MICANZIO, FULCENZIO. – Servite, born in Passirano (Brescia) on 8 June 1570, died in Venice on 7 February 1654. He moved to Venice to pursue his studies and came into contact with Fra Paolo Sarpi, whose influence was decisive for him. Sarpi introduced him to literary and scientific circles, and in Padua Micanzio met, among others, Galileo, with whom he remained in contact and openly took sides.
From 1597 to 1600 he taught theology in Mantua; in the spring of 1600 he played an important part in the General Chapter of his Order in Rome; on 6 July 1600 he obtained his doctorate in theology at Bologna and remained there as professor of that discipline until 1606, when Sarpi called him to Venice to have him at his side during the struggle over the Interdict. Micanzio thus took part, together with Sarpi, in the struggle against Rome: he is among the signatories of the Trattato dell’Interdetto, a work by Sarpi but presented as a collective declaration by seven theologians. He also defended Sarpi with a Confirmatione (Venice 1606) to the Considerazioni sopra le censure del Sarpi, which had been attacked by the Carmelite G. A. Bovio. For this activity the government of the Republic granted him in 1607 an annual stipend of 200 scudi, a sum doubled the following year. After the attempt on Sarpi’s life (5 October 1607), the Venetian government having granted the latter a house in Venice, Micanzio, by the government’s wish, lived there in order to be constantly at his master’s side. In Rome it was feared that Sarpi and he were plotting to introduce and consolidate Protestantism in Venice. In fact they were in close relations with Protestants and Gallicans; and much else was hoped from them, and they made no secret of it, by William Bedell, chaplain of the English embassy. Like Sarpi, Micanzio did not contemplate an actual adherence to Protestantism, even though his Lenten sermons aroused serious suspicions in Catholic circles and lively hopes among Protestants, and even though accusations, apparently not unfounded, about his conduct further compromised his position. After Sarpi’s death, Micanzio succeeded him as consultant, and the Signoria ordered that his consultations be collected in volumes and preserved in the secret chamber for their usefulness (State Archives of Venice, Riform. d. Studio, bundle 549). Micanzio left a life of Sarpi published in the Opere del Sarpi, VI, Helmstatt for Jacopo Mullero [but Verona for Jacopo Moroni] 1750, pp. 1-cvi.