Lippomano, Luigi

LIPPOMANO, LUIGI. - Bishop, b. in Venice in 1500, d. in Rome on 15 Aug. 1559. In July 1542 Paul III sent him as nuncio to Portugal, with the task of distributing to the country's bishops the bull convoking the Council and of asking the King of Portugal to have the controversial doctrines studied by his theologians. However, a few months later he returned to Rome because he was not welcome at the Portuguese court owing to his friendship with Card. Silva.

In 1551-52 he was one of the presidents of the Council of Trent. Bishop of Verona from 1548 to 1558, he was legate in Germany together with Bertano and Pighini. Appointed by Paul IV nuncio in Poland on 13 June 1555, he carried on there a fruitful activity against the Protestants, who had become quite influential there. After L.'s nunciature the Holy See became fully aware of the importance of the Protestant penetration in Poland and from then on had itself permanently represented by a nuncio. Having returned to his homeland in 1557, he became bishop of Bergamo. Among his works are remembered: Confirmazione e stabilimento di tutti li dogmi cattolici, con la subversione di tutti i fondamenti... dei moderni eretici (Venice 1553) and Historiae de vitis sanctorum cum scholiis (8 vols., Venice-Rome 1551-60), which served as the basis for the Vitae Sanctorum of Surius.