at the Diet of Ratisbonne, to establish unity with the Protestants, and who dared to write these strong words:[1]
"The law of Christ is a law of liberty. … One cannot call by the name of government that the rule of which is the will of a man, inclined by nature to evil and impelled by innumerable passions. No! Every sovereignty is a sovereignty of reason. Its object is to lead those who are under its sway to their just goal—happiness—and by paths that are just. The authority of the Pope is also an authority of reason. A Pope should know that he exercises his authority over free men. He ought not to command, or defend, or dispense of his own will, but only in accordance with the rules of reason, the divine Commandments and Love—a rule which leads back everything to God and the common good."
Vittoria was one of the most exalted souls of this little idealistic group, which united the purest consciences of Italy. She corresponded with Renee of Ferrare and Margaret of Navarre; and Pier Paolo Vergerio, later a Protestant, called her "one of the lights of truth." But when the counter-reform movement began, under the direction of the merciless Caraffa,"[2] she fell into mortal doubt. Like Michael Angelo, she had
- ↑ Quoted by Henry Thode.
- ↑ Giovanni Pietro Caraffa, Bishop of Chieti, founded in 1524 the Order of Theatines, and in 1528 began in Venice the work of counter-reform, which he was to continue with implacable rigour, first as a cardinal and then, in 1555, as Pope, under the title of Paul IV. The Order of the Jesuits was authorised in 1540; in July 1542 the Inquisition, with full powers against heretics, was established in Spain; and in 1545 the Council of Trent opened. This marked the end of the free Catholicism which had been dreamed of by the Contarinis, the Gibertis, and the Poles.
