Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall 2002

[page 120]

Michael A. Zampelli

Trent Revisited:
A Reappraisal of Early Modern Catholicism’s Relationship with the Commedia Italiana

Notwithstanding Ferdinando Taviani's important observation that the Roman Catholic Church never launched a systematic attack against the professional theatre, the Catholic world after the Council of Trent was far more hospitable to antitheatrical sentiment than it was before. In evaluating this religious hostility to professional performance, theatre scholarship has borne the traces of an "antireligious prejudice" that, unfortunately, hesitates to explore religious realities with the same rigor as it does theatrical ones.

This essay aims to deepen our appreciation of the world in which the commedia italiana matured by situating theatricality and antitheatricality, comici and clerics, within the more inclusive field of religious history.(1) This wider frame allows both early modern Catholicism and the professional theatre to emerge as parties in a cultural conversation who have particular needs, desires, and interests. Considering these needs, desires, and interests moves us beyond superficiality and helps us engage the more dramatic subtext of the relationship between the Church and the theatre. Essentially, I contend that Trent's disciplinary and pastoral concerns manifested clear objectives regarding the role of Catholicism in the "theatre of the world." These objectives and the tactics for attaining them set professional religion in lively competition with the professional theatre.

[page 121] Tridentine Reform: Disciplinary and Pastoral Concerns

The Council of Trent(2) began in 1545 after many delays and ended in 1563 after several interruptions. It provides a good starting point for exploring the religious context of theatricality and antitheatricality for two reasons. First, the event of the council bears the weight of almost all subsequent attempts at understanding early modern Catholicism.(3) Second, Trent straddled the shifting plates of a world in flux. At its beginning it included people who had experienced the institutional hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church as a fact of life. At its end it included people who would experience Catholicism as only one force in a cultural [page 122] marketplace that included many other political and social forces as well as several other religious confessions.(4)

The event of the Council proves an important marker in the history of theatre because it convenes in the same year as there appears the first extant evidence of a professional commedia troupe—the Paduan contract of 1545. And it ends one year before there appears the first extant evidence of a professional commedia troupe that includes an actress—the Roman contract of 1564 signed by one Lucrezia da Siena.(5) Simply, Trent is significant because it manifests the Roman Church's efforts at adapting to a changing world into which the public, professional theatre is making an entrance. One obvious reason for an increase in antitheatrical sentiment during the years after the Council of Trent is the growing visibility of the theatre itself.(6)

Though it did have some things to say about music and art, Trent made no pronouncements on the theatre—professional or otherwise. The council's explicitly doctrinal concerns regarding original sin, justification, and sacramental theology probably had little influence on the interaction between theatre and religion. Trent's disciplinary and pastoral concerns, however, focused on the relationship between ecclesiastical order and Christian [page 123] living. In this arena the competitive subtext in the relationship between commedia and church comes clear.

The "Christianization" of ordinary Catholics remains one of the more striking features of the Council. The reform of religious life and church offices (that is, the episcopacy and clergy) aimed not only at eliminating abuses so as to achieve the internal stability of the religious establishment, but also, and more importantly, to evangelize and thereby work the sanctification of the ordinary lay person. How could Catholics be more than superficially religious without the edifying example of competent pastors who could lead their flocks in the way of Christian perfection? The disciplinary and pastoral reforms of Trent sought to make the Church and its representatives a more efficacious force in ordinary people's lives.

Let us turn now to the most significant of these reforms and consider their possible effects on religious attitudes toward the professional theatre.

Presuming that "only a renewed pastoral body could effectively proclaim the sacred message to the people," the council proceeded to re-establish norms for bishops and clergy.(7) The first and most significant of these norms was the residence of bishops. In the words of the sixth session of the Council, rather than "wandering idly from court to court, or abandoning their flock and neglecting the care of their sheep in the flurry of their worldly affairs," bishops were obliged to live in their own dioceses discharging their responsibility as shepherds.(8) In addition, the reform bishops were urged to "visit their diocese, preach in person, and assure preaching in all their parishes."(9) The obligation of residence and regular pastoral ministry opened up the possibility for preached and published antitheatrical sentiment because bishops grew more aware of and connected to the rhythms of life in their jurisdiction. These rhythms alternated between work and play, Lent and carnevale, liturgy and performance.(10)

