the Sienese Tino da Camaino (v.) trained many pupils in Florence. Andrea da Pontedera (v.), called Pisano, who was influenced by Giotto, was commissioned in 1330 to make the first door of the Baptistery and later worked on the reliefs of Giotto’s bell tower. From him derives Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna (v.), who in 1359 completed the tabernacle of Orsanmichele, a work combining architecture and sculpture.

At the end of the 14th century, in the Porta della Mandorla of S. Maria del Fiore, the first precursors of the Renaissance in sculpture begin to appear: realism and the imitation of the antique (images of pagan deities, sirens, centaurs, etc.).

The competition announced in 1401 for another bronze door of the Baptistery was won by Lorenzo Ghiberti, who, while adhering to the still Gothic scheme of Andrea Pisano, produced a work of personal balance and synthesis in its representation. The comparison between this door and the third, which occupied Ghiberti until 1452, shows the evolution achieved by Florentine sculpture: the Gothic panels with their intricate frames disappear, giving way to very broad spaces; classical niches house statues; the bas-reliefs, vying with painting, are enlivened by numerous figures and present landscapes in the background; with great realism, the portraits of various artists of the time are represented in the roundels, along with the sculptor’s self-portrait, and fruits and flowers are reproduced in festive decoration. Similarly, painterly compositions with broad perspective dominate in the urn of S. Zanobi and even influence Donatello.

Donato di Betto Bardi, Donatello (v.), holds in Florentine sculpture a position analogous to that of Brunelleschi in architecture and Masaccio in painting. He removes all Gothic residue from his sculptures and, without ever imitating it, appears as a continuator of the antique. The pictorial bas-relief reaches in him, through the *stiacciato* and the skilful degradation of planes, the resolution of the problem of form in motion, which, together with that of volume, Florentine artists continually set themselves. The volumes are attenuated in the *stiacciato* to achieve motion.

Michelozzo (v.) BERTOLDO, SANTO (v.). Around him flourish, variously influenced by him and by Ghiberti, ROSSELLI, COSIMO (v.), Agostino di Duccio (v.), Desiderio da Settignano (v.), Mino da Fiesole (v.), Benedetto da Maiano (v.). The tendency toward the real is accentuated in Antonio del Pollaiuolo (v.) and Andrea del Verrocchio (v.), master of Leonardo da Vinci in painting.

The Della Robbia family (v.) contributed to sculpture with their singular inverted terracottas, a precious ornament of Florentine buildings.

In the 16th century, Florentine sculpture shows three tendencies. One, represented by Michelangelo, is followed by Raffaello da Montelupo (v.) Montorsoli (v.); another, stemming from Andrea Sansovino and developed by Jacopo Sansovino (v.), aims at the grace of the 15th century combined with classical form; a third, BANDINELLI, BACCIO (v.) ALAMANNI (v.), ends by drawing close to Buonarroti.

Even more vigorously than in architecture and sculpture, the Florentine school asserted itself in painting. The Cimabue (v.), who freed it from Byzantine conventions and gave it those characteristics that would always distinguish it from all others. According to the intellectualist conception that Florentines have of reality, drawing dominates in it, suggesting the volume of the represented object through a functional line. Through chiaroscuro, this volume is then detached from the background with a relief effect.

These characteristics decisively distinguish Florentine painting from the Sienese and Gothic schools, which instead consider the line not as a functional element but as an ornamental one. Calligraphic, i.e., as a mere contour emptied of its content, they arrange the entire composition on a single plane, without relief. In the Florentine plastic conception, color is subordinated, serving mostly to fill in the drawing and always subordinate to the contrast of light and shadow necessary for relief; in the Sienese school, on the other hand, color is mitigated and surface effects prevail, clear and brilliant.

All the characteristics of Florentine GIOTTINO (v.), who completely frees it from Byzantine formulas.

Giotto sees objects as broad, compact masses. He organizes the composition of his paintings with an architectural and spatial sense, in the same spirit as architecture, in which the aesthetic effect arises from the contrast of weight with support and from a sense of volume.

