Francesco Spiera

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Francesco Spiera (* around 1502 in Cittadella near Padova ; † December 27, 1548 there ) was a Protestant legal scholar and notary from Italy who renounced the Protestant faith because of the Inquisition in 1548, fell into depression and died soon afterwards.

Life

Spiera was a respected notary in Cittadella, which was then part of the Republic of Venice . In 1542 Spiera became Protestant after he had got to know and adopted the Lutheran doctrine. His home in Cittadella became the center and meeting place for people who were interested in the new ideas of the Reformation . He was also in contact with Pier Paolo Vergerio , the also evangelical bishop of Modruš and Koper . 5 fascicles with 157 legal documents have survived from Spiera , which mainly concern matters of inheritance and wills.

Spiera was brought before the Signoria in Venice in 1548 . The inquisition process began on May 24th and ended with Spiera solemnly renouncing his evangelical "errors of faith" in St. Mark's Basilica on July 20th . After this oath, which he repeated the following Sunday after Mass in the Cathedral of Cittadella, he fell into severe depression because he believed that he had sinned against the Holy Spirit . He died desperately on December 27th of the same year.

reception

Spieras end was crucial to the final transfer of Pier Paolo Vergerio to Protestantism, his resignation as bishop and his flight into a Graubünden Chiavenna 1549. Spieras fate is of interest because it by Protestants of the 16th century, the wrongly as a warning of the consequences so-called sin against the Holy Spirit was brought up.

literature

  • Silvana Seidel Menchi: Heretics in Italy in the 16th Century. In: Uwe Israel, Michael Matheus: Protestants between Venice and Rome in the early modern period. Studies of the series of publications of the German Study Center in Venice, Walter de Gruyter, 2013, ISBN 978-3-05006-326-3 , pp. 25–46
  • Manfred Edwin Welti: Small history of the Italian Reformation. Volume 193, Writings of the Verein für Reformationsgeschichte, Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1985, digitized 2006 University of Michigan, ISBN 978-3-5790-1663-4 , pp. 77-78

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silvana Seidel Menchi: Heretics in Italy in the 16th century. In: Uwe Israel, Michael Matheus: Protestants between Venice and Rome in the early modern period. Studies of the series of publications of the German Study Center in Venice, Walter de Gruyter, 2013, ISBN 978-3-05006-326-3 , pp. 25–46.
  2. ↑ Francesco Spiera in the Italian encyclopedia Treccani
  3. ↑ [1] digital at google books
  4. ↑ [2] digital at google books
personal data
SURNAME Spiera, Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Protestant Italian lawyer and notary
DATE OF BIRTH 1502
PLACE OF BIRTH Cittadella near Padova
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1548
Place of death Cittadella near Padova