[page 124] With this emphasis on the obligation of bishops to exercise ordinary pastoral care in their dioceses came the correlative affirmation of episcopal power and authority. The bishop was "from then on to be 'delegate of the Apostolic See' in his own diocese."(11) Hence, his office demanded the renewed respect of the secular clergy (of whom he was directly in charge), religious houses (which had often enjoyed exemption from episcopal jurisdiction), and civil authority (which had usurped many of the powers of the episcopacy). Championing episcopal rights placed the local bishop in collateral line with the secular government. Competition and conflict between the two powers were certainly not uncommon. In cases where the secular authority strongly supported theatrical entertainments, as in the Spanish-governed Milan during the archiepiscopacy of Carlo Borromeo (discussed more fully below), religious antitheatricalism functioned not only as an admonition to the Christian faithful but also as an affirmation of ecclesiastical influence in the face of secular government.(12)

Though the reformed bishop functioned as the pastor of the local church, he could not undertake the Christianization of the people by himself. The rejuvenation of the Christian life depended upon a well-trained and energetic clergy. Hence, Trent made provision for the establishment of seminaries to train secular priests, though these did not appear in great number for very many years. Domenico Sella reminds us that the seminaries were "aimed at turning out priests who, in terms of education, piety, moral conduct and outward decorum would stand as models of Christian living and exude the high dignity and the distinct nature of the clerical status."(13) Clerics, as supposed models of virtuous living, became the object of much criticism and correction regarding dress, behavior and lifestyle; they were frequently chastised for attending the commedia mercenaria precisely because they gave bad example. Attending the [page 125] professional theatre visibly lowered their status in the community; priests at plays undermined efforts at reconstructing the role of clerics in the social order.

Further, as Jean Delumeau notes, since "one of the scourges of the ecclesiastical society of the time was the enormous number of wandering clerics" who exercised priestly functions in exchange for payment, the council attempted to put an end to itinerant professional priestcraft by decreeing that "no one could be admitted to holy orders without having enough to live on."(14) Interestingly, such a concern parallels the antitheatricalist distrust of itinerant professional players who earned a living by finding audiences willing to pay for performance. The connection in this case is itinerancy; having no established domicile, wandering priests and performers introduced a foreign, uncontrollable element into early modern society. The exchange of money, then, rather than ongoing membership in a hierarchically ordered community provided the basis for relationships. No doubt the monetary link also proved very suspicious because it eluded external regulation.

The atmosphere of reform permeated even the walls of convents, monasteries and apostolic houses of religious orders that had traditionally enjoyed a certain freedom from the ordinary jurisdiction of the church. Clerics who belonged to religious communities were urged to "practice the strictest observance of their rule" that their witness might not only result in their own salvation but in the edification of the larger Catholic community.(15) Most pertinent to this inquiry, however, is the attitude toward religious women. In the end, the conciliar decree on religious life demanded two things with regard to women: first, that "'[u]nder pain of eternal damnation,' bishops will re-establish nuns' clausura [or cloister] wherever it has fallen into abeyance, and see that it is rigorously maintained where it still holds;" second, that a woman neither be forced to enter religious life against her will nor be prevented from doing so should she desire it.(16)

[page 126] These pronouncements reveal the period's absolute conviction that women required regulation, either through marriage or through the structures of religion. Notwithstanding the eventual establishment of apostolic congregations of women who would teach, nurse and care for the poor (e.g., the Ursulines, the Sisters of the Visitation, the Sisters of Charity),(17) Trent's insistence on the stricter observance of cloister in the case of women suggests that "unattached" women could not be allowed to take part in public transactions or move about ad libitum without conjuring the possibilities for compromising virtue (theirs and others') and occasioning immorality.

Though this fundamentally misogynistic attitude was hardly an invention of early modern Catholicism, it certainly contributed to the religious ambience of the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Not surprisingly, then, religious antitheatricalists of the period fixed their disapproving gaze on the highly visible actresses who from the mid-sixteenth century on performed with and, in several cases, assumed the management of commedia troupes. The professional actress was almost a religious anti-type, seemingly unregulated, certainly uncloistered, probably unchaste, and disturbingly visible in the marketplace.(18)

As Robert Bireley notes, "[p]reaching as a mode of evangelization...was as important to Catholics as it was to Protestants in the sixteenth century."(19) In fact, the final cause of the episcopal, clerical and religious reform just mentioned remained the effective preaching of the Christian message to ordinary women and men. And since that message was preserved within [page 127] the sacred scriptures and the tradition of the Church, the council identified preaching as the "chief duty" especially of bishops (praecipuum episcoporum munus) but also of the lower clergy.

