Cicerone nella Controriforma. Girolamo Ragazzoni umanista e vescovo

In the history of Cicero’s fortune, the age of the Counter-Reformation is not a specifically examinated period, despite the presence of the orator being fundamental in the education of many of the protagonists of Catholic renovation and essential in the new didactic system for a better qualified clergy. This article is intended to highlight Cicero’s central role in such a delicate historical phase, focusing in particular on the example of Girolamo Ragazzoni (around 1537-1592), who commented on the Epistulae ad Familiares and vulgarised the Filippiche; as a young humanist in close contact with Paolo Manuzio and Carlo Sigonio, he will take part in the Council, holding its final oration, to later become Bishop of Bergamo in 1577: there, in collaboration with Carlo Borromeo, he will reveal himself as one of the most diligent agents of the reformation within the Church, especially in the pedagogical and scholastic sector.