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    princes and nobles , where he observed the same rigour and abstinence which habitually distinguished him . In his meals he confined himself to one dish , and that too of the plainest description ; and abstained almost entirely from wine . He declined the use of the costly beds and sumptuous apartments which his hosts , prepared for him , and reposed upon the bare ground , with no other covering than his own cloak ; and so great was the

    reputation for sanctity which he had acquired throughout Italy , that the very mention of his name inspired a feeling of veneration in all who heard it . The nobility regarded him almost as something superhuman . At his approach they went out to meet him . The reception which they gave him was more like that of a sovereign prince than of a poor monk ; and when he took his departure from their houses , they insisted upon accompanying him on his way , and shewing him all those marks of attention which they were in the habit of paying to persons of distinction alone .

    It has been asserted by some of the biographers of this singularly gifted man , but apparently without sufficient authority , that he was appointed confessor to the Pope . A statement t 6 this effect is advanced , with some degree of confidence , by Lubieniecius , which , however , is unsupported by any di *

    rect evidence . Bayle regards the matter as extremely doubtful ; and San * dius alludes to it only as a rumour . The fact is in itself unimportant , for Ochino ' s popularity was such , that , in the eyes of his numerous and devoted admirers , an appointment of this kind , however deservedly bestowed , could have thrown no additional splendour upon his character .

    During one of his preaching excursions inlo the South of Italy , in the year 1541 , Ochirio formed an intimacy with John Valdez and Peter Martyr , and so complete a change was wrought in him by his intercourse with these enlightened advocates of the principles of the Reformation , that he soon fell under the suspicion of heresy , and incurred the charge of having g iven utterance to sentiments at variance with ihose of the Catholic Church . In

    the year 1542 , he was appointed to preach at Venice during Lent , where he attracted , as usual , large and crowded audiences ; but having introduced into his discourses topics at variance with the discipline of his Church , he was cited to appear before the Pope ' s Nuncio , and dismissed with a gentle reprimand . A short time after this , Julius of Milan , a disciple of Valdez , and ati intimate friend of Ochino , was committed to prison , by order of the Nuncio ; and this harsh treatment of his friend drew from him the

    following spirited observations : " What mode of proceeding is now left to us , Sirs ? To what purpose do we undergo such troubles and hardships , O illustrious city , Queen of the Adriatic , if those who preach the truth are consigned to prison , shut up in dungeons , and loaded with chains and fetters ? What security shall we now have for our own persons ? What free - range will be left to truth ? Would that the truth might be spoken candidly and openly ! How many blind , who are now shut out from an enjoyment of the light and enveloped in darkness , would then be illuminatedT' The

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    742 Biographical Notices of Eminent Continental Unitarians .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 742, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/18/