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 CORTONA

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CORTONA

nent. The moral and literary reform of L^rins was issured when in 1524 Cortese was elected its abbot. His health, however, was greatly impaired during his iojourn at Lerins, so that in 1527 he considered I change of climate indispensable and asked the superior of the congregation for permission to return Peter's at Modena; a year later. Abbot of St. Peter's at Perugia; and in 15.37 Abbot of the famous San Giorgio Waggiore at Venice. Cortese was now considered one )f the most learned men in Italy and had regular [le counted among his friends Gasparo Contarini, Reginald Pole. Jacopo Sadoleto, Pietro Bembo, Gian Hatteo Giberti. and many other Humanists and Mas the place where those pious and learned discus- dons were held to which the Florentine scholar Bruc- 1536 Pojie Paul III made him a member of the com- nittee of nine ecclesiastics who were to draw up a statement of those ecclesiastical abuses which called Host loudly for reform. Soon after, he was appointed Apostolic \'isitor for the whole of Italy and, some- ivliat later, was sent to Germany to take part in the -heological disputation at ^^"orms in 1540, but became iick on the journey and was obliged to remain in [taly. Meanwhile (1538) he had become Abbot of 5an Benedetto in Polirone, then the most important nonastery of the Cassinese Congregation. A few longregation. Finally, 2 June, 1542, Pope Paul III ircated him cardinal-priest and appointed him a nember of the committee of cardinals for the prepa- ■ation of the Council of Trent. Towards the end of 'riend and adviser of Pavd III, and used all his nfluence to bring about that reform of the Church for »'hich the better sort of ecclesiastics had been clam- juring many years.
 * o Italy. As a result, he was appointed Abbot of St.
 * orrespondence with the greatest scholars in Europe,
 * cclesiastical dignitaries. The garden of San Giorgio
 * iolo refers in his dialogues on moral jihilosophy. In
 * imrs, moreover, he was chosen visitor general of his
 * he same year he became Bisliop of I'rbino. During
 * he five years of his cardinalate he was an esteemed

Cortese was one of the best-known writers of his lot hesitate to class him among the most elegant Latin WTiters of this Humanistic period. His prin- cipal works are epistles, poems, a treatise pro\'ing that ■>t. Peter was in Rome, a Latin translation of the New IVslament from the Greek texts, a historical work on
 * imes. He was master of such a finished style that
 * he classically trained Cardinal Bembo and others did
 * lie destruction of Genoa, etc. All his extant works

i\'ere collected and edited with a biography of the luthor by the Benedictine Bishop Gradenigo of L'eneda in two volumes (Padua. 1774).

Prandi, Elogio storico del Cnnli:/ >!- '/m ./w "'* Cortese (Pavia. 1788); Ansar. Vie de Grcgoire f',' ' . < ^jue d'Urbin et

cardinal (Paris. 1786); Dittrk n ir /, Ziegelbauer,

HM. Lit. n. S. B., Ill, 339-344: ( m . i i -, m, i.niNns. Vil(r et ne* grsta- Ponlificum Rom.etS. li. K. i'ardinnhum (Rome. 1677), HI, 683 sqq.; Hurter, NomencitUor (Kreiburg. 1899). IV. 1278 sq.

Michael Ott.

Cortona, Dioce.se of (Cortonensis), immediately subject to the Holy See. Cortona is a small city in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Central Italy, situ- ated on a commanding hill, and overlooking the Lake jf Perugia. Its Cyclopean walls, still in great part preserved, are said to be 3000 years old. It is cer- tainly very ancient, was one of the twelve cities of Etr\iria, and in its neighbourhood many ruins and Etniscan tombs are still to be found. Cortona took

fart in all the wars again.st Rome, until 310 B.C., when ';ibius RuUianus defeated the Etruscans and took Perugia which, thereupon, with other cities, made peace with Rome. Later it was destroyed by the Lombards but wxs soon rebuilt. In the fourteenth ccnturj' it was governed by the Ca.sali, and became aftenvards part of the great Duchy of Tuscany. Many famous men were born or lived in Cortona; IV.— 26

Brother Elias (Elia Coppi), the famous companion of St. Francis of Assisi, and later Vicar-General of the Franciscan Order; Cardinals Egidio Boni and Silvio Passerini; the painter Luca Signorelli; the architect and painter Pietro Berrettini (Pietro da Cortona). One of the glories of the city is St. Margaret of Cor- tona (1248-97). She was born at Laviano (Alviano) in the Diocese of Chiusi, and formed an evil relation with a nobleman of thevicinity. On discovering his body after he had met a violent death, she repent- ed suddenly, and after a pulilic pen- ance, retired to Cortona, where she took the habit of a Tertiary of St. Francis and devoted her life to works of penance and charity. There still exist at Cor- tona religious works due to her zeal. Leo X per- mitted her vener- ation at Cortona, and Urban VIII extended the priv- ilege to the Franciscan Order. Benedict Xlllcanonized herinl728. Her body rests in a beautiful sarcophagus in the church dedicated to her at Cortona. It is not known whether Cortona was an episcopal .see previous to its destruction by the Lombards. From that time until 1325 it belonged to the Diocese of Arezzo. In that year, at the request of Guglielmo Casali, John XXII raised Cortona to episcopal rank, as a reward for the fidelity of its Guelpli populace, Arezzo remain- ing Ghibelline. The first bishop w.as Rainerio Uber- tini. Other bishops were Luca Grazio, who was a dis- tinguished member of the Council of Florence (1438); Matteo Concini (1560) and Gerolamo Gaddi (1562) were present at the Council of Trent. The cathedral

XVI

CatiiedraL. (■■- I- - I i. r/i,.-il l.v \Ml,ir,h..i:, -.ir^c.-ill..:')

and the other limn Ik n of Cortoaa po.ssc.s-s numerous works of art, especially paintings of the school of Luca Signorelli and of Fra .\ngelico. The dif>cese h;is 50 parishes, (iO churches and oratories, 85 secular and 36 regular priests. .30,200 inliabitants, 6 religious houses of men, and 6 of women.

t"APPKi,LKm, Le r/iiVw d' llnlia (Venire, 1844). XVIII. 267- 97; Chevalier, Hep. hisl.: Topo-bM..ii. v.; Ann. red. (Rome. 1907), 427-29.

U. Benio.ni.