In keeping with Italian nature, Giotto is logical, clear, measured, and convincing in his narration of sacred stories.

In the second half of the 14th century, there appears an exchange of influences, as it were a compromise, between the Florentine and Sienese schools.

After a brief interlude of late Gothic, Lorenzo Monaco (v.), in which exaggerated linear calligraphy is combined with Sienese grace, Florentine values begin, and the Renaissance begins.

Masolino (v.), although still tied to the Florentine Gothic current, applies perspective in his paintings, opening up vistas of columns in the *Banchetto di Brode*, but his figures, though standing out against the background opened up by the third dimension, do not participate in the perspective system, as they later will in the paintings of Piero della Francesca, where they resemble real stage flats.

Masaccio (v.), who is said to have been a pupil of Masolino, renewed painting. From Brunelleschi he learned perspective, from Donatello he derived the sculptural plasticity of his figures. Moreover, Masaccio continued identically the subject, which he renewed in its plastic solidity and monumental aspect.

The art of Masaccio, like that of Giotto, had no true successors; his grand synthesis gave way to a realistic trend. ANGELICI (v.), a singular artist still dependent on the tradition of Florentine Gothic, the supreme and unsurpassed interpreter of religious idealism.

A pupil of the Angelico, but lacking his magical power of spiritualization, GOZZOLI, BENOZZO (v.) represented sacred scenes with great narrative skill, with a lively and popular simplicity.

Reality is strongly felt by Andrea del Castagno (v.), in whom the plastic tendency of Florentine painting becomes ever more pronounced, to the point of giving his figures the character of wooden sculptures with violently marked and agitated contours to convey motion, the other half of Florentine art.

The rules of the rediscovered perspective are passionately followed by Paolo di Dono, Paolo Uccello (v.), who leads one to see distant things, attenuates the relief of bodies, and ends up achieving effects of marquetry through the juxtaposition of color zones. To avoid disturbing the perspective vision, movement comes to a halt, and his static battles appear in a

stiff, unreal action. Yet in him there are also tragic sentiment and heroic grandeur, as seen in the Dittico Universale of the cloister of S. Maria Novella.

Piero della Francesca (v.) raised perspective to the level of a true scientific discipline, happily posing and solving problems of linear and aerial perspective, succeeding in conveying the sense of air and light vibrating around objects. His compositions are veritable architectures; his figures have a vivid sense of volume achieved through a skilful gradation of color tones. Piero understood that perspective was the only means to unite drawing and color without falling into the pitfalls encountered by the Florentines and the Sienese.

Alongside the search for form, the search for movement developed in Florentine painting (as in sculpture), which, alongside Andrea del Castagno, had its POLLAIOLO, PIERO (v.) BOTTICHER, PAUL (v.), who achieved it through the line that continually animates form.

The problem of movement would be taken up again and resolved in another and deeper way.

In the 16th century, Florentine painting is personified in Michelangelo, who, as architect, sculptor, and painter, brought all the characteristic elements of the school to their extreme possibilities, especially form and movement. In him, form rather than volume becomes mass, and gigantic blocks opposed to one another in perpetual struggle, in perpetual motion, are present in all his works.

With him, Florentine art passed to Rome, so that Florence lost its primacy and its school became no more than a provincial one.

Badia di S. Maria. – A famous monastery, commonly called Badia, founded by Willa, daughter of Margrave Boniface. After Willa’s death, her son Ugo confirmed and enlarged his mother’s donations to such an extent that he is considered the founder of the Badia. After his death on 21 December 1001, the monks annually commemorated the anniversary, as Dante recalls in the *Paradiso* (XVI, 128–29), speaking of “the great baron, whose name and worth the feast of Thomas renews”; Dante had his own house near this monastery, to which he also refers in the lines: “Florence, within her ancient walls, from which she still draws her third and ninth” (*Par.*, XV, 97–98). In 1436 it was united to the Congregation of S. Giustina. Suppressed in 1810, it was restored in 1819 with a minimal part of its former possessions. After the new suppression of 1866, the monks remained in a few rooms, caring for the parish until 1919. The premises had been adapted for schools and judicial offices.

