Aegidius of Viterbo

Aegidius Antonius Canisius of Viterbo [Egidio da Viterbo, Giles of Viterbo.] (1470 - Rome, November 12, 1532) was an Italian Augustinian cardinal, theologian, orator, humanist and poet. He was born at Viterbo, Italy and died at Rome.

Life

He was born at the Villa Canapina, near Viterbo, of rich and noble parents; Hie father's name was Antoninus Canisius, his mother, Maria dell' Testa. ["The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" (1842), "s.v." "Ægidius of Viterbo"] He entered the Augustinian Order at an early age. After a course of studies with the Augustinians at Viterbo, he was made doctor of theology, and in 1503 became general of his order.

Aegidius is famous in ecclesiastical history for the boldness and earnestness of the discourse which he delivered at the opening of the Fifth General Council, held in 1512, at the Lateran Palace. [ "Oratio prima Synodi Lateranensis habita", printed at Rome, 1513; it is printed in Harduin's collection of the councils, vol IX, p.1576.] ).

In 1517 Pope Leo X made him cardinal, confided to him several sees in succession, employed him as legate on important missions, and gave him (in 1523) the title of Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. His zeal for the genuine reformation of ecclesiastical conditions prompted him to present to Adrian VI a "Promemoria", edited by Constantin Höfler in the proceedings of the Munich Academy of Sciences [III class, IV, 3 (B) 62-89.] . He was universally esteemed as a learned and virtuous member of the great pontifical senate and many deemed him destined to succeed Pope Clement VII.

Christian Cabalist

In Jewish history he is coupled with the grammarian Elias Levita, who instructed him in Hebrew. When the turmoil of war drove Levita from Padua to Rome, he was welcomed at the house of Aegidius, where, with his family, he lived and was supported for more than ten years. It was there that Levita's career as the foremost tutor of Christian notables in Hebrew lore commenced. The first edition of Levita's "Baḥur" (Rome, 1518) is dedicated to Aegidius. Aegidius introduced Levita to classical scholarship and the Greek language, thus enabling him to utilize Greek in his Hebrew lexicographic labors — a debt acknowledged by Levita, who, in 1521, dedicated his "Concordance" to the cardinal.

Aegidius's main motive was to penetrate the mysteries of the Cabala. Ægidius belonged to the group of sixteenth century Christian cabalists, among whom Johann Reuchlin and Pico della Mirandola also were prominent, who believed that Jewish mysticism, and particularly the "Zohar", contained incontrovertible testimony to the truth of the Christian religion. In the course of Reuchlin's conflict with the obscurantists (1507-21), in which the preservation of the Jewish books was at issue, the cardinal wrote (1516) to his friend: "While we labor on thy behalf, we defend not thee, but the law; not the "Talmud", but the Church."

Ægidius also engaged another Jewish scholar, Baruch di Benevento, to translate for him the "Zohar" (the mystic Book of Splendor). The scholar last named may also have been partly responsible for the numerous cabalistic translations and treatises which appeared under the name of Ægidius. The cardinal was a collector of Hebrew manuscripts, of which many are still to be seen at the Munich Library, bearing both faint traces of his signature and brief Latin annotations.

In the Angelica at Rome an old Bible manuscript is extant, which was given by Pope Leo X to Ægidius. The British Museum contains a copy of "Makiri" and the "Midrash" on the minor Prophets, written for the cardinal at Tivoli, in the year 1514, by Johanan b. Jacob Sarkuse. The study of Jewish literature led the cardinal to a friendly interest in the Jews themselves, which he manifested both in his energetic encouragement of Reuchlin in the struggle referred to above and in a vain attempt which he made in the year 1531, in conjunction with the cardinal Geronimo de Ghinucci, to prevent the issue of the papal edict authorizing the introduction of the Inquisition against the Maranos.

Works

He was a profound student of the Scriptures and a good scholar in Greek and Hebrew.

The writings commonly attributed to Ægidius are numerous. Most of them are to be found in manuscript form in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, but their authenticity is still to be established. Aside from minor works on the Hebrew language, the majority by far are of a cabalistic nature. There is scarcely a classic of Jewish medieval mysticism that he has not translated, annotated, or commented upon. Among these works may be mentioned the "Zohar"

Only a few of his writings have been printed in the third volume of the "Collectio Novissima" of Martène.When urged by Clement VII to publish his works, he is said, by the Augustinian Thomas de Herrera, to have replied that he feared to contradict famous and holy men by his exposition of Scripture. The Pope replied that human respect should not deter him; it was quite permissible to preach and write what was contrary to the opinions of others, provided one did not depart from the truth and from the common tradition of the Church [Nat. Alex., "Hist. Eccl.", saec. XV, 1,5,16; XVII, 354.] .

His major original work is an historical treatise: "Historia viginti sæculorum per totidem psalmos conscripta". It deals in a philosophico-historical way with the history of the world before and after the birth of Christ, is valuable for the history of its own time, and offers a certain analogy with Bossuet's famous "Discours sur l'histoire universelle".

The six books of his important correspondence (1497-1523) concerning the affairs of his order, much of which is addressed to Gabriel of Venice, his successor, are preserved at Rome in the Bibliotheca Angelica. Cardinal Hergenröther praises particularly the circular letter in which Aegidius made known (27 February, 1519), his resignation of the office of General of the Augustinian Order [Lämmer, "Zur Kirchengeschichte des XVI. und XVII. Jahrhunderts', Freiburg, 1863, 64-67] .

Other known works of Aegidius are a commentary on the first book of the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard, three "Eclogae Sacrae", a dictionary of Hebrew roots, a "Libellus de ecclesiae incremento", a "Liber dialogorum", and an "Informatio pro sedis apostolicae auctoritate contra Lutheranam sectam".

Notes

References

*catholic
*JewishEncyclopedia

External links

* [http://www.bta.it/riv/conv/1996/10/28/a0/abstract/en/scafi.html]
* [http://www.bc.edu/offices/mission/exploring/catholicism/omalley_historical_thought/ Paper on Giles of Rome]
*it icon [http://www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/parole_chiave/schede/egidiodaviterbo.htm Egidio da Viterbo]