Lelio Sozzini

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Lelio Sozzini

Lelio Francesco Maria Sozzini , also Sozini or Socini (born January 29, 1525 in Siena , † May 4, 1562 in Zurich ), was an Italian humanistic jurist and Unitarian theologian. After him and his nephew Fausto Sozzini is Socinianism named.

Live and act

Sozzini was the fifth of thirteen children of the law professor Mariano Sozzini the Younger (1482–1556) and his wife Camilla Salvetti. After studying law in Padua , he was in contact with leading humanists, read Cicero and post-Aristotelian writings, and did theological research that led him to doubt the doctrine of the Trinity . He mastered ancient Greek , Hebrew and Arabic . From 1546 to 1547 he was the chairman of the Collegia Vicentina , an association of anti-Trinitarians in Vicenza .

In 1547 he had to leave Italy because of this and went to Graubünden , where there was more freedom, and he met the teacher Camillo Renato . In 1548 he traveled on to Geneva, and in 1549 he enrolled at the University of Basel, where he associated with Celio Secondo Curione among Italian religious refugees . In 1549 he moved to Konrad Pellikan in Zurich, from where he also corresponded with Johannes Calvin . From 1550 to 1559 he traveled to France , England , the Netherlands and Germany, financed by his wealthy father . Sozzini met several reformers , including Heinrich Bullinger in Zurich , with whom he had a close friendship despite theological differences, and in Wittenberg Philipp Melanchthon . Initiated by the Consensus Tigurinus , he dealt with the question of the sacraments . Although he u. a. did not share the view of the Swiss reformers in the doctrine of predestination , he traveled several times on their behalf, u. a. twice to Poland (1555 and 1558).

Although he was suspected of being an anti-Trinitarian in Switzerland, his great caution in his utterances, unlike Michael Servetus and Giovanni Valentino Gentile , spared him a Protestant condemnation as a heretic . In Italy, however, all of his property there was confiscated by the Inquisition . His brothers and nephew also fled Italy after being suspected of being Lutherans there. Sozzini died in Zurich in 1562.

Works

Sozzini left only a few writings, which were mostly fragments:

  • De resurrectione On resurrection (German: Vom Vormarsch der Auferstehung ), fragment, 1549
  • De sacramentis dissertatio (German: On the Sacraments ), 4 parts, 1555
  • Confessio Fidei (German: Creed ), Zurich 1555
  • Brevis explicatio in primum Iohannis caput (German: Short explanation of the prologue of the Gospel of John ), 1559 (published posthumously by Ferenc David under the title: De falsa et vera unius Dei Patri, filii, et spiritus sancti , Alba Iulia 1568)

literature

  • Luca Baschera: Lelio Sozzini. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . June 22, 2011 , accessed April 11, 2020 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Biografisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 10, 1995, pp. 857-859.
  • Delio Cantimori : Eretici italiani del Cinquecento. 2002, pp. 135-151.
  • Kestutis Daugirdas: The Beginnings of Socinianism: Genesis and Penetration of the Historical-Ethical Model of Religion in the University Discourse of Evangelicals in Europe , Volume 240, Institute for European History Mainz, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-647-10142- 2
  • Ernst Feil : Religio - The History of a Modern Basic Concept , Volume 3, Research on Church and Dogma History, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2001, ISBN 978-3-525-55187-5 , p. 263ff: 4. Positions of Socinianism
  • Herbert Jaumann : Handbook of Scholarly Culture of the Early Modern Age , Volume 1, Bio-bibliographical Repertory , Walter de Gruyter, 2004, ISBN 978-3-11-016069-7 , p. 619: Lelio Sozzini
  • Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer: Protestant religious refugees in Switzerland (1540–1580). In: Hartmut Laufhütte , Michael Titzmann (ed.): Heterodoxy in the early modern times (= early modern times. Vol. 117). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-11-092869-3 , pp. 119-160.
  • Christoph Schmidt : Pilgrims, Popes and Prophets: A History of Religions from Eastern Europe , Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-657-77265-0 , pp. 127-160: From West to East: The Anabaptists .
  • Mark Taplin: The Italian Reformers and the Zurich Church, c. 1540-1620 , St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History, Routledge, 2017, ISBN 978-1-351-88729-8
  • Friedrich Trechsel: Michael Servet and his predecessors: historically presented according to sources and documents. The Protestant anti-Trinitarians before Faustus Socin , Volume 1, Verlag K. Winter, Heidelberg 1839 (originals in Lausanne & Harvard University; digitized 2008); the same: Lelio Sozini and the anti-Trinitarians of his time: depicted historically according to sources and documents. The Protestant anti-Trinitarians before Faustus Socin , Volume 2, Verlag K. Winter, Heidelberg 1844
  • Manfred Edwin Welti: Little History of the Italian Reformation , Volume 193, writings of the Association for Reformation History , Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, Gütersloh 1985, digitized 2006 University of Michigan, ISBN 978-3-579-01663-4 , pp. 46-138
  • Erich Wenneker :  Sozini, Lelio. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 857-859.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wulfert Greef: The Writings of John Calvin: An Introductory Guide , Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-664-23230-6 , pp. 199-201
  2. ↑ Luca Baschera: Sozzini, Lelio. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  3. ^ Peter Hughes: Laelius Socinus - Lelio Sozzini , Unitarian Universalist History & Heritage Society, October 5, 2012
  4. ^ Mark Taplin: The Italian Reformers and the Zurich Church, c. 1540-1620 , St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History, Routledge, 2017, ISBN 978-1-351-88729-8
  5. ↑ [1] digital at google books
personal data
SURNAME Sozzini, Lelio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Socini, Lelio; Socini, Lelio; Socinus Laelius (Latin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian humanistic jurist and Unitarian theologian, founder of Socinianism
DATE OF BIRTH January 29, 1525
PLACE OF BIRTH Siena
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1562
Place of death Zurich