Oratory of Eternal Wisdom

ORATORIO DELL'ETERNA SAPIENZA. — An association or confraternity of ecclesiastics and laypeople desirous of a more intense spiritual life, founded and flourishing in Milan (at the beginning of the 1500s) through the work of Msgr. G. A. Bellotti, from Ravenna, who, having moved to France, had been made commendatory abbot of the Abbey of S. Antonio (Grenoble).

The Oratory was based at the monastery of the Augustinian nuns of S. Marta, where the venerable Arcangela Panigarola was prioress; she may have suggested its name, since she had a particular devotion to this divine attribute, personified in the Word. Unlike the Confraternity of Divine Love, the Milanese Oratory did not observe secrecy, and the number of members was not limited. Regular and secular ecclesiastics, religious and laypeople of both sexes could belong to it; among its members are remembered Cardinal Gugl. Briçonnet; Giac. Simonetta, bishop of Pesaro and later a cardinal; Fr. Simonetta, bishop of Perugia; Msgr. Franc.
ORATORIO DELL'ETERNA SAPIENZA - ORAT. SEC. DI S. FILIPPO NERI

Landini, suffragan of the archbishop of Milan; Gastone and Odetto di Foix, called Lautrec; Maximilian and Francesco II, dukes of Milan; King Francesco I of Valois himself; especially the three founders of the Barnabites, Gioac. Ant. Morigia, Bart. Ferrari, S. Ant. M. Zaccaria, and Ludovica Torelli, countess of Guastalla. The internal life of the Association and the activity of its members are not known. That they engaged in assisting the sick is confirmed by the example of mons. Landini, Ferrari, and Morigia, who devoted themselves during the plague of 1524. According to the Jesuit Rosignoli, Torelli’s biographer, the purpose of the o. della E. S. was “to defend the Catholic faith in those dangerous times, prevent the scandalous vices that were spreading; promote frequent reception of the Holy Sacraments, provide safe refuge for girls in danger, assist the poor and the sick” (op. cit. in bibl., p. 30).

The institution, however, did not have a long life. The plague of 1524, the death of Panigarola (16 January 1525), the defeat of Francesco I (24 February 1525), and the departure of Bellotti, who took refuge in Crema, thinned its ranks and reduced the activity of the O., which until then had been under the protection of France. When the political passions had somewhat subsided, Bellotti was able to return to Milan; but he died in October 1528. He was succeeded in the direction of the o. della E. S. by mons. Landini, later bishop of Laodicea, who died in 1533; there is no evidence that he had a successor. But perhaps, in fact, the confraternity had ceased to exist or had been transformed even earlier. It is certain that, with the approval (18 February 1533) of the Clerics Regular of S. Paolo (Barnabites), the Milanese o. is no longer mentioned; this makes Fr. Mazenta’s thesis probable: that the Confraternity, especially through the work of Zaccaria and his companions, was transformed into the religious families of the Clerics Regular of S. Paolo and the Angelics, and into the Association of married persons. These bodies have such intimate relations with one another that they imply a common origin.