“Some sources claim
that Naples was a center of
Protestantism in the
form of adherents of Juan de
Valdéz (c. 1500-1541), sometimes called ‘the Italian Martin
Luther.’ It is true that there
were ‘Valdesians’ in Naples, but the Spanish historian Francisco Elias
de Tejada* (below) says
plausibly that the group was very small and not even made up of
Neapolitans. Thus, they couldn't
have represented any sort of home-grown threat to Roman Catholic
orthodoxy. It is also true
that Naples was the home of a number of ‘academies’: the Pontanian; the
Sereni, the Incogniti; the
Ardenti. These were essentially discussion groups where literati and
scholars sat around and
chewed the intellectual fat. No doubt they discussed Martin Luther, the
Inquisition, Copernicus—all
that—but there is no evidence at all that they were a nest of heresy would
require the offices of the
Inquisition to stamp out."
The
Valdesian church in
Naples
I
don’t know that I have
any reason to amend that, except maybe the part about “no evidence at
all.” I
suppose that the Roman Catholic orthodoxy at the time might have found
all
sorts of good reasons to smell heresy in a group of reformers
(potential
Protestants) numbered in some sources as high as 3,000 sitting around
in Naples and talking about
what a clever fellow this Martin Luther was. (“Lutero,” in Italian, puts the accent on the
second syllable. If you
give the name the German accent (on the first syllable) it sounds like
Martin L’utero—Martin the
Uterus—and I bet the
Inquisition Pun-Dits had fun with that one!)
A
time
line is in order:
- 1502—Erasmus
publishes Enchiridion militis christiani, the
first of many works that would define him as the “Intellectual father
of the
Reformation”;
- 1517—the
Protestant Reformation
begins in Germany
with Luther’s 95 Theses;
- 1527—The
Sack of Rome by
mutinous troops of Charles V. The army included 14,000 Germans. Some
view the
event as “anti-Catholic,” driven by the new ideology of Protestantism;
- 1530—Valdéz
arrives in Naples from Spain;
- 1532—Toledo
arrives as viceroy to Naples
and the rebuilding and modernization of the city begins;
- 1535—Emperor
Charles V
visits Naples
to inspect the new fortifications;
- 1536—By
this date, the
Protestant discussion group was in high gear in Naples; besides Valdez,
the
group included Benedetto da Mantova (author of the Calvinistic Beneficio di Cristo), Bernardino Ochino,
Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Vittoria Colonna
(poet and acquaintance of
Michelangelo);
- 1536—Erasmus
dies;
- 1541—Valdez dies;
- 1545—The
Council of Trent
(Trento) starts, the beginning of the
Counter-Reformation;
- 1546—Luther
dies;
- 1547—The
Spanish Inquisition
plans to install itself in Naples but
has to
back down in the face of popular protest; however, the Universal Roman
Inquisition is later installed in Naples;
- 1553—Viceroy
Toledo dies;
- 1563—
Council of Trent
closes.
[Valdéz
had a twin brother,
Alfonso, prominent in Spanish politics, and there is some confusion
among those
who write on the subject about just which Valdéz they are
talking about.
Alfonso was secretary of the imperial chancellery at the court of
Charles V in
the 1520s. His brother, our Juan, was the "Protestant" under discussion
here.]
I have
had difficulty
finding out even where Juan lived or had meetings with similarly-minded
reformers (or nascent Protestants, as the case may be). One source
claims that
the place was “on an island in the Bay of Naples.”
That is too
vague to be of any help. It couldn’t have been Capri, Procida or Ischia. Maybe the writer meant Nisida. Who
knows? Another
source has the clumsy sentence, “On the
western arm
of the Bay of Naples, hard by the tomb of Virgil, looking forth on the
calm
sea, and the picturesque island of Capri, with the opposite shore, on
which
Vesuvius, with its pennon of white vapor atop, kept watch over the
cities which
1,400 years before it had wrapped in a winding-sheet of ashes, and
enclosed in
a tomb of lava, was placed the villa of Valdez.” That, too, is of no
help.
By way of
background, Valdéz,
while he was still in Spain, was
certainly influenced by the movement of Christian mystics known as the alumbrados (illuminated ones); because
of their allergy to external ritual, their dislike of priestly
intermediaries,
and their emphasis on personal, inner spiritual experience, they were
in
constant conflict with Church authorities. By
the
time of his arrival in Naples,
Valdéz had already published Diálogo de
Mercurio y Caron,
attacking the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. His first
publication at
Naples was a philological treatise, Diálogo de la Lengua
(1533), but the
thrust of his work was towards interpreting the Bible and the mainstay
of
Protestantism—justification by faith. He also translated portions of
the Bible
from Greek and Hebrew into Spanish. Valdés died in Naples in May,
1541.
