The Lost Michelangelos by Forcellino Antonio

Author:Forcellino, Antonio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley

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RAGUSA, 1573

In 1573, the city of Ragusa had been an independent republic for over a century, being governed by a patriciate comprised of the leading merchants and shipowners who controlled the Mediterranean trade. With its dry, wild hinterland, the republic might well have been an island, not a promontory, enclosed as it was within the city walls and relying exclusively on sea routes for communicating with Italy. The visitor’s impression was that of a remote centre, where ecclesiastical law was altered to suit the powerful patriciate. But the worst accusation levelled against the ecclesiastical administration and Archbishop Calvini by the Rector of the Ragusan council was as follows:

Our cathedral church is not well attended by the canons themselves […] and in the processions, which are often shameful to see, the Church of God is abandoned by its ministers, something that is both scandalous and a bad example. […] The Archbishop is a monk of Calabrian origin, and an innocent and good man, who was transferred in 1563 from the Order of Saint Benedict in the province of Ragusa. However, while he may be good at running a monastery, as an archbishop he is weak, both in spirit and in administration, especially in this free city with its insolent priests. He neglects his duty, to the great detriment of his subjects; due to his faint-heartedness he does not try to punish the delinquent priests, so they remain unpunished and cause shame to the good ones. […] He has never called a council […] he promotes priests who have no property at all in the world and does not give them benefices. Therefore, in order to live, they are obliged to commit many indignities to earn money, and he tolerates that secret marriages are contracted at every level.

According to his accusers – who may, however, have felt some personal sympathy for the man, as the rector did – Calvini focused entirely on the spiritual concerns of his flock and avoided anything related to temporal affairs. Many priests took advantage of his goodness and generosity – above all, those who had powerful families behind them. This led to public outrages on an abominable scale, like the disgrace inflicted by a homosexual canon who lived publicly with boys, flaunting his sexual predilections and even baring his backside once during mass, just to spite his enemies. But the main charge brought against Calvini was that he had never called a council or a synod, thereby avoiding the need to implement the dictates of the Council of Trent. ‘He does not enforce any aspect of the Sacred Council; nothing has changed in Ragusa after the Council.’ Indeed why would Crisostomo Calvini have accepted the principles of a council that had dashed his hopes for renewal, hopes that he shared with Reginald Pole and the other spirituali?

Tommaso Calvini had been earmarked by his family to become a doctor of law, but he soon realised that he had an impelling religious vocation. Once he had entered orders he even changed his name to Crisostomo, in homage to St John Chrysostom’s vocation for preaching.

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