Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BERNARDINO OCHINO (1487-1564)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 989 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BERNARDINO See also:

OCHINO (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 . See also: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: BERNARDINO OCHINO (1487-1564)
[back]
OCHILTREE
[next]
OCHRES

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.