It was rich in men of outstanding holiness and learning; among Borghini (v.), Don Agostino Rabatta, Bishop Don Pier Luigi Galletti (v.), Cardinal Don Angelo M. Querini; under the guidance of the Badia monks, G. B. Niccolini studied there.

The present church was erected in 1625 by the Segalotti on the foundations of Arnolfo di Lapo (13th century), to whom the fine bell tower is attributed. The portal, carved by Benedetto da Rovezzano, has recently been restored. Among the works of art it contains, two particularly notable tombs sculpted by Mino da Fiesole stand out—one from 1481 houses the bones of Count Ugo—and the celebrated painting by Filippo Lippi representing the apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard. The Library and the splendid choir books, partly dispersed and partly now in the Laurentian and Riccardian libraries of Florence; the archives are in the State Archive of the same city. Vedi tav. XC–XCIII.

II. COUNCIL OF FLORENCE

Held from 1438 to 1445, the ecumenical Council of Florence is divided into three phases: i) the council sessions in Ferrara (from 1 January 1438 to 1 January 1439); ii) the council sessions in Florence, which resulted in the decrees of union with the Greeks, Armenians, and Copts (1439–42); iii) the council sessions in Rome (1443–45). The history of the Council of Florence cannot be fully understood without taking into account the long negotiations that took place between the Holy See and the Greeks under Martin V and Eugenius IV (see the documents indicated in the bibliography).

SUMMARY:

I. Ferrara

II. Florence

III. Rome

IV. Effects of the Council of Florence.

I. FERRARA (1438–39)

On 8 January 1438, the Blessed Nicholas Albergati solemnly opened the Council in the cathedral of S. Giorgio in Ferrara. Only four archbishops and two bishops were present, all from Italy, Spain, and France. The president of the Council made a declaration in favor of Pope Eugenius IV regarding the legitimacy of transferring the Council from Basel to Ferrara. Seven more council sessions followed, of which the third, on 10 January, prolonged a decree against the Basel synodals, and the eighth, on 8 February, after the Pope’s arrival (27 January), another of the same tenor. The number of participants in the Synod of Ferrara grew; already in the same session on 11 February there were five cardinals, four archbishops, and thirty-six bishops. Moreover, on 8 February the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, Patriarch Joseph II, and about twenty Byzantine bishops had arrived in Venice, immediately sending a delegation to Ferrara. The Latin embassy, namely the bishops Antonio of Porto, Peter of Digne, Christopher of Coron, and the Provost Nicholas of Cusa, was able to report to the Council on 20 March on the happily concluded negotiations conducted by this delegation in Constantinople, despite the very strong opposition of the recalcitrant Basel synodals to the Pope’s envoys. An important moment came on 8 March 1439 when Cardinal Cesarini, who no longer wished to serve the cause of the Basel Council, which was in conflict with the supreme head of the Church, arrived. The Greek Emperor made his solemn entry into Ferrara on 4 March; the Patriarch of Constantinople on the 15th of the same month.

A fine representation of the Byzantine Churches followed him: the bishops of Heraclea, Ephesus, Sardis, Monembasia, Trebizond, Cyzicus, Nicaea, Nicomedia, Lacedaemon, Lesbos (Middle), Stauropolis, Tirnovo (Bulgaria), Rhodes, Amasia, Silistra (Romania), Melenice (Bulgaria), Maina (Peloponnese); also a bishop and a protopapas of Moldo-Wallachia (Romania), 2 bishops from Georgia, and later, in mid-August 1438, Isidore, Metropolitan of Kiev, and the bishop of Suzdal. The patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem; the bishops of Caesarea, Sede, and Sebastia were represented by some of the above-mentioned bishops and by Gregory Marmara, the Emperor’s confessor and future patriarch. Six Egyptians, the procurators of the Greek monasteries (Athos, etc.), 4 deacons of St. Sophia (stauroforoi), and notable laymen, among whom Demetrius, the Emperor’s brother, and George Scholarius, who would later be appointed patriarch, were in the entourage of the imperial court and the patriarchal curia.

