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OCHINO, BERNARDINO (1487-1564)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 989 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OCHINO, BERNARDINO (1487-1564) , See also:Italian Reformer, was See also:born at See also:Siena in 1487. At an See also:early See also:age he entered the See also:order of Observantine Friars, the strictest See also:sect of the See also:Franciscans, and See also:rose to be its See also:general, but, craving a yet stricter See also:rule, transferred himself in 1534 to the newly founded order of See also:Capuchins, of which in 1538 he was elected See also:vicar-general. In 1539, urged by See also:Bembo, he visited See also:Venice and delivered a remarkable course of sermons, showing a decided tendency to the See also:doctrine of See also:justification by faith, which appears still more evidently in his Dialogi VII. published soon after. He was suspected and denounced, but nothing ensued until, at the instigation of the austere zealot Caraffa, the See also:Inquisition was established at See also:Rome, See also:June 1542. Ochino was at once cited, but was deterred from presenting himself at Rome by the warnings of See also:Peter See also:Martyr and of See also:Cardinal See also:Contarini, whom he found at See also:Bologna, dying of See also:poison administered by the reactionary party. After some hesitation he escaped across the See also:Alps to See also:Geneva. He was cordially received by See also:Calvin, and within two years published six volumes of Prediche, tracts rather than sermons, explaining and vindicating his See also:change of See also:religion. Twenty-five of these were published in See also:English at See also:Ipswich in 1548. In 1545 he became See also:minister of the Italian See also:Protestant See also:congregation at See also:Augsburg, which he was compelled to forsake when, in See also:January 1547, the See also:city was occupied by the imperial forces in the Schmalkaldic See also:War. Escaping by way of See also:Strassburg he found an See also:asylum in See also:England, where he was made a See also:prebendary of See also:Canterbury, received a See also:pension from See also:Edward VI.'s privy See also:purse, and composed his See also:chief See also:work, A Trajedy or See also:Dialogue of the unjust usurped Primacy of the See also:Bishop of Rome (1549). This remarkable performance, originally written in Latin, is extant only in the See also:translation of See also:John Ponet, bishop of See also:Winchester, a splendid specimen of See also:nervous English. The conception is highly dramatic; the See also:form is that of a See also:series of dialogues.

See also:

Lucifer, enraged at the spread of See also:Christ's See also:kingdom, convokes the fiends in See also:council, and resolves to set up the See also:pope as See also:Antichrist. The See also:state, represented by the See also:emperor See also:Phocas, is persuaded to connive at the pope's See also:assumption of spiritual authority; the other churches are intimidated into acquiescence; Lucifer's projects seem fully accomplished, when See also:Heaven raises up See also:Henry VIII. and his son for their overthrow. The conception bears a remarkable resemblance to that of See also:Paradise Lost; and it is almost certain that See also:Milton, whose sympathies with the Italian See also:Reformation were so strong, must have been acquainted with it, and with some of his later See also:works. In the See also:Labyrinth (dedicated to See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth of England), a discussion of the freedom of the will, he covertly assailed the Calvinistic doctrine of See also:predestination, and showed that his views were tinged with Socinianism. The See also:accession of See also:Mary in 1553 drove him from England, andhe became pastor of the Italian congregation at See also:Zurich. In 1563 the See also:long-gathering See also:storm of obloquy burst upon the occasion of the publication of his See also:Thirty Dialogues, in one of which his adversaries maintained that he had justified See also:polygamy under See also:colour of a pretended refutation. His dialogues on See also:divorce and the Trinity were also See also:obnoxious. Ochino was banished from Zurich, and, after being refused a shelter by other Protestant cities, directed his steps towards See also:Poland, at that See also:time the most tolerant state in See also:Europe.. He had not resided there long when the See also:edict of the 6th of See also:August 1564 banished all See also:foreign dissidents. Flying from the See also:country, he encountered the See also:plague at Pinczoff; three of his four See also:children were carried off; and he himself, worn out by age and misfortune, died in solitude and obscurity at Schlakau in See also:Moravia, about the end of 1564. His reputation among Protestants was at the time so See also:bad that he was charged with the authorship of the See also:treatise De tribus impostoribus, as well as with having carried his alleged approval of polygamy into practice. It was reserved for Dr Benrath to justify him, and to represent him as a fervent evangelist and at the same time as a speculative thinker with a See also:passion for See also:free inquiry.

The general tendency of his mind ran See also:

counter to tradition, and he is remarkable as resuming in his individual See also:history all the phases of Protestant See also:theology from See also:Luther to See also:Socinus. See See also:Life by B. O. Benrath (2nd ed., See also:Brunswick, 1892), translated into English by See also:Helen Zimmern (See also:London, 1876) . In addition to the books already named, he wrote Italian expositions of See also:Romans (Geneva, 1545) and See also:Galatians (Augsburg, 1546).

End of Article: OCHINO, BERNARDINO (1487-1564)

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