SPAGNUOLO (Spagnoli), Battista (Baptista Mantuanus), Blessed. - Born in Mantua on 17 April 1448, died there in 1516.

After pursuing his studies in Padua and elsewhere, he entered the Carmelite Order, of which he was elected general in 1513. A good humanist and man of letters; in his time he was esteemed a new Virgil and won the admiration, among others, of Erasmus and of Pico della Mirandola, with whom he was on cordial terms of friendship. His Eclogues, in Virgilian style, were famous, and above all the Parthenicae, hexameters dedicated to the Virgin and to certain saints. In his compositions the parenetic intent recurs frequently, with explicit deplorations of the corruption of the Roman curial milieu. His cult was confirmed by Leo XIII on 17 Dec. 1885. Feast on 20 March.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: G. Tiraboschi, Storia della letter. ital., VI, Modena 1790, pp. 958-60; F. Gabotto, Un poeta beatificato, in Ateneo veneto, 16th series, 1 (1892), p. 3 ff.; W. Zabuighin, Un beato poeta, Rome 1918. Further bibliography in V. Turri-U. Renda, Diz. storico-critico della letter. ital., Turin 1941, p. 1014.

Antonio Castellini

@incollection{ec11_spagnuolo_spagnoli_battista_ba, author = {Cistellini, Antonio}, title = {Spagnuolo (Spagnoli), battista (baptista mantuanus), beato}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1082}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/spagnuolo-spagnoli-battista-baptista-mantuanus-beato} }

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Spagnuolo (Spagnoli), Battista (Baptista Mantuanus), Blessed

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