The first solemn joint session of Latins and Greeks took place in the cathedral of St. George on 9 April 1438 in the presence of the Pope. An important decree, drawn up in Latin and Greek, was promulgated, affirming the ecumenicity of the Council of Ferrara. The second joint session of Latins and Greeks was held only on 9 October 1438; the reason for this delay is to be sought in the desire of the assembled delegates to satisfy the wish of the Byzantine Emperor, who insisted that further invitations be sent to the Western princes and the synodals of Basel to participate in the Council of Ferrara. However, the interval between the first and second sessions of the Council was partly occupied by the conferences at Ferrara, which discussed Purgatory and other related matters.

These assemblies, however, did not have a public conciliar character but were conducted as private meetings between the two delegations. The Latin delegation included Cardinals Cesarini and Capranica, the Latin archbishop of Rhodes Andrew Chrysoberges, O.P., and John of Torquemada, the future cardinal. The Greek delegation, which was strongly influenced by the Emperor, included the metropolitans Mark of Ephesus, Bessarion of Nicaea, Sophronius of Anchialos, and Methodius of Lacedaemon. After some preliminary sessions (between 24 April and 12 May 1438), the most important discussions began on 4 June. Archbishop L. Petit deserves great credit for having discovered and published in 1920 the Greek text of the speeches delivered on this occasion by Latins and Greeks, while G. Hofmann was able to publish the Latin text of the orations delivered by the Latins. On 4 June, Cardinal Cesarini expounded the Catholic doctrine on Purgatory, supporting his thesis with arguments drawn from Holy Scripture and tradition. On 14 June, the Dominican Torquemada replied to Bessarion’s speech, providing theological explanations faithful to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas on the debated question. Mark Eugenicus and Andrew Chrysoberges also delivered speeches. An immediate definitive result was not to be expected, since these conferences were not public; yet in this way a favorable ground was prepared for the agreement, which was indeed achieved a year later at Florence, even on the dogmatic point of Purgatory.

The public conciliar sessions at Ferrara (between 9 October and 13 December 1438) dealt with the question of whether it was permissible to add a dogmatic formula to the Symbol known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Denz.-U., 86) and whether the Council of Ephesus had expressed a prohibition to this effect (cf. Denz.-U., 125). The Greek speakers, to whom the Latins granted the advantage of opening the public discussions, maintained that it was not permitted to add (or subtract) anything to the Symbol, and that the Council of Ephesus had forbidden any addition to the Symbol, even if it were eventually in conformity with the faith. In this sense, Mark of Ephesus and Bessarion in particular expressed themselves. Cardinal Cesarini, Archbishop Andrew Chrysoberges, and the Franciscan Louis, bishop of Forlì, on their part advocated an opinion contrary to that of the Greeks. Ambrose Traversari, general of the Camaldolese and well-versed in both Latin and Greek patristic literature, earned merit for having made patristic texts available to the synodals.

Although sessions IX to XV (with the exception of the twelfth, devoted to the reception of the embassy of the Duke of Burgundy, sent to pay homage to the Council) dealt extensively with the above-mentioned question of the Symbol, the Greeks did not yield to the Latins. It was fortunate that the transfer of the Council from Ferrara to Florence and the days spent in preparation for it somewhat eased tensions. The bull sanctioning the change of venue was promulgated at the last session in Ferrara on 10 January 1439. The reason for the transfer is to be sought above all in the financial straits of the papal curia, which also bore the burden of maintaining the Greeks; these straits were alleviated by Florence’s generous offer, which had long aspired to the glory of hosting the Council, as is evident from the acts of the Florentine Signoria.

