SPAGNUOLO (SPAGNOLI), BATTISTA (Baptista Mantuanus), blessed. - B. at Mantova on 17 Apr. 1448, d. there in 1516.
After pursuing his studies at Padova and elsewhere, he entered the Carmelite Order, of which he was elected general in 1513. A fine humanist and man of letters, he was regarded in his time as a new Virgil and won the admiration, among others, of Erasmus and Pico della Mirandola, with whom he was on cordial terms. His Egtogae, in the Virgilian style, were celebrated, and above all his Parthenicae, hexameters dedicated to the Virgin and to several female saints. His compositions frequently display a parenetic purpose, with explicit denunciations of the corruption of the Roman curial milieu. His cult was confirmed by Leo XIII on 17 Dec. 1885. Feast day: 20 March.