Giovanni Morone
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Giovanni Morone or Moroni (25 January 1509 - 1 December 1580) was an Italian cardinal. He was named Bishop of Modena in 1529 and was created Cardinal Morone in 1536 by Pope Paul III. As a cardinal, he resided in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace and was consulted by Saint Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits.
[edit] Biography
Morone was born in Milan, where his father, Count Leronimo Morone (d. 1529), was grand chancellor. His father, who had been imprisoned for opposing encroachments on the liberties of Milan by Charles V (whom he afterwards cordially supported), removed to Modena, where his youngest son had most of his early education. Proceeding to Padua he studied jurisprudence with distinction. In return for important service rendered by his father, he was in 1527 nominated by Pope Clement VIII to the see of Modena, and consecrated in 1533 after a contest.
From 1535 he was constantly entrusted by Pope Paul III with diplomatic missions; he was sent as nuncio in 1536 to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, then in 1540 to Hagenau and Worms in an attempt to reclaim those areas for the Catholic Church. Morone was legate to the Diet of Speyer (1542) having successfully resisted the transfer of the diet to Hagenau on account of the plague (1540). On the 31st of May 1542 he was made cardinal, and was further nominated protector of England, Hungary, Austria, of several religious orders, and of the santa casa at Loreto. With the cardinals Paul Parisio and Reginald Pole he was deputed to open the Council of Trent (November 1542), the place of meeting having been a concession to his diplomacy. The legates arrived on the 22nd of November, but no council assembled. The death of Paul III (1549) deprived him of a good friend.
The views of the Reformers had spread in his diocese, and he was suspected of temporizing with them. He resigned (1550) in favor of the Dominican Egidio Foscherari, reserving to himself an annual pension and the patronage of livings. Pope Julius III, at the instance of the Duke of Milan, gave him the rich see of Novara (which he resigned in 1560 for the see of Albano) and sent him as nuncio to the diet of Augsburg (1555), from which he was immediately recalled by the death of Julius (March 23).
In June 1557 Pope Paul IV imprisoned him in the castle of St Angelo (with others, including Pole, and Foscherari), on suspicion of Lutheran heresy. The prosecution entirely failed, and Morone might have had his liberty, but refused to leave prison unless Paul IV publicly acknowledged his innocence. He remained incarcerated until the pope's death (Aug. 18, 1559). It is believed that Paul IV published his Cum ex Apostolatus Officio to prevent Cardinal Morone from being elected the next Pope because he suspected Morone of being in league with Protestants. Pope Pius IV was actually elected, so the matter was never resolved.
Morone continued to explore issues within the Church and between Catholics and Protestants in hopes of reuniting the two sides. He commissioned Nicholas Sander to research the progress of Protestantism in England, resulting in the publication of the Report on the State of England in 1560. In 1562, Morone assisted Pius IV in restarting the Council of Trent. He served as its last chair under Pius IV and helped the Council to create the Tridentine Creed.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