II. FLORENCE (1439–43)

Pope Eugenius IV solemnly departed from Ferrara for Florence (via Modena) on 16 January 1439. Patriarch Joseph followed on 26 January and arrived in Florence on 13 February, greeted by the Florentine clergy and people, who provided him with lodging in the Palazzo dei Fiorentini in Pitti. The Greek Emperor made his solemn entry into Florence on 14 February 1439 and was accommodated in the Palazzo de’ Peruzzi. After a session on 26 February concerning the topics to be addressed and the date of the public conciliar sittings, these were inaugurated at Santa Maria Novella on 3 March, followed by seven others in the same month. The public sessions of March 1439 dealt with the Procession of the Holy Spirit.

The two principal orators were Giovanni di Montenero (of Genoa), provincial of the Dominicans, representing the Latins, and Marco Eugenio representing the Greeks. Of particular note were the expositions of the Dominican in the sessions of 21 and 24 March; in these two meetings Giovanni di Montenero presented extensive arguments on the topic drawn from Holy Scripture, from Latin and Greek Fathers, from general councils, and also from the Synods of Toledo. In other sessions there was lengthy discussion on the authenticity of a text in the third book *Contra Eunomium* of St. Basil (PG 29, 655, note 79). The concepts of nature, person, substance, principle, and cause also had to be explained in order to clarify Greek thought. In this regard, Giovanni di Montenero was able to bring to bear his own thinking, shaped by the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, in support of the good cause. An immediate result in the form of concord between the Latin and Greek synodals on the question of the Filioque (v. 1) was not, however, achieved in the first eight public sessions of Florence, but they certainly paved the way for union.

Credit is due to Pope Eugenius IV, who did not despair even in critical situations, for allowing a certain flexibility that permitted more concrete results. Thus, between 30 March and 27 June 1439, there were various forms of negotiation between Latins and Greeks in separate groups; personal interventions by the Pope; special sessions of the Greeks under the influence of the Emperor and of some zealous promoters of union, such as Bessarion, Isidore of Kiev, and George Scholarius; and separate meetings of the Latins under the influential guidance of Cardinal Cesarini. The Greeks were given an opportunity to learn more about the Catholic position on the primacy of the Pope in two discourses by Giovanni di Montenero on 16 and 20 June, and on the doctrine of the Eucharist in two further discourses by Giovanni di Torquemada on 16 and 18 June 1439. By these means, a first agreement on the procession of the Holy Spirit was reached, an agreement accepted even by the Patriarch before his death (10 June). Cardinal Cesarini was able to inform the Latin synodals on 27 June that agreement between Latins and Greeks on the procession of the Holy Spirit, on the Eucharist, on the last things (Purgatory, etc.), and on the primacy of the Pope was now an accomplished fact; moreover, he was able to announce that the Greeks were ready to make a public declaration on the words of the Eucharistic consecration.

Only the drafting of the bull of union of the Greeks and its solemn promulgation remained. A mixed Latin and Greek delegation drafted the bull of union in the church of Santa Croce between 28 June and 4 July. On 4 July, its Latin and Greek texts were accepted by the deputies, twelve from each side. A Latin synod in the presence of the Pope on 4 July published the bull of union through Tommaso Parentucelli (the future Pope Nicholas V), and the following day all the Latin synodals subscribed to this document in the presence of ten Greek witnesses; the Greeks, who had already subscribed to the same bull in the presence of four Latin witnesses, sanctioned on 5 July, through Bessarion, the declaration in favour of the words of consecration against the epiclesis of the dissenters. There still exists an original protocol drawn up on 17 August 1439. In the cathedral of Florence on 6 July, Pope Eugenius IV celebrated a solemn Mass in the presence of the Latin and Greek synodals; the Gonfalonier Filippo di Giovanni Carducci served at the altar. The entire city celebrated this day, which fell on a Monday, and the following day as festive.

