The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

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HISTORY OF THE POPES.
at the beginning of 1568, sent the Archbishop of Milan,
Cardinal Borromeo, to Mantua.^ What a serious view the
Cardinal took of his difficult task is shown by the fact that in
order to obtain a happy issue he ordered continuous prayers
by day and night in all the churches and convents of Milan,
arranged in such a way that as the hour of prayer ended in one
church, it was taken up in another. ^ As a matter of fact
Borromeo's skill and prudence were successful in February,
1568, in appeasing the Duke and restoring the authority of
the Inquisition. The more important offenders were to make
their abjuration in private, and on April 4th a public autodafe
took place, at which three natives of Verona were handed
over to the secular arm, and on April 12th were beheaded and
burned.^ The reconciliation with the head of the Church was
completed by a brief of April 21st, in which the Pope returns
thanks for a communication which the Duke had addressed
to him concerning the public autodafe.*
At the end of 1567 Cardinal Correggio had written to the
Duke that those who made light of the old religion were also
the enemies of their hereditary prince, quoting as an example
the machinations of the French Protestants.^ Events at
1 Bascape, I. 2, c. 6, p. 37.
- In this way Borromeo was the first to order the so-called
perpetual prayer, a thing which he often employed later on.
Bascape, loc. cit.
^ Letter from Capilupi and Amigone in Davari, 796.
* Gonzaga Archives, Mantua : see App. n. 48. Already on
March 8, 1568, the Pope had praised the Duke for his devotion,
and for doing what he had promised Borromeo (*Brevia, Arm. 44,
t. 13, p. 164, Papal Secret Archives). Rome continued to keep
a close watch on Mantua after this, sending warnings as to here-
tical tendencies, and asking for the handing over of those who,
in any specially dangerous degree, were propagating them. Cf.
the letters from Rebiba to Mantua of September 11 and
November 6, 1568, and of June 16, 1571, in Bertolotti, Martiri,
48 seq., 58.
* " ne hanno altro fine che di fare in ogni luogo quello che
hanno fatto et fan del continuo in Francia " Correggio, December
20, 1.567 in Davari 791,