Aonio Paleario: A Forgotten Reformer
One day not too long ago, walking through the neighborhood where I live in Rome, I came across a small dead-end street. The name on the marble plaque that indicates the street's name caught my attention. I read “Via Aonio Paleario.” The name did not sound totally new to me. I recognized him from his bust on the pedestal of the monument dedicated to Giordano Bruno in Campo dei Fiori in Rome's city center (pictured above), and I remembered him as belonging to the ranks of the sixteenth-century Italian reformers.
Aonio Paleario intrigued me and so I took the opportunity to learn more about this forgotten 16th century Italian reformer by reading William Blackburn's book The Italian Reformer: The Life and Martyrdom of Aonio Paleario (Birmingham: Solid Ground Christian Books, reprint of the original 1866 version printed by Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia).
Blackburn writes, "It is very certain that there were the elements of a great Reformation in Italy, during the forenoon of the sixteenth century. Italy had a roll of noble reformers contemporary with Luther and Calvin. To Italy was given the Bible in the language of the people; a gospel literature began to spring up on their soil. Mighty men labored to bring the Italian church back to the ancient faith that existed when Paul preached, Nero persecuted, and Ignatius suffered. Yet how little is known of them!" (p. 5). Very true!
"Italy was rich in reformers until late in the afternoon of the sixteenth century [when] papal Rome threw them into dungeons, drove them into exile, or sent them out of the world by martyrdom" (p. 9). One of these reformers was Aonio Paleario (1500-70). Born to a locksmith and his wife from the region of Le Marche, Paleario was born in the town of Veroli, located an hour south of Rome by modern means of transportation. Of Veroli and Paleario Blackburn writes, "Among the tribes that tented near the ancient Veroli, the founders of Rome met with their first and truest friends. Here, Pliny says, was the nucleus of the Roman Empire. Here, centuries after, Papal Rome saw born one of the staunchest heroes that rose up against her sins and traditions. He was born on the borders of an immense moral Campagna, filled with the desolations of the true church, overrun with corrupt priests and monks, infested with indulgence-sellers, and holding, buried, ages of cruel history written with the blood of the saints" (pp. 11-12).
Paleario was orphaned at a young age and raised by friends of the family. He was left with a house and small farm. He would eventually sell his possessions in Veroli and move to Rome to devote himself to the study of the Latin and Greek classics. "These classics were his admiration and he devoted himself severely to them. Cicero was his model" (p. 16). In Rome he chose law as his profession, but theology was his favorite pursuit, although in Rome we do not yet see his more mature theological convictions that would eventually lead to his martyrdom. "Remember," notes Blackburn, "it is yet only the time of the Renovation (Renaissance) with him; not that of the Reformation" (p. 20).
"While young Paleario was treading the old historic streets of Rome, great events were transpiring in the world. In the papal chair sat Leo X, the papal wonder of the age…Men were beginning to think and search for the truth. Then came the great leaders of the Reformation to direct them to the word of God. Leo was aroused…[but] the court of Leo X made not the least pretence to the practice of religion. The pope was quite as fond of pagan revelries as of literary pastimes. Though he assumed the title of 'Vicar of Christ,' an honest-minded student from a quiet village would have been amazed at his want of any resemblance in character to that of the heavenly Master" (pp. 17-18).
