PAUL, Father, whose name, before he entered into the monastic state, was Peter Sarpi, was born at Venice, on the 14th of August 1552. His father followed merchandise, though with so little success, that at his death he left his family very ill provided for, but under the care of a mother whose piety was likely to bring the blessing of Providence upon them, and whose wise conduct supplied the want of fortune. Happily for young Sarpi, she had a brother, master of a celebrated school, under whose direction he was placed by her; and here he lost no time, but cultivated his abilities, which were naturally of the first rate, with unwearied application. He was born for study, having a natural aversion to pleasure and gaiety, and a memory so tenacious that he could repeat thirty verses after once hearing them. Proportional to his capacity was his progress in literature. At the age of thirteen, having made himself master of school learning, he turned his attention to philosophy and the mathematics, and entered upon logic under Capella of Cremona, who, though a celebrated master of that science, confessed that in a very little time he found himself unable to give his pupil any further instructions.
As Capella was of the order of the Servites, his scholar was induced by him to engage in the same profession, although his uncle and his mother represented to him the hardships and austerities of that kind of life, and advised him with great zeal against it. But he was steady in his resolutions, and in 1566 took the habit of the order, being then only in his fourteenth year; a time of life with most persons very improper for such engagements, but in him attended with such maturity of thought, and such a settled temper, that he never seemed to regret the choice which he then made, and afterwards confirmed it by a solemn public profession in 1572.
At a general chapter of the Servites which was held at Mantua, Paul, being then only twenty years old, distinguished himself so much in a public disputation, by his genius and learning, that William duke of Mantua, a great patron of letters, solicited the consent of his superiors to retain him at his court, and not only made him public professor of divinity in the cathedral, and reader of casuistical divinity and canon law in that city, but honoured him with many proofs of his esteem. But Father Paul finding a court life not agreeable to his temper, quitted it two years afterwards, and retired to his beloved privacy, being then not only acquainted with the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic languages, but with philosophy, the mathematics, canon and civil law, all parts of natural philosophy, and chemistry itself; for his application was unintermitted, his head clear, his apprehension quick, and his memory retentive.
Being made priest at twenty-two, he was by the illustrious Cardinal Borromeo honoured with his confidence, and employed by him on many occasions, not without the envy of persons of inferior merit, who were so far exasperated as to lay a charge against him before the Inquisition, for denying that the Trinity could be proved from the first chapter of Genesis; but the accusation was too ridiculous to be entertained. After this he passed successively through the dignities of his order, and having been chosen provincial for the province of Venice at the age of twenty-six, he discharged the duties of his office with such ability, that in 1579 he was appointed, with two others, to draw up new regulations and statutes for its government. This he executed with great success; and when his office of provincial expired, he retired for three years to the study of natural and experimental philosophy and anatomy, in which he is said to have made some useful discoveries. In the intervals of his employment he applied himself to his studies with an extensive capacity, which left no branch of know-
ledge untouched. Acquapendente, the great anatomist, confesses that he learned from Paul how vision was performed; and there are proofs that he was not a stranger to the circulation of the blood. He frequently conversed on astronomy with mathematicians, on anatomy with surgeons, on medicine with physicians, and on the analysis of metals with chemists, not as a superficial inquirer, but as a complete master. He was next chosen procurator-general of his order; and, during his residence at Rome, he was not only greatly esteemed by Pope Sixtus V., but also contracted an intimate friendship with Cardinal Bellarmino and other eminent persons.
But the hours of repose, which he employed so well, were interrupted by a new information in the Inquisition, where a former acquaintance produced a letter written by him in ciphers, in which he said, "that he detested the court of Rome, and that no preferment was obtained there but by dishonest means." This accusation, however dangerous, was passed over on account of his great reputation; but it made such an impression on that court, that he was afterwards denied a bishopric by Clement VIII. After these difficulties were surmounted, Father Paul again retired to his solitude, where he appears to have turned his attention more to improvement in piety than to learning. Such was the care with which he read the Scriptures, that, it being his custom to draw a line under any passage which he intended more nicely to consider, there was not a single word in his New Testament but was underlined. The same marks of attention appeared in his Old Testament, Psalter, and Breviary.
