On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    No . VL

    Bernard Ochino , to whom we have already had frequent occasion to allude , was born at Sienna , in Italy , A . D . 1487 . He was of humble origin , and appears to have laboured under great disadvantages in early life . The deficiencies of his education , however , were amply supplied by the

    brilliancy of his genius ; and few men ever possessed , in a more remarkable degree , the power of clothing their thoughts in striking and suitable language . He spoke his native tongue with such fluency and elegance , as at once to convince and captivate every heart . Ochino entered the order of Franciscan Monks , called Cordeliers , at an ,

    early age ; but , some cause of dissatisfaction arising , he quitted that order in disgust , and began to devote himself to the study of physic . On reflection , however , he resolved once more to resume the monkish habit , and lead a life of rigour and austerity * Accordingly , in the year 1534 , he entered the order of Capuchins ; and his conduct was so eminent for its piety

    and regularity , that he was twice elected Vicar General of the order , at Florence , in the year 1538 , and at Naples in 1541 . On the testimony of Ant . Mar . Gratiano , Bishop of Amelia , a zealous Catholic , Ochino has been represented as the founder of this order . This prelate , in his life of Cardinal Commendoni , relates that Ochino , having observed great laxity in the discipline of the order of St . Francis , withdrew himself , for the purpose of living more according to its ancient strictness ; and that , finding some of

    his brethren disposed to second his views , he restored the institutions of St , Francis , in all their pristine vigour ; and , in conjunction with Matthew D'Urbino , a man of extraordinary piety and sanctity , established the order of Capuchins . But this statement cannot be true , if , as we are told , Ochino did not assume the habit of a Capuchin till 1534 ; for the establishment of this order took place in the year 1525 , under the pontificate of Clement the Seventh , and in the year 1534 , under the pontificate of Paul the Third , the

    number of religious belonging to it amounted , if we are to believe Spondanus , to at least three hundred . Ochino is described , by all his biographers , as possessing an active and ingenious turn of mind , and a rich and fertile imagination . As a pulpit orator , it is said that no man ever attained a higher degree of popularity . His preaching was the theme of admiration , not only with the vulgar , but

    also among persons of distinction and quality . Princes and prelates were frequently in the number of his audience ; and the first cities of Italy contended for the honour of having him as their preacher . He is represented as a man of a singularly venerable aspect , with a long beard flowing gracefully down upon his breast , and a pale countenance , which bespoke the austerity of his mode of life . He was received as an inmate into the palaces of

    Untitled Article

    ( 741 )

    Untitled Article

    BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF EMINENT CONTINENTAL UNITARIANS .

    Untitled Article

    VOL . V . 3 II

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 741, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/17/