After the Mass, beneath Brunelleschi’s dome, in the midst of the choir, Cardinal Cesarini lit a rostrum in the form of a pulpit and read the remaining Latin portion of the bull of union, and the Latin synodals gave their public assent. In the same ceremony, Bessarion read the Greek text, to which the Greeks gave their public consent. The bull of union, of which many authentic documents still exist, was subscribed by the Pope, eight cardinals, two patriarchs and eight Latin archbishops, fifty-two bishops, one archdeacon, four generals of orders, and forty-one abbots; the Greek column of the bull was subscribed by Emperor John VIII, twenty prelates (metropolitans, bishops, vicars of patriarchs and bishops), five clerics present, and a sixth represented by six representatives of Greek monasteries. The bull contains the dogmatic definition on the three articles of the procession of the Holy Spirit, of the Creed, of Purgatory and of the beatific vision, of the Eucharist (namely, that the matter of the Eucharist is either unleavened bread [v.] or leavened), and of the primacy of the Pope.

The union of the Armenians was not promulgated with the bull *Exultate Deo* (v. DECRETUM AD ARMENOS) in the same cathedral on 22 November 1439 in the presence of the Pope, eight cardinals, forty-three Latin archbishops and patriarchs, twenty-five Latin abbots, the Armenian doctors (vardapet) Serkis and Thomas, and the Armenian monk Nerses. The Bishop of Padua, Pietro Donato, read the Latin text of the bull; the Armenian monk Nerses gave a summary of the same bull in Armenian; and the Franciscan Basil provided the Latin version of this summary.

Preparation for this union had begun in the year 1433, followed by negotiations conducted by the Genoese colony of Caffa (Feodosia) in the Crimea with the Armenian Patriarch Constantine V, who, in his letters to the Imperial consul and to the Armenians of Caffa, on 5 July 1438, gave full authority to his delegates Serkis, Marches, Thomas, and Joachim, Bishop of Pera (Constantinople), to conclude the union at the Pope’s council. The Franciscan James of the Primadizzi accompanied the Armenian delegation to Genoa and to Florence. Discussions then took place between a delegation of the Council and the Armenian delegation on the points of controversy, discussions crowned by a happy union. A delegation also came to the Council from the Armenian Archbishop Gregory of Lviv (Poland), which, after some discussion, accepted the bull of union of the Armenians on 15 December 1439.

Immediately after the union of the Greeks, the Holy See of the Council sent the Franciscan Alberto da Sartiano (Tuscany) as legate to the Copts and Ethiopians. He held talks with Nicodemus, abbot of the Abyssinian monastery in Jerusalem, who wrote a letter to the Pope on 9 November 1440, and with the Coptic Patriarch John XI, who resided in Cairo and also sent a message to the Pontiff on 12 September 1440. The papal legate returned to Florence in the summer of 1441 with a delegation from the Coptic Patriarch and another from the Ethiopian abbot of Jerusalem. The two Eastern delegations presented themselves to the Council on 31 August and 8 September 1441. Deliberations then followed between a conciliar delegation and eight Coptic and Ethiopian monks on the subject of faith and the sacraments. On 4 February 1442, the bull of union of the Copts was promulgated in the church of Santa Maria Novella in the presence of the Pope, twenty cardinals (among them Bessarion), thirty-two Latin bishops, archbishops, and patriarchs, and eleven Latin abbots (including, as in the bull of union of the Greeks, the abbot of the Greek monastery of Grottaferrata), and in the presence of the Easterners. The Arabic text of the bull and a brief Arabic declaration of fealty to the Pope were read in the Council by the Coptic abbot Andrew, delegate of the Coptic Patriarch. He also subscribed to the Arabic text of the bull. It is to be noted that the bull of union of the Copts contains an extensive exposition of the doctrine on the Most Holy Trinity and on the canon of Holy Scripture, and has incorporated the bull of union of the Greeks and that of the Armenians, with additions regarding the words of consecration and the liceity of a fourth marriage.

Besides the union of the Greeks, Armenians and Copts concluded at P., and their related decrees, other most important decrees were issued in this conciliar city. Special mention should be made here of the bull *Moyses vir Dei* of 4 Sept. 1430 against the illegitimate Council of Basle, the monitory against the antipope Felix V of 23 (?) March 1430, and the bull transferring the Council from Florence to Rome (also approved by the preceding Council) on 24 Feb. 1443.

