Edictum pro observatione eorum, quae generalis Tridentina Synodus de vita & honestate clericorum decrevit

4to (210x159 mm). [6] leaves. Collation: A⁶. Woodcut coat-of-arms of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo on the title page. Roman and italic type. Unbound and unsewn. Some foxing, trace of horizontal folding.

Rare first edition of this extremely important edict, written by Niccolò Ormaneto and dated 25 October 1564, the first of a series of decrees by which Carlo Borromeo introduced his radical reform of the clergy in his archbishopric of Milan.

Carlo Borromeo was appointed Archbishop of Milan on 12 May 1564, at the age of 26. Since he was in Rome, he sent Niccolò Ormaneto there in June of that year to govern the Church of Milan in his absence. Borromeo had met Ormaneto in Rome, where he was counsellor to several bishops. Ormaneto was a priest of considerable stature who had formed under Monsignor Gian Matteo Giberti, Bishop of Verona, and had later been a companion of Cardinal Reginald Pole. The newly elected Archbishop of Milan had him transferred from the neighbouring diocese of Verona to his own. Ormaneto immediately set to work, organising a diocesan synod in a very short time. Synods had already been held in Vigevano, Brescia, Cremona and Verona. It was time to have one in Milan. The synod opened on 29 August 1564. One thousand two hundred priests gathered to hear Borromeo's programme for the implementation of the Tridentine decrees and the disciplinary measures he wanted to impose on the Milan clergy with regard to residence, reduction of the number of benefices, ethics, habits, ecclesiastical studies and pastoral practices. These unpopular measures provoked protests, but were nevertheless relentlessy carried out by Monsignor Ormaneto with the help of Monsignor Goldwell, who was appointed auxiliary bishop. Finally, in September 1565, Borromeo arrived in his diocese with a procession of a hundred people and an escort of cavalry. In 1566 Ormaneto was appointed Bishop of Padua and went to Spain as Nuncio.

Carlo, son of Ghiberto Borromeo, count of Arona, and Margarita de' Medici, was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore. He studied civil and canon law at Pavia. In 1554 his father died, and, although he had an elder brother, Count Federico, he was requested by the family to take the management of their domestic affairs. After a time, however, he resumed his studies and in 1559 he took his doctor's degree. In 1560 his uncle, Cardinal Angelo de' Medici, was raised to the pontificate as Pius IV. Borromeo was made prothonotary, entrusted with both the public and privy seal of the ecclesiastical state, and created cardinal with the administration of Romagna, and the March of Ancona, and the supervision of the Franciscans, the Carmelitans and the knights of Malta. He was thus at the age of twenty-two the leading statesman of the papal court. Having moved to Rome, he also explored with his friend Filippo Neri the early Christian remains and in 1561 became a friend of Michelangelo, whose fresco The Last Judgement he defended against the latter's critics (cf. R. de Maio, Carlo Borromeo e Michelangelo, in: “San Carlo e il suo tempo”, Rome, 1986, II, pp. 995-1011). In 1562 he founded the Accademia delle Notti Vaticane, an academy of learned churchmen and was instrumental in persuading Pius IV to convene the third session of the Council of Trent. A year later he was appointed Archbishop of Milan and returned in his diocese in 1565. On the death of his brother, he was advised to quit the church and marry, that his family might not become extinct. He declined the proposal, however, and became henceforward still more fervent in exercise of piety, and more zealous for the welfare of the church. He devoted himself wholly to the reformation of his diocese, made a series of pastoral visits, established seminaries, colleges and communities for the education of candidates for holy orders. Borromeo met with much opposition to his reforms. The governor of the province, and many of the senators, addressed complaints to the courts of Rome and Madrid. They were apprehensive that the cardinal's ordinances would encroach upon the civil jurisdiction, Borromeo also faced staunch opposition of several religious orders, particularly that of the Humiliati (Brothers of Humility). Some members of that society formed a conspiracy against his life, and a shot was fired at him in the archiepiscopal chapel. His survival was considered miraculous. He successfully attacked his Jesuit confessor, Giovanni Battista Ribera who, with other members of the college of Milan, was found to be guilty of unnatural offences. This action increased Borromeo's enemies within the church. Devotion to him as a saint was at once shown and gradually grew, and the Milanese kept his anniversary as though he were canonized. This veneration, at first private, became universal, and after 1601 Cardinal Baronio wrote that it was no longer necessary to keep his anniversary by a requiem Mass, and that the solemn Mass of the day should be sung. Then materials were collected for his canonization, and processes were begun at Milan, Pavia, Bologna, and other places. In 1604 the cause was sent to the Congregation of Rites. Finally, 1 November 1610, Paul V solemnly canonized Carlo Borromeo, and fixed his feast for the 4^th day of November. The position which he held in Europe was indeed a very remarkable one. The mass of correspondence both to and by him testifies to the way in which his opinion was sought. The popes under whom he lived sought his advice. The sovereigns of Europe, Henry III of France, Philip II, Mary Queen of Scots, and others showed how they valued his influence. In 1614 it was decreed that he was to be portrayed as a holy cardinal and not as an archbishop. Daniele Crespi's Supper of San Carlo (Santa Maria della Passione, Milan) movingly records his austerity, while a monumental bronze and copper statue designed by Cerano in 1614 and erected by the Borromeo family to commemorate their illustrious native saint, suggests the heroic strength of the reformer (cf. M. de Certeau, Carlo Borromeo, in: “Dizionario biografico degli Italiani”, Rome, 1977, XX, pp. 260-269).

Edit 16, CNCE 24305.

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