This focus on preaching the Word of God not only connected Tridentine reform with Protestant reform, but it also placed a central religious activity in direct competition with professional theatricals. The aims of preaching coincided, at least in part, with the aims of Renaissance theatre: to teach, to move, and to please.(20) In a manner not unlike the itinerant comici of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, touring preachers of religious orders were often contracted by ecclesiastical patrons to perform during the strong seasons of the liturgical year such as Lent.(21) Like actors, preachers found themselves playing before discriminating urban audiences making use of a variety of performative strategies to insure an effective hearing. Manuel Morán and José Andrés Gallago reveal that the delivery of a typical baroque sermon involved the kind of theatrical expertise sported by comici. Since

In the religious world made possible by the Council of Trent, professional religion competed with professional theatre in very concrete ways; hence, the emergence of religious antitheatrical sentiment within this world is hardly surprising.(23)

[page 128] A Case in Point: Carlo Borromeo

In order to graft some flesh on the preceding skeleton of an argument by substantiating its claims with reference to concrete historical details, we turn to a consideration of the antitheatrical sentiment of Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584). As cardinal archbishop of Milan from 1565 to 1584, Carlo Borromeo defined the emploi of the reforming Tridentine prelate. His views of Christian life and worship shaped the self-understanding of reform-minded pastors and proved a valuable currency in subsequent centuries. Though Borromeo's virulent and persistent arguments against Milanese spectacles certainly echoed the already familiar antitheatrical critiques of the church fathers, he was the first significant ecclesiastical authority to translate the antitheatrical prejudice into the early modern era.

Although his attacks on secular and sacred performance created an awkward climate for professional players in Milan, even Borromeo's articulate and zealous criticism could not finally suppress theatrical activity. The archbishop's antitheatrical statements recurred throughout his archiepiscopacy, indicating that despite his protestations, theatre continued to find its audience.(24) Even though his persistence could not overcome the popular theatre's ability to endure, Borromeo's antitheatrical writing did establish a way of seeing the theatre that would affect other religious writers in Italy and France. Essentially, Borromeo's objections to theatre's interaction with Christian society revolve around three general points that derive directly from the cardinal's commitment to Tridentine values: First, theatre disrupted social, and religious order; second, it undermined genuine religious activity; third, it sabotaged the 'Christianization' of society.

In Borromeo's view, theatre tore at the social fabric; hence, he advised the civil magistrates to drive from their jurisdictions "actors, mimes, vagrants, and all other similarly 'lost' people" unless they agreed to establish permanent residency and resolved to "live honestly and comport themselves, in everything, as befits a Christian." Professional performers, because of their itinerancy, threatened society with instability. Since a wandering society remained an [page 129] uncontrollable one,(25) Borromeo insisted that the civil authorities, charged with the task of keeping social order, should police and censure the inns, "all filled with wickedness," that might give refuge to actors, mimes, and vagrants.(26)

The spettacoli disrupted the religious order envisioned by this Tridentine pastor by confusing, or even ignoring, the boundaries separating the sacred from the profane. And in this regard Borromeo quickly cast his wandering eye toward his own clergy. In a document concerning internal governance, for example, the cardinal archbishop forbids all members of the episcopal household to "carry arms...play cards, dice, ball, or other indecorous games of this kind, or attend the games of others." Neither are they permitted "to walk about masked, to participate in hunting parties, to attend theatrical performances, comedies, or any other impure activities of the professional actors." Since a reprimand must obviously have an object, Borromeo's diocesan clergy must have been every bit as involved in these profane activities as their lay brethren. With such involvement the clergy blurred the boundaries between the religious and secular worlds, thus sending mixed signals to those for whom they provided pastoral guidance.(27) In Borromeo's view theatricals, masquerades and the like spoke of a different world, a world not contained by the embrace of faith.(28)

[page 130] Borromeo's acta reveal the archbishop's keen sensitivity to the competition between theatre and religion. For him, the former corrupted while the latter sanctified. Early in his career as archbishop, Borromeo prohibited "comedies, scenic or theatrical representations, tournaments or other spectacles of whatever kind" during the three weeks preceding the start of Lent, a high point of Carnevale.(29) The reason for the prohibition remained the need to give religious spectacles a performative edge over theatrical ones:

Michael Zampelli is an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance at Santa Clara University. His work has focused on the early modern Italian theatre, particularly in its relationship to religion and religious antitheatricalism. He has published in Theatre Survey as well as Text and Presentation.