Girolamo Aleandro - Anti-Luther, Pro-Catholicism

(This woodcut comes from 1536, as dated on the bottom, showing Girolamo Aleandro as Archbishop.)

This week because we are watching Luther in class I decided to analyze a character from the movie, specifically one with historical significance. As such, a prominent choice is Cardinal Girolamo Aleandro. He eventually became an archbishop of the Catholic Church. Yet for the movie purposes, he is a strong opponent to Martin Luther, especially at the Council of Worms. Pope Leo X sends Girolamo to Germany to protest against Luther in 1520. Girolamo supports the Catholic Church ardently, but recognizes the need for some reforms within the church. He does not support the Reformation or the splitting of the church.

At the Diet of Worms Girolamo advocated for strong measures to be taken to silence Luther. On this stance, he stood relatively alone because many people preferred less violent means of suppression. He even lost the friendship of Erasmus over his stance. He had be longtime friends with Erasmus due to their shared ideals of Humanism. The edict eventually drawn up against Luther was pronounced by Girolamo himself and adopted by the emperor (Charles V) and the diet. After this in 1523 Clement VII named Girolamo the archbishop of Brindisi and Oria. Paul the III named him a cardinal in 1536, and he died in 1542 in Rome.