[251] See Appendix.
[252] Bzovii Annales, ann. 1566, n. 88. This may very probably have been the occasion of the decree just referred to.
Yet the duke, in 1567, offered no opposition when Pius V ordered him to send to Rome for trial the canon Ceruti, who, in 1569, was condemned to the galleys for life. He could not have been a Protestant for his chief heresy was the denial of immortality. The intercession of the duke however, in 1572, procured his liberation and permission to keep his house in Mantua as a prison.—Bertolotti, Martiri del Libero Pensiero, pp. 43-5 (Roma, 1891).
[253] MSS. of Ambrosian Library, Tom. 5, F, 41, and F, 177, P. Inf.
Catena relates (Vita di Pio V, p. 157) that an heretical preacher of Morbegno in the Valtelline, named Francesco Cellaria was accustomed to visit Mantua secretly as a missionary, where he had relations with some of the nobles. To put an end to this, Pius sent in disguise the Dominican Piero Angelo Casannova to the Valtelline with instructions for his capture. With a band of eight men Casannova kidnapped him at Bocca d’Adda, as he was returning from Coire to Morbegno, hurried him to Piacenza whence Duke Ottavio Farnese transmitted him to Rome. There he was condemned to be burnt alive but at the last moment he weakened and recanted, so that he was strangled before burning. He had been forced to name his accomplices in Mantua and other cities, and immediate steps were taken for securing them. The Grisons complained loudly of this invasion of their territory, but the Duke of Alburquerque, then Governor of Milan (1564-71), replied that the papal jurisdiction over heresy was supreme in all lands.
[254] MSS. of Ambrosian Library, Tom. 56, F, 106, P. Inf. Lett. 140.
[255] Acta Eccles. Mediolanens. I, 67, 469.
[256] Decreta Sac. Congr. Sti. Officii, pp. 217-20 (R. Archivio di Stato in Roma, Fondo Camerale, Congr. del S. Offizio, Vol. 3).
Under Venetian rule when, in 1579, the inquisitor at Treviso was about to publish an edict prohibiting departure for heretic lands without his licence, the podestà and captain of the city prevented it, for which they were praised by the Signoria and similarly the rettore of Bergamo was rebuked for permitting it.—Cecchetti, La República di Venezia e la Corte di Roma, I, 23 (Venezia, 1874).
Fra Paolo tells us that in 1595 Clement VII issued a decree forbidding any Italian to visit a place where there was not a Catholic church and pastor, without a licence from the inquisitors. The result of this was that traders returning from heretic lands were watched, reports were sent to Rome and they were publicly cited to appear there. The transalpine countries took offence at this and then the public citations were made at the residence of the parties. Venice sought to diminish the evil effect of this on commerce by forbidding public citations in such cases.—Sarpi, Historia dell’ Inquisizione, p. 77 (Serravalle, 1638).