AGOSTINO LUCIANI. — Apostate from the Utraquist communion, native of Vicenza, died in Prague on 1 March 1493. Having been consecrated bishop of Santorino, he did not hesitate to confer priestly ordination on certain Utraquist candidates at Mirandola and Modena. For this he was distrusted by the Holy See, and in 1482 he even thought of transferring himself to Bohemia, where he was welcomed by the heretics as their bishop.
All attempts immediately made by Sixtus IV by every means to recall him to his precise duties were of no avail, for L., relying on the protection of the Utraquist party, continued with impunity to carry on his illicit activities in Bohemia. Nevertheless, repentant of his apostasy and resolved to return to Italy, he first approached the bishop of Passau at the end of 1484, and then in 1486 Cardinal G. Arciboldi, in order to obtain the forgiveness of the Holy See. But, intimidated by Innocent VIII’s injunction to return to Rome without delay, he changed his mind again and preferred to remain among the Bohemian heretics until the end.