RENATO, CAMILLO. - Pseudonym of an Italian anti-Trinitarian and Anabaptist heretic, b. in Sicily at the beginning of the 15th century, d. after 1571 at Caspano. In all likelihood he is the Minorite Paolo Ricci, also known as Lisia Fileno. In 1542 he is found in exile in the Valtellina with Curione; in 1545 he was a schoolmaster at Chiavenna.
Like Stancaro and Lelio Socini, he developed in his own radical way, on the basis of a philological-rationalistic interpretation of the Bible, Christian doctrine, particularly as regards Baptism and the Supper, under the influence of Zwinglian symbolism. He held Baptism to be a simple profession of faith and therefore valid exclusively in adults, indeed merely a sign of the rebirth in the Spirit that had already taken place and in itself not necessary. In the Supper he saw no special pledge of Grace nor even a source of spiritual invigoration, but only a testimony of the faith of believers in the Kingdom of God. Such a spiritual rebirth, with justifications and developments proceeding from Platonic influence, in contamination with Averroistic motifs, appears in R.'s doctrine concerning the sleep of souls after death and the true life reserved for saved souls at their rising again after the universal Judgment. For these ideas, expressed for a restricted circle in a Trattato del Battesimo e della Cena, and in a profession of faith sent to a friend, R. was soon attacked by Agostino Mainardi (v.) and by Pier Paolo Vergerio (v.). At the urging of Mainardi, the Synod of the Canton of the Grisons (Coira, 1547, 1549-50) intervened in the controversy, which at first limited itself to recognizing Mainardi's profession of faith as orthodox; subsequently it imposed on R.'s followers the duty of subscribing to it and on R. that of no longer preaching and teaching; finally it excommunicated him. Through the intervention of Vergerio, R. in 1551 signed an abjuration and a submission to the Zwinglian creed (Confessio raetica). However, he did not remain tranquil for long; the condemnation of Michael Servetus (v.) suggested to him a long Latin poem in defense of freedom of conscience; Calvin replied to him, treating him as a «libertine». Without compromising himself further in public demonstrations, he intensively cultivated personal relations with the Italian exiles not disposed to accept without reservations the doctrines from beyond the Alps, particularly with Lelio Socini, who probably derived from R. not a few suggestions for his anti-Trinitarianism. Despite the abjuration he was not admitted to the Synods of the Grisons; indeed in 1570 he was expelled from the territory by the cantonal Diet.
Bibliography4 works
Mario Bendiscioli