Paleario was a young man during the devastating sack of Rome in 1527. "Whether Paleario witnessed it, and fought to defend the city, we know not; but the event made a powerful impression upon his mind. It must have convinced thousands of the people that Heaven had no special protection for the pope, nor had sent legions of angels to defend him" (p. 22). Many do not realize the significance of the sack of Rome in 1527 for the future and outcome of the Protestant Reformation. "Charles Fifth was no Protestant; the campaign against Rome was not a Protestant war. It was papal Rome fighting against herself…Charles the Fifth…was about to open a war upon the reformers. But he must first visit Rome to receive a new coronation. The plan was, that he should receive the imperial crown, in the holy city, from the sacred hands of the pope; and in return for this favour, he should give up to Clement VII the gospel and the reformation. But all at once the pope turned against the emperor, crying out that Charles was taking Ferrara from him, and attempting to enslave Italy. The pope would not endure it. He turned from religion to politics…Charles felt injured; he proposed a compromise and was insulted. His rage was equal to the occasion…He put the Protestants in safety, and the pope in danger. Instead of marching with the pope against the reformers of Germany, he would march with the reformers against the pope…It was the turning point in the Reformation…The emperor seized a pen sharp enough to have been pointed by Luther. 'He assumed all the airs of a reformer…He was surprised that Christ's Vicar should dare shed blood to acquire earthly possessions, a thing 'quite contrary to the evangelical doctrine'" (pp. 23-24).
Thus Rome was sacked and the papacy devastated. "For twenty-five years there had been loud warnings to Rome. Savonarola had cried aloud and spared not. But she [Rome] imagined herself protected by an infallible, invulnerable papacy" (p. 31). Upon hearing of the sack of Rome, Martin Luther said "I would not have Rome burnt; it would be a monstrous deed." "I tremble for the libraries," said Melancthon (p. 38). Years after the destruction of Rome, Paleario expressed his grief to his good friend Jacopo Sadoleto, who would become a cardinal in the Catholic Church and who corresponded frequently with John Calvin. Paleario was grieved for the loss of Sadoleto's splendid library in Rome. Sadoleto would remain a close friend and ally of Paleario until Sadoleto's death in 1547. Of Sadoleto Blackburn remarks that he "desired to see a great reform in the papal church, but he was not a leader. There was not in him the stuff that martyrs are made of. But if free inquiry had been allowed in the Romish church, there can be little doubt that he would have gone farther in the advance…He was more nearly a reformed Christian than any man that had probably yet crossed the path of Paleario" (p. 75).
From Rome Paleario's pursuits would take him to the Tuscan cities of Siena and Lucca. He would also spend time in Padua and Milan, returning at the end of his life to Rome where he was hanged and burnt for his "heretical" beliefs. Paleario's exposure to reformation theology came by means of reading Luther, Calvin, and other reformers. On numerous occasions he sent letters to these men. Others in Italy with reformation convictions also had strong impressions on him, such as Juan Valdes, Bernardino Ochino, Celio Curioni, and Peter Martyr Vermigli.
Exposure to the Reformers and an in-depth reading and understanding of the Bible led Palearius to embrace the positions contained in the short book of the 16th century entitled The Benefit of Christ's Death. The book “fulfilled a great need of the time.” From the presses of Venice, Lyon and Stuttgart it quickly passed to all of Christendom” (p. 9). The little book was too faithful to Christ and his cross to escape the ban of Rome. It was condemned by the Inquisition” (p. 10). Aonio Paleario was long considered the author of the Beneficio di Cristo, before the authorship of the work was ascribed unequivocally to Benedetto Fontanini of Mantova, Italy, and Marco Antonio Flaminio.
By God's grace a couple of centuries later a Scottish historian and biographer by the name of Thomas McCrie (1772-1835) "came upon the will of one Thomas Bassinden, a printer in Edinburgh, who died in 1577. In it there was a reference to an English version of the once popular book. This put Rev. John Ayre, of England, in search of it. He found a copy, reprinted it, and awakened such an inquiry that other copies were found, three in Italian" (p. 10).
Thankfully we still have access to The Benefit of Christ's Death, which can be read today and still recalls the glories of the gospel recovered during the Protestant Reformation, glories that were condemned by Rome and that led to the death of many reformers and those sympathetic to the reformers. What was it about The Benefit of Christ's Death that enraged Rome and led Paleario to the hangman's noose and the flames of fire? "The 'poison' was the doctrine of justification by faith'" (p. 201). To the contents of The Benefit of Christ's Death we will turn in a future article.