I found a glowing passage
about him and
his group. (Obviously, this was written by a Protestant!):
“Such were the
illustrious
men and the
high-born women that formed this Protestant propaganda in Naples. It
comprehended elements of power
which promised brilliant results in the future. It formed a galaxy of
rank,
talent, oratory, genius, and tact, adapted to all classes of the
nation, and
constituted, one would have thought, such an organisation or "Bureau"
as was sure to originate, and in due time accomplish, the Reformation
of Italy.
The ravages the Gothic nations had inflicted, and the yet greater
ravages of
the Papacy, were on the point of being repaired, and the physical
loveliness
which Italy had known in her first days, and a moral beauty greater
than she
had ever known, were about to be restored to her. It was during those
same
years that Calvin was beginning his labors at Geneva,
and fighting with the Pantheistic Libertines for a secure foothold on
which to
place his Reformation, that this little phalanx of devoted Protestant
champions
was formed on the shore
of Naples."
Today, the only thing
evident about
Reformation in Naples—indeed, in all
of Italy—is
that
it failed. No Italian city or region went over to the Reformation. (On
the
other hand, Italy
never had to suffer through a later Thirty Years War between Catholics
and
Protestants, either.) I have nothing illuminating to offer as to why
the
Protestant Reformation failed in Naples
or Italy,
in
general, other than to assume that it simply could not overcome
Inquisitorial
suppression or the entrenched alliances that bound the governing
classes to the
Church. Massimo Firpo* (below) points out that “…In Europe the
Reformation
succeeded where it could count on significant intervention by the
political
powers, and it failed where this did not occur.”
After the death of
Valdéz, his writings
continued to inspire church reformers (not necessarily outright and
schismatic
Protestants) throughout Italy, but, eventually, in the face of the
Counter-Reformation,
“Valdesians” (1) were forced into that silent state of
“inner
emigration”
called "Nicodemism" (2)—outwardly
conforming to Roman Catholicism while
inwardly
professing their true faith.
As you might imagine,
there is a great
wealth of literature about the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation,
and,
specifically, the Reformation—or ostensible lack thereof—in Italy
(see bibliography, below). As far
as I can tell, recent writers, such as Firpo (below) view as
oversimplified the
traditional claim that Protestants simply went into hiding in Italy in the mid-1500s and didn’t come
out until
the Risorgimento and anti-clericalism
swept Italy
in the mid-1800s. Also as far as I can tell, neither Valdéz nor
the group
around him should be viewed as flaming rebels against the Catholic
church—transplanted German Lutherans, so to speak—, but much more as
reformers
in the spirit of Erasmus, less interested in schism than in adherence
to
evangelical simplicity and their own inner voices when it came to the
interpretation of Scripture.
But that is only as far as
I can tell, for
as the song says…
Notes:
1. In modern Italian,
“Valdesian” (since
the term has a local Italian historical reference) is a narrower word
than
“Protestant,” but the two terms might be
used as synonyms. Or you might even find “Valdesian-Lutheran,” or some
such
combination, as a description of faith. Members might also describe
themselves
as “evangelico” in the traditional sense of general Protestant (but not
necessarily in the recent sense of “fundamentalist Christian”).
2. "Nicodemism."
The term is attributed to Calvin and is based on the Gospel of John,
which
describes one Nicodemus as afraid of being seen openly with Jesus but
willing
to visit him in secret. The term is not altogether positive since—while
it may
be taken to mean inward steadfastness—it can also imply cowardice.
Bibliography:
Relevant works
from the 19th
and early 20th century include:
—Thomas
MacCrie, History of the Progress and Suppression of
the Reformation in Italy,
Edinburgh
1827.
—Benjamin
Barron Wiffen, Life and Writings of Juan de Valdéz,
otherwise Valdesso, Spanish Reformer in the Sixteenth Century, London 1865.
—Christopher
Hare, Men and Women of the Italian Reformation, London
1914.
—Frederick Corss Church,
The
Italian Reformers 1534-1564, New York 1932.
—George
Kenneth Brown, Italy and the Reformation to 1559, Oxford 1933.
More recent bibliography
is found in
—Gleason, Elizabeth.
“On the Nature of
Sixteenth-Century Evangelism: Scholarship, 1953-78” in Sixteenth
Century Journal, vol. 9, n.3. (Autumn, 1978).
References cited in text:
—Firpo,
Massimo. “The
Italian Reformation and Juan de Valdéz” in Sixteenth
Century Journal, XXVII/2, (1996).
—Tejada,
Francisco Elìas. Napoli Spagnola, vol. 2. Controcorrente, Napoli,
2002. (Original: Nàpoles hispanico. Madrid.
1958.)
back
to index