**PIETRO MARTIRE D'ANGHIERA** – Historian and geographer, born in Arona to a modest family in 1459, he came to Rome while still under twenty years of age, where he served as a scribe for Cardinals Ascanio Sforza and Giovanni Arcimboldo, and later for the Castilian ambassador to the Holy See, the Count of Tendilla. Appreciated for his intellect and culture, he accompanied the Count of Tendilla to Spain in 1487 and, welcomed into court circles, participated in the final phase of the war against the Arabs of Granada.
After the capture of that city, he took holy orders and became counselor and chaplain to Queen Isabella, remaining in Spain for the rest of his life (with the exception of a journey to Egypt, where in 1501 he successfully completed a delicate mission); thus he was able to follow closely the entire heroic era of the great geographical discoveries and related events, in which he took a particular interest. He knew Columbus, Vespucci, Vasco da Gama, Sebastian Cabot, Magellan, and Fernando Cortés personally. With Queen Isabella, he collaborated in the noble endeavor to elevate the Spanish people from ignorance and spiritual poverty; from 1518 he served on the Council of the Indies. He died in 1526 in Granada and was buried in the cathedral there.
His work *Decades de Orbe Novo* spans, in eight books, thirty-four years of the history of American discoveries, beginning with Columbus’s first voyage, which inspired his admiration. The first edition, containing only the first decade, was published without his knowledge in 1511; in 1516 three decades appeared; the complete work was printed in 1530, by which time the author was already deceased. The *Decades* are a historical source of the highest order, since P. M. was either a witness to or had direct knowledge of the events he narrates. Of great importance as well is his copious correspondence with numerous acquaintances and friends (*Opus epistolarum*; 1530): although some letters may be literary exercises or addressed to fictitious correspondents, the greater part
**PIETRO NOLASCO, Saint** – Painting by Murillo – Seville, Provincial Museum.
remains a valuable historical document.
He was one of the great champions of the post-Tridentine ecclesiastical reform. Leo XIII canonized him on May 27, 1897. Feast day: July 7.