Cardinal from Padua helped end the western schism
Cardinal Francesco Zabarella, an expert on canon law whose writings on
the subject were to remain the standard authority for centuries, was born on
this day in 1360 in Padua.
Zabarella studied jurisprudence in Bologna and in Florence, graduating
in 1385. He taught canon law in Florence until 1390 and in Padua until 1410. He took minor orders and in 1398 was made an archipriest of the
Cathedral of Padua.
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Zabarella also carried out diplomatic missions on behalf of Padua. In 1404 he
was one of two ambassadors sent to visit King Charles VI of France to ask for
his assistance against Venice, which was preparing to annex Padua. But when
Padua became part of the Venetian Republic in 1406, Zabarella became a loyal supporter
of Venice. In 1409 he took part in the Council of Pisa as councillor of the
Venetian legate.
The antipope John XXIII appointed him Bishop of Florence and cardinal
deacon of Santi Cosma and Damiano in Rome in 1411. There were two antipopes at the time as a result of the western schism,
which had begun in 1378 when the French cardinals, claiming that the election
of Pope Urban VI was invalid, had elected antipope Clement VII as a rival to
the Roman pope. This had eventually led to two competing lines of antipopes,
the Avignon line and the Pisan line, which had elected antipope Alexander V,
John XXIII’s predecessor.
Although Zabarella never received major orders he was an active promoter
of ecclesiastical reform. When the Council of Rome failed to end the schism,
Zabarella was sent as one of John XXIII’s legates to Emperor Sigismund at Como
to reach an understanding over the time and place for holding a new council.
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| Cardinal Zabarella's tomb in the Duomo |
He helped to bring about the opening of the Council of Constance in 1414
in Germany.
In the interest of church unity he persuaded John XXIII to resign in
1415 but also opposed the Avignon antipope, Benedict XIII.
Eventually the Roman pope, Gregory XII, resigned and the Council of
Constance formally deposed the Avignon line and the Pisan line.
Suffering poor health, Zabarella went to take the waters at a spa near Constance
to try to recover. His last days were spent in pressing for the Council of
Constance to elect a new pope as soon as possible. He died in Constance in
September 1417 and was later buried in Padua Cathedral.
By November, Pope Martin V, who had been born in the papal states near
Rome, had been elected by the Council of Constance, effectively ending the
western schism.
Zabarella’s most important works were: De schismate sui temporis, which
dealt with ways and means of ending the schism, written between 1403 and 1408;
Lectura super Clementinis, written in 1402; Commentaria in quinque libros
Decretalium, written between 1396 and 1404.
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| Padua's Duomo and Battistero |
Francesco Zabarella was laid to rest in the Basilica Cattedrale di Santa
Maria Assunta, referred to in Padua as the Duomo. The present Duomo is the
third structure to have been built on the site. The first was erected in 313
and destroyed by an earthquake in the 12th century. The church was then rebuilt
in Romanesque style and visitors to the Baptistery next door can see how the
Duomo would have looked in the 14th century, Zabarella’s era, as it appears in
the frescoes executed at that time by Giusto dè Menaboui.
The present building
dates back to the 16th century and was finally consecrated in 1754, with its
façade left unfinished.
