Valier, Agostino

Abstract

The Venetian Agostino Valier (Venice, 7 April 1531 – Rome, 23 May 1606), Cardinal and Bishop of Verona, prefect of the Congregation of the Index, and member of the Holy Office, was one of the leading figures of the Italian Church in the years of the Council of Trent. As a professor of philosophy in the so-called Scuola di Rialto, he achieved a form of eclecticism founded on the interaction between philosophy and humanism. He wrote over 200 works, both in Latin and in the vernacular, including letters, treatises, booklets, orations, dreams, eulogies, biographies, reports, and commentaries, which demonstrate his interest in different literary genres and topics, such as philosophical exegesis, conduct literature, historiography, and rhetoric. His first texts, mainly addressed to members of the Venetian aristocracy, offer a series of practical norms to prepare them for the political or civil roles with which they would be invested. Once he became Bishop of Verona, he tried to reconcile his previous philosophical and pedagogical interests with his new public role, following the example of other humanists, such as Cardinal Gian Matteo Giberti. Therefore, he pursued social and religious reforms, combining the humanist system proposed by Giberti with the models for pastoral care discussed and promulgated during the Council of Trent, and particularly under the influence of Carlo Borromeo.