III. ROME (1443–45)

Pope Eugenius IV left F. on 7 March 1443 with 15 cardinals. The Roman Curia remained at Siena until 14 Sept.; there the blessed cardinal Nicholas Albergati died; there also Isidore of Kiev, as legate, received an embassy for the East. The first solemn conciliar session at Rome took place on 14 Oct. 1443 in the Lateran. On 10 Jan. it was decided, in a conciliar meeting, to hold a religious procession in thanksgiving for a Christian victory over the Turks, announced by the papal legate in the East, Cesarini; this was held on 12 Jan. 1444. On 30 Sept. 1444 the union of the Syrians of Mesopotamia was concluded in the Council, preceded by discussions between the Syrian archbishop of Edessa, Abdala, delegate of Patriarch Ignatius, and a conciliar deputation on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, the two natures and the two wills of Christ. The union of the Chaldeans and Maronites of Cyprus was promulgated on 7 Aug. 1445. It had been prepared by the legation of Andrew Chrysoberges, archbishop of Rhodes, who had already obtained the adhesion of the Chaldeans and Maronites in the church of Hagia Sophia at Nicosia. Timothy, metropolitan of the Chaldeans, and Isaac, procurator of the Maronite bishop, were sent to Rome and both made a profession of Catholic faith in the Council, also in the name of their fellow-countrymen. On the occasion of their union, the Pope also issued a decree forbidding the Chaldeans and Maronites to be named as heretics, establishing the rights of the Chaldean metropolitan, the Maronite bishop and their Catholic successors.

In the final part of the Council the conversion was obtained of the patriarchal heretics of Bosnia, who had sent an embassy to Pope Eugenius IV.

IV. EFFECTS OF THE COUNCIL OF F

It cannot be denied that the Council of F. produced dogmatic, theological, historical, juridical and cultural effects. It is enough to look at the registers of the papal bulls relating to the preparation, celebration and subsequent repercussions of the Council in the new edition published by G. Hofmann to be convinced of this.

Humanism drew nourishment from the encounter of Orientals with Occidentals, an encounter which lasted for several years in continuous customary life. And even the cause of Church unity, considered only from the historical point of view, was not to be underestimated, although a large part of the Byzantine bishops did not subsequently keep the solemn pledge of fidelity given to the Pope by subscribing to the bull of union. The Council produced four cardinals (Bessarion and Isidore of Kiev) and three patriarchs of Constantinople of Catholic faith: Joseph II (who died during the Council) and his successors Metrophanes and Gregory Mammas; on the islands of Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus, in the city of Modon and elsewhere there remained good groups of Greeks faithful to the union sanctioned by the Council. The union of the Armenians at Caffa lasted until the massacre carried out by the Turks in that city in 1475. As regards the fidelity of the Coptic patriarch, there is evidence of it up to the time of Pope Nicholas V (1450). Even Callistus III (1455–58) and Pius II (1458–64) showed themselves energetic supporters of the union concluded at F., finding at least in part of the Orientals a favourable reception. The decree of union of the Greeks remained the dogmatic norm for future unions of the Ruthenians (1595–96), the Romanians (1697), the Melkites (beginning of the 17th century), etc. The Vatican Council used this decree, and the Council of Trent that of the union of the Copts in the matter of the canon of Holy Scripture. The decree for the Armenians exercised the acumen of Catholic theologians, who, however, did not arrive at a single opinion in the interpretation of it, and especially of the part concerning the Sacraments. Nor, according to Eithrith, did Pope Pius XII wish, in his apostolic constitution *Sacramento Ordinis* of 30 Nov. 1947, to put an end to the theological controversy surrounding the theological value of this decree. On the other hand, the constitution emphasises that in the Council of F. the Greeks were admitted to the unity of the Church without the condition of changing their rite of ordination, which knows only the laying on of hands without the handing over of instruments.