But the most active scene of his life commenced about the year 1615, when Paul V., exasperated by some decrees of the senate of Venice which interfered with the alleged rights of the church, laid the whole state under an interdict. The senate, filled with indignation at this treatment, forbade the bishops to receive or publish the pope's bull; and, convening the rectors of the churches, commanded them to celebrate divine service in the accustomed manner, with which most of them readily complied; but the Jesuits and some others, having refused, were by a solemn edict expelled the state. Both parties having proceeded to extremities, employed their ablest writers to defend their measures. On the pope's side, Cardinal Bellarmino entered the lists, and, with his confederate authors, defended the papal claims with great vehemence of expression, and very sophistical reasonings; which were confuted by the Venetian apologists in much more decent language, and with greater solidity of argument. On this occasion Father Paul was eminently distinguished by his Defence of the Rights of the Supreme Magistrate, and his Treatise of Excommunication, translated from Gerson, with an Apology, and other writings. For these he was cited before the Inquisition at Rome; but it may easily be imagined that he did not obey the summons.
The Venetian writers, whatever might be the abilities of their adversaries, were at least superior to them in the justice of their cause. The propositions maintained on the side of Rome were, that the pope is invested with all the authority of heaven and earth; that all princes are his vassals, and that he may annul their laws at pleasure; that kings may appeal to him, as he is temporal monarch of the whole earth; that he can discharge subjects from their oaths of allegiance, and make it their duty to take up arms against their sovereign; that he may depose kings without any fault committed by them, if the good of the church requires it; that the clergy are exempt from all tribute to kings, and are not accountable to them even in cases of high treason; that the pope cannot err; that his decisions are to be received and obeyed on pain of sin, though all the world should judge them to be false; that the pope is the vicegerent of God upon earth; and that to call his power
in question is to call in question the power of God; maxims which it did not require the abilities and learning of Father Paul to prove to be false and destructive. It may easily be imagined, that such principles were quickly overthrown, and that no court but that of Rome thought it for its interest to favour them. The pope, therefore, finding his authors confuted and his cause abandoned, was willing to terminate the affair by a treaty; which, by the mediation of Henry IV. of France, was concluded upon terms very much to the honour of the Venetians. But the defenders of the Venetian rights, though comprehended in the treaty, were excluded by the Romans from the benefit of it. Some, upon various pretences, were imprisoned; others were sent to the galleys; and all were excluded from preferment. But their malice was chiefly aimed against Father Paul, who soon felt the effects of it; for, as he was going one night to his convent, about six months after the accommodation, he was attacked by five ruffians armed with stilettoes, who gave him no less than fifteen stabs, three of which wounded him in such a manner that he was left for dead. The murderers fled for refuge to the nuncio, and were afterwards received into the pope's dominions; but they were pursued by divine justice, all, except one man who died in prison, having perished by violent deaths.
This, and other attempts upon his life, obliged him to confine himself to his convent, where he engaged in writing the History of the Council of Trent; a work unequalled for the judicious disposition of the matter, and the skilful texture of the narration. It is commended by Dr Burnet as the completest model of historical writing, and celebrated by Mr Worton as equivalent to any production of antiquity; a work in which the reader finds "liberty without licentiousness, piety without hypocrisy, freedom of speech without neglect of decency, severity without rigour, and extensive learning without ostentation."
In this, and other works of less consequence, he spent the remaining part of his life, until the beginning of the year 1622, when he was seized with a cold and fever, which he neglected till it became incurable. He languished more than twelve months, which he spent almost wholly in preparation for his passage into eternity; and amongst his prayers and aspirations he was often heard to repeat, "Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace." Throughout the whole course of his illness, to the last hour of his life, he was consulted by the senate in public affairs, and returned answers in his greatest weakness with such presence of mind as could only arise from the consciousness of innocence.
On the day of his death he had the passion of our blessed Saviour read to him out of St John's Gospel, and spoke of the mercy of the Redeemer, and his confidence in his merits. As his end approached, the brethren of his convent came to pronounce the last prayers, with which he could only join in his thoughts, being able to pronounce no more than the words Esto perpetua, which was understood to be a prayer for the prosperity of his country. He died in the seventy-first year of his age, hated by the Romans as their most formidable enemy, honoured by all the learned for his abilities, and esteemed by the good for his integrity.