BARBARIGO, GREGORY, ST.

Bishop and cardinal; b. Venice, Italy, Sept. 16, 1625;d. Padua, Italy, June 18, 1697. Gregory, the son of Giovanni Francesco barbarigo, of illustrious family, was educated in Padua. In 1648, he accompanied the Venetian embassy to Münster for the Treaty of Westphalia and met the papal nuncio, later Alexander VII. Gregory took a degree in law and was ordained in 1655. At Alexander's request he organized the care of the plague-stricken Roman Trastevere in 1656. As bishop of Bergamo in 1657, he promoted the reforms of the Council of Trent, visiting parishes, organizing the teaching of Christian doctrine, and raising the standards of the seminary and the clergy. He was made a cardinal in 1660, and bishop of Padua in 1667.

He adapted the curriculum of the seminary of Padua to contemporary needs, obtained books for its library throughout Europe, and wrote Regulae Studiorum (1690) for ecclesiastical studies. He set up a printing press with Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, and Slavonic types, preparing pamphlets for Christians under Moslem rule. His aid to Orthodox leaders was generous, and his death may have prevented negotiations for reunion with Rome. He took part in five papal conclaves and was a candidate in three, especially in 1691. His body is in the cathedral of Padua. He was beatified on Sept. 20, 1761, and canonized on May 25, 1960. John XXIII held him as a model during his seminary days. S. Serana has studied Gregory and his relations with mathematics, the Eastern Church, and his contemporaries (5 v., Padua 1932–40).

Feast: June 18.

Bibliography: John XIII, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 52 (1960) 437–462. a. mercati and a. pelzer, Dizionario ecclesiastico (Turin 1954–58) 2:263. h. raab, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 1:1236. c. bellinati, S. Gregorio Barbarigo (Padua 1960); Pensieri e massime di S. Gregorio (Padua 1962). g. beltrame, Giovanni Chiericato, oratoriano padovano, ministro e biografo di S. Gregorio Barbarigo (Padua 1976). s. serena, sebastiano, S. Gregorio Barbarigo e la vita spirituale e culturale nel suo Seminario di Padova; lettere e saggi editi dagli amici in memoria (Padua 1963).

[m. o'callaghan]