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From Chapter Four: The Middle Years, 1547-1562

Were it not located in the Papal States, Bologna would have been an ideal city for the council. Although often oppressively hot in the summer, it had a milder climate than Trent. Then as now it was noted for its good food. A large city by sixteenth-century standards, it had a population of about 50,000, roughly the same as Florence and Rome. Lodging was plentiful. The Palazzo Campeggi (today Bevilacqua), where the General Congregations were held, was a spacious and beautiful Renaissance building from the late fifteenth century. The church of San Petronio, located right at city-center, was perfect for the Sessions, at which large crowds were expected.

Bologna boasted one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Europe, whose only rival for such claims was Paris. Unlike Paris, renowned especially for its theology faculty, Bologna was renowned for its faculty of law, both civil and canon, which attracted students from all of Europe. The university did not have a theological faculty until 1364. That faculty, altogether different in structure from its Parisian counterpart and of lesser repute, consisted essentially in a consortium of the studia or “houses of study” of the many and important convents of the mendicant orders in the city. The influx into the council of experts from these institutions made the size of the Congregations of Theologians at Bologna considerably larger than at any other time in the history of the council. On April 29, 1547, Massarelli counted more than eighty present that day.

These institutions also boasted extensive libraries with just the kind of collections the Council needed for its work. The Dominican convent was especially important because to it were sent talented young members of the order from all over Europe to complete their studies. These and other students were admitted as auditors to the Congregations of Theologians until their numbers grew so great—over 300 on April 2, 1547—that the practice was stopped.

“The Council of Bologna”

1547-1549

Charles received the news of the translation to Bologna at Nördlingen on March 15, 1547, just a few days after it happened. Furious, he held the legates, especially Cervini, responsible. He hoped Paul III would repudiate what they had done and hold true to his promise of a council “in German lands.” Just as the legates felt the council’s freedom threatened in Trent, Charles felt it threatened in a city of the Papal States. To acknowledge Bologna would be to betray his promise to the German Protestants and offend even many German Catholics.

The two legates arrived in Bologna five days later, on March 20. Meanwhile in Rome news of the translation caused misgivings, and Paul was notably perturbed when he received word from Charles in effect demanding return to Trent. On March 27, however, the legates got reassurance that the pope not only approved the translation but in consistory had told the gathered cardinals that no more was to hoped for from Trent. The Germans had been awaited there for two years and had never shown up.

That same day, a happy one therefore for the legates, Cervini celebrated mass in San Petronio to mark the council’s coming to the city. Del Monte, suffering from one of his recurrent attacks of gout, could not attend, but present were the governor of the city, other civic officials in great number, and a large congregation, which constituted an embarrassing contrast with the meager contingent of prelates come from Trent—two archbishops and ten bishops. A month later the Session on April 21, though solemnly celebrated in San Petronio, was forced to publish a decree admitting that because so few bishops had shown up the matter scheduled for promulgation had to be deferred until the next Session, set for June 2.