THE MOST RENOWNED PREACHER OF HIS TIME

Musso, Cornelio. Prediche del reuerendiss. mons. Cornelio Musso da Piacenza vesc. di Bitonto, fatte in Vienna alla sacra maestà cesarea, & al serenissimo re, & reina di Bohemia. Il giorno di s. Giacomo apostolo, et il giorno della Madonna della neue. Venice: Giolito de' Ferrari, 1560.

8vo, full stiff vellum with gilt titles printed at spine within decorative frame, blue sprinkled edges, ff. 43, [1]. Some woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces.

First Venetian edition of the famous preaches by the Bishop of Bitonto made at the Court of ViennaThe work was published also in Naples in the same year.

Friar Minor Conventual, Bishop of Bitonto and prominent at the Council of Trent, Cornelio Musso (1511-1574) was, perhaps, the most renowned orator of his day, and has been justly styled the "Italian Demosthenes". Returning to ancient patristic models, he raised the homily to its highest form of perfection. He was among the first three bishops present at the Council of Trent, where he delivered the inaugural oration, distinguishing himself especially at the debates on Justification. In 1560 he was sent as papal legate to Emperor Ferdinand.

References: CNCE 26300. OCLC lists two copies in USA (at Columbia University, New York, NY and at University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL).

Very good condition.