Bartolomeo Fonzi
Bartolomeo Fonzi , also Bartolomeo Fonzio (* around 1502 in Venice ; † August 4, 1562 there ) was a Venetian Franciscan and Protestant martyr . Although contemporaries referred to him as a Lutheran , theologically he was closer to the Swiss Reformation , and towards the end of his life also to the Anabaptist movement .
Life
At the age of nine, Bartolomeo Fonzi became a Franciscan Minorite . The order provided him with a good theological and humanistic education, which he completed with the degree of Magister theologiae. As a preacher he soon drew attention to himself until a papal brief revoked his permission to preach in 1531. Another brief announced that he should be tried.
Fonzi left Venice and went to Augsburg . Here he was allowed to preach again. The arguments between Luther's and Zwingli's followers about the correct understanding of the Lord's Supper, which he witnessed in Augsburg, alienated him. Fonzi's ideal was a balance between denominations in the spirit of the gospel. At times this brought him closer to some (not known by name) people from the Roman Curia, where, however, he also had an outspoken opponent in Gian Pietro Carafa . He thought he was the organizer of the Reformation in Veneto .
In 1533 he accompanied Martin Bucer to Basel and then went to Strasbourg . Bucer's polemics against Kaspar Schwenckfeld and the Anabaptists alienated Fonzi from this reformer too. At the end of the year he was briefly back in Venice. With Libro de la emendatione dil stato cristiano, Fonzi wrote a very free translation of Martin Luther's work An den christlichen Adel (published anonymously in Strasbourg in 1533) tailored to Venetian readers .
He accompanied Alvise , the son of Doge Andrea Gritti , on a trip to Constantinople . From 1537 to 1540/41 he was in Rome because of his trial. Gasparo Contarini declared him innocent. He then stayed for a while in the vicinity of the University of Modena , later in Padua , in the 1550s as a schoolmaster in Cittadella , where he was arrested in May / June 1558 and transferred to Venice.
In the dungeon, Bartolomeo Fonzi wrote his main theological work, Fidei et doctrinae Bartolomei Fontii ratio . The process dragged on for four years and resulted in a death sentence. Influential Venetian friends tried to persuade Fonzi to withdraw, which Fonzi's aversion to theological controversy also accommodated. In the end, however, he accepted the sentence, which, according to Venetian practice, was carried out by drowning in the lagoon.
Teaching
Bartolomeo Fonzi shared the Zwinglians' understanding of the sacrament, but with his spirituality of poverty and his ecclesiology (ideal of a poor, hierarchy-free and hidden church, so-called nicodemism from the opponents ), he brought in his own strong accents. With this subversive message he moved relatively unhindered in Northern Italy, Switzerland and southern Germany for about 30 years, as he was repeatedly protected by political and church forces.
literature
- Gigliola Fragnito: Fonzio, Bartolomeo. In: Fiorella Bartoccini (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 48: Filoni-Forghieri. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1997.
- Guido Mongini: The "third sects." The Italian heretics and the criticism of the Protestant reform . In: Alberto Melloni (Ed.): Martin Luther. A Christian between reforms and modernity (1517–2017). Göttingen 2017, pp. 495-512.
- Federica Ambrosini: Venice - more catholic than Rome? (Shortened version of the article in: Michael Welker et al. (Ed.): Europa reformata. Reformation cities of Europe and their reformers. Leipzig 2016.)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fonzi, Bartolomeo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fonzio, Bartolomeo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Venetian Franciscan and Evangelical Martyr |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1502 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Venice |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 4, 1562 |
| Place of death | Venice |