1. See André Thevet, Les Vrais Portraits et vies…, p. 590; also see above note 1. One is not certain if Postel had met Cardinal Pole in Venice in 1537 when he returned from the Orient. The Cardinal was in Venice in 1536–37, as records indicate. See Pietro Tacchi-Venturi, Storia delta Compagnia di Gesi in Italia Vol. I2, pp. 49–51.
2. Postel writes: “Party de Rome, en faisant l’office commande a chascum prestre quel lhom le sacre, cest a scauoir preschant lEuangile par le pays de Gumbrie dicte Umbrie premiere habitation de Europe et par la Romagne, ie men vins a Venize, la ou incontinent ie fus conduct a prendre la cure de l’hospital de sainct Ian et Paule affin de seruir la pour lamour de Dieu, ainsi que je desiroys, aulx poures malades, tant leur ministrant leurs sacrementz, comme ensepulturant celebrant et preschant la Parole de Dieu.” Bibliothèque nationale, fonds franç. 2115, fol. a.
3. Ibid. See note 223, above. One recalls that Archinto informed Ignatius that Postel was to continue his “ministry of the altar,” as before. We can assume from his work at the hospital that he was still regarded as a priest, even though the Jesuits gave him license to leave. One knows that Postel always considered himself a priest. Postel’s attitude as he arrived in Venice can be ascertained from a letter written to Masius on 22 January, 1547 in which Postel speaks of the troubles he had in Rome and his resignation to a life of suffering. He writes: “Caeterum licet ea quae tam nos quam nostra scripta sunt Romae perpessa tibi indignationis et indignitatis plena videbantur, merito intolerabilia esse viderentur, tarnen si quae postea sunt subsequuta vel auditu accepisses in ludo caetera posuisses. Sit benedictus Jesus, qui nos opere docuit paupertatern loco divitiarum, dolorem loco luxus, probrum honoris KA 4J1ÀauTtas in loco esse ponendum, ita ut omnino in nos mortui in eo vivamus, atque sic(granum frumenti cadens in terra sit mortuum, yàp alTapgela Tls 1Pépaf avTapKetas Kot TTetOaTlXetas basis est…. Rerum divinarum certissimus haec divinarum certissimus haec passus sum longe graviora et patiens et si res ferat in nomine Jesu passurus.” Cited by Chaufepié, Nouveau Dictionnaire, p. 219. Postel’s statement that he preached the word of God in Venice illustrates the significance of preaching in the Counter—Reformation, see John O’Malley. “Preaching for the Popes” in The Pursuit of Holiness, Charles Trinkaus with Heiko A. Oberman (Leiden, 1974: E. J. Brill) pp. 408–440; Frederick J. McGinnes, “Preaching Ideals and Practice in Counter—Reformation Rome,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 11, no. 2 (Summer, 980) pp. 109–127.
4. See Achille Bosisio, L’Ospedaletto e la Chiesa di S. Maria dei derelitti (Venezia, 1963: Istituzioni di Ricovero e di Educatione); also Arte e musica ail’Ospedaletto. Schede d’Archivio sull’attivita musicale degli ospedali dei Derelitti e dei Mendicanti di Venezia (eds. Giuseppe Ellero, Jolando Scarpa, Maria Carla Paolucci) (Sec. XVI—XVIII) (Venezia, 1978: Stamperia de Venezia Editrice). I am deeply indebted to Signor Giuseppe Ellero, Archivist I.R.E., for copies of these important documents. In addition, Signor Ellero has been extremely helpful in providing the archival material necessary to confirm this crucial period in Postel’s development. He was also most gracious in informing me of bibliography about the history of the Barnabites and their relationship to the Ospedaletto.
5. The Hospital of Saints John and Paul was a logical place for Postel to go after his departure from Rome. The little hospital was established in 1520. In 1528 it provided bed and board for the victims of a famine which swept Lombardy, the Veneto, and Istria in that year. Those in charge of the hospital at this time reflected the concerns of the Catholic reformation and hoped by their ministry to the poor, sick, and orphans to return the Church of Christ “to the time of the Apostles”. These doctrines, of course, Postel had proclaimed in Paris and Rome prior to his arrival at the Hospital of Saints John and Paul. This hospital, though small, was one of the four important hospitals in Venice in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The hospital was known officially as the Ospedale dei Derelitti ai SS. Giovanne e Paolo. See Arte e Musica aZZ’Ospedaletto, pp. 9–16. Also see Ospitale dei SS Giovanni e Paolo - Supplire 1548, Biblioteca Museo Correr, Cod. Cicogna, 2485, II, 194; Ospitali e casi dall’… per carta, sec. XVI, Cod. Cicogna, 2988 (19th). Excellent ground—plan drawings of the Ospedaletto appear in this volume cited from Cicogna. The ancient Ospedaletto is included today in the Hospital of the Poor. The largest hospital in Venice today is also adjacent to the grand Church of Saints John and Paul. The ancient Scuola di San Marco provides a magnificent facade and entry into the large public hospital. The ancient Ospedaletto, now the Hospital for the Poor, is in the back of the church. For a complete and discerning account of the Scuole, the hospitals, and the position of Jews and Convertiti in Venice, see Brian Pullan, Rich and Poor in Renaissance Venice, the Social Institutions of a Catholic State, to 1820 (Cambridge, Mass, 1971: Harvard University Press). For a general background of Jews in Venice, see Cecil Roth, History of the Jews in Venice (New Yuk, 1975: Schocken Books).