CORTONA
401
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
- o Italy. As a result, he was appointed Abbot of St.
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
- orrespondence with the greatest scholars in Europe,
[le counted among his friends Gasparo Contarini, Reginald Pole. Jacopo Sadoleto, Pietro Bembo, Gian Hatteo Giberti. and many other Humanists and
- cclesiastical dignitaries. The garden of San Giorgio
Mas the place where those pious and learned discus- dons were held to which the Florentine scholar Bruc-
- iolo refers in his dialogues on moral jihilosophy. In
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
- imrs, moreover, he was chosen visitor general of his
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
- he same year he became Bisliop of I'rbino. During
- he five years of his cardinalate he was an esteemed
'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.
Cortese was one of the best-known writers of his
- imes. He was master of such a finished style that
- he classically trained Cardinal Bembo and others did
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
- 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.
