Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/489

 VILLALPANDUS

429

VILLANOVANUS

learned Pierre Pithou, the Varo of France. After preaching a Lent at Amiens, he stated that at his arrival he had found there more than SOO heretics and at his departure there remained only forty. In 1566 he held, together with Claude de S.ainctes, against the Calvinist ministers Jean de I'Epine and Sureau de Rosier, a conference of which the acts were printed (Paris, 15S2). .\ccording to G^nebrard the defeat of the ministers was so OAerwhekning that the subse- quent Calvinist synod forbade conferences to be held thenceforth with Catholics. These successes had made Vigor famous when in 1572 Gregory XIII raised him to the See of Narbonne. After his conse- cration he went to his diocese, and began at once to eradicate the evils his diocese had suffered, in being long without a resident bishop. He never returned to Paris or to his home, being wholly engaged in convert- ing the Protestants of his own and the neighbouring dioceses, in which work death overtook him. After his death the Bishop of Rennes in a letter to Gregory XIII called him the ,\thanasius or Hilary of his time, and Duval praised him as a model of learning and piety, a pillar of the Roman Church. There were edited after his death five volumes of his "Sermons ou predications chretiennes et catholiques" (Paris, 1577-88; several times reprinted).

Launot, Regii Namrrm qymnasii parisiensis historia in Opera omnia, IV (Paris, 1732), pt. i; DupiN, Hist, des auteurs eccl. du XVI' siMe, II (Paris, 170.3), pt. ii; Feret. La facuUi de theologei de Paris: epoque moderne, II (Paris, 1901), 181.

Antoine Degert.

Villalpandus, Juan Bautista, b. at Cordova, Spain, in 15.52; entered the Society of Jesus in 1575; d. on 22 May, 1608. Hisfamerests mainly on a "Com- mentary on Ezechiel". This commentary, begun bj' Jerome Prado(d. 1.595), who treated the fir.st twenty- six chapters, was completed by VilLalpandus and pubhshed at Rome (1596-1604), in three volumes: the first contained Prado's explanation of cc. i-xxvi; the second Vill.alpandus's remarks on the thirteen chapters following; the third an illustrated descrip- tion of Jerusalem and the Temple with all its furniture. Villalpandus had prepared for this work by a study of cla.ssical antiquity, particularh- of Greek and Roman architecture, in which he was regarded as master. WTiatever the merit of his commentary, and the prai.se bestowed upon his description of the City and Temple of Jerusalem, which was once regarded by some as "classical" and "a true masterpiece" (Du- pin), for the modern reader, better acquainted with Oriental architectural art, the writer's strict adherence to classical standards of architectural beauty mars his description and renders it less accurate. Starting from the idea that a temple designed, as it were, by God Himself, should embody all conceivable splen- dour and gorgeousness, he fancied the sanctuary at Jerusalem to be a display of porticoes and courts paved with porphyry flags, depicted the walls covered with rich Parian marble, and described a furniture of golden va-ses, candelabra, tables, httle in keeping with actual reahty. Still less happy were his endeavours to prove against evidence that the "Explanationes epist. B. PauH .Ap.", which he h.ad quoted .several times in his "Commentary on FyZechiel", and of which he gave the editin princeps (Rome, 1.598), was the work of St. Remigius of Reims, and not of Remi- gius of Auxerre.

HcRTER. Nomenclator Literariw. Ill (Inn.sbnirk. 1907), 2.3.^7; RorevmCller. Eze.ch. valieinia, I (Leipzie. 1826). 32; DtrpiN; Bihl. den nuleurn ted. du XIII' siicle, I (Paris, 1719) ; Simon. Hist, cril. du iV.-r. (Paris. 1693). xxvi.

Charles L. SorvAY.

Villani, Giovanni, Florentine histori.an, b. about 1276; il. of the plague in 1348. Descended from a wealthy family of merchants, he devoted the whole of his life to commerce, being a member of the Peruzzi company and after^vards of the Bonaccorsi. Busi- ness took him to Flanders, on three occasions; like a

good Florentine he took part in politics, was priore several times, and served as an official of the zccca, or mint, where he introduced some wise changes. He was thrice entrusted with the maintenance of the forti- fications. In 1341 he was one of the hostages given by the Florentines to Ferrara in pledge for the money to be paid for the purchase of Lucca. The failure of the Peruzzi bank, in 1346, occasioned by the insolvency of the Kings of England and of Sicily, caused Vil- lani's imprison- ment. At Rome in 1300 Villani conceived the idea of ViTiting the his- tory, or chronicle, of Florence, which he divided into twelve books. He begins with the Tower of Babel, passes rapidly over the history of Rome and Italv, to the year 1080, but treats the

history of Tuscany more minutely. For the periods of which he has no direct knowledge he follows his authorities without much discernment. But from the middle of the thirteenth century his chronicle becomes an excellent historical source; even in its style one perceives that the author now feels on firm ground. Errors are not entirely absent even here; but his own experience of the world, the facilities which the commercial relations of Florence afforded him for obtaining trustworthy information of foreign events, the close connexion of Florentine politics with the politics of all Italy, the Empire, and France, his own share in the government of the city, were circum- stances highly favourable to the work of the historian. L'nlike most medieval historians, Villani is interested in the economic Ufe both of the State and of private individuals. He records statistical data, informs us of the cost of provisions, and gives details of the finances of the State. Thus he may be considered the most modern of the medieval historians. Although a Guelph and a Black, he does not disguise his dis- approval of wrong done by his own party. He is devoted to the Church, including the temporal gov- ernment of the pope; yet he has bitter things to say of Boniface VIII, the supporter of the Blacks. His greatest defect is in his method of exposition, which fails to co-ordinate the various facts from one point of view — a defect, however, pardonable in a man occupied in commerce. His chronicle was brought down to the year 1363 by his younger brother Matteo, and to 1410 by Filippo," Matteo's.son. The best edi- tion of the "Cronica" is that of Magheri (Florence, 1823), preceded bv biographical notices.

M11.A.NE8I, Doe. rio'uarilaiiti (Ho. Villani in .Arehivio star. Hal. (18.56). 1 sqq.; Volpe. /( Ireeenlo in Sloria letleraria d' Italia (Milan, 3. d.), 377-82; fuller biographical matt«r, ihid., 445.

U. Benigni. Villanova, Thomas of. See Thomas of Villa- nova, Saint.

Villanovanus, Arnaldi'.s (Arnai-dtts of Villa- NUEVA, or ViLLENFUVE, or BACHroNE), celebrated in his day as a physician, pharmacist, and alchemist, b. between 1235 and 1240: d. at .sea near Genoa, 1312 or 1313. Like much else connected with this very unus- ual man, most of the details of his life are obscure. The latinized form of his native town is Villanova;