Cherubino Ghirardacci: Parish Priest of the Council of Trent

Abstract

Cherubino Ghirardacci's talent in miniature and calligraphy, together with the turbulent editorial issues around the Historia di Bologna - his most celebrated work - overshadowed other aspects of his long life, which influenced his attitude, predilections, and even his own biography. This paper aims to shed light on one of these aspects, often mentioned in published literature, but never deeply analysed: Ghirardacci's activities as Santa Cecilia's parish priest – a role he covered in the last quarter of his life. The study of documents preserved at the Archivio Arcivescovile di Bologna – among them some manuscripts, partially known but unpublished – seeks to reintegrate the bolognese historiographer in the ecclesiastical panorama of that time. In that period, Bologna, thanks to the impulse provided by Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, represented one of the main testing grounds for the reception of the Council of Trent, concluded a few decades before. In this context, this paper aims at verifying whether a relationship exists between the actions undertaken in Bologna by Ghirardacci as a parish priest, and the cultural knowledge that comes out from his celebrated activities in the fields of erudition and calligraphy.