Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/414

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VERONA


360


VERONA


dedication of some of his books of which it defrayed the expenses; the Estates of Languedoc undertook his support while he preached in their province; Gregory XV sent him encouragement. He was invited to give lessons in controversy at the College de France and to teach his method at Saint-Lazaire under St. Vincent de Paul and at St. Sulpice under M. Oher.

This method Veron set forth in a theoretical treatise and illustrated by his other works. Since the Protestants reject Tradition and admit only Holy Scripture as the source and ground of faith they must be required to show all their dogmas in the Bible, and all the articles of their Confession of Faith which they cannot support with formal and explicit texts from the Sacred Books should be considered as untenaljle. On the other hand, it is of great impor- tance to set forth the doctrine of the Church in all its purity; thus explained, it is entitled to the respect and the acceptance of heretics; hence it is important to separate authentic points of doctrine from what the heretics confuse with it, for example all the opinions of the schools, historical errors, popular legends, or private practices. By this manner of simphfying Catholic dogma and of showing consideration to Protestants, Veron sometimes aroused the protests of certain Catholics; his treatise on the primacy of the church wherein he refutes Blondel's work of the same name was even placed on the Index at Rome (Jan., 1643). He was also accused of sometimes using blustering language and excessive harshness against his adversaries, who used the same towards him. Veron next attacked the Jansenists, writing three books against them during the last years of his life.

Works. — Apart from his anti-Jansenistic works and some partial translations of the Bible all of Veron's writings have to do with controversy. They are about eighty in number. Several of them are only a few pages in length; some are successive redac- tions of the same work under different names. Three are worthy of mention because they summarize nearly all the others: (1) "La methode nouvelle, facile et solide de convaincre de nulhte la religion pretendue rcform6e", pubhshed in 161.5, re-edited in 1617, 1618, 1619, 1623, in several cities of France, translated into English, Dutch, and German, read and praised by Leibniz, reprinted by Migne in his "Theologiae ciirsus completus" (Paris, 1860); (2) "L'epitome de toutes les controverses de rehgion en ce siecle" (1 vol., Paris, 1638; re-edited in 2 and 3 vols., translated into Latin, and abridged); (3) "Regie de la foi catholique" (Paris, 1649), approved by the general assembly of the French clergy, by the faculty of theology of Paris, translated into Latin, read and praised by Leibniz, reprinted several times abroad and three times in France in the nineteenth century.

La Bouderie, Notice sur la vie de Fr. Veron et sur ses ouvrages; DE Backer, Biblioth. des ^crivains de la Comp. de Jesus, III (Paris, 1876) ; F^ret, Un curf de Charenton au X VII' siicle (Paris, 1881); La FacuUi de IMologie de Paris, IV, Epoque moderne (Pans, 1906).

Antoine Degert.

Verona, Diocese of (Veronensis), in Venetia (Northern Italy). The city, situated on both branches of the River Adige, is the centre of extensive agricid- tural industry. In the days of the Venetian Republic it was already an important fortress, and was sur- rounded with walls and other defences by the Veronese Fra Giocondo, and remained ."o vmder the Austrian domination and under the Kingdom of Italy. The headquarters of the Third Army Corps are in the Castel S. Pietro, on a hill formerly occupied by the Ostrogothic and Lombard kings and the Visconti.

Churches and Princital Buildinos. — The du- omo (cathedral) is in the Romanesque style of the twelfth century, with additions of the fifteenth. It has an ambo by Sanmicheli; pictures by Liberale da Verona (Adoration of the Magi) and Titian (Assump-


tion), and frescoes by Falconetto. Adjoining it is S. Giovanni in Fonte, with a baptismal font decorated with reliefs of the twelfth century; in the cloi.ster are re- mains of ancient marbles and mosaics. In the palace of the canons is the capitular library, rich in precious manuscripts. S. Maria Antica is surrounded with the tombs (arche) of the Scaligeri, lords of Verona, in the form of Gothic shrines, or tempietti, enclosing their sarcophagi (Can Grande, with equestrian statue; Can Signorio, the finest work, by Bonino da Campione). S. Anastasia, the Dominican church (1261), is Gothic; the sculptures of the great door represent scenes from the life of St. Peter Martyr; inside is the gobho (hunchback), bearing the holy-water font, also pic- tures by Niccolo Giolfino, Giunesello da Folgaria (En- tombment of Christ), Liberale, and Girolamo dai Libri; frescoes by Antichiero, Vittore Pisano (St. George), and Michele da Verona. S. Bernardino, fifteenth century, is adorned with frescoes by Giol- fino, Morone, and others; noteworthy is the Pelle- grini chapel, by Sanmicheli (1.557). Of S. Zeno Maggiore mention is made as early as the time of St. Gregory the Great ; in its present form it dates back to the eleventh century, and was restored in 1870. Its doorway is decorated with Biblical sculptures by Nicolaus and Guilelmus, and the bronze doors themselves are sculptured with scenes from the life of St. Zeno. The ambo is crowned with marble statues (1200). The statue of St. Zeno is of the ninth century, and a Madonna enthroned in the midst of saints is by Mantegna. Ad- joining the church was a Benedictine abbey, which was suppressed in 1770. S. Fermo Maggiore, a Gothic church (13131, belonged first to the Benedic- tines, then to the Franciscans; its facade is adorned with marbles and with the sarcophagus of the physi- cian Aventino Fracastoro (1350); it contains pictures by Caroto, also by Giambattista del Moro, Liberale, and Torbido, frescoes of the fourteenth century; the marble pulpit dates from 1396. Santi Nazzaro e Celso, a very ancient church, restored in the four- teenth and sixteenth centuries, contains pictures by Montagna and frescoes by Farinato and Falconetto. S. Maria in Organo was restored by Sarunicheli in 1481, and contains frescoes by Marone; in its choir and sacristy are intarsic (inlaid decorations) by Fra Giovanni (1499). Among the other churches are S. Giorgio in Braide, S. Stefano, and S. Eufemia (thir- teenth century).

A very fine public piazza is that known as the Erbe, the ancient forimi of the city, surrounded by imposing and historical residences — the Palazzo Maffei, the Mazzanti, once the residence of the Scali- geri, the Casa dei Mercanti (1210), the Ca,sa della Fontana (tenth century) — and an ancient statue known as the Verona. In the middle of the piazza is the tribune where, in the Middle Ages, trials used to he held. The Piazza dei Signori is surroimded by the Palazzo dei Giurisconsulti [Lawyers (1263)1 and the Palazzo della Ragione (1193). The court house and the prefecture were formerly palaces of the Scaligeri; the Coimcil Building, the old Municipio (1476), has a tower (the Civica) 272 feet h'gh. Other buildings are: the Rocca (Keep) of Can Grande II : the Teatro Filar- monico, containing the lapidary museum; the Palazzo Lavezzola Pompeii, built by Sanmicheli in 1.530, con- taining the civic museum, with its prehistoric dis- coveries, Roman and medieval sculpture, and a special collection of Veronese painters. The com- munal library contains 100,000 volumes and 3100 manuscripts. Noteworthy among the Roman an- (iqiiities are the arena, which is in better preservation than the Colosseum at Rome; the remainsof a theatre, the greater axis of which is 502 feet in length; the Borsari Gates (265); the Arch of the Lions. The an- cient Christian cemetery has not been found.

IIisTORV. — Verona, or Vcronia, was a city of the